Miserable

You spent the remainder of the week learning the rest of the drinks and how to work the register. You even continued drinking the soy lattes as it gave you an opportunity to get to know Lily better. However, all in all it was not going well. Your armpits still hurt from when you shaved them. Your Axe deodorant only made the pain worse. But worst of all you were barely making any tips. In fact, most of your tips came from your first shift.

“Alex, if you don’t start getting more revenue in tips you will not even come close to paying me back for your transgressions and I will have no problems failing you. I’m running a business; not a charity.” Ms. DeMorgan’s words cut through you and you left her office with your head held pretty low.

Upon returning to the floor you see Lily handing a drink to a customer. He picks up the drink and leaves a crumpled $5 bill behind for her tip. “Maybe I should talk with Lily. She seems to be doing well in the tip department. Maybe I’m just missing something” you think to yourself.

“Well uh, you see Alex, you don’t really look like you want tips. You’re not that muscular so you need to work more on your appearance.”

This was unexpected. Sure you weren’t the biggest guy in the world but shouldn’t tips be based on service not on looks? “Well what should I do? Remember I’m losing all my tips already” you say to Lily.

She hesitates for a moment before responding “first I want to fix your hair. It is greasy with too many split ends. I want you to start brushing it every night. Also I’m going to give you shampoo and conditioner out of my gym bag, I want you to use it everyday as instructed on the bottle. Second, your face is cute but you need to start treating it better. I will give you some of my face wash and moisturizer. Also I’m gonna start to put a little foundation on you to cover up your blemishes and a little of my lip gloss before our next shift. Now I know what you’re thinking, but this stuff is great and will fix your cracked lips problem. And finally, it wouldn’t kill you to dress a little nicer, your clothes are so dull and boring. Finally, I’m going to give you my deodorant. It will help with your irritation. Now I’ll go get the stuff for you and I want you to use it the next couple of days when we are off.”

With that Lily turns around and walks to the break room. “Geez” you think to yourself, “I’m not sure how comfortable I am wearing makeup. But I have to get out from this debt and I can’t fail this class.”