filling a position {Tristan}

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

So... apparently the other cook got fired. Which uh... sucked for him, but Jonathan Empris couldn't be more estatic!

The boy was living at home with his parents, and as amazing as they were, they were slowly driving him mad with all their subtle suggestions for him to get a job. And today his father shed all formalities and told the kid he needed a job, and that he was cutting Jon's allowance completely.

That was all the inspiration the boy needed to get off his butt and search the Internet for job openings. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for; all the jobs in libraries were volunteer, which wouldn't really impress his father or his bank account. His mom stopped by outside his room and, the angel that she was, offered to do his laundry if he made lunch for the family. That was when he searched locally for any open positions in kitchens.

And that was how he wound up at the Why Not Diner (after making his family grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches with home-made tomato gravy). It was some time between lunch and dinner when restaurants were the least busy, and he had a small but organized resume in hand.

Listed on it were many of his academic achievements and awards. He managed to re-word his 'allowance' to sound like a part-time job so he had something in the Past Experience category, as well as a small introduction paragraph emphasizing his passion for cooking. He brought this to the counter at the nearly deserted diner and made sure the table top was clean before setting his resume down.

"Hello?"

[Tristan Marcus Dell]

Luckily for Jon, the woman he needed to see was at the diner that afternoon, which really wasn’t a big surprise. Charlotte Cooper practically lived at the Why Not Diner lately. She got there early in the morning and she left late at night. Every once and a while she would take a well-deserved day off and leave Tristan in charge, but for the most part it was always her who was making things at the little diner run smoothly.

The lunch rush was over and Charlotte was glad to know that there would be two hours before things started to pick back up again. Having a lot of customers meant that business was going well, but the diner had been a hectic place to be lately since they were down one cook and two servers.

The owner of the diner was sitting at the far end of the customers’ side of the counter, taking advantage of the downtime by rolling silverware into napkins. She looked tired, but no more than usual. It was the look that was expected from someone who had been running their own business, whether it was her own line of dresses or a refurbished diner, since she was twenty-five. She watched Jon as he made his way to the counter and recognized that he didn’t look like he was there for a turkey club sandwich.

“What can I do for you?” she asked him with that warm, motherly smile that came so naturally to her.

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

"Hi!" Jon said brightly to the nice-looking lady. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. Maybe a body builder with a mean attitude. Charlotte was a much better alternative. "I'm here to apply for a job. I heard you guys needed a cook? Is that position still open?" Jon had an earnest expression of hope on his face, and he lifted his resume to show that he was prepared to show her his qualifications.

All he needed was a chance, and he would launch off in a lenghthy speech about how he was the right person for the job. The diner was getting to be pretty popular, and he figured that they received plenty of applicants each day. Probably for the same role. He was competing with a faceless enemy. Who knows how good the others were.

He tried not to look nervous, but the young soldier thought he was going to embark on a difficult battle. He shifted from foot to foot, the anxiety setting in. Come on, he braced himself, if your palms start sweating, you'll muck up your resume. Calm down! The thought made him put the resume down on the counter. It was within easy grabbing distance for the both of them, should Charlotte wish to look at it.

[Tristan Marcus Dell]

Without a word, Charlotte slid Jon's resume the rest of the way down the counter toward her. She picked up up and scanned over the type. Quite honestly, Jon could have written that he had never even boiled a pot of water and she wouldn't have cared.

The diner owner carefully set the boy's resume on the counter and slid it back to him.

"You're not going to burn my kitchen down, right?" she asked him. This, it seemed, was all she needed to know. Charlotte and the Why Not Diner were so desperate for a cook that she was almost willing to start doing the cooking herself. Charlotte was a mother, which meant that she was a master at foods like meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, tater tots, and chocolate chip cookies, but she wasn't a chef by any means.

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

He waited anxiously as she looked over his resume, preparing himself for a worst-case scenario. Charlotte handed his resume back to him, and his heart sunk. Usually if an employer wanted you, they kept your resume to look at it again later.

But her question gave him hope, and he shook his head energetically.

"No, ma'am!" He promised, "I can prove it, too, if you give me the chance." The young man gestured to her baren kitchen behind the counter, eager to show the lady how competent he was. He assumed they received hundreds of applications a day, and he wanted to outshine the rest of the potential cooks. He enjoyed cooking and baking, although he only did it for his friends and family. He wondered what it would be like to do it as a profession. This job would tell him whether or not he wanted pursue it in culinary school. It was kind of a big deal. It showed on his face.

[Tristan Marcus Dell]

Charlotte glanced over at the kitchen when Jon gestured to the heart of her diner. Was he looking for a tryout? She liked his enthusiasm, that was for sure. Though they looked nothing alike, Jon reminded her of her second-oldest son. Garrett was always looking for a way to prove to everyone that he could do whatever it was he wanted to do. He was ambitious and determined, and while he may have been misguided at times, he was still a wonderful kid.

“I believe you,” she told the boy, and she did. It was either her great judge of character or motherly instinct, but Charlotte could tell that this boy was a hard worker.

“When can you start?” she asked, hoping that she could put him behind the stove in the next few days. “Do you go to school? I need someone for weekends and evenings, mostly. Do you think you can do that?”

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

Jon blinked a couple times before it registered. He was a bright kid, but he had been prepared to be grilled, maybe fried, not lightly sautéed and presented with the job.

"Uh... I guess I can start... next week? Yeah, I'm at school... weekends and evenings sounds perfect... yeah. Yeah, I can definitely do that," Jon didn't realize he was grinning until it became nearly impossible to speak, "You won't be disappointed!" This lady was either naive or a good judge of character, and she certainly didn't appear to be the former. He wanted to give her a reason the trust him, to show her that she hadn't made a mistake. Her opinions had to be solid, amazing, perfect, spot-on... his thesaurus of a brain was working overtime.

"So uh, what time next week? My classes end at about three, and I can be here by... three-thirty?" He was practically bouncing on the stool.