Chapter 155. An Assassin’s and Friend’s First Day of Work (1/9)

Four days flew by in a flash rather peacefully. Today was Rosa’s first day of work together with me. It was already after school and she’d appeared with an enthusiastic look on her face.

“It’s finally my first day of… normal work, Ran. Somehow I’m super excited. I couldn’t sleep last night at all. I was too giddy.”

“I can hardly understand that sort of feeling at all.”

“Alicia has Mondays off so her first day of work will also be with you tomorrow instead of that annoying black-haired bitch.”

“Don’t refer to your fellow co-worker like that. You can’t be fighting with her at work either. It’s bad for business.”

“I can’t help it. She just gets under my skin. Calling me a slutty bitch when she doesn’t even know me.”

“It’s surprising that she actually said that to you directly. She never acts like that in front of anyone. She’s always very calm and collected, there’s hardly ever a single crack in her mask. Even I didn’t see through it until recently despite working with her for so long.”

“She’s two-faced, two-faced I tell you. I’m good at sniffing such bitches out.”

“Haaaaaah. Please don’t say that in front of customers.”

“There aren’t any around.”

“They might not be that close, but you should still watch your mouth. Yuna also has her own little fanbase among customers as well. I’m sure their hearts will be bleeding when they find out. We’re probably going to get asked about it a lot.”

“Fiiiiine~ I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So? What do we do? You’re supposed to train me, right?”

“Just take it easy. You’ll learn as we go. It’s really not a hard job, the hardest part is customer interaction. You’ve got to be able to make their experience here a pleasant one so they want to come back again in the future.”

“I’ll handle the register, you can pay attention for the first hour. You can focus on your interactions and talk to the customers. Just make them feel at home, as though they’re welcome. But be mindful as there are customers who are in a rush to get in and get out quickly. You can just do the minimum expected with them as it may end up just annoying them. It’s pretty easy to differentiate between the two.”

“The ones in a rush will come in, know exactly what they want, pick it up immediately, then head to the counter right away without stopping to look around. They just want an in-out experience. Minimal interaction is considered a positive interaction in their case.”

“For the ones that dilly-dally around and fiddle about with things, striking up a conversation with them typically ends in a positive interaction and improves your affinity.”

“Another thing, don’t talk to a customer’s back. Always stand in front of them or beside them. Maintain eye contact when possible and smile. If a customer is within three meters be sure to greet them. You should also greet them when they enter the store. If you greeted them on their way in, be sure to bid them a good day on their way out. If their back is toward you though, don’t do that. Just leave them be, be mindful of the rule of not talking to a customer’s back. You should always do so before they turn their back to you.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Rosa nodded confirming she got everything.

“That’s just some basic sales etiquette.”

“Another thing you need to pick up over time is the products we sell. You should be at least a little knowledgeable about them. You need to remember where everything is and you should also keep tabs on how much we have of everything out on the floor. Throughout our shift, we need to restock inventory as well when we run out of things.”

“If a customer comes in and is used to getting something from us but we’re suddenly out of stock it could lead to them not coming back in the future. They may just go somewhere else to get it and find that it’s more convenient to go there to get it than it is to get it here.”

“For example, we have one awful product in particular. It’s this damn drink that feels like it’s exclusive to this store. From what I understand, hardly anywhere else sells it in this godforsaken city. But it’s damn popular with young women. It’s the drink Alicia always comes here to get. No matter how many times I restock it, it’s always, always sold out every day. I just don’t understand, why? I look away for a second and the next thing I know, all but one is gone. You have to be especially mindful of this product. It’s cursed I tell you, cursed. It just disappears on its own like magic.”

“How exactly is it an example of what you mean though?”

“Well, do you know why Alicia ended up frequenting this store? It’s for this exact reason, on one auspicious day, the place she previously purchased this horrible drink from was out of stock. That store was actually farther from her place than this store was. She entered here by chance that day and came across it. Since then, she’s always been getting it here instead.”

“Let that be a lesson why you need to always make sure everything is in stock. I wish the idiots at that other store had done so, I wouldn’t have ended up in all this trouble if not for them.”

“What are you saying? You should be grateful to those workers. Because of them, Alicia met you and became your girlfriend.”

“Yeah, sure, maybe I don’t care as much about it now after the fact. But when I found out back then, I was fuming. I was ready to go over to that store and retrain them myself to ensure I never got another troublesome woman dumped on me again because of this cursed drink. Just for the record, the Owner also really likes that damn drink. She’s the entire reason we have it. Just because of her own tastes.”

“It’s all her fault I have to suffer because of that drink. Every single day I have to get my ass up and move that one last bottle all the way at the back to the front for Alicia. I’ve filed countless complaints asking the manager to let me stock it lower so the last bottle could be reached more easily, but the manager from the day shift always tells me the Owner rejected my request. Do you know what the reason she gave was?”

“What?”

“If Sean is the one asking, the answer is no. Yes, that awful woman only refused it because I made the request. Even if I get someone else to make the request she just says no because it’s something Sean already asked for and it was rejected.”

“It’s so aggravating. It gets under my skin. If I ran this store I’d burn those damn drinks.”

“Those drinks aren’t flammable though.”

“I don’t give a shit. One day, I’ll burn the entire store to the ground if I have to. I’ll then find the company that makes them and burn their place down too. I’ll find the asshole who made the drink and kick him off the cliff.”

“You… really hate that drink, don’t you? You make it sound like that drink killed your entire family.”

“It might as well have. I’m so sick of restocking it every freaking day.”

“Is it out of stock right now?”

“Woman, why do you ask such stupid questions? Did you see me go and restock it for the day?”

“What? You mean… Even from the beginning of your shift every day?”

“Yes. Every... single… fucking... day. Beginning of my shift. Middle of my shift. And right before the end of my shift. It is that damn popular. I’m pretty sure it’s our number one seller in this store. It makes me want to have a nervous breakdown. Even on slower days we still run out.”

“I’m constantly on edge at work because of this one drink. Though I’m used to it by now and I cope somehow, it’s always, always at the back of my mind. I can only pray that the Owner never puts this drink on sale. If she does, I can only imagine what that day will be like. It will surely be doomsday.”

“Wow. The way you hype that drink up really makes me want to try it.”

“Rosa, don’t even think about it. If you drink the forbidden nectar that is that cursed drink, there will be no going back. You will become a slave to it like Alicia and spend money every single day coming back for more. You mustn’t succumb to the temptation.”

“But-”

“No buts.”