The woes of unemployment. (Hono)`

Ever since she quit her job at that horrible maid cafe (the low quality one trying to rip off Maid in Heaven) it had been financially difficult for Jasmine. She was surviving on her paltry savings but those were starting to run out. She needed work and she needed it now. It was this search for work that had brought Jasmine to the Backlight. Jasmine had heard from a family friend, the only family friend left, that a restaurant in the Backlight was recruiting.

And that was where Jasmine stood. The restaurant...well outside of it anyway. She had chosen out her smartest clothing, typed up and printed a CV thanks to the local library, and made her way here. She had to borrow this clothing off her friend, on the grounds that she clean it before returning, and walked into the establishment. The grey business dress, consisting of a medium length skirt and shirt worn under a jacket, was nothing if not smart...and Jasmine hated it. The outfit was stuffy, hot and just plain did not suit her.

She sighed and walked towards the main counter, waving at the first employee she saw hoping they would come over. Hopefully they would and if they did? She'd speak to them, smiling more than a little nervously.

"Hello, I heard you're looking for staff? I've got my C.V here." She extended the sheet of paper, sealed inside a plastic sleeve for protection, towards whoever it was she was talking to. Having to go through this process was...degrading and she hated it.

Oishī was completely empty customer wise. Hono was working today, she quietly sat at the bar playing around on her phone, a brainless clicker game was always good to play when there were no customers was always fun. Hono tapped vigorously on the screen, Just. One. More. Cookie! Hono began tapping like crazy.

She soon heard a little bell chime. Ah! A customer! But she was so invested in the game... none the less she slipped her phone into her apron before turning and standing up. She noticed the cute girl that entered. A new customer? Hono was a bit surprised but she approached the girl.

She was about to bow but suddenly she was handed a paper. A C.V huh... She took the paper and set it on the bar. "Lemme get the owner." she walked behind a set of red curtains that leads into the kitchen.

After a few minutes, a man in his late 30s to early 40s walked out of the curtains. Hono stood next to him and pointed at Jasmine. The two walked over to her. The man smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for applying! Take a seat" He had a strange accident, it was German, with a hint of Japanese. He sat an empty booth. Hono sat next to him. The man looked through the C.V. She seemed qualified, but he wanted to know a few more personal things about her.

Jasmine wasn't happy to see an employee playing on her phone while at work. She got the place was pretty empty but it was still rather...well rude? Or just impolite. Fortunately, the girl put her mobile cellular device away pretty swiftly and took the C.V, saying something about getting the owner. That was good. The owner was honestly the only person here Jasmine was even the slightest bit interested in.

"Thank you." She smiled a small smile and waved slightly at Hono before patiently taking a seat at the counter waiting for the owner. Luckily enough, Jasmine found she would not be waiting very long as a man rested his hand upon her shoulder. The young girl's body stiffened up when she turned to look at the elderly man, honestly feeling more than a little uncomfortable with this man's hand on her shoulder. Luckily enough he soon removed his hand took a seat in an empty booth which Jasmine followed him to.

"My name is Jasmine Russell. I trust my C.V was to your requirements?" Why was she so nervous? This was just a job interview! Jasmine knew she was more than suitable, hell she was probably overqualified, on account of her being perfect in every way! There was nothing to discuss other than when she would start, the details of her wage, the details of the employment contract and the details her uniform. Jasmine knew how badly she needed this job.

The man looked at Jasmine. He seemed professional but a little laid back. "Your C.V is perfect, Most people just come with resumes," he chuckled. "I think you have the job," He smiled extending his hand offering a shake. If she accepted he would firmly squeeze her hand and shake it, if not he would return his hand to his side. "I'm Avan Shi" he introduced himself. Hono broke her silence and spoke. "We don't have a lot of employees, we have about 3 cooks" Hono admitted rubbing her neck. "You're probably gonna wait tables, take out the trash, wash dishes, stuff like that" Hono told her. "I'll have to train you and stuff..." she sighed a bit, she obviously didn't seem interested. Avan replied with a quick smack on the back of Hono's head. He appeared to be strict.

Avan looked at his daughter then back at Jasmine. "You probably wanna start working as soon as you can" he looked at Hono. "How about you start training in about 2 days, around noon? That's when we're the busiest, so you'll get good experience" He explained. "So where exactly do you live?" Avan asks the girl, wanting to know how far away she was from the restaurant.

"Do they?....Well I am pleased to have exceeded the requirements." Just stay polite, respectable and humble Jasmine. Secretly she HATED the very idea of being forced to work when money, a lot of it at that, was her birthright. Of course it seemed the queen and her bootlickers were all a bunch of disgusting thieves. Once Jasmine took back what was her's she would ensure each and every single one of them were executed for their crimes oh yes.

"....That easily? Well thank you very much sir." Jasmine managed a smile, not an overly energetic one but also not a disinterested one. She extended her hand forward, grasping this adult's appendage and reciprocating the handshake. It was immensely angering that she needed to engage in the act of buttering up the lower classes but alas, it was a situation fate had so unjustly forced upon her. She was determined to work her way out of it by any means necessary.

"Pleased to meet the both of you. Yes that should be fine. My prior employment revolved around clearing tables and taking orders." Her prior experience as a maid at a less popular, for reasons that had become swiftly apparent, maid cafe was the main reason why Jasmine sought to work here. Jasmine had to say she did not approve of the physical contact between father and daughter but she held her tongue. Hopefully it did not extend beyond that into full on physical abuse.

"With all due respect I would rather start now. I have very little money left over following my unfortunate resignation from my last employer." This man asking where Jasmine lived was something she found incredibly odd and more than a little suspicious. The travel time between her residence and this establishment were negligible thanks to the fact they were both in the same section of the city. She pondered how best to answer and with a slight "hmm" decided the best way to answer would with a generic one.

"I live in Blacklight in an area that can be charitably described as...low cost residences." In truth the answer was a lot different for the area Jasmine lived in? It was where the poor, the forgotten and the dangerous lived. The amount of domestic abuse she had overheard since moving in could fill up hundreds of rock and roll albums.

If anything Jasmine was overqualified for this job. However, Avan needed all the help he could get. "You're welcome miss" Avan smiled and shook her hand for a couple of seconds before placing his hands back at his side. Hono seemed a bit skeptical of Jasmine, why would anyone wanna work HERE. None the less the waitress did her best to make her dad happy, he meant so much to the cadet.

Avan smiled as Jasmine. "Now, you should know I'm very strict." she looked at Hono for a moment. "Even to my daughter. I should go over the rules and that kinda thing." Avan tapped his chin thinking of what to say. "Just, don't disrespect the customer and get to work on time, the obvious things." Hono chimed in laying down some ground rules. Avan nodded and turned his attention to Jasmine. "And, most importantly, we're all a family here. If you ever need anything just let us know." Avan informed the girl. He was serious about that, most of the other chef and waitresses were all close family friends. Avan made sure his employees were in tip-top shape.

Avan was a bit surprised, right now? He couldn't disagree with that. "Hono go get her an apron." Hono simply stood up and walked into the kitchen. Avan then nodded, next, she talked about her current living situation. He felt bad for her. He soon spoke up, "If... you need a place to stay you can stay with my family." He told her in a serious tone. "It's probably a lot better than where you are now, and I'll let you stay with me as long as you do a good job here," He explained.

He went back to the actual job. "Once Hono gets back you'll start training," he grabbed a napkin and wrote out two phone numbers. "The top is my number, the bottom is Hono's. She has a rough exterior but she's really nice once you get to know her,"  he explained,

"Understood." Don't be rude to the customers and show up on time. Showing up on time would be easy on account of her close she lived to the restaurant and as for the not disrespecting customers? Well...

"As I said I live close by so arriving on time should not be an issue. As for the customer related thing...well. I used to work at a significantly less popular maid cafe and the uh, customers often liked trying to feel up my uniform. The owner never had the back of the employees and refused to do anything about it. Provided nothing like that happens here I'll have no reason to not be respectful." Jasmine's stance was clear. If the customers respected her she would respect them.

The idea of these employees all being a family was something the former heiress just could not accept. She didn't want a family. She didn't need a family. What she wanted was her family back. Nobody could ever fill in for what the Divide had taken from her; especially not random strangers who were being just a little too kind to be fully trustworthy at this point.

"...Thank you for the offer but I will have to decline." Jasmine did take both of the phone numbers though, entering them into her rather cheap and out dated seeming phone. It was all she had been able to afford but it did the job and that was all which mattered.

"Understood." Once she was provided with an apron Jasmine would slip it on, tying it around her waist and looking towards Avan for directions on where she should start.

Avan nodded and listened to the maid cafe story. It was disgusting, the fact that a business owner would allow that kind of things to happen! It made Avan's blood boil. Avan simply spoke up. "That's terrible," he said looking down then back up. "If anything like that happens here, I'll handle it. I promise you that," She smiled at her. "Hono has the same view as you," he saw a lot of similarities between the two girls. "You should see how she handled this rude customer a few weeks ago," he sighed a bit but it soon shifted into a chuckle.

He nodded as she respectfully declined his offer. "Okay, if you change your mind just let me know," He said watching her put the phone numbers in. "Now, you can just text or call me if you get sick or anything like that," he explained. He stood up as he saw Hono walked out of the curtains. He walked back into the kitchen.

Hono handed the apron over to the new waitress. Hono looked at her, "looks good on you," Hono complimented her co-worker. The cadet then began explaining, "You handle the customers that walk in, and I'll go wash some dishes, let's see how you do," Hono walked behind the bar and began cleaning some things up. As if throwing Jasmine into the deep end. It was the best way to teach anyway.

After a couple of seconds, a little bell chimed as an elderly man entered. He had a cane and wore a business suit. He made his way to a booth before sitting down. Hono looked at Jasmine and nodded. "Knock em dead~" she teased.

"Good." Part of Jasmine wanted to say something snarky along the lines "don't disappoint me" but this was her employer. She was, annoyingly so, forced to serve and follow his orders. Oh how she hated the indignity of having to crawl in the mud and dirt with these lower class peasants. They may not have been bad people but as always the sole fact the heiress was forced to server angered her ever so much.

"Understood." Jasmine had no intention of changing her mind. She trusted neither of these people to anything beyond pay her for work performed under their establishment and even then? She only barely trusted them on that front due to the lack of a contract. Hopefully even without a signed contract the labour laws of Endmyion would offer Jasmine some protection if anything went wrong.

Jasmine simply followed Hono behind the bar and stood up straight, keeping an eye out for customers while her new co-worker worked on the dishes. It did not take long for a customer to enter the restaurant as an elderly man hobbled in, his frail frame supported by a cane. Jasmine grabbed a pen, pad of paper and a menu she found under the bar before walking over to meet the gentleman.

"Good afternoon sir. Do you already have your order in mind?" It was possible this elderly man was a regular and already knew what he wanted to order but it was also possible he wasn't. Regardless of which applied Jasmine would place the menu on the table in front of him.

Hono simply watched the exchange from behind the bar. She was curious to see how Jasmine would handle it. Hono just didn't know about her. Why this place, Hono loved working here. Though she couldn't imagine why someone like Jasmine would work here. Hono none the less watched the cute girl work.

The man appeared to be 60-70. His suit appeared to be rather nice. He checked his watch before looking at the waitress handed him a menu. He flipped through the pages. He was indeed a regular. he worked at some big technology company. He often came during his lunch breaks. "Oh? Are you new here?" He raised an eyebrow before smiling. "The pink-haired girl normally services me" he explained to her.

None the less he pointed to a menu item. "I'll have the 3 sushi combo, I'll do the Philadelphia, Dynamite and..." he paused for a few minutes. "The Oishī special" He then laid the menu down. "I'll do soup and some of that green tea." He said completing his order.

"Yes I am new here sir. Today is my first day." Jasmine wrote down his order, in long following cursive that may have seemed like a disorderly scribble to anyone else but the young heiress could easily read it.

"Just to confirm...the three sushi combo consisting of the Philadelphia, Dynamite and Oishi special along with green tea and the soup...Apologises sir as I have only just started might I ask what soup exactly? I have not had the chance to go over the menu myself yet." Despite not knowing exactly what soup the elderly man wanted, Jasmine had still written down soup upon the notepad.

Once the elderly gentlemen elaborated on what soup he wanted, the young heiress would make her way into the kitchen. She honestly had no idea how this establishment would communicate its orders to the kitchen but Jasmine had seen a few reality shows taking place in restaurants. She decided to simply wing it and go with the understanding TV had implanted in her.

"One three sushi combo consisting of the Dynamite, Philadelphia and Oishi special along with a green tea and soup." Jasmine tore the ticket off the note pad and stuck it to the area above the window before going back to Hono.

"....So I handed the order over to the kitchen but do we make the green tea or does the kitchen?"