Prompt #20: Ridiculously Overwhelming

***Bare with me readers…I’m trying a new style. Regular font is dialogue, Italicized is supposed to be my thoughts, and bold is narration. Let me know what you think! Thanks!***

“Okay. I should only be gone for about an hour and a half, which means I should be back here by 2:30pm and you can take your lunch break at 3:00pm. Sound good?”

Sure sounds great except I’ve never been unsupervised in the restaurant before so this should be interesting.

“Yeah! No worries boss! I’ll call if I need anything. Have fun!”

I’ve worked at Romeo’s Pizza and Pasta for almost three and a half years now. It’s just a small family owned Italian restaurant located on one of the busiest streets in my hometown. The actual restaurant is situated underneath an apartment complex facing the street in front. When I first got hired here, I started as a server just waiting on tables and answering phone calls, but over the years I have dappled into the other jobs of the restaurant. After serving, I starting helping washing dishes, I became overly interested in cooking so I began working as a prep cook, then a pizza cook, and finally I have surpassed them all and began learning the pasta chef roles. On Fridays, like today, I generally start my shift in the late morning in order to prepare certain foods for later in the day, and also to wait tables during lunchtime; however, on this particular Friday, my boss who is also the owner of the restaurant has a soccer game he must attend to, so he is leaving the fate of his restaurant in my hands for the late lunch hours. The only tricky part is that I am the only person working in the restaurant at this time except our delivery man, who I expect will be too busy driving orders around town to help me out in the kitchen or in the dining area.

  Okay. I need to keep it together. Only two hours till he returns, and we’ve already had the normal lunch rush, so maybe, just maybe I’ll be perfectly fine by myself. After all, it’s only cooking, serving, and cleaning that I have to do by myself. What can go wrong? Time to start my check list: To Go Salads…check. Caesar dressing made…check. Lettuce cut…check. Chicken cut…check. Food prep ready and stocked…check. Dining area clean…check. Alright, not a bad start. Everything is prepped and ready to go.

Phone rings.

Oh boy.

My hair stands on end. I can feel my heart rate increase and the anxiety rush in. I answer the phone, “Romeo’s, how may I help you?”

O thank God. It’s only a pizza order for pick up. I can do that. No problem.

After the order is placed, I hang up the phone. I get over to the kitchen area, grab the freshly printed tag and hang it up on the counter in front of me and begin to knee out the pizza dough. Once it’s at the proper diameter, I transfer the dough to a metal screen where I begin to spread marinara sauce evenly across the dough. I add the cheese and toppings and place the pizza into the oven. I look at the clock, 1:04, I’ll check back on it in six minutes.

Phone rings again.

Alright six minutes…six minutes…I can’t forget to check on the pizza in six minutes.

I answer the phone using the same interlude, and follow the normal procedures. I finish the conversation and hear the printer in the kitchen print another tab. Then I hear the door open. An elderly couple walks in and say they would like to dine in.

“Please take a seat wherever you like. I’ll come to you in a minute.”

I grab a couple menus, head over to their table, and ask if I can get them something to drink.

O crap. Has it already been six minutes? I can’t see the clock. Hopefully these two can decide on a drink soon. I can’t have a pizza burn on my watch.

I get the drink order. I briskly head back to kitchen. I’m only a minute late to check on the pizza. I look in the oven, grab the paddle over head, and take a peek at the pizza inside. It’s totally fine. I rotate the metal screen and close the oven door. I walk to the pasta section where the tag I had printed a minute ago is hanging. It’s only a chicken Caesar salad with a side of garlic cheese bread.

No problem. This is a breeze. I can have this order ready in five minutes flat.

The phone rings again.

O please…let this be another easy order. I only have five minutes till the first pizza is ready and I still need to check on the couple in the dining area.

I answer the phone. It’s a pick up order. Pastas. My eyes get wider in worry of which pasta the customer may choose.

As long as a customer doesn’t order a Seafood pasta, everything will be fine. I can do everything else pretty well except the Seafood pasta…the whole balance of clam juice, white wine, and cream has always seem to elude me.

It’s only a spaghetti with meatballs and creamy pesto tortellini. I finish the phone call, check the time. One minute till the pizza is ready. I grab the drinks for the couple and head out to hopefully take their order.  It’s a simple order: two garden salads, an order of breadsticks, and a personal Mediterranean Pizza for them to share.

I better walk fast. I need to get that pizza out of the oven and the garlic cheese bread in the oven. Then, I can place the ‘dine-in’ order, slice up the pizza, grab the garden salads, make the personal pizza and get it in the oven, start on the pastas for ‘pick-up,’ and hopefully have everything finish in time before the customers begin to arrive. O yeah…I got this.

But as I get part way through my ingenious plan, I am interrupted again by another group colleagues looking for somewhere to sit.

“Anywhere is fine! I’ll be with you guys in one second!” I yell as I try to finish bagging the garlic cheese bread and chicken Caesar salad, fumbling as I rush to grab menus. The phone goes off. The second phone goes off.

I better be getting a raise soon. This is so hectic. I feel so overwhelmed. I still have a personal pizza in the oven and I can’t be on both phones at once. I need to give these people some menus and get their drinks out, but I’m only one person! Just breathe…woosaw…inhale…exhale…

I finally get things in order. The new customers get their menus, I grab each phone, one by one, ask politely for them to hold, take out the personal pizza for the first table, answer the phone calls while the pasta noodles boil, and eventually get to the newest table of customers and deliver their drinks. I do all of this one step at time and without burning one of the pizzas or the sauces.

Man, I am awesome. And look at that 2:30 has just rolled around, and look there, the boss is actually on time. Woohoo! Lunch break!

The Boss: “So how was everything? It looks like you have everything under control. I told you it wouldn’t get too busy. Great job!”

“O yeah. No sweat boss.”   Man, if he only knew. I wipe my brow and head out the doors for my lunch break.