Cheese of Truth By D.I. Jolly
The waitress smiled as she put the plate down in front of Courtney, who looked at it slightly confused, then looked up to see the waitress walking away.
“Excuse me, hey, excuse me! What’s this?”
“Vegan baguette with fries.”
“But what’s this on top of it?”
“Cheese.”
“But… it’s the vegan baguette, why would you put cheese on it?”
“Because … Cheese, it makes it better.”
Courtney looked at her friend baffled for a moment then back up at the waitress.
“But I’m a vegan, I don’t eat cheese.”
The waitresses eyes widened and a look of genuine shock spread across her face.
“You what? Why not? Cheese is amazing it literally makes all food better.”
“That’s not the point, I’m a vegan, I don’t eat any animal or animal products. Have… have you never heard of a vegan before? Half the menu is vegan.”
“Is that what that means, why would you do that?”
“How did you get this job?”
“Hey, you don’t have to be mean. I was only trying to make your dining experience more pleasant by making your food better.”
Tears had welled up in the waitress’s eyes and failing to hold it together she began to cry as she ran to go hide in her manager’s office. As the door slammed behind her the manager looked up to see who had come in and couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“What happened this time?”
“Why do you have to take that tone! I was just trying to do what you told me and make people have a better time while here and she, she yelled at me.”
It took an effort not to roll his eyes again but he pulled it off and heaved a sigh.
“What happened exactly?”
“I was trying to make her food better and she got really angry at me.”
“Be more specific.”
“I added cheese to her baguette because that’s how I have it and it’s amazing. I wasn’t even going to charge her I just wanted to make …”
“Wait, wait, stop. Which baguette?”
“The vegan one.”
“Did you use Vegan cheese?”
“What’s vegan cheese?”
The manager dropped his head into his hands and swore, then blasphemed, and then swore again.
“I don’t know what I want to do more, fire you or resign, maybe I’ll do both.”
He then looked up at the still devastated girl.
“Ok, I’ll go and talk to them, but can you please explain to me what went through your head before you did this?”
“Cheese makes everything better, why am I the only one who seems to know that? It’s the truth.”
Another few tears slipped down the waitress’s face as she expressed her love and the manager realised which option he needed to take and smiled at the girl.
“Ok, don’t worry I’ll sort this out.”
He grabbed his coat on the way out the door and as he got to his car he realised that in many ways the waitress was right, but also, that he never wanted to ever work in a place where people like her get hired. Ever. Again.