Rose Tinted (boyxboy)

Chapter 3: The ropes

"I'm a pricing ninja!...pew, pew!"

☆

"Come in!" Jojo calls out as Max taps on the office door, then enters the small space, where Jojo is presently pulling out papers and a key from a drawer in his untidy desk. "So this is your contract, it's the usual three month probationary period, your hours are written here, so you'll be guaranteed to work those, plus any overtime...oh and this is your locker key." Jojo now pushes the key and the papers across the desk to Max.

Max quickly scans the papers, hoping in the back of his mind that he would not be here after three months, but you never know what the future will hold.

"I'm here." Someone else now enters the office. 

"Tayce! You need to knock."

Max glances up to see a frowning Jojo, looking at someone stood behind him. He hurries with signing the contract, wanting to get to standing, realising that he was currently bent over the desk so the guy behind him was getting a good view of his backside.

"You knew I was coming down." Tayce half laughs, shaking his head. Max now stands and turns to see a new face. "Is this that guy?" Tayce looks at Max then at Jojo.

"This is Max." Jojo confirms. 

"Ah Hello Max I'm gonna be your master." He winks and holds out a friendly hand for Max to take, but Max just looks up at the slightly taller male, looking unimpressed. Cheery people. He did not respond well to cheery people and especially did not respond well to cheery people who referred to him as 'this or that'. 

"Okaay." Tayce retracts his hand, not quite sure what this guy's problem was. They'd literally just met." 

"Max, you will be Tayce's shadow this week. Now go take over Micky." Jojo says smiling before lifting his hand up to usher the pair from the office, to tend to some paperwork scattered on his desk.

"Ok Max, follow me." Tayce says, putting forward his most cheerful face, which seemed to just bounce of Max's face made of stone. Seriously! What the hell had he done already?

There is a walk of awkward silence to the restaurant area, where Tayce, followed by Max makes his way to Micky and his slow customer service. "It's your break now Mick, oh and this is Max. He's literally just started." Tayce steps back a little, giving them space to introduce themselves. 

"Hey Max, welcome to Bang Bang Chicken." He gives off his cheesy smile once again.

"Nice to meet you Micky." Max replies politely, earning a confused look from Tayce. Micky got a nice greeting why didn't he?

Micky happily heads out the back for his break, leaving Tayce at the counter. The queue thankfully gone, at least for a moment. "Ok, so have you worked a till before?" Tayce asks Max who was just staring at the touch screen with varying pictures of different chicken pieces on it. 

"Local shop, night shift." Max replies in a matter of fact tone. 

"Right...so this is like that I guess?" Tayce laughs, he didn't know why, it wasn't even funny. 

"It's not the same." Max corrects Tayce, not even giving him eye contact.

"Oh...oh right, I guess it's not. You did that thing right?" Max now looks at Tayce who was mimicking using a pricing gun in thin air. He raises an eyebrow at his charade, making Tayce drop his hands suddenly. 

"You mean I used a pricing gun." Max says in a flat tone. 

"Yes one of those." Tayce now resumes his act of pricing imaginary items. "I've always wanted to use one of those, you know, go like pew pew!" He now momentarily goes into his little world, the spectacle even making Jerry look up from the fryer.

"Tayce! What are you doing?" 

"I'm a pricing ninja...pew pew!" Tayce laughs at his own actions.

Jerry now looks at Max who is watching the whole thing a little disbelieving. "Hey, he gets like this! Just ignore him!"

Max nods, looking back at Tayce who had finally stopped being a 'pricing ninja' and was looking at a young girl approaching the counter. "So Max, watch and learn...." he says as he clears his throat slightly and paints a welcoming smile across his face.

So Max watches. He watches as Tayce's smile and mannerisms seem to work their magic on the customer as she orders her chicken pieces with fries and a coke. Max watches as he effortlessly taps the relevant keys on the touch screen before taking her payment and turns to holler to Jerry what he needs. Max looks at how satisfied she is as she walks away with her meal. It all looks so lovely, so pleasant, so easy! 

"Ok, so you can serve the next customer." Tayce says standing back a little.

It isn't long before a lady approaches, holding the hand of a small boy. The boy is wriggling in her hold, pulling at her and it could be seen that she was getting irritated. 

Max swallows before saying "Hello, welcome to Bang Bang chicken. What can I get you?"

She reels off her order, the child still pulling at her arm. Max is struggling to find the corresponding buttons on the screen, causing a comment from the lady. "Can't you hurry up, you can see he's restless!" The child is now on the cusp of having a full blown tantrum.

"Hey, I'm going as fast as I can." Max bites back. He doesn't shout but the annoyance can be heard.

"Excuse me?" The woman is now getting as stressed as the child. 

Max is about to reply, but Tayce quickly steps in. "Hey little fellow." He smiles widely at the boy, before grabbing something from the counter and walking around to him on the other side. He kneels down to meet the boy at eye level. "You're lunch today earns a toy. How about you choose?" In Tayce's hands are an array of finger sized animals of all colours and styles.

The boy instantly stops crying and now focuses on choosing from the selection in Tayce's hands. "That one!" He points to the one like a blue horse.

"Ah! Good choice!" Tayce says smiling as the boy lifts the toy from his hand. 

"Thank you." The lady says smiling gratefully. 

"No problem." He smiles back, returning to his place behind the counter. Her food now ready. She pays and leaves the counter and Tayce turns to Max. 

"When you feel like you're losing it, or a customer gets hassled, you just gotta smile." Tayce now beams at Max. Who does not return the same facial expression. 

"Try it, go on." Tayce says looking at Max willing him on. 

Max hates this. He hates being forced to feel something he just doesn't feel. It was unnatural to him.

"Do it...go on!" Tayce now widens his own grin. Max wanted to do anything but smile. What he really wanted to do was tell Tayce to get lost and to walk out of the glass door which was in his sights over the counter, but he knows he needs this job. He needs the money. 

Against his natural urges Max forces the corners of his mouth to turn up and he manages a small smile.

"See. That wasn't so hard was it?" Tayce responds with a light laugh. But to Max, It was.