Better This Way

Two

Here's the next part! Sorry if it's been a week. College is killing me on installment basis, same thing goes for organizing an event. Let me know for some errors, I haven't got a chance to edit this. :)

II. Andrew

“Thank you, sir! Have a good night!”

Thank fuck my extended shift ended. If it wasn’t because of John’s absence and double pay, I would never agree on working for another three hours.

I walked towards the door to change the sign board to ‘CLOSED’ and went back to help the two crews to clean the diner. I was currently wiping the table when I heard Rudy calling my name.

I left the towel on the table and wiped my hands on my pants while walking toward him. “Hey big man, you need some help?”

Rudy Suarez was the owner of the diner I was working at. He stood six foot four, with almost graying hair tied in a bun just a bit above of his back neck, over two hundred pounds but never seemed to miss his schedule of going to gym because of those guns he had in his arms, and a heart made of gummy bears.  Two years ago, when I was desperately looking for a job, my best buddy John introduced him to me. I never thought that he would notice me because I looked so small near him. He looked so intimidating. I was like Sponge Bob, and he was like Larry the Lobster. Then he interviewed me, asked me if I really wanted to work, then he said that he was lacking of employees so perfect timing, he hired me.

“Oh nothing, son. I just want to thank you for covering John’s shift – again,” he chuckled.

“No problem, Rudy. You know I need money to pay for my bills and whatnot.”

“I don’t even know why you’re still working considering that your parents are so well-off they could buy this diner.”

“Rudy, we both know I can’t go back.”

Scratching the back of his neck, he said, “Right. I’m sorry son. It’s just that, I can’t help but worry. You spend most of your time working instead of making your social life healthy like every teenager do.”

That’s why all of Rudy’s employees loved him. He was not your typical employer who had ‘you work, I pay’ attitude. He cared about everything – just from a little problem at the diner (“Rudy, we don’t have peppers”, “Really? Okay I’ll order now.”) down to the personal problems of his employees (“Sure, you can now go home to take care of your dog”). He believed his employees are the most important to him and to his diner that was why he did whatever just to make us motivated while working.

No. Nobody dared to take him for granted. We didn’t want to meet his bad side. Andy Girston, a man only shorter than Rudy by just an inch or two, almost balding who worked at the diner for almost a decade and Rudy’s best friend, had witnessed how Rudy turned from good Samaritan into a Pontius Pilate.

One time when we were on a coffee break, he told us, “There was this employee of Rudy who asked for a big sum of money because he needed it to pay the hospital where his wife was admitted. He promised to work until he was fully paid to the amount of money he borrowed. Then a month had passed, there was no sign of him. He never walked in the diner. Of course, Rudy got worried so he asked each of us if we saw Baron. We all said no. Rudy, being the most understanding person, thought that Baron was still in the state of taking care of his wife.

“He was so sick of not hearing anything from Baron. So he decided to leave his diner to me and left to visit the hospital where Baron’s wife was supposed to be admitted. He argued with the hospital staff because they told him that no Sandy Evans had been admitted. Then he went back to the diner with his face red and body’s shaking with rage. We were so afraid he might tear down the whole place if one of us spoke. That’s how mad he was.”