Chapter 5 - Dante’s Trying To No Longer Be A Bum? Impossible!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

["Speech Through Technology"]

…

I put on the hoodie and took my first few steps outside. I, of course, made sure that I had at least one knife on me that I could conceal reliably.

As I made my way down the street, I made sure to avoid people and any alleys. Batman's parents taught me well in that regard.

Anyway, as I continued to walk, I made sure to have one hand inside my hoodie so that if any creature tried me, I would be able to pull out my knife.

I made sure to hold it in a way where the outline of the knife wouldn't be seen through the hoodie. All I needed to do was push a bit of my forearm deeper into the hoodie.

I really did expect, at any minute, an eldritch abomination to come up to me and try their luck.

Was this what rabbits felt like? Always having to watch your surroundings due to being preyed upon.

A small, strained smirk grew on my face as I got closer to the pizza shop. Was God on my side? However, considering where I was, probably not.

Walking a bit further down the block, I turned to my left to look through the window of the pizza place. It was around an eight-minute walk from my house. I used to come here all the time.

The inside of the building had its lights on, and because of that, I tried to push open the front door. It had thankfully worked, as I didn't want to embarrass myself by pulling on a push door or trying to open a locked door.

Walking into the building, I noticed it was way different than any of the times I had gone into it in the past.

The place was just bigger; that's the only way I could explain it. It had many more tables and chairs compared to my version of it.

Behind the main counter of the restaurant was an older man that I had never seen in my life.

 He was a man of tanner complexion. He had short black hair and a mustache but no beard. From the looks of it, he was shorter than me by a few inches or more. He seemed to have brown eyes as well.

He looked like one of those stereotypical Italians you would see in a movie.

"Excuse me," I called out to him, and I saw him quickly start turning around. "Are you hiring?"

"Hm? No, we're not—" The man suddenly stopped speaking and looked at me with a confused expression. "Actually, one of my staff had walked out on me not too long ago, up and disappeared without saying a word. So, since nobody is here, I'll ask a couple of questions to see if you're at least a decent person."

Ok? That was weird. But I'll let it slide, as I don't feel anything off about him as of now.

Nodding to him, he waved me over to take a seat across from him at one of the tables.

Sitting down across from him, he coughed before fixing his posture.

"Do you have any criminal record? Anything I should know about?" He said as he interlocked his hands and placed them on the table.

"No, I don't."

He nodded at that.

"Did you have any form of higher education? High school diploma or college degrees?"

"I did finish high school not too long ago, but I haven't started college."

He looked a little surprised at that. A small shake of the head and a slight smile were all he gave before he spoke again.

"I see, I see. How old are you? Due to how you're dressed, I thought you may be someone with a criminal past or record that was trying to turn their life around." He let out a laugh as he finished speaking.

I smirked a bit and took my hood off. "I'm only 18. Give me a break; it was either going out like this or wearing something I wouldn't want to be seen in. Sorry for looking shady."

The man across from me only laughed at my plight. Rubbing one of his eyes that might have formed a small tear, he now wore a slight smile.

"It's fine. I remember being your age and searching for a job. The first person to hire me said he saw potential in a young man who wanted to work but had no skill, and it seemed he was right. What's your name, lad?"

"My name is Dante, and yours?" I held my hand out as I finished speaking.

"My name is Antonio; nice meeting you, Dante." As he spoke, he shook my hand.

"Ah, right," Antonio suddenly paused. "I almost forgot you were here to apply. Are you looking for full-time or part-time?"

"I'm looking for part-time as of now. I might change to full-time in the future, but I would still like to go to college." As I spoke, I threw in believable lies about going to college. There was no way in hell I was actually going to college.

"Alright, what type of hours are you looking for? Something early or later?" Antonio held his hand to his chin as he asked his questions.

"Hmm, part-time only gives a maximum of 39 hours a week, correct?"

"Well, it depends on where you live in the world," Antonio explained. "Some places can only do a maximum of 29 hours a week as part-time. But here, maximum hours are indeed 39."

"Well, I wanted to start with 20 hours a week. If possible, can I have the days be 8 hours each and have the last day only four hours?" As I finished speaking, I saw Antonio thinking.

"I can do that, but you know you'll be working the weekends, right?" I nodded at Antonio. "Good, some people get me tired of arguing about weekends and weekdays."

"I would also be happy to start at 11 a.m. As I would have 8 hours to work, it would allow me to leave at 7 p.m., but how much would I be getting paid?" I had been halfway sidetracked due to finally being able to talk to a normal person.

Anything over 12 an hour was a victory, and anything under 10 an hour was a loss. I had completely forgotten to first ask how much they would be paying.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask. It's 15 dollars an hour, and promotions are available." As Antonio had said 15, I mentally screamed.

'LET'S FUCKING GO!!!!' I screamed internally. I thought I would get fucked over by whatever minimum wage here was, but another victory was under my belt.

"But I pay part-timers weekly instead of biweekly. If you do actually plan on working here, I'll need proof of your diploma, ID, and social security card. We also have a website you can sign in to to see your schedule, or you can just see it inside the store." As Antonio explained, I nodded softly to everything he listed.

"Alright, is there anything else?" I said. I was trying to not be misinformed about anything.

"You'll meet the others when you're actually on shift. If you don't know how to work a register, don't worry; I'll have someone teach you." Antonio took out his phone and showed me a contact. "This is my phone number; you can save me as a contact. I'll contact you in three days, as that's when you'll start working. There should be some uniforms in your size."

Once again, nodding, I saved Antonio's number to my contacts. Once done, I handed Antonio his phone back and stood up.

"Alright, I'm going to be going now." As soon as I finished speaking, Antonio nodded. "By the way, why is the restaurant empty?"

"Oh," Antonio laughed. "That's because we open at 10 a.m., but I come here a little earlier to check up on everything."

My eyes widened at that explanation. "So I was lucky?" I said in an almost amazed tone.

"Yes, you were very lucky. Did you not know? I thought you did." As Antonio spoke, his voice grew a hint of amazement and confusion.

"I didn't, but I'll be leaving now. It was nice talking to you, Antonio." As I began leaving, I saw Antonio nod from the corner of my eye.

I was definitely a lucky bastard.