GINA

If exhausted was a noun, I would be the perfect example to show for it. I was drained; my bones were aching and it seemed as if my blood had clotted and it wasn't flowing again. Worse of all, with the number of people still coming in through the double glass doors of the restaurant where I worked and which was buzzing with noise as if it was noon and not five pm, it seemed like I was not going home anytime soon.

"What are you doing relaxing on the kitchen door, Gina Georgia?"

I turned around quickly to see the five foot thick black-skinned Mr Smith who happened to be my manager.

I quickly stood at alert. My body was already aching; so I could not afford one hour ranting from Mr Smith which I knew was bound to come if he for any moment thought I was not being alert at my job..

"I was waiting for the chefs to serve the orders I have given to them so I could serve our customers" I quickly said.

For a moment, he looked at me looking for another complaint to pick on so he could still get to do his one hour ranting but having found none, he said, "Get serious with work."

Oh please.

With a stiff smile plastered on my face, I watched him strode to his office before reclining back on the kitchen doorway before I would be called to get my orders.

Okay, I didn't hate my job here, at least not that much.

In fact, I enjoyed asking customers what they would love to eat, then watch them bend their head over the menu deliberating on what to choose or asking their partners what was their best choice,, then serve them the food with a generous smile while expecting my tips that most of the time always came because my service was top-notch.

I enjoyed building friendships with many of the regular customers. From the years of working here, I knew most of their special events such as birthdays and anniversaries because their family would come and ask us for a way to make them feel special on those days. I was good at granting those kinds of requests and it gladdens my heart when they beamed their gratitude with so much energy to me. It made me happy when I could make other people have smiles on their faces. The children loved me. The parents were grateful for me. Couples and Singles praised my abilities any time they came here. It was cool serving them and becoming their friends.

I enjoyed the camaraderie between the staff. I knew most of the staff family members by their first name because of the easy friendship we have cultivated in the space of four years I have been working here. From the chefs to the doormen, everyone looked out for one another and saved each other's asses if any one of us needed it.

Besides Mr Smith of course. That stuffy man who would rather complain than actually do his job was the only staff in this restaurant I could not relate with.

I bet that was the main reason he was still single even though it was clear by his balding head and fixed frown that he going to his fifties. Who would really want to date the nan and manage his overbearing nature.

What I certainly didn't enjoy was the fact that Kings Restaurant was understaffed despite them having the reputation of being one of the best restaurants in Trenton. The reputation of course made them to have a lot of customers coming into the restaurant to enjoy excellent food services.

It was absurd to me how a restaurant like this that had at least one hundred customers coming in every day boasted of only three waiters to attend to the customers' needs.

They also had just five chefs to cook the variety of meals they serve their customers every single day. It was crazy.

Worse of it all, On Fridays which was actually today, they would do a twenty percent discount on the prices of all their meals making the restaurant literally turn into a market place. But did they add any more staff to come help out with the busy day?

No. Which was the reason I was so drained like overcooked noodles today.

I didn't know why the management board making these decisions of recruiting staff was this inconsiderate but I could bet my year salary that Mr Smith had a whole lot to contribute to it.

That short greedy talkative.

The pay was cool though. I don't know how I would have been affording my mum bills at the nursing home otherwise. Or assist my boyfriend, Ken Harrison, financially since he got laid off from work at the construction site four months ago.

We have been dating for six months now and he seemed like a really nice guy.

After all I had been through with guys, it was nice having a supportive and loyal boyfriend for a change. So the fact that he was presently unemployed was not going to make me love him less, not when he had made me really feel special in the last six months

That was why I was still at the job. The great pay was why most of us were still at the restaurant working our asses off everyday despite the fact that it was seriously understaffed.

As Chef Mike, one of the veteran chefs in the restaurant called out my name so I could get the meals I had given them orders for, I prayed silently for 6PM to come quicker than a bolt of lightning so I could go home and pull out my sweaty clothes.

I balanced the tray of food on my right hand as I told myself "One more hour. One more hour to go and you can pamper yourself with a glass of wine from that Merlot bottle that is in your fridge, Gina" then went back into the dining area to do my work.

It was going to be one long hour indeed.