It Isn't Fair
mailto:asullivan00@comcast.net
It isn't fair.
There's nothing easy about working your way to the top in the fast food business. Oh, maybe whe you own the company or the franchise, you get the respect you deserve. But coming up from the bottom doesn't mean what it used to mean.
When I started here, Mister Devon didn't even see me. I was just another minimum wage counter girl who came and went with the weather. He even spelled my name wrong on my identification badge, calling me "Liza" instead of "Lisa" -- and though it has since become a joke between us, I felt pretty bad at the time.
It took him months to correct it on the schedule, and longer still for him to remember my name, calling me "you", "Sweetheart" or worse when he needed me. I guess there were so many of us coming and going that he had to see a lot of me to finally have me stick in his mind -- or maybe it was the work.
I worked hard everyday and never complained. Even when it wasn't my mess, I cleaned it up. And I never asked for a raise. All the other girls pestered him weekly for more money and over-time. And he always managed to find a way to get rid of them when they insisted. But he kept me, and while my name still eluded him, he came to call me his little pet, often telling me what a good worker I was, and how much he needed me for his business to run well.
Oh, the others tried to be just as important, new people with new ideas, thinking they could just slide right into being his favorite. But they didn't know how and every time they made mistakes, I pointed them out. This only made me look better in the boss' eye. I figured sooner or later he would make me manager and all this graveling would be worth it.
And maybe he never said so in so many words, but when one bitch dared to tell me I wasn't her boss and didn't have to listen to me, the boss came down on her so hard she quit, telling her and everybody they'd better do what I said.
Maybe that was the best of day of my life, all of them looking at me in a new way, like I really want important. Sure some cursed under their breath, calling me ugly names. But not one said it to my face or refused to do what I told them.
That is until today when they all heard the news. Mr. Devon had sold the store. And when the new owner walked in, he didn't even see me, and on the new name tags he put "Liza" instead of "Lisa."
I tell you, it isn't fair!