Getting hot at the coffee shop

6

“Knock knock.”

I tapped on the door that opened to Christopher’s office, waiting for him to call out before entering.

“Shannon” he smiled at me “how are you doing today?” He folded his hands together, the smile never leaving his face.

“Well, I tried to clock in but it rejected my username and password and showed it as invalid. Leo tried it too but it did the same for him.”

I knew it wasn’t necessary to tell him Leo attempted it as well, but I wanted him to know that it wasn’t a mistake on my part.

His smile vanished for a moment as he pulled the laptop in front of him closer.

“Give me just a moment and I’ll get you into the system. I put it in last night but it periodically updates so it may have messed that up.”

I watched as he tapped a few more keys and then with one final loud tap, he looked up at me seemingly pleased.

“Now there” he smiled up at me “I got you in the system.”

“Thank you” I told him and turned to leave but he stopped me.

“Come have a seat and chat with me for a few minutes.”

I hesitated with my hand on the knob half turned to open.

“Oh, I haven’t even clocked in and I was supposed to start training at eight. Leo is going to be angry.”

He waved it off and stood up, hand held out to the seat in front of the desk.

“I already clocked you in and backed the time up to eight so it wouldn’t show you as late. I know every minute counts and I don’t want your paycheck getting messed up because of a system error that was out of your control.”

How nice of him. I hadn’t even thought to ask him about backing the time up; I only wanted to make sure I was clocked in and that I could get into the system from now on.

“Thank you so much” I practically gushed as I took the seat he was gesturing to. “I don’t want to be a problem.”

“Nonsense” he told me “and as for Leo-“ his brow furrowed a bit “he’s a good worker but a bit gruff sometimes. He’s going to train you but you let me know if it becomes too much to deal with.”

Too much to deal with? What did he mean by that? Was Leo really that bad? I already knew he wasn’t a ray of sunshine but surely I could handle working with him.

“Too much to deal with?” I echoed back at him.

“Yeah. Sometimes he gets a bee up his butt if things aren’t done the way he thinks they should be. He’s even gotten that way with me when I’ve had to cover shifts for former employees.” He raised his eyebrows at me as if to show me how serious he was.

Wow this was crazy. Most people would’ve been fired for trying to boss their manager around. Or at the very least they would’ve had a write up. Maybe things were different here.

“Has he worked here long?” I asked.

“The longest of any of my employees.” He twisted a pencil between fingers as he spoke.

Maybe that was it. Sometimes management overlooked assholes as long as they showed up,

“Well I guess I’ll do my best to not get on his bad side” I smiled at him.

I was already on Leo’s bad side but I didn’t want to tell Christopher that just yet.

“I guess I better go ahead and get out there” I said standing up “before the rush gets here.” As if I knew when that would happen.

“Come back anytime.” He told me as I slipped out the door.