TUESDAY

 

“You have to select your bread first, m’am.”

 

“What?”

 

7:45pm. 15 minutes to closing time.

 

Hongbin wants nothing more than to go home and finish watching the nature documentary on penguins he’d started with Sanghyuk last night.

 

But here he was, serving the final customer of the day, a teenager, who he has to address as m’am, even though it’s clear that he’s the older one.

 

And it’s also clear that she has no idea how to order.

 

“You asked for your toppings first, which were turkey, cucumber, onions, lettuce, tomato, sriracha, and pickles,” he lists. “You were supposed to select the bread first.”

 

“Hmm, okay, wow look at all these options. Okay, okay, give me a few minutes.”

 

Hongbin has to deal with this order all by himself. Sanghyuk can’t save him today since he's been put on basement cleaning duty.

 

“Do I have to choose a bread?” she asks as Wonshik emerges from the managing office and tries to stifle a laugh at her question.

 

 

He grabs a broom from the corner so he can casually stay behind and sweep while witnessing how the rest of the order plays out.

 

Hongbin is trying his best to keep a friendly demeanor.

 

 

He says to her, “Yes, you do, it’s essential to the sandwich.”

 

She thinks it over before replying, “Oh, okay.”

 

“Take your time,” he says, regretting it immediately. He turns to Wonshik with an expression that reads, Please kill me, right now. Wonshik merely chuckles.

 

Five more minutes pass.

 

Finally, she points in the general direction of the breads and says, “That one.”

 

“Which one?” Hongbin asks from behind the counter. “I can’t tell which one you’re pointing at.”

 

She rolls her eyes. “The brown one.”

 

Hongbin feels like he could cry.

 

“But, which one?”

 

“That one!”

 

It looks like she’s pointing to the pita bread. Hongbin gingerly reaches for it, and when she doesn’t say anything in opposition, he begins to assemble the sandwich.

 

He’s added everything but the lettuce and sriracha when she speaks up again.

 

“Whoa, isn’t that a lot? Like, for a sandwich, I mean?”

 

Hongbin looks at it. It’s barely full; there’s a lot of room to add more toppings if she’d wanted.

 

He decides against suggesting this, since it would only waste more of his time waiting on her decisions.

 

“No, this is normal,” he replies. Please let me finish so you can pay and leave and I can go home.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes, I am sure.”

 

Hongbin hastily grabs the aluminum foil from behind him and wraps the sandwich up like a present.

 

And it looks beautiful. Not a single scrap of the foil wasted. He should participate in sandwich wrapping contests, if those even existed.

 

“Your total is 7000 won,” he says, handing over the sandwich as the girl fumbles for her wallet and pays.

 

She hands over an extra 1000 note by accident. Hongbin ever so kindly gives it back rather than keeping it for himself.

 

“Have a nice evening!” he calls as she makes her way to the exit.

 

She waves goodbye to him and Wonshik, who says goodbye back as he sweeps underneath the tables.

 

The door opens, closes, and she’s gone.

 

Hongbin sprawls out on the counter, arms spread out like a bird’s wingspan.

 

He has his head down as he lets out a loud “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.”

 

Wonshik drops the broom and lets out a hearty laugh in response to Hongbin's anguish.

 

“What a dunce. I don’t think that person knows how sandwiches work,” he jokes.

 

Sanghyuk comes up from the basement wielding a mop and a bucket. He glances over at Hongbin, then looks at Wonshik, who still has an amused look on his face.

 

He puts the mop in the bucket and sets it down before going to comfort Hongbin.

 

“Rough day, my love?” he asks, rubbing circles on his back with his index finger.

 

“Just a rough last customer,” Hongbin grumbles, still facedown on the counter.

 

He lets out a sigh before finally picking himself up.

 

Hongbin explains, “She asked me if she had to choose a bread. I was like, it’s literally a sandwich, of course you do you imbecile.”

 

“And then she stopped me when she thought I was overstuffing the sandwich. So then I was like, sandwiches are supposed to be stuffed, otherwise what’s the point?” he concludes.

 

Sanghyuk raises an eyebrow.

 

“Seriously? I don't think anyone is that airheaded.”

 

“Honey, believe me,” Hongbin begs. “This actually happened.”

 

He points at Wonshik. “You were there!” he says. “Tell him I’m not making this up!”

 

Wonshik nods. “It was hilarious,” he recalls. “She was so confused!”

 

Sanghyuk reaches over to squeeze Hongbin’s hand.

 

“You always get the difficult ones, don’t you?” he laughs.

 

“So do you,” Hongbin reminds him, squeezing his hand back. “You just handle them better than I do.”

 

 

"I know," Sanghyuk gloats. "But it doesn't matter now, let's just go clean up."

 

//

 

They’re nearly ready to close up for the day when Hakyeon bursts out of the managing office, accompanied by Taekwoon and Jaehwan.

 

“Staff meeting!” he announces. Jaehwan lets out a whoop, and Taekwoon simply nods.

 

 

The other three let out a groan.

 

Staff meetings usually involve moving the restaurant tables around so they form a makeshift conference area, where the six of them discuss matters that involve all of them.

 

 

The last staff meeting was about three months ago, when Hakyeon discovered the bathroom toilet had flooded.

 

He knew for sure it was one of his employees, because "We never blame the customer!” is what he'd made a point of saying.

 

“What if it was a customer?” Hongbin pointed out. “I saw like, three people go in there today.”

 

He paused, then cleared his throat. “Separately, just to confirm.”

 

Hakyeon shoots a glare at Hongbin.

 

“You seem very sure of this. Are you sure you aren't the one who should be held responsible?”

 

“I’m sure! It wasn’t me!”

 

He cro