The Grown Up
Date Published: February 20, 2022, 2:00pm
Written By: THAT_Pink_Blanket
Prompt: write about meeting a special someone
Disclaimer: Even though this is not an ABDL story, it may still contain elements of forced humiliation.
Drinks clattered as Torrence clumsily balanced them on the platter. *Why do they want me to carry so many?*She asked herself. She looked around nervously at the customers at the tables she was servicing. Most of them wore angry frowns. Carefully, she shifted the platter and tried to make her way to the table.
“What’s taking so long? Where is my order?!” A voice suddenly shouted.
Torrence looked at the table where the voice was coming from. This man’s table was assigned to someone else, at least she thought. Briefly, she stood still debating whether or not to address the irate customer and calm him down long enough for her coworker to address his concerns. Sheknewthey told her something about this during training, but she just couldn’t think of it right now!
“Clack! clack!” Her attention was pulled from the yelling man back to her platter of drinks. One glass was leaning against the others and threatening to spill. She needed both hands to balance the platter, so she couldn’t adjust it. The only solution she could come up with was to continue walking slowly to the table so that the drinks wouldn’t spill. Shereallydidn’t want to get in trouble.
“Clack!” The drink balanced precariously against the others and swayed as Torrence carefully crept to the tables that ordered them.Just a little further.
“Hey! Idiot! I’m talking to you! Where’s my food?!” the man from earlier yelled. The sound startled her, and she jumped, and the glass that was loosely balanced against the others toppled over, taking the other glasses with it. Torrence gaped as the glasses collapsed like a chain of dominoes, spilling their contents onto the platter and clattering to the floor with a loud shatter. The whole thing was over in seconds, and Torrence was left with shattered glass and spilled drinks at her feet.
“What is going on here?!” a voice suddenly yelled.
Torrence looked up to see the cold dead gaze of her manager. “I…um…I…” she stammered.
“What the hell did you do?!” her boss shouted.
“It…it…was…” Torrence struggled to get her mouth to form words. She was so nervous and upset that she didn’t know what she could say to get out of it. “I… was…just…”
“Sam? Are you the manager?” the man who was yelling from earlier asked.
The manager turned to the customer. “Yes, I am, sir, how may I help you?” Torrence gave a silent sigh of relief.At least I’m not the only one in troubleshe thought.
“I’ve been waiting on my food for over an hour!” the man complained.
Torrence looked back up to see her boss glaring at her. “You’re fired! Return the uniform and collect your things!” The news hit her like a punch in the gut.
“But…why?!” she asked.
The manager took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Torrence winced a little and instinctively braced herself. Her manager looked so mad that she thought she was going to get hurt. “Let’s see. You went against company policy, destroyed several pieces of glassware, and spilled my customers’ drinks. The floor is still dirty, which means you didn’t clean it like I asked you to, and…” The manager took a pause and placed a hand on Torrence’s face, turning her head to the man who was just staring with an angry look on his face. “This customer has been waiting for over an hour for his order!” The manager almost screamed the last part.
Torrence winced at the harsh words coming out of her manager’s mouth. This whole thing was a mess. Why did she even decide to work here? She hadn’t been able to do this job since day one. Every day was filled with a new humiliation, misunderstanding, or foolish mistake! What was wrong with her?! Tears started running down her cheeks, but no one showed her any sympathy.
“Bah! You coddled lazy bones!” the man shouted. “Really, Sam, I don’t know why you insist on hiring these lazy kids who don’t even want to work,” the man said while looking at the manager.
“I really didn’t know she was that lazy,” the manager said in an even tone.
Torrence gave a surprised scoff and tried to dry her tears. “I’m not lazy!” she yelled angrily.
The manager whipped around. “You’re fired. Get out of here before I call the police on you!”
Torrence hung her head and turned to leave. She couldn’t believe how her boss was treating her! Didn’t she deserve love and respect like any other human being? Why was he yelling at her and threatening to call the police? A hearty deriding laugh was heard from the table where the man was sitting. “Way to go, Sam! Way to go!”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get your order, Mr. Hendricks,” the manager apologized.
“Just make sure you hire better service from now on, okay?” the man said.
A few small tears ran down her face unnoticed as she took the walk of shame to the back of the kitchen to collect her things.
“Oh, look who it is! It’s the weird girl. Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in college? How come you can’t keep up with us teenagers?” one of her teenage coworkers asked.
She raised an eyebrow and tried to give him a glare, exposing her red puffy eyes in the process.
“Oh look! Somebody’s been crying! What’s a matter? Did the boss finally find out what a lazy little girl you are?” another one of her coworkers, a teen girl, loudly asked.
“None of your business!” she spat angrily.
“Wow…nice comeback,” the teen girl said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and gave a mocking laugh.
Torrence kept her head down and tried to ignore them.
“The boss just fired her, didn’t he?” one of her coworkers asked.
“About time! Seems like they’ll let anyone work in the fast-food industry these days!” the girl said with a jeer.
Torrence bristled in anger and annoyance as she listened to her coworkers talk about her like she wasn’t even there. She had no idea why they hated her as much as they acted like they did, but it was like this since her second week of work. All of her younger coworkers suddenly decided to turn on her, making up rumors, accusing her of being on drugs, trying to get her in trouble with her boss, and generally working to make her life miserable. She let out a sigh as she sat frozen in anger. Why did the world hate her?
“What’s wrong? Did the boss finally find your drugs?” the girl asked. Her voice carried a tone of mock concern.
Torrence looked up and narrowed her eyes at the girl taunting her. “I’m not on drugs!” she said angrily.
“Your actions speak louder than words,” the girl said in a soft sing-song voice while wagging her finger.
“Like, why would you suddenly yell at your coworkers for no reason if you weren’t doing drugs?” Another one of her clueless teenage coworkers asked.
“Thank you!” the girl who was originally taunting her said, crossing her arms like she’d made a point.
Torrence made an angry noise and put her wallet in her purse. She then stuck her nose in the air and walked to the office to remove her apron and log her hours so that she’d at least get a final paycheck.
Her immature coworkers giggled and joked in the background.
“I don’t understand people like that. I mean, she’s supposed to be an adult!”
“If I ever grow up to be an adult like that, please, just kill me, okay?”
“Definitely!”
Torrence returned to her basement apartment and plopped herself on the couch. She reached for the remote to turn on the TV and dropped it when she heard a knock on the door.
“Jenny? Jenny? Are you in here?” the voice of an old woman said.
The college student rolled her eyes. It was her land lord’s geriatric mother. She was probably suffering from dementia or something.
“No, I’m not Jenny! I’m Torrence!” she yelled in annoyance.
“Oh? Jenny’s rented this room out?” the old lady asked.
Torrence didn’t say anything.
“Have you been keeping the apartment clean?” the woman asked.
Torrence looked around to see school papers piled on the floor next to empty pizza boxes, laundry, and various bits of clutter. She rolled her eyes to herself and hoped that no one would come in.
“Inspection’s not until Tuesday!” she yelled. That was a lie. Room inspections weren’t even mentioned in her contract. She assumed an inspection would be a violation of her privacy. She just wanted the old woman to leave her alone.
“Inspection? What inspection? It’s my house, young lady, I can come and go when and where I want to!” the woman yelled. The time she sounded oddly authoritative.
“I’m renting the room!” Torrence shot back.
“Wrong answer!” The next thing she heard were keys jangling. She froze and thought about trying to hide as the doorknob turned. The door swung open, and a very elderly woman appeared in the doorway. “What is all of this?!” the woman asked, motioning to the mess on the floor and around the room.
Torrence flashed a nervous smile. “I…can explain?”
“No need. Just you wait until Jenny finds out what you did. She’ll have you out on your ears!”
“But…I need a place to say!” Torrence said.
“Too bad. You should have thought about that before you decided to leave the place looking like a pigsty!” the old woman said.
“But…I…” Torrence started to say something but couldn’t really make an argument.
“I mean the nerve of you kids! Lazy, good-for-nothings, probably on drugs!”
Something snapped in Torrence when the lady mentioned the high school girls’ familiar accusation. She imagined herself yelling and screaming and telling the woman off. Instead, what left her mouth was an agitated whimper. “I.m…not…on…drugs…I’m…not…” she whispered between sobs.
“Oh, don’t you try that with me! Do you think I believe an able-bodied young lady would keep her room like this without being on some kind of illicit substances?” the woman asked.
“It’s true! I’ve been really busy with college. That’s the only reason I–”
“I bet you’re failing,” the woman said dismissively.
“No, I’m–” Torrence cut herself off. She actuallywashaving trouble in a few of her classes, but it wasn’t because she was a slacker or a druggie. The girl sniffled and a tiny tear ran down her cheek.
“Enough of this,” the woman said dismissively. “Do you honestly think that all you have to do is cry to solve your problems?! You’re acting like more of a child than my four-year-old granddaughter!”
Torrence winced at the accusation of acting like a child. That was about as bad as being on drugs, at least to her. She sat still frozen in frustration and anger as she let more tears fall. This really wasn’t her fault. Why couldn’t this old hag see that?
The old woman turned to leave and then turned back to Torrence with a sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the grandmother in me, but…Iwillgive you a second chance. Have this room spotless by dinner time, and I won’t tell my daughter about this mess you’ve made.”
Torrence dried her tears and quickly nodded her head. “Yes, ma’am,” she said.
“That gives you until eight o’clock sharp. That’s in four hours. If it’s not clean by then, pack your bags!” The girl nodded her head slowly in agreement before looking back to see the woman’s stern glare. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get to cleaning, now!” the woman yelled.
Torrence flinched at the woman’s shrill voice and quickly hopped off of the couch and started picking up empty boxes as she heard the door slam shut. She looked up and saw that the woman had left the room. She let out a sigh of relief and continued to clean up the obvious clutter. She put the pizza boxes into a large garbage bag she had hidden in the closet. They weren’t an issue, except they were bulky and took up a lot of room. The real challenge was the papers. Most of them were graded papers, but some of them she might need to look over for an upcoming test, so she spent most of the time she was supposed to be cleaning sorting through them one by one so that she didn’t accidentally throw away something she needed.
She was still busy putting away papers when there was another knock at the door. “Dinner! I hope you were able to complete the—” Torrence looked up at the sound of the voice to see the old woman standing in the doorway, hands on her hips. She scoffed as she looked around the room. “This willnotdo,” she said.
Torrence was still holding a stack of papers.
(incomplete at this time)