Escape from Platform One
There was a power play in action at ‘Glorious Java’ on platform one. Eve, the girl with the Welsh dragon tattoo had had a guts full of Ollie and his twatty ways.
“No I put the milk in.” he stopped just short of slapping her hand away but looked up and smiled at the customer. She looked away and her gaze settled on the ‘Fresh ‘n’ Fruity’ flap jacks on the counter.
“I’ve got an answer.” The song on the radio sang “I am gonna to fly away. What have I got to lose?”
What indeed.
Eve looked past the flap jacks to the people milling round platform one. The same old tired people looking at their phones. Another month older and another month balder. She nodded to Suz the ‘Silurian Security’ guard, but she was in her own little world this morning and didn’t notice Eve. Ollie chewed his lip. He wiped the counter and stole a furtive glance at Eve.
“Where’s the green milk gone?”
She looked around.
“Dunno.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake! Don’t tell me you didn’t get the green milk!”
Eve hated him calling it green milk almost as much as she hated the way he’d go nuclear at the slightest thing. Ollie seemed to pick up on her annoyance and shrugged it off by yawning. He was about to ask her weekend plans and follow it up an invitation but he paused and the voices strangled it.
“Are these muffins gluten free?”
They both turned to see a customer at the counter who managed to look expectant and annoyed at the same time. Eve snapped a smile into place.
“No, but the French Fancies are.”
“You’re such a kiss arse.” he said under her breath.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ll get some green...some full fat milk.” she walked away before he started talking about going to the gym and stretched just to show off what he thought were abs.
On her way to the storage she nodded at the trainspotters and they looked at their feet. Eve picked up a six pack of green milk from the storage.
That should shut him up for a bit.
“Morning Eve.”
“Shit!” she wobbled and one of the green milks tumbled out and began to leak over the floor. ‘Glorious Java’ s Area Manager picked the milk up. They looked at the spill.
“Well, there’s no point crying…” he laughed. Eve joined in though she didn’t know why.
“He’d left after two weeks and she couldn’t remember much about him apart from that he always smelled of fried eggs.”
“I didn’t know you were coming down?”
Greg - the area manager - was an art school drop out who was probably only a few years older than Eve but at times seemed as old as her parents. She’d once caught him smoking a joint late night after a match day when they’d been heaving. He’d been out back by the bins with a hazy smile on his lips. He’d handed it to her and she’d cautiously taken it off him and taken a few puffs. He was okay as managers went.
“I didn’t want to tell Ollie that I was coming down.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, as you know we’ve had a hard time replacing Ken since he left.”
Ken had been the manager of ‘Glorious Java’ when Eve had first joined. He’d left after two weeks and she couldn’t remember much about him apart from that he always smelled of fried eggs. Since then Ollie had slowly began to act as though he was the manager, but the truth was that Eve put in the stock order and cashed up as often as he did.
“Well I’d like to congratulate you on being the new manager of ‘Glorious Java’!”
He put his hand out to shake, she stared at it, then shook it limply.
“But I didn’t apply for it?”
“Well you sorta did, on your original application form in the question ‘Where would you like to be in five years’ you wrote ‘Manager’, so we’re fast tracking you!”
Had she? Were they?
“That wasn’t the only reason. You’re Mystery Shopper scores have been consistently high.”
“Really?”
They both laughed.
Bollocks, I shouldn’t have sounded so shocked.
“Yes, there was an older lady in particular who liked the chat you had about our special blend Caramel latte. The impressive thing about that is that customers never give us feedback unless they’re moaning.”
“It’s not moaning, it’s constructive criticism.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
Eve vaguely remembered the old woman, she’d only yapped to her to annoy Ollie.
Fuck, Ollie.
“What about Ollie?”
A look came over the Greg’s face which was part way between a smile and a grimace.
“Yeah, Ollie, well, his scores haven’t...they weren’t so good, in fact he actually insulated a customer.”
Just the one?
“So with Ollie I was thinking…”
Oh God don’t say you’re going to sack him, he’s a dick but it would destroy him.
Greg shifted from one foot to another as though he was ducking around someone.
“...or, you know, maybe under your management he might improve. You could, I don’t know, put an improvement plan in place?”
“Yeah, I could do that.”
“So you accept?”
Eve looked across at ‘Gorgeous Java’. Ollie had his arms folded and his brow furrowed as a customer talked to him.
“This is a real opportunity. You get a pension bump, a quarterly bonus if the concession meets its targets health care, and of course a pay rise.”
Ollie was was now jabbing a finger in the direction of the frightened customer.
“Yeah I’ll take it.”
Ollie wasn’t happy. How were things going to play out now that Eve was his manager? That wasn’t how it was supposed to play out. It wasn’t fair. He’d been there longer, but he stole a sideways glance at Greg. Ollie sensed that he was on thin ice, so he stood and waited for Eve to turn up for her first shift as manager. He looked up at the station clock. By 10 am they both knew she was never coming back.