Monkey tied her long blue antennae back to get them out of the way.  She needed to make sure nothing could be in her way when she fried chicken. As she finishes frying, Monkey’s mother slithers into the kitchen looking worried. 

“Monkey, we need to talk.”

“What is it, Mom?”

“The shop isn’t doing so well, we need another source of income.”

Monkey’s mom was the one who managed all the finances of the fried chicken shop. 

“Considering how Dad is still waiting for more customers tells me he doesn’t know yet,”  Monkey says dejectedly. 

“That’s right, you know your father wants you to get out there and be more independent, and I think so too. The shop is going down anyway, you should find another job.”

Monkey nods. She’ll do anything to help her family. 

“You’re going to get a job?” says Monkey’s father excitedly. He was excited for her to leave and work outside of the shell for the first time. Monkey managed to get a waitress job at a fancy restaurant across town. It’s known for its good food and service.

 The first time Monkey walked in, the place was littered with electrically powered candles giving the area a bright aura. The skylight shone brightly in the sun and looked sparkly clean, blinding Monkey even further. The restaurant didn’t open until six, so she had almost all day to learn. Shelby, the other waitress snail she met, taught her everything by opening time. 

The first group she waited for was a total disaster. They told Monkey that they could not eat strawberries since they were allergic.

“Not a problem since most of the items on the menu are strawberry-free anyway, I will make sure to contact the chef and tell him to be extra careful though,” Monkey said.

“Alright, in that case, could I get the strawberry tuna salad?”

“What?”

“Oh and add three strawberry lemonades to that too.”

“Excuse me? I thought you couldn’t eat strawberries.”

“That’s correct, could you go get our food now?”

“Ma’am, if you cannot eat strawberries, you would have to remove the strawberries in the salad, resulting in a regular tuna salad. You could order that instead and it’s much cheaper too.

“Do you think we’re poor? I want no changes in my order!”

Back and forth they went, Monkey tried her best to reason with them but they hit her with the “Customer is always right!”, a phrase Shelbly told her was absolutely necessary to follow. Reluctantly, Monkey got the customers the strawberry tuna salad and the three strawberry lemonades. Around five minutes later, the manager, Sheldon, informs Monkey that the customers she just served have died from the strawberries in their food.

“Those customers were undercover spies from our rival restaurant across town. If they gotten their hands on our secret recipe…we would go bankrupt. We managed to discreetly move the bodies out of the restaurant. We don’t know how to repay you,” Sheldon says.

It seems like he did know how since he handed her a check with a lot of money on it. More than enough to have some renovations at the fried chicken shop. Although Monkey didn’t know what was going on, she gladly took the money.

“Also, you’re fired. We can’t have anyone knowing about this incident besides us. I’ll trust the check is enough to keep you quiet?” whispered Sheldon.

“More than enough” grinned Monkey. Then she made her way home to tell her parents the good news.