SETTING: Khi Mao Kitchen
SCENE: Casual Thai FSR
LOCATION: Strip-mall, Suburbs
DAY: Thursday
TIME: Evening
FOH STAFF: Manager, Expo GUESTS: Liz, Nate, Gabby
************A brief take-out rush before the evening's dine-in crowd arrives. The restaurant’s phone pulses at intermittent 4 ring bursts as two tablets chime incessantly from incoming orders. The Manager is busy quarterbacking all call-in, online, and walk-in takeout orders when Nate props himself up on a barstool, his mother Liz trailing within earshot on speakerphone.
Manager (M): Hello.
Liz (L): Yes. I called yesterday. Picking up a catering order. Should be under Betty or Beth.
Nate (N): It's my birthday. Wanna know how old I am?
M: Hmm…{He toggles through unpaid orders on the handheld POS.} I have a 7 o'clock. For Liza? Six Pad Thai’s with chicken and 8….
{The manager leans around the corner, poking his head into the kitchen.}
M: Can you have the kitchen start this?
Expo (E): She’s here? Thought it was for 7.
M: Yeah. Super early. And she was supposed to call back to confirm. Which she never did. So take your time. Don’t rush it.
E: Six orders of basic white bitch. Shouldn’t take long. Maybe like 10, 15 minutes.
{The manager swings back around to the register and hands Liz a tray with her itemized receipt.}
M: Almost ready. Kitchen’s working on it right now. Got them rushing it for you. Think we’re just waiting on the Dumplings, so it shouldn't be too much longer. Maybe give us like 5, 10 minutes.
N: Because it’s my birthday, I got to pick the restaurant.
{Liz pulls out a stack of credit cards from her open wallet and shuffles through them like a deck of cards. After shuffling the deck twice, she pulls a card from her back pocket flippantly tossing it on to the receipt tray.}
L: Yes you did hon. We told him he could get takeout from anywhere and he insisted we eat here. Khi Mao Kitchen’s his favorite. He just loves your Pad Thai.
N: And the dumplings. You ordered dumplings, right mommy?
L: Yes. Dumplings too.
N: I made a song about them. {Nathan starts humming loudly.}
L: He did. He's been singing it all morning. My little songbird. Nathan, why don't you sing it for the nice man while mommy powders her nose? keyboard_arrow_down
After being charged, Liz abruptly signs and races to the restroom, leaving behind her crumpled receipt, credit card, and Nate. Left unattended, Nate paws at the unwrapped cocktail straws in the caddy on top of the bar.
N: Do you want to hear my song?
M: Nah. I think I'm good, buddy.
{Gabby enters the restaurant and approaches the bar.}
M: Hello. Are you picking up?
Gabby (G): No. I Need to place an order.
M: For to go? Do you need a menu?
{The Manager slides the menu out from under Nate's prying hands and over toward Gabby.}
G: No. I already know. Crispy rolls and two crab rangoon
M: And that's everything. Ok. It'll be $21.95.
{Gabby is at the ready, her debit card in hand. But a chip read error stalls the manager at the register giving Nate enough pause to burden Gabby with his presence.}
N: Hello, I’m Nathan. But only my mom calls me that. Most people just call me Nate. What's your name?
G: Hi. My name? It’s Gabriela. But most people just call me Gabby.
N: I was 9 years old, but I turned 10 earlier today.
G: Oh really? Today’s your birthday?
N: At 6:44 am.
G: Happy birthday.
N: My Mommy's in the bathroom. She took the day off work, but I still had to go to school. On MY birthday. It's not fair.
G: But school's not so bad when it's your birthday. And your mommy probably needed time to get ready for your party.
N: Yeah. She needed to be home to let in the cleaning ladies and the decorators, but we still had to pick up the food and my cake. keyboard_arrow_down
N: Whose house do YOU clean? N: Whose house do YOU clean?
With his mouth and eyes wide open in shock, the manager finally processes her payment and hands Gabby her card with the receipt. He then quickly exits into the kitchen to help finish packing Liz’s catering order wishing that he had actually rushed it.
M: Is that catering order almost ready? I know I said don’t rush. But let's hurry it up. I wanna get this lil racist in training out of here.
E: What?
M: The mom left him unattended, and he asks the Hispanic lady at the bar whose house she cleans.
E: What the fuck?!?
M: Yeah. My jaw about dropped.
E: Just waiting on dumplings.
M: Can I take these two bags?
E: Yeah. I’ll follow with the rest.
{Liz and Nate are chatting with Gabby at the bar as the Manager hands Liz two of her bags.}
M: It's four bags. Here's the first two.
L: Ok birthday boy. You stay here with Gab-Gab while I bring these out. And I'll come back for the rest.
{The Expo turns the corner and places the last two bags on the bar.}
G: Oh no. I can help you. Let me help.
L: Are you sure? Thank you so much. That's so kind. Thank you.
{After carrying two bags to Liz's car, Gabby waves goodbye smiling as she heads back to the restaurant. The Manager walks upfront and hands Gabby’s takeout order to her as she enters the front door.}
M: You're all set. I appreciate you.
{The Expo grins waiting behind the bar as the Manager returns.}
E: She helped them to their car?
M: Yeah. Luckily, I think she did actually clean houses but shit man. Lil fuckn racist.
E: Someone needs to tell parents; no one thinks your kid is cute but you. Fuckn animals.
