Stress management

The timer started and everyone was hurrying to get the dishes done. The first customer already came and ordered their food. It had to be quick otherwise the customer would go to another stall. The atmosphere got heated not only from the many blazing fire stoves that were used but also from all the cook themselves who gave their all.

The crowd of customer got more and more. Eira had let several billboards in the city send out the message that she would give out food for free. The customers also could vote for the best food so it was good if they tried as much as possible.

This was also another smart move Eira had thought out with her team to advertise Morgan Noodles.

Because everyone knew that love went through the stomach and being loved by everyone meant for them that they would go to her restaurants more often and would prefer her products over the other ones. She could show the world that with her father gone she still could hold the company up high and wouldn´t let the quality of their products drop.

It was about half of the time where you could slowly see the winner of the battle. Everyone was sweating and panting. The team members tried to push their fellow members to hold on and give it their all. Plates and plates were given out non-stop. None of the customers seemed to complain. They were all truly amazed about the good food. Beside every stall, there was a board where everyone who liked the food could leave a sticker and write some comments. Soon these boards were filled with thousands of praises and comments and a lot of stickers.

Fifteen more minutes and the third round will end. The atmosphere got more tense and fiery that could bring the glass windows to shatter. Just that loaded was the atmosphere.

Suddenly there was a loud clank that resounded in the hall. It could be heard clearly despite the fact that the hall was filled with a lot of noises like people talking to each other. Everyone looked around to locate the source of the noise. Soon it was found out. A big cook shoved a female cook to the ground and threw a handful of food at her.

"What the hell are you doing? Can´t you do anything right? Do you want us to lose? If you don´t have the skills then just drop out of this. Why bother coming hindering other people?" The big cook yelled at her. He then grabbed a pot and dumped it all over her head.

"You break everything you touch and everything you try to cook is just so horrible that we four have to fix all your mistakes. Do you expect us to carry you through this round? Forget it. Don´t drag us down with you and leave. Amateur!"

The female cook who was still kneeling on the floor was littered with food and sobbed quietly. She let her head hung low. She already wanted to do as the cook wanted from her and just bury herself into the ground and never come out when...

At that moment another cook from her own team came and helped her stand up and he tried to get the food off of her with a towel. He was wearing a face mask and he spoke quietly so his words came out a little bit muffled.

"Don´t listen to him. You were a great help. But the next time you shouldn´t worry about others and just concentrate on your own task. You just get distracted." He kindly spoke to her. The female cook heard his kind words and stopped crying. She nodded at him and thanked him gratefully for his help.

Eira had witnessed the whole scene from afar and slowly went nearer. She saw that the whole situation wasn´t entirely resolved yet so she decided to step in.

"You guys should hurry back to work. There is not a lot of time left. After it ends you can quarrel as much as you want. Don´t embarrass yourself in front of your customers." She didn´t wait for all of them to answer her and she just turned around and left them to handle their work again. It wouldn´t be fair if she helped them. That was more then enough she had done.

There were only ten minutes left. Three teams had already finished serving their hundred portions. The next two teams who finished their task would also go into the next round. The competition would end for the other five teams who are left.

The heated atmosphere came to a halt when the timer stopped and a bell rang. The time was over. Only one more team had managed to finish their task. So Eira decided to take another team that was the closest to finish their task.

Eira went to the podium again and grabbed a mic.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Four teams were able to finish the given task. That is team 3, 4, 9 and 10. Good work everyone. Those four teams are going to be in the fourth round of the cooking competition. I would like to give one more team to show it´s true strength even though they were not able to finish the task. BUT there was only ONE portion left that they had to serve and they would have also finished the task. That was really close for this team so I want to give them another chance. And that team is... team 5. Congratulations."

The audience clapped and the member of team 5 looked at each other in disbelief. When the bell rang they were about to give out their hundredths portion. They were truly depressed because of the fact that it was so close. And the big cook that had scolded the female cook before looked at her angrily. She ducked behind the cook with the face mask. Team 5 would have easily get through that round if they hadn´t that happening with the big cook and the female cook. They had already lost their hope when Eira announced that they were given another chance. The female cook who had hidden behind the one with the face mask jumped relieved up and down and back hugged him happily. The other three gave each other a slap on the shoulder. The big cook went to the girl and looked at her.

"This time you were lucky. If we didn´t have made it I would have killed you for that. Remember that. Don´t come near me again. I´ve warned you." He growled at her and then left to celebrate with his other friends.