Fired and Dumped

"George Rudd, what are you doing?" Shouted the manager of the steakhouse, where George worked. "Hurry up and get on with your work. Do you think your family owns this restaurant or something? Standing there while I pay you for doing nothing?"

Hearing his boss' roar, George jumped into action. He immediately picked up the duster, broom, and trashcan and ran over to the manager.

"Right. This, this, and this." The manager pointed. "All these boxes. Hurry up and pack them and get the mess cleared up. Don't even think about getting off work until you've done it all."

But when George had finished tidying everything up and was about to leave the room, the manager pointed at more mess in the next room and said, "The same in all seven dining rooms."

George only had a half hour of his shift left. It would take him at least thrice the time to tidy up all seven dining rooms. He was about to protest, but his boss yelled again in disbelief. "What? If you're not willing to do the work, get out of here. And I won't give you a single cent."

George knew he had no choice. "Sir, don't worry. Of course, you're too important to be bothered with petty stuff like this. I'll do it all. I'll get started right now. And, and I'll finish up all the rooms before ending my shift."

He smiled bitterly as he gave in. He couldn't afford to have worked so many hours and not get paid a single cent. He was still waiting to save up enough of his salary to buy a new smartphone for his girlfriend, Alice Miller.

"Hm. At least you have some sense", said the manager, giving George a final condescending look before walking away.

George got to work cleaning the rest of the rooms. But when he reached the fifth one, he was shocked at how messy it was. His jaw dropped. And he stood looking around at the chaos for a few long moments. He'd always heard that some people made a point of trashing the place when they went out to a restaurant.

"It's true then", he thought in despair. "It was just a meal. How can the room have ended up like this?" He grimes in disdain as he started clearing the leftovers off the table.

Something caught his eye. "Wait, is that a phone over there on the sofa?"

A closer look confirmed that it was a smartphone and it's a brand new one. "Ouch, who can afford to be so careless that they just leave behind something so valuable."

George paused in his work and picked up the phone to admire it up close. Alice had been asking for a new smartphone and had mentioned it many, many times, both in public and in private. He had promised to get one for her as a gift, but it had dragged on for weeks now. And he still hadn't been able to afford it. He was stuck with crappy minimum wage work. He could only barely manage to support himself, let alone by a new smartphone.

But Alice wasn't happy about it. She had been ignoring him for days. The more George thought about it, the more dejected he felt. He had no choice, but to look around for extra work. But even if he toiled day and night, he would often still earn less than $300 a week just to survive on. To buy the kind of phone Alice was after, he would need at least a $1000. He looked at the new smartphone in his hand. He was extremely tempted. It really wouldn't be difficult for him to take it. And if he gave this phone to Alice, she would be thrilled.

"She might even want to be close to me again", George thought, and his heart was filled with joy. "No. What am I thinking? This belongs to someone else who accidentally left it behind."

George had always considered himself to be a young man of integrity. He knew that the person who had lost their phone must be very anxious and he couldn't bring himself to just take it. "No, I'll take it to the front desk," he resolved.

After the initial excitement of finding the phone, reason had returned to overcome greed. George quickly finished cleaning up the room and headed toward the front desk with the phone.

"My phone, he's got my new phone!" A beautiful girl with an amazing figure shrieked, immediately attracting the gaze of everybody nearby.

"Wait, isn't that Maddy? This is her phone?" She was one of the most popular girls at the nearby art school. He held out the phone, awkwardly, walked over and handed it to her.

"This is yours? I just picked it up. And I was about to hand it in at the front desk. But as you're here, I can just give it right back to you."

"Ha! Just picked it up?" She sneered.

"You expect me to believe that? Why did no one else pick it up, only you? Let me see. Admit it. You were trying to steal it, right?" She snatched the phone away from him and wiped it off with a tissue in disdain. Then she continued to insult him loudly in front of everyone.

The restaurant manager was alarmed by the disturbance. He hardly ran over and asked, "What's the matter?"

"You're just in time. He stole my phone, but he won't admit it." Maddy said viciously, pointing at George.

He panicked. Why would she wrongly accuse him so casually? He quickly started trying to explain to his boss. "Uh, sir, I, I didn't steal her phone. I picked it up from the sofa in dining room five. It had been left there. I, I, I was about to hand it in at the front desk."

"Don't listen to his excuses." Maddy said to the manager. "I know this guy. He's a student at Harrison U and he's always struggling for money. This phone is brand new and it's worth over a $1000. He must have been planning to steal it and sell it."

She was determined for him to take the blame. Everyone was looking at George with disdain.

"Maddy, why are you trying to get me in trouble? I, I didn't steal the phone." He said angrily.

She was taking things way too far. Clearly showing his suspicion and mistrust, the manager turned to George with a hint of rage in his eyes.

He proclaimed loudly. "That's it, George. Not only are you a lousy worker, but you're trying to steal from customers. Someone get him out of my restaurant. And don't even think about asking for your pay packet."

"Sir, sir. Please listen to me. I didn't steal her phone. I, I really didn't. Please believe me." George pleaded, as a security guard, came over, grabbed him and pushed him toward the door.

He tried desperately to explain, but the manager didn't want to hear it. He was shoved out of the door by the guard while Mattie watched. Her eyes mocking him. George wanted to go back into the restaurant to clear his name, but the security guard was standing in the doorway, staring at him menacingly. So he had no choice, but to leave in a sorry state.

Ever since graduating high school, George had been cut off by his family and had been made to live independently. To support himself, he had no choice, but to take menial jobs, study diligently and live thrift.

He sighed sorrowfully, "When will things start to get better?"

When George got back to his dorm room, one of his roommates, Matt walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "George, your girlfriend has invited you to meet her out on the football field."

"When?" George was overjoyed, Alice was finally taking the invitation to talk to him. It was such a nice surprise.

"Look at how excited you are. Come on, hurry up and get going." Matt chuckled.

Another roommate, Lex said, "Maybe your little girlfriend has invited you to meet her at the field for a special reason." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I'm going, I'm going. But I'm confused. I really thought Alice would still be in a bad mood with me today."

"Back off Lex," said Matt, who had started the commotion. He was George's closest friend out of all his roommates.

"She picked a place where they can be alone. Let's try and leave him a bit of privacy at least."

But even their fourth roommate, Neil who didn't even join in the banter, added his piece. "Come on. We're all thinking it, right?

From his expression, he seemed to be even more excited than George himself. George laughed shyly.

"All right already. I'll just head over and see her. You're all reading way too much into this. I'm going now. She wants to meet me alone."

He had no idea how to feel about it. At best, they would hold hands. Probably not even kiss. There was zero chance he'd suddenly hit a home run that night. But a guy can always hope. Right? George ran to the field. When he arrived, out of breath, he could see that Alice had been waiting for a long time.

He quickly apologized. "Sorry. I'm late, Alice. I, I promise I'll have enough saved up to buy you that new phone soon. Can we go back to normal now, please? I miss you."

"Buy what? George, you've been talking about buying me a new phone for months. Do you even have any money? Because if you don't have the money to buy it, then stop pretending."

After so many empty promises, Alice lost her cool whenever he mentioned buying the phone. It was such a mess. He nervously tried to take her hand.

"Alice, listen to me. I'm trying my best to save money. I'll definitely be able to buy you a new phone soon. I promise."

"You know what? Don't even bother. I'm breaking up with you." She sneered at his devastated expression.

"Break up? But Alice, I swear, I'll be able to buy the phone for you really soon." His face twisted into a painful grime as he tried desperately to convince her.

"Ah, give it up already. We're done. George, I'm breaking up with you. Don't buy me a phone. I don't want it."

She was getting more and more disgusted with the guy in front of her. She had been playing with him for such a long time. Yet, she hadn't realized that he had been playing with her too. The shame of being made to look like a fool made her feel sick. Seeing her callousness, George tried to convince himself that it was a good thing they were breaking up. But some part of him didn't want to just give her up.

"Babe, can you tell me why you're breaking up with me? Did I do something wrong? I'll change it, whatever it is. I, I promise I'll change." He tried to grab her hand, but she mercilessly shook him off.

"You want to know why? You are a thief, that's why." The story about him stealing Maddy's new smartphone had spread like wildfire around the entire campus.

"I don't want anyone to say that I have a thief for a boyfriend. Stealing things? It's just so embarrassing. George, you've really disappointed me. I'm ashamed of you."

Her words were like lightning striking him. He was left utterly speechless. Seeing that he clearly had nothing else to say, Alice decided to leave. She sighed and shook her head as she turned to go.

"I finally got rid of that poor chump."

"Alice, listen to me. It's, it's not what you think. I didn't steal her phone at all." George shook himself back into action, running after her and trying to grab her hand.

Unable to stand his pestering any longer, Alice snorted and said, "Fine. You want to know the truth? I dumped you because I already have a new boyfriend. And he has plenty of money. In fact, he's super rich. I'm tired of being tied down to a guy who can't even afford to take me out to a nice restaurant. If you know what's good for you, you won't bother me anymore."

"But, but if you hate me so much for being poor, why did you choose to be with me in the first place?" George could not believe this was happening.

"Is she really dumping me because I have no money?"

"Oh, I was with you because you're honest, gullible, easy to play with. And I had you wrapped around my little finger. But now I'm tired of it. I don't want to play anymore."

Her words were like sharp needles, piercing George's heart and making him unable to breathe from the pain. He knew there was nothing more he could do.

"Go then and I won't bother you again." He said softly.

He tried to hide his tears, but his heart felt like the dying embers of a fire as he let go of Alice's hand. As he stood there, helplessly watching her walk away, George's phone buzzed, a text message alert. His eyes widened as he looked at the words on the screen.

"You have earned the right to inherit the family property empire worth billions. A senior staff member is on standby waiting to assist you. Contact (303) 654-323.