The Birthday Banquet

The girls had their conversation after the large number of customers had their fill, as expected, there were students giggling and ordering their best sellers, waffles, fries, the hamburgers and some even ordered for take outs.

"So what's the job about this time?", Audrey asked, " well, it's in two days, it's the birthday banquet of the governor, it's supposed to go down at the big hall off the sixth Street", Prisca said , "you mean mercy hall?", Audrey asked just to be sure, " yupp thats the one!", Prisca confirmed, "the hall is big and expensive, the governor sure has lots of money!", Audrey said surprised that anyone could afford the hall.

Mercy hall was very big, at least that's what the exterior explained to people, they hadn't gone inside before but they were sure that by the design on the exterior, the interior would be very beautiful.

" Rumor has it that the banquet is not the only thing they're celebrating that night, it's also like a get together for rich people, imagine we impress one of those rich people there, we could get the big bag!!", Prisca said elated.

"Well, we better be there, but how's the pay gonna be?", " why did you think I would be so nervous to involve you anyways. Well the banquet is gonna be full with rich people, when they make donations, a certain percentage is given to the workers!", "the amount they're going to make as donations!!".

Audrey and Prisca went more into details, they reasoned that they were volunteering to be waitresses, going about serving drinks in their ridiculous uniforms, and the trays!

Two days passed by in a flash, Prisca and Audrey doing the same routine, which involved the occasional gisting, Prisca was happy for her friend, she was slowly coming out of her shell, the girls were ecstatic about their new jobs.

Prisca's friend had told them to go earlier than eight o'clock which the banquet starts. So it was no surprise the girls went three hours before, just so they would get enough information as they were briefed.

The hall was even bigger than Audrey had expected, the walls on the outside weren't plastered, they were made out of beautifully arranged red bricks. The workers had already started giving the outside a few decorations, nothing too much but enough to signify that the hall was about to be packed with wealth.

The girls were even stunned to find how fast the hall was being filled by people like them, people who were there for the job. When the girls had their fill just looking at the beautifully decorated hall, they walked up to someone they identified as the decorators, " hello!", Prisca said in an attempt to call out for the man's attention.

"Please we're here for the jobs of the waitresses, do you know where we would be briefed?", Audrey asked in a polite tone, " ohhh, look at that door", he said pointing at a door right behind them, "you go in there and then youll see the rest of the waitresses", " thank you!", the girls exclaimed in unison.

With clammy hands Prisca turned to open the door before it was pulled from the other side, Audrey gave her a look, "come on, I'm so nervous, look my palms are sweaty!", Prisca said raising her hands to show that she was nervous.

The duo walked in to find that they were the last to go in, the seats were occupied with men and women, they quickly occupied the empty seats. Just then, a woman who looked like she was in her late fifties came through the door which Audrey and Prisca came through.

She walked with the same person who opened the door from the inside when Audrey and Prisca were going in, the other person seemed like her assistant.

" Well, this should be all right?", she asked facing the other person she entered with, after the person nodded, she continued," okay, it's no secret why you are all here, its obviously for the job. I'm Mrs Raquelle and I'm the one in charge of getting the waiters and waitresses in order.

There will be uniforms you have to wear to indicate that you serve the drinks, now, there are some rules, no talking on the job, for obvious reasons, these aich people have attitude problems. You must not be caught slacking, you can't talk back to them, for the evening, just do whatever they want, the governor really wants to impress them, and most of all make your presence the least bit noticed, if they pick on you, your lucky star better be wide awake cause there's no one coming to save you!".

"Do I make myself clear?", Mrs Raquelle said, " yes ma'am!!", the gathering said in unison. "Your pays will be handed to you as soon as the party's over, now get your uniforms and know the drinks , also try to familiarise yourself with the building", Mrs Raquelle said before everybody followed her assistant.

The hall was big so the girls came up with the perfect solution, to stick together. After their plan which seemed like it was most likely to work, Audrey and Prisca had little chats with the familiar faces before they went on with knowing the hall properly.

Minutes later, just an hour before the banquet was to start, some of the increased workers were taken to something that looked like a locker room, there they were assigned different lockers to put their stuff. The male and female lockers were different which gave the workers the privacy they needed to change, each had their keys with them as they stepped out to help with the final arrangements.

Different types of snacks were brought to a specified art of the hall, along with the beautiful makeshift bar where the waiters and waitresses were going to get the drinks. The banquet was no secret, but the duo was shocked to see the turn out of paparazzi.

Some of the government officials came minutes to the banquet to ensure that everything was in order, they were particularly satisfied with the decorations and seating arrangements.