第六章 高峰周末

Lucas thought that there were already many customers at ordinary times. It was not until the weekend that he understood what "peak" meant.

At ten o'clock on Saturday morning, the milk tea shop was not even open yet, but more than a dozen people were already queuing at the door. Sister Wang said that there was a "second cup half price" promotion this weekend, so there would be even more people.

"It's going to be busy today," Jie said. "You're in charge of taking orders and packaging, and I'll make the milk tea. We'll cooperate."

"Okay." Lucas nodded, his palms slightly sweating.

As soon as the door opened, customers flooded in.

"I want two cups of mango pomelo sago!"

"A glass of lemonade, no ice!"

"Three cups of bubble tea, two with sugar, one without sugar!"

Lucas was taking notes and shouting at the same time, so busy that his feet barely touched the ground. The notebook in his hand was filled with writing, and the characters became messier and messier.

"Is my milk tea ready? I've been waiting for ten minutes!" a boy shouted at the counter.

"Coming right up! Coming right up!" Lucas said.

But he didn't know how long "soon" was. Orders came one after another, and he could barely keep up.

Jie leaned over and said to the customer with a smile, "Your order will be ready soon. If you wait two more minutes, I'll add a serving of tapioca pearls for free."

The boy's expression improved a little: "Alright."

Lucas said to Jie in a low voice: "Thank you. I didn't even know what to say just now."

"Being urged is normal," Jie said. "When customers are anxious, apologize first, then tell them the time. Don't panic; the more panicked you are, the messier it gets."

The peak period lasted until two o'clock in the afternoon.

Lucas and Jie gradually developed a tacit understanding. As soon as Jie finished a cup and called out, Lucas would bag it, insert a straw, and hand it to the customer.

"Your milk tea," Lucas said again and again.

Sometimes he was so busy that he didn't even have time to lift his head.

In the middle of it all, there was a small incident. A lady's milk tea was wrong; the toppings inside were incorrect.

"This isn't what I ordered," the lady said.

Lucas took a look and indeed had handed the wrong one. He quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, I got it wrong. Wait a moment, I'll change it for you right away."

Jie made a new one in a few quick moves.

"Here you are, sorry about that." Lucas handed it over.

The lady didn't say anything, took it and left.

At four in the afternoon, Lucas got off work. He took off his apron, sat on a small stool behind the store, and didn't want to move at all.

Both legs were sore and swollen, and his voice was a bit hoarse.

"Tired, huh?" Jie had also gotten off work and handed him a bottle of water.

"I'm exhausted," Lucas said.

"But I made it through." Lucas said with a smile.

Jie also laughed: "Well done. First time handling the peak, everything went smoothly. You're impressive."

Back at the dormitory in the evening, Lucas lay on the bed and sent a message to his mother:

"Mom, it was the weekend today, and the store was especially busy. I handled many orders by myself. Although I'm tired, everything went smoothly."

Mom quickly replied with a big smiley face.

Lucas turned over.

Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.