"Yang, I'm so-"
"It's fine." The blonde shrugged and smiled, unbuckling her belt. "You're right. Let's get on with this."
It didn't take them long to get changed, and the uniforms fit as well as expected. Weiss had purchased them from the best, of course. She just wished the shop hadn't quite been so liberal with the expanses of skin.
"What the hell, Weiss. Did you buy these from a sex shop?" "No!" she denied, bright red in the face. "Don't be ridiculous. These are normal maid outfits." Weiss tugged down at the skirt of hers regardless, wishing it was just a little longer. In truth, it was no shorter than what she wore normally and actually reached her knees, but a combat skirt felt different somehow. The material she wore now was a mixture of black and white, with the occasional frill and bow for ornamental purposes. There was near the collar, leaving their shoulders bare.
She didn't think it had looked like that when she'd checked the catalogue, but to be fair they'd been in a rush and there hadn't been much time to think about it.
"There are leggings if you want them," she said, nodding to the other box. Ruby had already taken out a black pair of tights and pulled them on. Weiss took a white set in contrast, though Blake and Yang seemed content to go bare-legged.
"I swear to God, Weiss," Yang warned. "If I end up on some kind of website…"
"You won't, and besides, this is normal maid ware for Vale. I bought them from a company that supplies to some of the biggest restaurants and cafés in the city." The quality was reflected in the material and fit, which despite its rather revealing nature was still comfortable and warm. They hadn't been cheap.
"I suppose this is the appeal for the customers," Blake said, sighing. "It's not like we can back out now. We dug our bed."
"Yang did," Weiss prodded.
"It was you who got the uniforms!" Blake interposed herself between the two before the argument could get any worse. "How about we don't start a fight in someone else's apartment," she said. "Not unless we want to be working here for even longer to pay off the damage."
"Good point." Yang sighed and stepped back.
"I'm not even sure why you're complaining," Weiss added. "The skirts are longer than our school uniform and you wear spandex shorts normally. This is practically conservative for you."
"Yeah, but this is a maid outfit." Yang's face twisted unpleasantly. "Argh, whatever. It's all to make more tips, right? I'm fine so long as it's to pay off my mistake. Not like I have to keep wearing this in the future. What do you think, Rubes?"
"I like it," Ruby giggled, twirling in place. Yang rolled her eyes. "You would. Okay, fine, whatever. You guys ready to kick ass?"
"Do you think we will?" Blake asked. "I've never worked in a place like this before."
"How hard can it be? People tell you what they want and you deliver it to them."
"It doesn't sound hard," Ruby said. "Maybe it's just hard for Jaune because there's only one of him. It'll be easy with all four of us."
Weiss couldn't help but agree, even if she'd never worked a day in her life. She knew the theories of customer service, and was more than practised in keeping a pleasant smile on her face when she wanted nothing more than to strangle whatever sycophant was trying to mooch up to her. Compared to that, working for Jaune would be an absolute cinch. /-/
"This cappuccino is cold."
It was not what Weiss wanted to hear, and was probably the last thing anyone with a shred of self-preservation should have said to her in the first place. She looked up into the woman's face, her eyes quickly latching onto the customer's sneer.
"I do apologise. I'll bring you another." Weiss gritted out, her hand shaking as she took the mug and stormed over to the machine. It took all her effort not to throw it back in the woman's face, and the steam from the machine hardly helped, only adding to the sweat that beaded across her face. Two hours. That was all it had been. Two measly hours – and already her legs were killing her and she wanted to take it out on the customers. And the cappuccino comes out boiling hot, you idiot. The only way it could be cold was if you left it too long before you started to drink it! Of course, she couldn't say that. The customer was always right, and the cost of making another wouldn't justify the loss of a customer, not to Jaune anyway. She jarred the mug a little less gently against the nozzle – her only way of truly displaying her frustration – and brought it back to the customer.
She lifted it to her lips and sipped a little. "Better," she said, walking away. Weiss imagined what she might look like with Myrtenaster sticking from her back. It was a strangely cathartic feeling.
"H-Hey Weiss," Yang panted, slumping over the counter as she fought for breath. "Do you have the order for table six?"
"On the side," Weiss replied, nodding to the tray. Yang seemed disappointed it was already up, probably because she'd wanted an excuse to rest her legs. She took it nonetheless, muttering a quick thank you as she rushed back out to deliver it. En route, at least two other tables tried to distract her with fresh orders, causing Yang to panic and almost drop her drinks.
Weiss let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt hot, sticky and claustrophobic, mostly because she'd been behind the counter since this all started. When Jaune had taken to teaching them how to make the various drinks, it was only her who'd proven capable of keeping up with the complicated instructions. Seriously, they were ridiculous. While she may have had enjoyed a good cup, she'd never had to actually makeone before. That was what butlers and servants were for. Eventually, they'd reached a compromise wherein Jaune had tacked a list of popular choices to the machine, and she could follow that while she was making them. It wasn't perfect, but considering they'd had less than an hour to prepare, she doubted it ever could have been. It was workable, and that was what mattered. Either way, with her being the designated coffee maker, it had seemed obvious she would work behind the counter, while the others waited on customers. In truth, Weiss had thought she'd gotten the better deal out of it all.
How wrong she was.
The customer was always right? No, the customer was a bumbling idiot at the best of times and usually worse! The customer was whiny, self-entitled and seemed to believe they were doing her a favour by ordering from her in the first place. She'd started off as best she could – smiling in a way she knew would put people at ease but those smiles had soon frosted over. All that was left was something out of a horror movie, along with the desire to scream at the top of her lungs. She was Weiss Schnee – Weiss Schnee. Her coffee was not cold, overly hot, or lacking taste. She was following the recipes to the absolute letter!
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