It’s lunch and dinner at Burger Queen, a popular fast food chain. The orders were non-stop. The manager, Sir Gary, was already under a lot of stress managing his crew.
The door opened and a young man, Nancy, entered. He was only 10 years old, dressed in a loose-fitting suit, with dirt on his face. He was holding a tattered notebook leaf paper.
Nonoy approached the counter.
“Excuse me,” said Noah softly. “Can I speak to the manager?”
Thinking the boy was just begging, they called Sir Gary to get him to leave.
Sir Gary came out of the kitchen, sweaty and hot-headed.
“What is it? Boy, don’t get me started on this. “Get out of here!” shouted Sir Gary.
“I’m not going to lie, sir,” replied the Countess, holding up the paper in her hand. “I could have applied for a job.”
Gary picked up the paper. Written here with pencil:
Name: Nonoy
Age: 10
Skills: Good at washing dishes, sweeping, throwing garbage.
Sir Gary burst out laughing.
“HAHAHA! “Look at this, guys!” shouted Sir Gary to the staff and customers. “Someone is trying to kill us! Grade 4! Did you know that child labor is illegal? “What do you think of us, Game?”
Some of the customers laughed. The rest of the crew laughed as well.
“Come on, sir,” Nancy pleaded. “Even if it’s just a CR wash. Even if it’s a garbage dumper in the back. Even if it’s just a piece of food, it’s okay.”
“Go home to your mother!” cried Sir Gary as he tore up the paper of his mother’s bio-data. “Tell your mother, don’t tell her to go to work!” He’s going to do the work!”
Sir Gary tossed the torn piece of paper in her mother’s face.
At that point, everyone expected the child to leave. But it didn’t go away. Nancy bowed. Her shoulders began to shake.
“I can’t go home to my mother.” Nonoy said as tears welled up in her eyes.
“And why? “Are you afraid of being caught?” asked Sir Gary.
Nancy raised her eyebrows. Her eyes were swollen and full of pain that a child shouldn’t feel.
“Because… He’s gone. This morning he died of the disease. We had no relatives. “We just left him at home because we didn’t have any money.”
The whole restaurant was silent. The noise of the diners was gone.
Her mother wiped away her tears with a dirty arm.
“That’s why I’m applying… I just need the money… Even if it was just to buy his coffin. I didn’t want my mother to be buried without a coffin. “That’s all there is to it, sir, that sounds like a good idea.”
Sir Gary seemed to have been stabbed.
The crew’s jaws were shattered. The cashier was already screaming at the counter. Customers who used to laugh, now bow down in shame and pity.
Sir Gary froze. He stared at the torn paper on the floor—the paper that symbolized the love of a son who was willing to be a slave just to give dignity to his late mother.
Sir Gary slowly walked out of the counter. He had lost his bossyness.
He knelt down in front of his mother.
“Boy…” Sir Gary’s voice trembled. “Sorry… “I’m sorry,”
Sir Gary hugged the boy. The manager cried on the shoulder of the boy he had insulted.
“You don’t have to work,” Sir Gary cried. “You don’t have to wash the dishes.”
Sir Gary stood up and faced the crowd in the restaurant.
“Guys… Let’s help him.”
Sir Gary took out his wallet and emptied the contents. He put it in the tip box.
The crew complied. They took out coins and papers.
The customers stood up one by one. Some gave 500, some gave 1000.
Within 10 minutes, a paper bag was filled with help.
Sir Gary and his staff took Nonoy to his house. They saw the grim scene—the mother’s corpse just covered with a blanket on the floor.
The Burger Queen staff has already responded to the casket, the funeral, and even the snack on the hill. A customer who didn’t have any children also adopted Nonoy to study it.
On the last night of the hill, Sir Gary approached the coffin.
“No,” said Sir Gary. “Please forgive me. I thought I was a manager, I already knew a lot. But you… You are the one who taught me what ‘work’ really means—to do everything for the person you love.