The Prince's Curse

Chapter 6 - The Shift

~Chapter 6~

*The Shift*

"I do not like it."

"That's tough, bud."

"I do not wish to wear it."

"Not how it works, mate."

"Why can I not wear any of the new clothing that we purchased?"

"Because at work, you wear uniforms, Ash."

Ashton was arguing with Luke about his work uniform. Again. The prince hated the ensemble, from the boat like non-slip shoes, to the dark blue T-shirt that clung tightly to his arms, and the hat that flattened his perfect curls.

"But my hair looks magnificent today, must I truly wear the hat and crush it?" Ashton asked, looking into the mirror and tousling one of the locks with a pout.

Luke was growing weary of explaining this to him.

"Yes, you truly must wear it. Now let's go, we're going to be late."

Grumbling, the prince shoved the hat on his head and walked out the door, locking it before following Luke to the dining hall.

They walked inside, using the employee door Calum had told them about that led them directly to the back.

There were a couple employees signing in, scanning some card in front of a machine. Luke didn't know what they should do, so he walked into the office and found two light blue shirted employees.

"Uhm, hi. I'm Luke Hemmings, uh it's my first day. I don't know what to do,"

"Hi, Luke, I'm Alec Benjamin, senior student manager. It's nice to meet you!" A tall, sandy haired boy stood up and shook his hand. "I'll show you how to check in. Do you have your student ID card?"

Luke nodded, pulling out his wallet. He almost knocked into Ashton as he backed up, but stopped short before they crashed.

"Are you new too?" Alec asked the other boy who nodded. "Perfect, you should get your ID card and I'll show you how to scan in."

He walked them through the process and then started showing them around where they would be working.

"You're doing the prep shift, right?" He asked. Luke nodded for them both.

"Yeah, both of us are doing that."

"Neat. You can use this counter here. Every day when you come in, there should be a list here of the things you need to prep. You'll put them in containers which are in dry storage."

"What is the purpose of doing all of this?" Ashton asked the manager.

Luke gave him a side glare, he wasn't supposed to question things within his first two minutes of work.

"Good question!" Alec grinned at him. "Everyone in the building uses certain fresh ingredients that prep workers cut and slice up for the appropriate station. Deli needs a lot of sliced veggies like cucumbers and peppers, but Salads needs the items diced up. That's what you all will do so the people working at those stations can go into the coolers, get the items, and serve the customers."

Alec showed them where their first two items would be and told him to find someone in a light blue shirt once they were done, and they would help them with their next step.

"Why are we doing the work of another person in their stead?" Ashton grumbled as Luke prepared a cutting board.

"We aren't doing it for them, we're doing it so they can give food to the customers more efficiently. We're all working together so other people can get their food." Luke explained. Ashton still wasn't convinced.