Cliff's Good Deed

3 - Hannah's Frustration

Hannah sat on the side of her single bed; the same bed she had slept in while growing up in the same bedroom in the same house. Her parent's house. She closed her eyes and sighed, lamenting for the thousandth time, and wondering how had it come to this?

Six months ago, she enjoyed a promising career as department chair of a multi-national tech company. With a six-figure salary, she had been able to buy her own townhouse and drive a new Lexus.

Then, in the post-Covid bust when companies were suddenly faced with trimming their payrolls, she had been axed. While applying for new jobs she discovered hundreds of other laid-off professionals who also had business management degrees scrambling for the same scarce jobs. In the current market, her diploma wasn't worth the paper it had been printed on.

She had become unemployable in the field she had trained for and had been educated in.

Adding to Hannah's misfortune, her long-time boyfriend, a man who had been stringing her along by dropping hints of marriage, dumped her. The bastard cared more about money than he cared about her.

When her savings became depleted, Hannah couldn't keep up with her mortgage, her car payment, and her student loan repayments. She was forced to sell her townhouse and Lexus and face the humiliation of moving back into her parents' house as a twenty-six-year-old adult.

Adding to her misery, she still needed transportation, so with what little money remained, Hannah bought the crappy used car that now needed four new tires and brakes.

As if she couldn't feel any worse, a stranger had rubbed her nose in her misery by offering to pay to fix her car. A good deed, he had said. She should have let him, but he angered her by acting presumptuous, assuming he could get all up in her business and save the day. The condescending jerk.

From the expression on his face, Hannah knew she had hurt his feelings, but he had hurt her pride. They were even.

Who was he? She noticed the guy was good-looking with the physique of a body builder. He had to be some sort of athlete.

A knock at her bedroom door interrupted Hannah's thoughts. Her father spoke. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, Dad."

He entered and sat beside her on the bed. The springs squeaked and sagged under their combined weight. "I hate seeing you so sad, Hannah banana. What can I do to cheer you up?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I feel like such a failure as an adult, such a loser."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You know that's not true. You're just going through a rough patch. All of us experience them now and then."

"My life is going the wrong way. Look at me, having to move back in and have you and Mom take care of me again. I'm the one who should be starting to take care of you. Instead, I had to take my crummy old server job again at the sports bar. No way will I be able to earn enough in tips by the end of the month to pay for my car repairs. My inspection will run out, and I'll have to let it sit."

"We'll work things out. I can drive you to your job and maybe help a little with those repairs."

"No, Dad. It's my problem." Hannah knew her father would help, but she also knew her parents lived paycheck to paycheck.

"It could be worse. Your old boss liked you well enough to take you back."

She scoffed. "More like I'm one of the few people desperate enough to accept a job that pays only a little better than slave labor."

"It's only temporary. Don't ever think you're imposing on us. Your mother and I love having you around. This will always be your home."

Embarrassed by the sting of welling tears, she stood. "Thank you, Dad. I have to get ready for work. I'm on from five to closing tonight."

In the United States, servers depend on tips for their livelihood and consider it being taken advantage of when patrons fail to tip.