Who: Ashleigh What: Leaving work Where: Cafe Diem When: Just past 7pm
Finally. Once the clock struck seven o’clock, Ashleigh made her way towards the backroom, glad that none of her tables had lingered and that she hadn’t been assigned another table when her replacement didn’t show up. Of course, if she had been assigned another guest, she wouldn’t exactly argue; it wasn’t quite her nature. She would simply wait the table and leave late, that was that. But, as she entered the break room and untied the string of her apron, she let out a small sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she hated her job or anything, sometimes it was just extremely tiring. And today was definitely one of those days. The hours seemed to drag on for way too long, so much so that once it was past the midway mark of her shift, she found it difficult for her to keep a smile on her face and that polite façade present.
Folding her apron haphazardly over her arm, she turned the combination of her locker to retrieve her purse. Ashleigh pulled out her large canvas purse on the table behind her before shoving her apron into the now empty locker. Her body seemed to beg her to just hurry home and collapse onto her couch. Kicking off her plain black sneakers seemed to be at the top of her list. But, despite those protests, she knew she wouldn’t get to do that right away. First, she had to stop by the book store and pick up that used book she had ordered (Ashleigh was cutting it close by picking it up today, she had put it off until her next paycheck but wasn’t sure if Sandy would have been nice and held onto it for her, or simply sent it back), head to the grocery store and pick up some fixings for dinner. Was that it? She wasn’t quite sure if those were the only two errands she had to run. Pulling the elastic out of her hair, Ashleigh brushed her fingers through her hair, making sure to get all the snarls out of it. Her mind wandered, trying to find out if she was missing something… Ashleigh shook her head; she really should start making lists.
From her bag she pulled out a change of clothes and walked into the staff bathroom. Now, this wasn’t customary of her to bring a change of clothes with her. She never really had anywhere to go after work, so she didn’t always get the point of changing and wasting a good pair of clean clothes. But, some days—like today—you just needed it; especially when your work clothes seemed to smell a bit like the diner. It wasn’t bad when she was working, but smelling like fries was not an attractive quality.
Once she was finished changing into her most comfortable, if slightly tattered, jeans and a ribbed maroon tank top, Ashleigh made her way back to the break room to throw her jacket on and toss the strap to her bag over her shoulder. Pausing for a moment to eye the schedule and make sure she had her hours left, her brown eyes scanned the weekly and shrugged slightly before heading out of the backroom.