I'd been eating regularly at this particular teriyaki restaurant ever since moving into the area several months prior. They had a fantastic katsu sauce and their portions were huge. It was a great breakfast to start my graveyard shift each evening. With it so close to my home, you could easily find me there three times a week.
I pulled the number from the favorites menu of my phone contacts and dialed.
"Hello, Teriyaki Town, may I help you?"
It was her. Her Korean accent was thick, but her vocabulary was good.
"Uh h-hi," I stammered. "Can I get a number 14, chicken and katsu combo? To go please."
"Oh hi! Is this Sess?" she asked cheerily, the 'th' sound an unfamiliar exercise for her tongue.
My stomach clenched when she said my name. I have always been terrible with names. When I meet someone for the first time, I've forgotten their name literally as soon as we're done shaking hands.
Remember to look at her name tag this time dummy. Then you won't sound so awkward when you have to say-
"Yes, um, it's me. Hi. I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Okay. See you soon!" she exclaimed happily before hanging up.
I grabbed my messenger bag off the desk chair in my room, then
headed for the front door to slip on my shoes.
"Keys, wallet, phone, badge, Zune," I whispered out loud
to myself as I patted each pocket of my outfit. It was a ritual I followed every night before I left for work to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything
important. My fingers brushed the scrap of paper in my pocket where my name and
phone number had been hastily scrawled. My nervousness increased.
You can do this. Just walk in, hand her your number, and recite the words that you have been rehearsing the last few days.
