Lynn's sharp green eyes studied the irate woman in front of him, at this point barely paying attention to the garbage that was spilling from her mouth. If it had been the first time he was being yelled at this week, or even this day, then he might actually be a<span style="font-style: italic">little</span>concerned with the fact that this sub-human was close to frothing before him, but unfortunately this just wasn't the case. It was a frequent occurrence at the eye-sore coffee shop for the cashier to get the full force of the complaints, so when Lynn checked his schedule the previous week and saw that he was scheduled to be a cashier for three of his four days, he already knew what was coming. Without fail, he's had to deal with a guy spitting in their tip jar over a stale brownie, at least three other pious soccer moms like the one before him complaining about the quality of their orders, and one person even threw their piping hot coffee at his chest because Lynn had discovered that they were out of something<span style="font-style: italic">after</span>the man had already ordered.<br/><br/>If he was being fair, Lynn knew how awful his workplace was, so he could see why people would be upset so frequently. He had a problem with wrapping his head around the fact that people decided to be the worst about it most of the time, when they decide time and time again to come to a place that they know is terrible. He half hoped that the disinterest in his eyes would show this bitch just how much her empty threats actually intimidated him.<br/><br/>"I've been coming here for years, and I've never had service this terrible in my life! I'm going to file a formal complaint with your corporate office!" she hissed, pointing a polished, manicured, acrylic nail at him. She was still holding the clear plastic cup in her hand, and Lynn found himself more amazed that she hadn't crushed it yet. At least he wouldn't find himself cleaning up ice and coffee off the floor.<span style="font-style: italic">Yet,</span>he corrected himself.<br/><br/>"Since we've had the pleasure of keeping your business for years, as you claim," Lynn started out, keeping his customer service voice in check despite the the murderous feelings he was harboring, "it might interest you to know that we are a local shop with no corporate over us."<br/><br/>"Don't treat me like I'm stupid! I'm going to talk to your manager, now!" she spat, slamming her cup down onto the ugly counter top between them. By now, the few other patrons that had been sitting in the dining area were either watching wide-eyed and horrified, or they had quietly hurried themselves through the door. Lynn had to suppress a sigh and steel himself, because he knew that his next words were going to set her off. The owner was almost never around, and the closing manager tonight made a habit of sneaking off to smoke at the most inconvenient of times.<br/><br/>"I'm the supervisor available right now. If you'd like to work on a solution with me in a civil discussion, then I'd be happy to help you leave here with a better experience," Lynn offered.<span style="font-style: italic">Or help you leave at all,</span>he added as an afterthought.<br/><br/>"I will smack the dumb out of you for running a place like this!" she roared. She stopped just short of throwing a tantrum when something taller than both of them suddenly separated them from the customer's side of the counter. Lynn found himself staring now at the familiar grey of their uniform shirts, and his eyes rose to see the dyed-silver locks of his closing manager.<br/><br/>"As of this time, you have threatened an employee of Arabica Dabra, and I'm going to have to escort you out," Deena's cold voice cut through the tension in the shop. Lynn stepped to the side now to watch the customer's face turn from raging to grave and beet red with embarrassment in the shadow of the large woman now standing before her. Deena held out an ushering arm the size of Lynn's calf close to the woman, but being careful not to touch her. "You are now banned from this location. Get out."<br/><br/>"H-he, m-my drink-" the woman managed to stammer out, obviously more intimidated by the woman who not only had the power to ban her, but probably the muscle to throw her into the street too. Lynn, on the other hand, was far more relieved that he probably wouldn't see this person again, and he watched as she tried to mutter more weak excuses on their way to the door. The dining area was cleared out now, as it normally was this close to closing time, and Lynn heard the familiar click of the front door locking a whole ten minutes before they were actually meant to. He at least attempted to look like he was keeping busy by the time Deena turned back around.<br/><br/>"I'm not going to ask questions about her, since she made it obvious that she's batshit. On the other hand, I do need to ask where our bar worker is," Deena said as she approached the register and leaned over the counter onto her elbows. Lynn's brows knit together just the slightest and he looked around. Lo and behold, his teenage coworker was nowhere to be found, the only trace of left of his existence there being the nearly brand new uniform apron that was now draped halfway over the stainless steel prep table.<br/><br/>"He might've skipped out during all the yelling when he realized that I was probably gonna ream his ass for screwing up another order," Lynn replied, with no real shock or concern evident in his voice. The turnover rate here was terrible, and Lynn could try to pinpoint all the reasons why that was, but it would be a list so long that he'd spend a while just rattling off the common ones. Deena just swore under her breath, walking off presumably to do her part in the closing duties for the night without another word. Lynn, who was capable enough to not need babysitting at his job, took this as his cue to clean the front end before he rounded up the trash to take out behind the building.<br/><br/>Despite the garbage week he had been having, Lynn was actually a short time away from being in a good mood. He had the next two days off, and he had been looking forward to ignoring the existence of literally every human during that time. Then maybe he could start out his work week on a better note next time, but he knew he couldn't kid himself on it. Next week was probably going to be the exact same as this week. By the time he had slipped out the back, making sure to leave something in the way of the door so he wouldn't lock himself out, he was trying to convince himself that his days off will be at least marginally better than his week had been.<br/><br/>The dumpster at Arabica Dabra was parked at the back corner of their parking lot, ironically in the shadow of another nearby business rather than a reasonable distance from the shop that it was actually meant for. The owner had said something about how he didn't want the dumpster to ruin the "feel" of his shop with it's stink or it's looks, as if his poor management of the place was any different. He wasted no time closing the distance between himself and his goal though, eager to get away from this place and to vegetate at home. He failed to take note of his surroundings in the dark evening, or else he would have noticed the extra car parked empty in their lot. Even as he got within a few feet of the dumpster in the poorly lit area, the eyes that followed him there went unnoticed, and he hauled the heavy and leaking trash bags into the grafiti covered dump.