I’d called out her stupid lie and given her an easy escape. The chickenless woman gawked at me, rusty gears turning behind her close-set eyes. Six thirsty customers only a table away watched me with begging eyes, and I could practically see my tip shrinking the longer they waited. “Your friend must have a lightning-fast fork, then! You didn’t even see her swiping the chicken off your plate.”įorcing a laugh, I stepped back, the three cokes, two beers, and iced tea wobbling on my tray.

I tsked playfully, like we were all in on the joke, and winked at the other woman. Did they really think I’d never seen this scam before? When they started to squirm, I refocused on the chickenless woman and smiled brightly. Shifting the heavy weight of my tray, I gazed at her wordlessly, then turned the same stare on her co-conspirator.

“I hope you don’t expect me to pay for a meal that’s missing the main ingredient!” “This is unacceptable.” The woman waved a hand to draw my attention away from the suspicious heap of meat. And wow, that was a mighty big pile of grilled chicken sitting on top, which the other woman was eating at maximum speed as though she could make it disappear before my poor waitress brain calculated the disparate mass. Streaks of creamy sauce smeared the plate’s edge. I knew, because I’d seen the busboy carrying it. The pasta did in fact display a shocking lack of poultry, considering it had arrived at her table with an entire grilled chicken breast. “My pasta has no meat,” she declared in the tones of an offended Victorian governess. I forced a polite smile as the woman at table six snapped her thick fingers even though I was already hurrying toward her, a tray of drinks weighing down my arm. Keeping a job involves a few simple rules: Arrive on time.

3 mages and a margarita