The new girl picked up the hairnet in disgust. “Do I have to?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
I slid her name tag across the plasticky surface of the desk. “Yep. Any hair long enough to tie back.” She sighed and slid it over her hair, curling the bottom of her long ponytail into the net. It lay heavy there, like a snake in a pillowcase. I reached into the new employee file folder as she finished pinning the tag to her shirt.
“Here, just gotta fill these W2s out real fast, then you’re good to start.” She took the pen I offered and began filling in the form.
Partway through her social security number, she looked up and smiled. “I really do appreciate this job,” she said. “They say everyone is hiring, but no one ever calls back.”
I gave her a smile and replied, “Well, your timing was lucky. We just lost an employee last week.”
Soon enough I was giving her the grand tour, showing her where we keep the boxes of nacho boxes and the trick to pinning shut the broken fridge door where the shredded lettuce and cheese lived. I left her on the prep line, set up to dice tomatoes for the dinner shift. She was cute, a real snack, a crunchwrap supreme with extra sour cream. But I tamped down the spark of attraction I felt. It wasn’t smart to get attached to the new kids, they never lasted long.
By the end of her first week, the new girl was whizzing through services. Kevin, the manager, pulled me aside and commended me on this round of new hires. “She’s good, I’ll give ya that. Just remind her to clock out by 2:50am. She’s cut it close the last few nights, and I don’t wanna lose her.” I swallowed the wave of revulsion I felt as his thick hand clamped down on my shoulder, giving me a squeeze that was part praise, part threat. Nodding my agreement, I squirmed out of his grip and got back to work. I popped in a piece of gum before putting my plastic gloves back on, hoping the mint would chase the stench of Kevin’s rancid meat breath out of my nose.
An eternity later, it was time to shut down the grills for the night. The regular part timers slipped out the door five minutes early. They knew the drill, they’d still get paid til three, but no one was allowed in the building during the nightly clean. Burrito wrapping myself into my jacket, I pulled the back door shut behind me and turned the key until I heard the heavy thud of the lock.
I got halfway to my car before I looked up from my phone and saw the new kid’s car still sitting in the parking lot.
“Shit!” My heart sank as I remembered Kevin’s warning about her penchant for cutting the clock out timer short. Peering through the frost covered passenger window, I hoped against hope to see her just checking her Insta or something. Nope. Empty. Fuck.
My feet felt like they’d be weighed down with the jugs of oil we used to fry the breakfast hash browns as I reluctantly snuck back toward the building. I slid around the corner and dropped onto the pavement, inching my way toward the drive thru window. My watch beeped, heralding three AM. My heart was pounding out of my chest but I had to know. Peeking just over the windowsill, I strained my eyes to see anything in the darkened interior.
I heard it before I saw it. A popping crunch, a hundred times louder than a broken taco shell. The gurgling, mewing sound that followed was quickly drowned out by a wet flopping. I could almost convince my brain it was hearing a mop being swirled across the linoleum. Almost. But then my eyes adjusted to the dark.
Kevin crouched in the center of the prep line, a shadowed maroon puddle marring the white tiled floor around him. His back was to me at first, but then he turned as he finished his task. An engorged tongue the size of an anaconda slurped across the floor, scooping what was most definitely not hot sauce into the maw that used to be his face. His unhinged jaw lay flush with his fatty chest and a disgustingly satisfied sound of hunger fulfilled escaped him.
I slapped a hand across my mouth, fighting the vomit that threatened to spill out. Inside, Kevin burped, a wet sloshing sound, and I watched in horror as the parking lot light gleamed off the smooth knob of femur that popped out of his gaping throat. Prodding it back down with a finger, the manager went back to his nightly duties. His monstrous thick tongue slid across all the surfaces in the kitchen, scooping up the grease and stray pieces of cheese off counters, floors, even the buttons of the register. I slid back down to the ground, silently retching.
When my stomach settled, I snuck back to my car and got in, then pulled out my phone. Copy and pasting the ‘Now Hiring’ note I had saved, I once again posted on the job boards. It was almost second nature at this point. I felt a twinge of guilt. I should have reminded her about clock out time.
“Thanks so much for the job,” the new kid said. He was a skinny thing with a face plagued by acne, but he seemed earnest enough. He bent his head to pin on his name tag.
My mind spared a thought for Ashley. Or had it been Brittney? Whatever, there was no shortage of faceless teenagers desperate for a minimum wage job. “You’re lucky,” I said. “Spot just opened up on the schedule.”
As I took him toward the fridge to show him the trick with the door, he asked, “Hey, my buddy works for a different fast food joint and I was wondering. Do we get free food?”
I smiled. “Yeah,” I said. “Everyone gets a free meal with every shift.”
