The aftermath of the aftermath
“I’d like to speak with your manager. Do you mind calling him over?”
Twilight suppressed a groan as she pressed the button that would page him over to her. This had to be the third time that day a customer wasn’t satisfied with her answer. It wasn’t as though he would give them a different one, anyways. The customer didn’t get a special sale offer for asking to speak with the pony in charge, they didn’t win a “you’re special” prize, they didn’t even get a commemorative sticker…
But the customer was always right, so Twilight wasn’t allowed to complain. Her displeasure would fall on deaf ears, anyways. None of her coworkers acknowledged grumblings, especially during work hours. Their official reasoning for this was that it would put them in a less-than-optimal mood for customer service, but Twilight suspected that it was just because they didn’t want the manager to catch them whining.
Speaking of the manager, Twilight had been trying to get in touch with him all day, but every attempt to talk to him had resulted in a customer interrupting. Most of them just had honest questions, but a few had stormed over to her just to complain. One of them was so upset that she didn’t know the exact location of one particular pair of socks, she asked if Twilight even worked there! Well, she wished she didn’t, but quitting would have to wait until she could corner her manager.
Rarity had advised her on how to tell him that she quit. She had immediately rejected Twilight’s brilliant idea of announcing it over the loudspeaker, as well as her second idea of writing a note and simply not showing up. Rarity’s insistence on a private, personal discussion with the manager was admittedly a more professional-sounding solution, so Twilight succumbed to that.
Fluttershy reminded her of her plan when she came over to wake up Twilight. Celestia above, she thought that working without a hangover was bad, now her head was throbbing and every annoying customer seemed ten times worse. Their voices made her head spin, and she wished she could just crawl into bed, but Fluttershy gently encouraged her and cheered her on, and the next thing Twilight knew, she was at work.
Her bewildered state wasn’t helping her customer service, however. Every attempt to evade shopping ponies were thwarted by what Twilight felt were the most irritable customers in the history of the store. Speaking of them… Twilight gave the approaching pony her warmest, fakest grin she reserved just for these sort of moments.
“So, you’re the cashier, right?”
“I suuure am! Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes. I have a code here, ah, hmm. Yes. It was FunInTheSun.”
“I… beg your pardon?”
“FunInTheSun. That’s the code for the coupon. Now I get 25% off, right?”
“Ma’am? That code is for online purchases, not… in person.”
The pony stared dumbfounded at Twilight, who had to remind herself not to facehoof in front of potential buyers, especially before they actually make their purchases. The mare took a deep breath and faced Twilight with a steady glare.
“I’d like to speak with your manager,” The customer huffed, pressing a hoof against the counter for emphasis.
“Yeah, you and me both, sister,” Twilight muttered, but called him over wearily. She had a feeling it was going to be a while before she’d be able to speak with him in private.
It had been a long and weary day, and Twilight’s hooves wobbled unsteadily as she tottered over to the manager’s office. Her migraine had subsided to a dull ache, and after her shift the flow of obnoxious customers had lessened slightly. Still, eight hours standing up wore her out in ways she wished she didn’t understand. Raising a hoof, Twilight knocked tentatively on the door.
The manager shouted “Enter,” and Twilight steeled herself for a second before marching in.
“Sir,” she said, “I quit.”
The manager gave her a serene look, which no doubt masked his shock and surprise. “Very well, Twilight Sparkle. Your last paycheck will be in the mail. Please return your uniform at your earliest convenience.”
Twilight blinked rather stupidly at him for a few moments before taking a deep breath and letting it out in a calming sigh. “You’re… you’re not mad? Or dumbfounded? Or…”
He gave her a wry smile, the type of smile that Twilight recognized from experience as fake. “Twilight, I would have fired you long ago, had you not been a Princess. I accept your resignation, and expect that neither you nor that bear ever return. Have a pleasant day, Your Highness.” He looked back down at his paperwork and waved a hoof in a clear sign of dismissal.
Twilight walked slowly out of his office in a daze. She wasn’t entirely sure of how that went so smoothly, but she was certain of three things.
The first was that she had a killer hangover, and would never drink quite that much again, no matter how badly a job was going. She also had a bar to apologize to, for vomiting on their floor, as well as a magical experiment to test out later involving upchucking in levitation magic.
The second was that, while she now understood a bit of what retail ponies went through, she never ever ever wanted to work there again. That much was absolutely certain in her mind. She had tried it to see if she liked it, and she despised it. Well, it was a lesson learned, she figured.
The third was that she had her two marefriends to thank for their kindness. They’d been so helpful when she was at her worst, and she simply had to do something to make up for it. Maybe they’d go shopping together, as a fun outing! Though perhaps, Twilight thought, not at this particular location. She had seen enough of it for a lifetime, and she suspected that they had probably seen enough of her for their lifetimes as well.
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LOVE IT!
8584948
I cannot beat that. It's simply too much.
I know her pain too well. I wish my resignation from my retail job was that smooth.
Could the mare at least use the coupon code?
8600114
In many places, we'd need to scan the barcode, and not just know the online discount code. If you have the coupon, great, scan it. But you can't just say the online code like some secret code and the cashier will nod sagely at you and go "ah, yes, you know the secret phrase, you may get a discount."
So wait... are fluttershy AND Rarity her marefriends...???? I thought it was jusst one.... now I'm kinda confused..
I had a good time with this!
Upvoted
8601168
Yup! Both are her marefriends.
8604336
Aw, thank you so much!
8586879
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it as much as you liked this one!
This was so much fun! Thank you for sharing it with us.
WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
This was hilariously awesome.... I wish I could get away with half the stuff Twi tried to pull.... though do feel sorry for the manager. Still, be glad Twilight, you can just quit that soul sucking hell hole and still have money to live off of.
"Annoucing it over the loudspeaker" Rarebear, gonna have to disagree. That's a brilliant idea and worked fantastically for me.
Bloody fantastic story, I love the portrayal of Twilight here.
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Cheers
8665625
Did you seriously do that?
8771494
Yes. Yes I did. Flair is the only solace when quitting/working retail.
8771534
Huh.