Chapter Text
I’m sure you're all aware of the epic’s of the great Odysseus of Ithaca! The man who sailed 20 years to get back home! Facing monsters and gods galore!
But this is not his story. Well…..it kinda is? You know what it’s probably best if I just let the story speak for itself.
Odysseus pulls into an empty spot towards the back of the parking lot, as he turns the off the car with a twist of the key he looks at the building ahead of him, the same building and same bright sign that reads out *McWinions* that he has looked at for the last sixteen years. He would also say the same glass doors too but unfortunately those had to be replaced after some drunk Trojan's fans shattered them last year, safe to say the Trojan's fans do not take losing the big yearly game lightly. Nonetheless Odysseus got out of his car and walked towards the building mentally preparing himself for every possible problem this shift could give him. As he got closer to the building he saw the rubbish bin with McWinions take away bags littered around it on the floor, Odysseus knows McWinions isn't the classiest place but he still wished people had some respect for it, or at least have some respect for the workers who have to clear up after them. This thought crossing his mind as he picks up the litter, placing it in the bin before dusting his hands off and entering the building.
Odysseus enters McWinions and like resurfacing from underwater a wave of sensations rushes over Ody, the familiar sounds of till machines beeping and the 3pm customers chatting echoing in his ears. The switch from the calm silence from outside to now would be jarring for most but Odysseus was used to it by now being unfazed while walking past the main dining area heading into the kitchen at the back of the restaurant. As Odysseus was entering the kitchen area the crew currently on shift finally noticed his presence in the store with their faces lighting up as they saw him, “Hey captain’s here!”
“Look alive everyone, captain’s back!” Call outs from the crew about Odysseus’s arrival soon emerged, captain was the nickname everyone had for Odysseus because even though he wasn’t the general manager, everyone knew he was the one in charge and he ran that place like a navy ship. After all the years he had spent working there he had definitely earned that title.
“Ayy! Welcome back captain! You good?” A deep voice echoed from the back of the kitchen as a body emerged from around the corner. “Eurylochus there you are, I’m doing good. You?” Odysseus responded looking round checking the cleanliness of the countertops.
“What? Don’t trust me to keep the place clean while you're gone?” Eurylochus jokingly asked. “It's not that I don’t trust you, it's that I don’t trust some people to not get lax with the standards we have when I’m not here.” Odysseus responds as he wipes his hand across the surface, happy with the condition of the countertop.
As he wiped his hands off another more bubbly voice spoke up entering the conversation, “Don’t worry cap we're not letting them off the hook just because you're not here!”
“Polites! Nice to see you man, thanks for keeping the place running while I was out you two.” Odysseus said back as he turned to see Polites walk up behind him. Eurylochus was Odysseus’s right hand man and the shift manager at this McWinions, he was also in a ten year long relationship with Odysseus’s sister Citimene. Polites was a crew trainer here at McWinions and probably the nicest guy you could ever meet, it was pretty much impossible to have a problem with him. The three of them were incredibly close to the point that Odysseus had asked them to be his son’s Godfather’s which they happily accepted. Out of everyone here these two were the closest to Odysseus because they weren’t just coworkers, they was family.
“So, Telemachus ready for school this year? Last year of High school is a pretty big deal!” Polites asked, grabbing some condiment packets to put in a to-go bag “Yup, spent all day making sure he had everything he needed, I still can’t believe my boy is starting his last year of High school… It feels like only yesterday he was still afraid of the dark.” Odysseus answers lamenting how fast his son has grown up.
“That's kids for yah, one minute they are just little blobs, the next they are all grown up and you're left wondering where all that time has gone” Eurylochus chimes in with as he passes Polites some paper straws “someone's been watching too many of Ctimene’s feel good movies.” Polites retorts as he takes the paper straws and puts them into the to-go bag.
“Hey, they’re not all bad! Some of them are actually- I don’t have to explain myself to you, yah know!” The frazzled response from Eurylochus gets a soft chuckle from Polites who soon notices Odysseus walking away. “Going to go talk to Athena?” Polites asks which is met with a smile and nod from Odysseus as he continues forward.
Odysseus reached the door to the general manager's office giving it a strong and composed set of knocks that the person inside the office recognised instantly, with them shouting out "come in Ody!" Odysseus then followed through opening the door to be greeted with the sight of his boss Athena. "Evening Ody, Telemachus got everything he needs for the school year?" She says, turning her head round to look at Odysseus when talking to him.
"Only what you said he'd actually need, thanks for that by the way, there was no way we could have afforded all that was on that list the school gave him. I know it's their last year there and all but do they really need all that stuff?" Odysseus says in an exasperated tone.
"They just want the students to be ready for what's about to be thrown at them, but even then I don't see the point of half the things they put on those lists half the items they put on there they won't even use more than five times, it's just nonsensical to me." Athena responds with a gentle smile putting away some files.
"It's downright extortion is what it is" Odysseus added on which got a giggle out of Athena.
"Well, when most of your students' parents can throw cash at anything without batting an eye they don't tend to care about the price attached" Athena lightheartedly retorts not realising how seriously Odysseus would take it. "Yeah......lucky them" Odysseus says with a jaded voice, Athena seeing this and turns her full attention to Odysseus placing an arm on his shoulder.
"Hey, you've survived till now, you got Telemachus to his last year of high school, and I don't think the man I first met all those years ago would have believed me when I told him that." As Athena squeezes his shoulder Odysseus thinks back to when he first met Athena 16 years ago.
16 years ago...
A Young 18 year old 2nd year college student could be seen sitting by himself in a crowded McWinions, Job applications messily spread across the table where he was sat. Disgruntled moans of confusion and annoyance radiating from the young man, his knee bouncing as he tapped his pen against the table. He had been at this for hours now and yet he had barely gotten anywhere. Odysseus decided to get up and head for the restroom, go answer natures call, maybe splash his face with water and ponder how the hell he had gotten himself into this situation. But before he could even think to do any of that, he felt himself collide with another person as he stood up.
"Waaah!" A shrill yelp could be heard from the person who made contact with Odysseus as the drinks she was carrying spillied over both him and the job applications on the table that she was now holding onto for balance. Odysseus was pushed back down into a sitting position and momentarily disoriented, when he became alert again he saw a female McWinions worker frantically trying to clear up the mess she had made with incoherent apologies escaping her mouth in between her tears "I-I am so sor-sorry, sir, I am-"
Odysseus saw instantly that this girl meant no harm and jumped right into helping her clear up. "Hey, it's no worry, miss. Really it's fine we all slip up!" He said reassuring her that he wasn't mad, patting himself and the table down with napkins.
His kindness was greatly appreciated with her collecting all wet matter on the table, including the now soaked job applications, as she continued to express her sorrow "Thank you, sir! I'm still so SO sorry about this I-I-" Her voice becoming more shaky as she tried to keep talking.
Odysseus could see in her eyes that the sadness she was showing was from more than just this accident so he proceeded to place an arm on her shoulder and ask, "Hey...are you okay? you seem to be struggling."
The girl turned her head to look at him, finally looking him in the eye after feeling too embarrassed to show her face to him, she knew this was probably just a kind gesture anyone would have done given the situation rather than someone actually taking an interest in her well-being...But something about the look he gave her filled her with the security to speak to him about what was going on in her mind. "It's okay sir I'm, I'm..." She sniffed, tears gathering in her eyes "I'm not okay I'm really not." Odysseus gave a sympathetic smile and nodded his head in the direction of seats, an invitation to talk further that she whole heartily took.
"It just feels like I am messing up everything right now... I'm barely getting by in my uni course, I have no friends, there is this damn boar that keeps eating out of my rubbish bags and I keep messing up here so bad I'm pretty sure the only reason I still have this job is because my father owns the place! I just.....I feel like a failure." The girl lamented now sat opposite Odysseus who had been passing her napkins to dry her eyes.
"Hey," Odysseus chimed in "No one said this was going to be easy but I think you need to give yourself more credit, I mean holding down a stressful job while studying to be a teacher at university? That is impressive, who cares if you're not perfect you are surviving and that is what matters. Trust me you are not a failure."
The girl looked at Odysseus as he spoke seeing nothing but understanding in his eyes, not a shred of judgement to be found. "Thank you sir, you must be sick of hearing the problems of a struggling uni student..." She huffed, feeling sorry for herself
"Well, you're still doing better than me, I mean hey at least you aren't looking for a job because you got a girl knocked up at a party like I am. oh and you don't have to keep calling me sir I'm pretty sure you're older than me anyway" he says in a slightly humorous tone now looking at the bin where his unfinished job applications now resided.
"We all make mistakes you are at least trying to fix yours, that makes you better than most men I have met." She responded with trying to be considerate to his situation with her then looking over to the bin and having a realisation "wait, you said your looking for a job right? I heard there is a position opening up here soon, if you give me your name I can put in a good word for you, being the boss's daughter and all. I know McWinions isn't the greatest place but its still a paycheck" Odysseus's face lit up. The universe was throwing him a bone and like hell he wasn't going to take it!
"Wait really?! Thank you so much uhhhh.....Athena! Thank you Athena!" He thanked looking around to find her name tag before continuing to show appreciation to her. "Its no problem uhhhhh-" she responded also not knowing the others name "Odysseus, Odysseus Ithaca" she gave him a smile holding her hand out to him for a handshake that he happily shook back "Its nice to meet you Odysseus!"
Back in the present
Odysseus brings himself back to reality as he takes a deep breath before speaking "Thank you Athena, I suppose its easy for both of us to forget where we started, I mean look at you finally leaving this place to be a teacher full time!” Odysseus said tapping the hand on his Shoulder speaking with a subdued optimism with his face lighting up when mentioning Athena's new job change “I know, years studying at uni and working for the school and now they finally want me on as a teacher full time, its everything I ever wanted” Athena responded with a level of excitement that was uncommon for her having now taken her hand off his shoulder.
“Yeah even if it does mean you’re leaving us” Odysseus quipped pretending to be upset, “hey I'm leaving this place in good hands, you'll be fine without me" Athena replied giving Odysseus a playful double tap on his cheek before walking past him to reach the door. Talks of Odysseus taking over Athena's job when she left were had by almost everyone at their McWinions including Odysseus and Athena themselves, it was the unspoken belief of the whole store that Odysseus was the natural replacement for Athena so now that Athena was preparing to leave everyone was getting ready for the long awaited change in command to finally come.
“Well... shall we go meet them? Athena asked, opening the door, Odysseus nodded in agreement walking through with Athena following suit shutting the door.
Odysseus and Athena walked back into the kitchen which had entered a momentary lull now all the orders had been served. Seeing this as an opportunity, Odysseus brought his hands together to make a loud thunderous clap. The sound echoed out into the rest of the store with heads turning to see where the noise came from, realising the sound came from Odysseus they all turned to face him awaiting his next words.
“Alright boys listen up. First of all thank you for not burning down the store while I was out, really appreciate that.” Small chuckles could be heard from the crew with the quickly sharpening back up to let Odysseus continue, “Secondly I want to make sure we are all prepared for tonight, as I'm sure we all know tonight is the the Trojans vs Greeks game and that means angry sports fans in bars, and where do they go when the bars close?” Odysseus asked, exaggerating his body movements to encourage the crew to give him an answer.
“Here…” A wave of voices all giving the same answer to Odysseus who nodded in approval of the answer.
“Correct! They come here, they make messes, they get into fights and following last year’s game, break doors.” Odysseus replied pointing to the new door when mentioning the broken door.
“I still don’t know how they pulled that off” Athena retorted in response to Odysseus’ mention of the incident.
“The power of drunk sports fans who’s team just lost is not to be underestimated…” Eurylochus responded which Athena acknowledged with a nod.
“Exactly! What Eurylochus said is right, these people are going to be coming in here angry and looking for a problem, so we have got to be fast and efficient so we can get their orders out and THEM out as fast as-” Odysseus continued to talk but slowly people's heads begin to turn to an emerging voice from within the crowd of workers.
“Yes yes yes yes YES YES YEAH! GET IN!” Enthusiastic cheers could be heard quickly erupting from the crowd of workers with them all turning to find the cause of the disruption, Perimedes.
“…..Perimedes could you please listen to me when I’m talking to you? I’m your boss not your boyfriend Elpenor” Odysseus said with a tiredness that would let you know this is a frequent problem between the two of them, a small hey! could also be heard from somewhere else in the crowd which was most definitely from Elpenor.
“Hey! I’m listening! You’re talking about the Trojans and Greeks game right? Well I’m watching the game! If you think about it, that's me doing customer market research!” Perimedes explained with a brazen confidence that only he could muster when saying the most ridiculous excuse with Odysseus’s deadpan face showing he was not amused in the slightest.
“Could you at least tell us who is winning?” Odysseus asked trying to get any sort of joy out of this conversation with Perimedes.
Perimedes looks down at his phone to take a look at the game scores on his phone “Greeks are up by 3!” This news brought forth cheers from the entire working body who were all Greeks fans.
“Well that's some good news, any idea how much time is left on the game?" Odysseus followed up looking up at a clock on the wall.
"There's about 30 minutes left, longer if they go into overtime" Perimedies answers, double checking the game scores.
Odysseus takes note of this new information and clears his throat, regaining the attention of the crowd that had now broken off into smaller conversations "All right then! You all heard the man, I want us to start restocking up on supplies before they get here. We want to be as ready as we can be before they come through our doors, so that's refilling the straws, the condiments, the buns. Hop to it people!" His voice picked up in enthusiasm as he was assigning tasks to everyone doing a quick double clap to signal that he was done talking. The crowd soon dissipated as they went to go and restock the store and Perimedies begrudgingly put his phone away when he made eye contact with Odysseus.
When the crowd was fully gone Odysseus turned to Athena knowing she had been present throughout the entire speech. "And to think I was worried about leaving you in charge of these fools."
The next thirty minutes came and went as the crew were taking orders and restocking in preparation for the impending Trojans fans, and they made their presence known once they finally descended on the store. Garish people flooded into the store and immediately changed the whole vibe of the store. The loss of the game was fresh on their minds with their angry voices echoing through the dining area. “Look alive men! Sore losers incoming! Polites, care to run the tills for me?” Odysseus shouted out to the crew but only loud enough for them to hear less the valued customers hear him call them sore losers.
“Ai ai, captain!” Polites said with a jovial inflection in his voice as he went to the tills. Positioning Polites up front was no random decision, it was a strategic move. When it came to dealing with customers, no one was better that Polites, his kind demeanour and almost infinite tolerance for difficult customers made him the perfect person to deal with angry Trojan fans, even just talking to Polites can bring a temperamental customer back down to earth, And Polites was about to show this first hand when a particularly large Trojans fan walked up to the till.
"Hi sir welcome to McWinions what can-" Polites began reciting the company approved greeting when he was sharply cut off by the Large man spouting of his order, or well…at least trying to.
"I wanner.... I wanner double big....big..." The man’s speech was incredibly slurred and his breath reeked of booze with the stench of his breath being almost as bad as the downpour of spit that pelted Polites whenever the man spoke but Polites was unfazed by it.
"One double big wic?" Polites had taken a guess at what he thought the man was trying to say.
"Yeah..... Oh and da diet coke and some medi- no large flies!" The man blurted in response, wiping his face with his calloused hand.
"Okie dokie! Let me go ahead and make that a meal deal for you....and would you like that to eat in or take away?" Polites was somehow able to understand almost everything the man said being able to help guide him through the ordering process which is exactly what they all needed in that moment, getting backed up because one dude was too wasted to order is NOT what they needed right now. Polites ran the man’s order through and sent him on his way. As the man stepped away Polites saw a heavily pregnant woman walk into the store, the pain in her face clear to all to see as she stumbled her way towards the woman's bathroom, Polites noticed a small trail of water following behind her but before he could say anything a more immediate, LOUDER problem emerged.
"PISS OFF YOU HOMEWRECKER!" The shrill voice of an angry woman diverted Polites's eyes to the sight of two young women gearing up to fight. Polites was great when it came to dealing with difficult customers but outright conflict de-escalation? That was punching above his weight class, so Polites seeing this turned his head to call for assistance.
"Captain! cat fight in the dining room!"
Odysseus answered Polites’s call by turning his head to the dinning room, low and behold were two twenty something year old woman about to rip each others eyes out. Odysseus quickly headed into the dinning room to go and contain the situation, Odysseus manoeuvred through the sea of people feeling like a fish in a sardine can with how many people there were.
Odysseus reached the two girls and, just as they were about to start attacking one another, he placed himself in between the two women and began to speak: “Ladies ladies what is happening here?”
“This BITCH slept with my boyfriend!” She snapped back at him trying to push past him to get to the accused cheater.
“Well he didn’t tell me he HAD a girlfriend, maybe he wouldn’t have slept with me if he ACTUALLY LIKED YOU ANNA!” The alleged home wrecker hissed trying to get a reaction as she desperately tried to get past Odysseus as he soon noticed the smell of intoxication coming from the two girls.
“YOU WANNA GO FOUR EYES?!” The girl Odysseus presumed to be Anna screamed back now digging her nails into Odysseus arms, her acrylic nails feeling like sharp talons trying to pierce his skin all while he was listening in to understand the situation better.
Her declaration of violence baiting the girl with glasses into reacting, “LETS GO, YOU BITCH ASS-“
Odysseus sensing what her next words were going to be finally interrupted them both now taking control of the conversation “OKAY BOTH OF YOU ENOUGH! Is this really about a man? A MAN? Ladies on behalf of all men let me tell you that we are NEVER WORTH IT! I mean look at you, you’re both here about to take each other’s eyes out and where is this man you’re both fighting over? Because I can tell you now he sure as hell isn’t thinking about how you two feel right now.” Odysseus’ words clearly struck a chord with them both as they had both now paused their rage to listen to him, taking a look round for this missing man of theirs.
“Oh my god….he is right, TYLER ISN'T EVEN HERE!” As Anna said this, the girl with glasses pulled her phone out before turning it so that all three of them could see the Mystery man’s location on her phone then speaking to herself.
“Yeah, because he is at Chloe's”
“Is he SERIOUSLY hitting up Chloe just after her breakup with Andrew? And he left his location on?! He is an ass AND an idiot!” Anna shouted furiously with a mix of hate towards him and to herself for ever dating him.
“Let’s go show his ass up!” The glasses wearing girl replied putting her phone away in the process.
The two girls started going to head out the door. But not before the girl with glasses turned and spoke, “…Maybe let’s eat first, cause your girl is hungry.” This was met with a nod from Anna, once an agreement was met they both looked to Odysseus who gave a knowing smile and simply pointed them to the electronic ordering boards. “Thank you mister!” They said in unison as they skipped over allowing Odysseus to take a breath for a short moment. Unfortunately this moment didn’t last long before the entire store was brought to a standstill by a loud booming voice.
“WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU BITCH ASS PUNK?!”
This was going to be a long shift for Odysseus.