the girl with the red hair

A beep came over my headset.

“Hello, can I take your order please?”
“Hi, how are you?”

I didn’t respond. She wasn’t really asking me. That’s just what people say instinctively, and then they follow it up by going directly into their order. There was a pause; she wasn’t saying anything. Three seconds.

“I’m good, how are you? And what can I get for you today?”
“Good. Could I get an iced latte?”
“Would you like a flavor for that?”
“Caramel please.”
“Can I get anything else for you?”

Silence. I feel like this is the typical response by most people. They are done with their order so they lose interest in the order. They don’t have enough motivation to bother saying something. I don’t like this though. Sometimes I like to pretend that everybody just nods when I get to that part. I’m sure some people do that, quite frequently actually. But her silence wasn’t permanent.

“Yea, that will be all, thank you!”
“three-oh-one to your first window please.”

When she got to my window she was all smiles. I opened my window to the ninety plus degree weather, and smiled back.

“three-oh-one please.”

She handed me the money. She had short red hair. It was the shade of red that girls in high school would try to dye their hair when they felt like being pretty; but I think it was natural. It was pretty.
I counted out her change and opened my window again to hand it to her. I think I was humming an ABBA song. Money money money had been stuck in my head all day.

“Seven dollars is your change. Have a great day!”
“Thanks! Hey, sorry…” I was in the process of quickly sliding the drive-thru window shut again, returning to taking the next car’s order. My hand pressed against the glass and stopped it from closing.
“Yea? What can I do for you?”
“What’s your name?”
“It’s Jack.”
“Thanks Jake, you said Jake right?” She seemed flustered. She started looking around her car for something.
“No, Jack. I’m Jack.” I smiled at her. Her eyes seemed to move under her glasses.

A beep came over my headset.

“Hello, can I take your order please?”
“Yea, can I get three cheeseburgers, a large coke…”

I turned and started hitting the correct buttons on my monitor. It only took about eight seconds; they knew exactly what they wanted, and did not waste anytime with idle chitchat.
Looking back out the window, the girl with the red hair was gone.