Miss Perfect

She was neither happy nor unhappy with her job at the pizzeria, it paid her well enough to pay all her bills and she was just one order away from earning the 'Miss Perfect' badge, the badge she had dreamt of earning since she started working at the pizzeria, it was awarded to the one who completed 50 orders successfully.

But since the owner's nephew, Rick had started working at the pizzeria, she had felt a sort of anxiety take over her, he regularly mixed up orders and at times forgot to note down the instructions given by the customers.

Rick was the type of boy who she knew in a glance was forced to work at the pizzeria by his uncle because he wanted him to gain a basic understanding about work, and Rick left no stone unturned, to grab an opportunity to mess up so he could be fired.

But that didn't seem to be happening, his uncle was bent on making Rick work, no matter how unwilling Rick was, all poor Rick wanted was a chance to get out of the job and scream, "I'm free!"

Even with Rick's work skills, she had successfully managed to complete 49 orders and she knew if she messed up even one order she would have to start again for getting the badge, her successful 49 orders won't be worth anything!

It was the weekend and the pizzeria was packed with people, making her more nervous than ever, she just thought of focusing on getting the badge and prepared to make the first pizza of the day, when she looked at the order for the toppings, to her horror she realized Rick had taken down the number but not the the name of the toppings!

How could she put toppings on the pizza just by seeing the number of toppings!, she wanted to send Rick back to the customer and take the order again, but a fear began to creep on her, what if this small mistake made her loose her coveted badge?

Her head began pounding with anxiety, she could feel her palms sweat, if she got this order wrong, she would loose the badge and all her 49 orders that she had worked hard to complete successfully, she felt like walking up to Rick and slapping him, but that would get her fired, then there was no chance of earning the badge ever!

She knew it was a large pizza with 5 toppings, but what were the toppings were left to her imagination thanks to Rick!, she tried to glance at the customer to imagine what kind of toppings they would prefer, she felt if she could try to understand the personality of the customer, it could give her an idea on what to put on the pizza, she felt she had gained an understanding of what certain customers preferred

But this exercise of hers yielded no results!, all sorts of combinations were running in her mind, she kept on looking at the toppings lying infront of her again and again, perhaps if she looked at them hard enough, she could possibly get a combination that would get her out of this mess!

Mushrooms, corn, bell pepper, anchovies and black olives or diced chicken, sausage, sliced onions, basil and baby tomatoes or pepperoni, black olives, sliced onions, bell pepper and corn?, her mind was going crazy with all the combinations!

There was no way she could select five toppings at random and they turned out to be the right one!, she knew no matter how hard she tried, she could never guess all the toppings right, something had to be wrong!

What if there were 4 or 6 toppings and Rick had noted down only 5?, then there was no way the customer wouldn't notice!, what if the customer was very specific about the toppings or had an allergy to some topping and left it out?

If she killed the customer because she put a topping that they were allergic too, will she go to jail?, and forget the badge, she would loose her job and be marked as a murderer for life!

She shook her head at the thought, it was too scary to even think about it but what would happen if it actually turned out to be true?!, she was sweating all over, anxiety had gotten the best of her!

What if it was an all veg pizza?!, and they didn't want any meat on it?, if that was the case she would be in a bigger trouble!, as her mind was playing out all the possible combinations, Rick came in to inform her that the customer was waiting for their pizza, and the other customers were also asking how long it will take?

She shot Rick an angry glance, he knew why she was angry with him and smirked in return and left, he said he will tell the customer that the pizza would be ready in 10 minutes, this made her angry and nervous at the same time, it meant she was running out of time and she had to complete the other orders too!

She picked five toppings at random and put the pizza in the oven, she had left it to luck to decide whether she got the badge or not, she just hoped the customer would be satisfied.

When Rick came in to tell her that the customer had a complaint regarding the pizza and were asking to talk to her, her heart sank, and she felt every muscle in her body tighten, she had certainly messed up and the badge was a distant dream now!

She felt all the strength in her legs drain as she walked up to the customer, she felt like a prisoner that was being brought in chains for facing their punishment, her mind ran with all the ways she could put this all on Rick and get away!

But before she could say anything, the customer pointed towards the pizza and in that instant she understood she could in no way blame it on Rick, in her anxiety she had committed a blunder that she could in no way hide, how was she so foolish she thought?, how could she forget something so important?, how could she forget to put mozzarella on the pizza?!