Chapter 28: Apprenticing at the Bakery
When I arrived at the place, I realized it was indeed not far from my dormitory; just from a geographical perspective, I was already excited.
Through the glass curtain wall outside, I looked at the facilities inside the bakery. The space wasn’t small; the slightly compact cake racks were neatly arranged inside, presenting the bread and pastries in their best forms to customers.
It seemed that various kinds of bread were the main products here. As I lingered outside, the staff inside looked at me, their intense gazes seemed to be anticipating my entry.
However, looking closely, there were not many customers inside. Was it really this quiet?
I glanced at the two young girls inside, dressed in what appeared to be the bakery’s uniform. They were probably seniors several years above me.
But just two staff members?
Could this scale sustain the normal operation of a bakery? Or were the bakers still busy in the back?
It seemed they thought I was lingering too long and were preparing to come forward to open the door, trying to turn me into a customer.
“Oh, a new student! Is there anything you need? We offer custom pastries and cakes, and our store’s specialty red velvet cake is available for delivery!”
I awkwardly responded, as I was just there to see if I could apply for a job, but seeing how few customers there were, I began to worry.
But I was even more curious about how they could tell I was a new student at a glance.
My witch cloak and badge weren’t particularly special; they looked just like what those seniors wore. However, I hesitated to ask.
“I saw the recruitment task in the academy system. Is there still hiring here?”
Regardless, I ultimately decided to give it a try. After all, I needed to ask if they were hiring. Whether or not this shop would close was beyond my concern; if it did, I could just switch to another part-time job.
“Hiring? Oh, is the store manager’s recruitment still posted, Yihan?” one of the seniors leaned over to ask the other, but she didn’t even try to hide it; I could hear clearly.
“It should be hiring, right? Why not ask the store manager?” The one called Yihan suggested uncertainly.
Then, they began to call and inquire about it in front of me.
“Um, sorry, senior, but we’re not too clear about the hiring situation. We’ll ask the store manager for you. But I’m curious, why did you choose to work at our bakery?” Senior Yihan stepped in front of me to reassure me and casually asked about my situation.
“I’m just looking for a part-time job before school starts. I don’t have much money left, and this place is really close to my assigned dormitory.” I answered truthfully. Since my recruitment had nothing to do with these two staff members, it was fine to talk about this.
“Not much money? You’re attending Witch Academy; don’t your family give you an allowance?”
“Um… I had a conflict with my family.” I answered honestly; after all, it was true. The atmosphere at the Witch Academy wasn’t very good, and some parents worried about their children attending.
“I see. Don’t worry, if the store manager is still looking to hire, actually, there’s no threshold for working part-time here, and since there aren’t many customers, the workload isn’t too heavy.”
As I listened to what this senior was saying, my lips involuntarily twitched. Was this something she should be telling me?
Does anyone really come to work here if the pay is low?
Unless the pay was considerable, otherwise I would naturally be a bit reluctant.
If the pay wasn’t much, the only thing attracting me would be the light workload.
While I was chatting with this senior, the other senior’s phone call connected.
“Hello, manager, could you let me know if we’re still hiring? Yes, yes, there’s a new student here who wants to work part-time…”
“I know about this; I just talked over the phone. Please check their appearance, if they’re pretty, just hire them, and their pay will be standard.”
“Okay, okay…”
At this point, I had stopped my conversation with the senior; was the one on the phone using speakerphone?
I could hear the manager’s voice clearly!
What did she mean by “if they’re pretty, just hire them”?
Am I supposed to be the face of the store?
Speaking of which, there shouldn’t be any ugly women after witch transformation, right? Compared to me taking the position, I felt the two seniors in front of me were more suitable.
Right now, if it weren’t for my long hair giving a first impression of a young girl, based solely on my appearance, I actually considered myself to be more androgynous.
“Alright~ The manager knows about this, so I’ll go draft the contract. By the way, junior, are you sure you want to work part-time here? It should be part-time, right? After all, you’ll have a lot of classes after orientation and won’t be able to be a full-time employee.”
“Um, could I ask about the pay?” In the end, I couldn’t escape the question about remuneration. If I didn’t ask clearly, what if the pay was terrible?
And let them waste their time.
“Well… The wage for temporary workers ranges from 15 to 22 per hour. Do you have any baking experience?”
“I don’t have baking experience, but I have worked as a cashier before.”
“I’m sorry, but we can probably only offer you the minimum of 15…” Before this senior finished speaking, the other senior nudged her with her elbow. “What’s wrong?”
“New student, and they had a conflict with their family, so they don’t have much money. Are you seriously trying to lowball so much?”
“Come on, I’m signing the contract on behalf of the manager. What if she scolds me?”
“The manager isn’t short on money! If anything, you can shift the blame to me, right? She won’t be stingy over a few bucks with us!”
“Alright, but if you get scolded, I’ll make you take the fall.”
With that loud plotting of theirs, my pay inexplicably went up. In reality, I didn’t have high expectations for the job; at this stage, I just needed enough to get by.
Food, clothing, housing, and transportation weren’t much of an issue. However, I was naturally happy about the pay raise; I didn’t expect these two seniors to be so nice.
Was it because of the new student aura?
“Okay then, let’s make it an even 20. I’ll go draft the contract.” After saying that, this senior ran to the back; it looked like she was going to prepare the so-called contract.
“Um… what is the contract? Isn’t it just a signed agreement?” I looked at the other senior with a curious tone.
“You can think of it as a labor contract, but now that you’ve entered Extraordinary Academy, the binding power of the contract is much stronger than the clauses in the mundane world. I hope you won’t feel the constraints of the contract, as it’s more terrifying than breaking the law~” The senior explained to me with a smile, her tone carrying a hint of intimidation. Perhaps this was a lesson from an old veteran.
Otherwise, how would she know the binding power of the contract was so terrifying?
But this also reminded me that a contract and its constraints were characteristics of the extraordinary world?
I was starting to look forward to it.
