Chapter 35 - Black-Gold Card
The restaurant manager glared at Anya Seymour fiercely and barked, "Customers? Can't you even afford to dine? If you can't, then get lost, hobo! Don't waste my time!"
Albion could not help but sigh inwardly once Anya confronted the restaurant's manager. He was not sure whether it was due to a difference in culture or social status, but one thing for sure is people cared a lot about their faces around here.
Even though Anya's family lives frugally, they are still part of a wealthy and reputed family. She would not stay quiet when disrespected.
"H-H-Hobo?! Who are you calling a hobo?!" Anya snarled with shivering anger like a cat that just got its tail stepped on.
The restaurant manager looked at Anya contemptuously and sneered, "Who else would I be calling a hobo if not you? Why don't you take a look in the mirror and see for yourself?"
Anya was immediately startled.
It was true that her clothes were dirtied after being kidnapped by the thugs with their unclean hands. It was also true that she had been crying. The tears would have ruined her makeup and made her look hideous.
Nevertheless, she was too angry to be worrying about that for the time being.
"Open your dog eyes and see what this aunt is holding! Do you think this aunt is too poor to afford eating here with this card?!" Anya angrily took out a black card with gold rose image and showed it to the restaurant manager.
The restaurant manager immediately widened his eyes in horror. He recognized the black card to be the highest level of VIP cards, the black-gold card.
Only the most distinguished guests of the restaurant's owner would receive such a VIP card. Furthermore, only five such cards had been handed out by the owner!
People with the black-gold card can enjoy dining at Rose's Bar and Grill and put everything on the tab so long as the bill does not exceed $100,000! That is more than enough to book the restaurant for the night! If such a person cannot afford to dine at Rose's Bar and Grill, then no one can!
The manager felt a bit dry in the throat before rubbing his hands together, nervously and asking carefully, "Um, may I ask what your name is, miss?"
"What? Now you are interested in who I am? Why don't you open your dog eyes and look carefully at who this aunt is?!" Anya said roguishly with one lifted and planted on top of a chair like some female yakuza.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot tell who you are, miss. Do you want to use this to clean your face first, miss?"
The manager could not guess with all the black mascara smudging Anya's face and humbly offered a handkerchief for her to wipe her face.
"No need!"
Anya snatched a spare packet of wet hand wipes on the table beside her and tore it open. She wiped her face roughly before glaring at the manager.
"How about now?"
The restaurant manager was immediately startled and took a deep ninety-degree bow in apology, "I am terribly sorry for my misconduct, Ms. Anya! Please do not tell Boss Rose about this! I cannot afford to lose this job! I will put everything on my tab, so please, I beg you, Ms. Anya!"
"Are you trying to bribe me?" Said Anya with her nose wrinkled in displeasure.
The manager jumped with fright and denied, "No, no, of course not, Ms. Anya! It is all just a misunderstanding! If I knew it was you, I would not have dared to disrespect you even if I was given ten times the courage!"
The manager was filled with regrets. As a well-established and renowned restaurant, he was just trying to protect the restaurant's image. Who knew that the 'hobo' turned out to be the infamous Ms. Anya?!
"That's better." Anya said smugly, feeling satisfied with the manager's change of attitude before adding, "Well, it is not impossible to tell her. I will just take you up on your offer and put everything on your tab. Everything has to be paid out of your pocket, understand?"
"Yes, yes, of course! Please, take a seat, Ms. Anya. Here is the menu. What would you like to order?" The manager said obediently like a dog that had just been spared from the whip.
"I want this, this, this… and this!"
In a short instance, Anya ordered up to ten food dishes, totaling $600. Such a price was about a week's pay for average full-time workers. However, the price immediately shot up to $2000 after Anya added six bottles of expensive wine to the list.
Such a price was close to the manager's weekly wage. His expression crumpled slightly, but he tried to retain his smile. He turned to Albion and asked, "And what will this gentleman here be ordering?"
Albion had simply ignored the fiasco between the two people the whole time. He had been seated and staring at the menu for some time.
After he was finally asked, he ordered, "I'll have this wagyu rib fillet, medium-rare cooked with mushroom sauce—Oh, and replace the rice with fries and salad, thanks."
If he was going to eat western, he would eat western all the way—none of that eastern-western infusion stuff. Nevertheless, Rose's Bar and Grill was a place that served both eastern and western food.
He had nothing against rice, per se. In fact, he loves rice. He was, after all, of eastern descent despite being raised in western culture. He simply found it blasphemous to put steak and rice together.
"Noted, will that be all?"
"Yes."
"Great!"
The manager took their menu and orders before leaving for the kitchen while ignoring the whispering gossip of the other customers with a straight face.
Albion shook his head and said to Anya, "Did you come here to eat, or did you come here to pick a fight with people?"
"Why didn't you tell me that my face was a mess?" Anya pouted. As someone who works for her father, shouldn't this person help her keep her image?!
"You didn't ask." Albion shrugged and said, "Anyway, why go through such trouble just to satisfy a little bit of vanity? We could have had our food served by now."
"Don't tell me that you are just going to let the person go when they disrespect you?" Asked Anya with her thin brows furrowed.
"If it is troublesome, why not? Are they worth my time? At most, I will just talk sh*t behind their back and spam bad reviews until the restaurant fires them." Albion said nonchalantly, speaking from his average past life experiences.
"Huh?" Anya gasped with both surprise and amazement before saying, "Wow, you're pretty insidious, aren't you? I couldn't tell at all!"
[Goldfinger agrees with this lady.]
Goldfinger suddenly inserted.
'Shut up, Goldfinger. No one asked for your opinion.' Albion mentally spoke to Goldfinger before replying to Anya, "Well, what about you? $2000 ain't exactly a small amount of money. I don't think you stop with just this either, are you?"
"Of course not! I'm still going to tell Sister Rose to fire this person. How dare he called me a hobo?" Anya said grudgingly.
Albion silently lamented for the ill fortunes that will soon befall the restaurant's manager. Women were quite vengeful spirits, aren't they?