"Different keys for different freezers?" Vinnie asked Sandy. In order to cool down the duo stuck on the skeletal shift were enacting their operation for ice cream cake. Being critical infrastructure, of course the freezers were running. Winnie had made the mistake of parking near the back corner of the restaurant arcade adjacent to the freezers' exhaust. A wave of further hot air chased him inside as the day grew beastly.
"Only the owner and the day manager have a master key," Sandy explained, sorting through keys on the key ring. "Corporate's attempt to cut down on waste. Staff only have limited access to the freezer goods required for their shift.
Her arm jiggled as she thrust her elbow out to the adjacent freezer. "Pizza toppings, entrees and sides in there. All the savory foods. This one has ice cream and frostings. Most of the desserts that aren't in the bulk storage. It would always be a pain if Jessica Hetty and I tried to help each other out, because the cook and baker positions are only authorized for the respective freezer."
A loud 'CLUNK' punctuated Sandy turning the key, opening up freezer #2. She hefted the door open. Semi-frozen mist poured out of the cold storage. For a moment, Sandy and Vinnie just stood there letting the chill seep into their pores.
"Now don't forget to write down what items we consume for employee use," Sandy reminded as she thrust the checklist into Vinnie's hands. Past a very low threshold, employees were required to pay for non-standard meal break vittles out of their paychecks. Sandy and Vinnie had agreed to split things 50/50 for their ice cream cake. Plus whatever other frozen treats they may or may not sneak out. Usually they brought in their own snacks for break time, as it was cheaper, but both were emboldened by being forced to work on the hottest days of the summer to have this little victory over the company.
The humidity was playing havoc with all the mist cascading from the freezer. Sandy's thick legs were nearly obscured as she inspected a shelf of gallon containers. "What's your favorite flavor, Vinnie? We've got mint chip, rainbow swirl, butterscotch, fudge ripple..."
Vinnie had forgotten socks today, the chill seeping into his ankles like stabbing daggers. "Dunno, anything you'd want. It's a chocolate cake, right? So maybe something simple like vanilla or cinnamon."
"I could double the layers," Sandy suggested, sorting through flavors. "That way we each pick what we want. I'm partial to a fruit flavor; maybe cherry or pineapple-mango." It was cold enough that she was starting to shiver, even in the opened freezer. "A crunch layer made of cookie crumbs and chocolate chips would be fun. But those are in the bulk freezer."
"Number 3, right?" Vinnie pulled out the key ring to search for the other key. "I'll go pick some up."
"Wait!" Sandy shuffled hurriedly along the freezer floor, not wanting to slip, as she stuck a meaty arm out to reach for the keyring lanyard before Vinnie left the door to close on her. "Leave the key in the door! Otherwise it auto-locks from the inside."
"Holy shit!" Vinnie exclaimed, feeling guilty.
"I told you, corporate wanted to cut down on waste." Sandy stepped back into the heat of the back hallway, rubbing some warm back into her arms. A ring of thefts from the restaurant was one of the reasons for beefed up security and protocols for the kitchen staff. Also why non-security personnel were required to have overlapping shifts to prevent such a tragedy.
"I'm ready to cool off but I'm not that desperate!" Sandy said. "The cartons in here are as hard as bricks, so I'll have to defrost them before we can have our cake."
The overheated Gerbert Gerbil's franchise quieted down somewhat as the pair of workers parted in the heat of the scorching afternoon. Vinnie had the remaining clean up and tear down of the party room he was slacking on, while Sandy was boxing up leftovers while making preparations for the ice cream cake. A cassette player with one of Vinnie's mixtapes provided some rare music that had nothing to do with the family friendly, child-demographic targeted music that normally filled the walls of the building during normal business hours.
All the while, the Moolia animatronic had been dragged halfway to her refusing station, ostensibly to complete that task later.
Still, stomachs rumbled in odd synchronicity between Vinnie and Sandy. All the extra snacking during their shared breaks, with the middling responsibility of the day, furthered their appetites. Albeit more self-consciously, without the drug haze of their impromptu pot parties to release their inhibitions. Meaning that Vinnie and Sandy were sneaking around, trying to avoid each other's notice, when they had the mood to eat something before the fabled ice cream cake would be ready for 20 minutes of settling in the freezer.
Sandy, for one, was never one to turn down ice cream, and while she had splurged for two layers of ice cream in the cake, the third and fourth flavors were just as addictive. Vinnie, for his part, liked those peanut butter & fudge rocket shaped ice cream bars sold to the kids, and in the most transparent scam ever figured eating a half opened box, then the reciprocal half of another box, would appear as if nothing had changed on the freezer shelf for frozen treats.
Due to the frequent trips to the freezer (again, they wold argue chiefly for work related reasons) the keys were left in the door. Even the 6-inch bar at the end of the lanyard would be crammed into the lining of the freezer door. A preventive measure that also let a little extra frozen air trickle into the restaurant.
Happenstance would conspire that for one, the temperate was about to take a dangerous plunge...
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