After the interview came the training.
"Put both of your hands in front of your stomach, you two. Here, follow me!" instructed Carole.
Instead of following Carole, Gerena held up a book and tilted her head. "Can I read a book while working?" she asked.
Meanwhile, Sirry tried to follow Carole's instructions but was too nervous to do it right. "A-am I doing it right?"
Since our restaurant's theme was equality and the uniqueness of disparity, we wouldn't set a standard for our maids. That also meant we couldn't just tell them to follow their seniors. Instead, we would need to polish their attractive points through deliberate training.
And for that, we needed to know their personalities better and see how they work.
Tizmilly, my mother, Timmy, and I were now sitting on chairs arranged on the first floor, acting as customers. Carole and the maids were trying to serve us as if it were a real workday.
Carole, as expected, had settled into the role of the arrogant and graceful maid. Her movements were swift and carried responsibility. But unlike a normal maid, she wasn't stiff. She was more free, more bare, and more genuine. In short, she knew what I wanted.
Carrying a tray with a cup of water and the menu, she approached me with an apathetic face.
She placed the tray on my table. "Here, customer. Pick one quickly, please. I still have others to serve."
_Not too rude, but still as fresh as needed. Good, good._
After clearing my throat, I took my role seriously too. I impatiently snatched the cup and the menu off the tray.
I looked at the menu, which was actually just an empty, thick book cover made of polished and processed animal skin at the moment. Then I clicked my tongue and threw the menu back onto the tray. "Get me a medium salad and a beef, quick."
In response, Carole wrinkled her nose a little. She placed her right palm over her lips in an attempt to cover her disgusted expression.
"Don't hurry me. Be patient, and you'll eventually get your order," said Carole.
I slammed the table. "HAH? I don't have time to—"
She immediately interrupted me, giving me a sarcastic smile. "Then what about this: if you obey my words, shut your filthy mouth, and wait patiently, but still don't get your order on time, we'll compensate you with a bonus dish?"
Of course, since it was just training, we wouldn't actually serve food. We were just testing how the maids handled troublesome customers.
I couldn't help but clap after witnessing her performance. "Oh, that's a brilliant tactic, Carole! Great work!" I praised her.
She immediately returned to her usual self. "You think so? That's good," she muttered with a relieved sigh.
From what I saw, Carole had mastered her role about 60 to 70%. She could serve an actual customer with no problem.
As for the others...
I turned to look at Sirry, who was serving Tizmilly.
"E-excuse me, my lady, but your payment isn't enough," said Sirry while hugging the tray, her voice low and hesitant.
Tizmilly, to my surprise, was as stiff and nervous as Sirry. "Y-you sure about that? Wasn't that just your miscalculation? Wh-why don't you recount the money again to make sure you aren't miscalculating?"
Sirry's face went pale, her eyes darting around as she opened and closed her lips, unsure what to say. "E-eh... B-but..."
It was worrying to watch how Sirry always looked like she was about to pass out at any moment, but her expression told me she was determined and wouldn't give up easily. And Tizmilly, why did you look so nervous? Was acting really that stressful for you?
After that, I turned to the last maid.
My mother slammed the table and narrowed her eyes at Gerena. "Don't bring a book while working! It will not only hinder you, but it also doesn't look good paired with the uniform!" she yelled at her aggressively.
As the designer of the uniforms, maybe it was irritating for her to see how Gerena randomly paired it with a thick, old book.
Timmy hesitated before opening his mouth. "That's right, Sis Gerena... Uh... Look at my sister! A maid should be way more... graceful! Like nobles!"
"Eh..." Gerena tilted her head. She placed her finger on her lips and fell silent for a long beat before perking up. She seemed to have just found a brilliant idea. "Then what if I wrap the book with a fancy cover?"
They somehow ended up advising Gerena on how to make her book look like something a proper maid would carry. A strange sight, to be honest.
They all had their own styles. That was good. As long as we focused on training their advantages, we could transform them into the ideal maids I had in mind.
We spent the rest of the day training the maids. We taught Sirry how to control herself so she wouldn't actually pass out while working. We found a way for Gerena to read her book while working, but with limits she shouldn't cross in order to maintain the peaceful atmosphere of the restaurant. Lastly, we advised Carole and showed her how to improve her performance and perfect her acting.
We let them go home when it started to get dark. They could bring their uniforms back with them, along with some cookies made by my mother.
The next day, we continued the training.
We taught them how to cook, how to clean the restaurant while it was full of people, how to protect themselves with simple and memorable punch and kick moves, and so on.
We spent day after day teaching them while continuing to decorate and arrange the place until it met our ideal result.
In the end, we had 8 tables with 4 chairs each on the first floor and 10 small tables with 2 chairs each on the second floor. At maximum, we could serve 52 people at once. That was more than we expected. And since we arranged the tables quite far from each other to avoid making the place feel crowded, we could actually accommodate more people if we wanted.
Our Miss Villainess shot that idea down, though. She said it was already good this way. If we squeezed in any more, the customers wouldn't like it. That was especially true if we wanted to attract some rich people.
Our decorations were mostly plants and nature. I even drew a picture of veiny leaves on one side of the wall on the first floor to enhance the theme. Before Mother Nature, everyone is the same and equal, after all.
Then, after three weeks of postponement since I first stated the idea, we officially opened the restaurant.
Above the door, we put a huge sign that read _'Tiz & Roosts'_.
That is the name of our restaurant.
The place I created to wait peacefully for the ultimate end of the world.