One early afternoon, I was very busy working hard at my receptionist job. My coworker, Dariana, offered to treat us all out to lunch. Because of that, our manager, Margo, allowed us to take an entire 2-hour break. Everyone was negotiating & debating on a consensus for where to go & eat. There were about 20 of us.
We all decided to go to a restaurant, called, "Merry-go-round". It's called "Merry-go-round" because it represents cuisine from all over the world. The Merry-go-round restaurant is a restaurant with an extensive menu that specializes in casseroles, soups, breads, pastries, desserts, salads & drinks from all over the world. Unfortunately, it's not an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, but the food is SO delicious! Imagine stuff like a Korean beef bulgogi casserole that's like a fusion of Korean BBQ & Italian lasagna. It's like HEAVEN IN YOUR MOUTH! In fact, that's the main dish that everyone was raving about. That was what we all were expecting.
We were all waited on & seated. Our server took our drink orders & gave us our salad. I ordered 2 glasses of water & this drink that had a consistency between juice & a smoothie. The flavor was a mixture of passion fruit, plum, coconut water & kiwi. It tasted DIVINE! You can choose whether or not you want it to be alcoholic. I chose non-alcoholic. My coworkers tried to jokingly peer pressure me into getting the alcoholic version. We all ordered the bulgogi lasagna casserole with Guatemalan quesadilla.
The server, Dessalyn, came back & took our food orders once she brought out our beverages.
Once she walked off, 1 of my coworkers, Gavin, said, "Hey, Candy. You should try the alcoholic version. It is FIRE!"
I replied, "No, thank you. I can't drink anything alcoholic."
Another coworker, Rosita, who's Gavin's girlfriend, asked, "Aww, why not? You're old enough. You're legal. Have a little bit of fun sometimes."
Dariana said, "Now, y'all know how Candy is!"
Everyone was like, "How? What do you mean?"
Dariana said, "Candy is CANDYING!"
Everyone at the table was DYING laughing! The WAY that she said it made it even funnier. To help pass the time more quickly, more jokes were cracked while we were all waiting for our food.
Dariana also added, "Gawn! Wit'cha Candyin' self!"
Once she said that, we laughed so loud that heads were turning from all across the dining area.
Dariana talked about me "Candying" because of my peculiar personality & being different from the rest. I was the odd ball of the group.
Our food eventually came, & we grubbed hard! We were FEASTIN'! & for dessert, we had a South African dish, called "malva pudding". That was the most diverse & interesting meal that I've had in my ENTIRE life! Why did this have to be such a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me? Because it's food that I couldn't afford.
The unique thing about this restaurant is that they have a special advertisement that if you want second helpings, you pay $10 extra per dish, rather than the full price. Many customers thought it was WORTH IT to buy seconds. The seconds on regular drinks (refills) costed $2 extra. The seconds on alcoholic drinks costed $5. The seconds on desserts, soup & whatever else was only $1. The salad was free with your meal. Dariana paid for our SECONDS on whatever we wanted!
After we were done eating, we said, "Thank you, Dariana. We love you to no end!"
Some of the coworkers were trying to figure out whether or not Dariana won the lottery or won a lawsuit. Nah! She just has a rich husband! 😂
THE END
(Here's what Guatemalan quesadilla is. It's different from Mexican quesadillas.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/rha8n5/guatemalan_quesadilla/
https://growingupbilingual.com/easy-recipe-for-guatemalan-quesadillas-a-sweet-dessert/ )
Now, isn't it 'bout time that I write & self-publish another fiction short story, using my real name? Here are a couple of others, where I did. I started this on 06/21/2025.
CatLand
https://gangstalkedcreoleauthor.blogspot.com/2021/12/catland.html
&
Blessing An Impecunious Woman
https://gangstalkedcreoleauthor.blogspot.com/2022/04/blessing-impecunious-woman.html