The Perfumed Plight of a Posh Princess

      Chessangie the Royalgirl Draik was sifting through the mail at her house when she noticed a beautiful envelope which bore a rosy pink hue. She saw that it was addressed to her, so she opened it. She was enthralled by the sparkly glitter and intricate details on the card which she found inside.

      It was an invitation to a special party, sent by one of her friends. The event was a formal dance which required fancy attire. In Angie's case, she would need a gorgeous gown. While she already had a dress, she didn't have any appropriate jewelry to wear. All of her gems were too casual for a party of this caliber.

      She decided that she would have to go to Uni's Clothing and buy a nice set. However, she didn't have many Neopoints to spare. Therefore, she asked her owner for the money required to make a purchase.

      "May I please have 50,000 Neopoints?" asked Angie. "I need some cash."

      "For what?" asked her owner.

      "I'm going to a party, and I need money to buy some jewelry to wear."

      "Absolutely not. I just spent a million Neopoints on renovations for your bedroom. If your pretty palace doesn't satisfy you, then I don't know what will. You are the definition of SPOILED."

      Angie frowned and walked away. She realized that if she had lied about the purpose of the Neopoints, then she would have gotten them. However, she would have felt really guilty as a result. She ultimately decided that she would save her salary from her job at the Grooming Parlor until she had enough money to buy the jewelry.

      The next day, Angie arrived at the Grooming Parlor. Her manager, a beautiful Red Usul, greeted her and told her to ring up purchases at the cash register. Therefore, she began to work.

      She had been serving customers for about twenty minutes when she was given a different task. Usually, another girl would work on makeup and hairstyles for the customers, but she had suddenly contracted Neopox, which was a very contagious illness. The manager had not been able to find a replacement on such short notice, so she asked Angie to temporarily take the position.

      Angie greeted the customer, who was a Desert Aisha. She was wearing a fancy white dress. "I'm going to a party tonight," she explained. "Anyway, I would like straight black hair extensions, foundation of a medium shade paired with bronzer, moderately bright coral lipstick, and dramatic black eyeliner with golden, glittery eyeshadow."

      "Coming right up." Angie washed the client's hair and dyed it black, then attached the matching extensions. "Now for the makeup," she told the Aisha.

      She took the cap off of the bottle of liquid makeup. After applying it to one side of the customer's face, she walked over to the other side of the chair. Unfortunately, she tripped over the uneven rug. She shrieked as she fell flat on her face.

      Angie was not the only Neopet who was upset. As she got up, she saw a furious client with liquid makeup staining her once dazzling white dress. The bottle had flown out of Angie's hand when she fell. "What kind of service IS THIS?!" growled the client. "Now my dress is ruined! You imbecile!"

      The noisy scene had attracted the attention of everyone in the store, including the manager. She rushed over to the chair angrily. "ANGIE!" she barked. "This is HORRIBLE! You will never work on makeup or hairstyles in this store ever, ever again! Now get your inept self over to the cash register! I hope that you can at least ring up purchases efficiently!"

      Angie stood by the chair, stunned and embarrassed as everyone stared at her. Then the manager turned to the Aisha. "I'm terribly sorry," she told her sympathetically. "I'll finish your makeup. The service will be free. We strive to please all of our customers. That girl will not be working on makeup or hairstyles anymore."

      "Thanks for trying to rectify the situation," replied the client. Then the manager saw that Angie was still standing by the chair. "GO!" demanded the manager as she glared at Angie. The Draik despondently headed over to the register.

          -----

      When Angie arrived at her house, she was still in an unpleasant mood. "What's wrong?" asked her sister Chessella.

      "Bad day at work," she answered grouchily.

      "What happened?"

      "I spilled makeup all over a customer's fancy dress."

      Ella stifled a laugh. "Well, you'll just have to be more careful from now on," she told her sister.

      "That won't be necessary. I'm not allowed to work on makeup or hairstyles anymore."

      "Well, you should be careful while completing any task."

      "True. It's getting very late. I'm going to bed. Good night."

      The next day, Angie arrived at work. The manager greeted her unenthusiastically. "Whatever you do, I don't want a repeat of yesterday's fiasco." she told her. "If you make one more mistake, you'll be fired on the spot."

      Angie frowned. "Yes, ma'am," she answered.

      "Anyway, I have a task for you. Our shelves are running out of "Lavender-Scented Perfume". There's a pallet in the back room which has a bunch of boxes of said perfume stacked on top of it. Your job is to bring the pallet up front and put all of the perfume boxes on the shelves. NEATLY, I might add."

      "Yes, ma'am." Angie walked over to the back room and found the pallet easily. It was hard to miss due to its large size and the sparkly foil which adorned the boxes. She grabbed the handle and began to pull the mass. Although it was heavy, she was able to move it with some effort.

      She had reached the front of the store. She was approaching the shelf when she lost control of the pallet due to its enormous weight. It crashed into a metal shelf which was housing many boxes of "Sunshine Perfume". Although the boxes on the pallet had been carefully secured, the bottles of Sunshine Perfume fell onto the stone floor and shattered into countless pieces.

      The smell overwhelmed Angie as well as all of the customers. The store absolutely REEKED of perfume. The scent was so strong that one of the clients started to sneeze. "I have allergies!" she exclaimed. "I'll come back in a few days!" Then she dashed out of the store.

      The manager glared at Angie in disgust. "You are an absolute BABOON!" she screamed. "You bumbling imbecile! I've had enough of your ineptitude. You're FIRED! Clean out your locker, punch out, and GET OUT!"

      All of the customers stared at Angie as she covered her face in embarrassment. She despondently walked over to the back room and cleaned out her locker. Then she punched out and left the store. She knew that as long as the Usul still worked there, she would never be welcome there ever, ever again.

      Angie returned to her house, a look of unhappiness in her face. "Why are you back already?" asked Ella.

      "I got fired," grumbled Angie.

      "Why?"

      "I broke a bunch of perfume bottles. Now the store reeks."

      Again, Ella stifled a laugh. "I told you to be more careful," she replied. "Anyway, it's time to look for another job."

      "I doubt I'll be hired by anyone else. I can't exactly use the Grooming Parlor as a reference."

      Ella smirked. "True. However, you'll never have any more spending money unless you find another job. That's why you should apply for a job at more stores tomorrow."

      "Maybe in a few days. I'm still in a rotten mood."

      Angie began to look for another job. A few days passed, and she was hired at Uni's Clothing. The manager, a trendy Blue Uni, was much more patient than the Red Usul had been. Angie took great caution in her work, and there were no problems as a result.

      One day, Angie walked into the break room. She was about to punch in when she noticed a giant banner hanging on the wall. It was an advertisement for a raffle. A ticket was priced at 2500 Neopoints, and the prize was a store credit for 50,000 Neopoints. Tickets were available at the front desk. They could be purchased from the manager, who would initial them to verify their legitimacy.

      She figured that she wouldn't win because the odds were stacked against her. Convinced that the tickets were a waste of money, she decided not to buy any. When she was walking back to the front of the store, she noticed a ticket that had been dropped on the ground. Because there was no name on it, she was unable to identify the owner. However, the manager had already initialed it. Therefore, she wrote her name on it and put it in the jar.

      The next day, Angie arrived at work. As soon as she walked in, the manager informed her that she had won the raffle. "I don't remember selling you a ticket," she began, "but it has my initials on it, so you must have bought one. Here's your store credit for 50,000 Neopoints."

      Angie accepted the prize with glee. "Thank you, ma'am!" she exclaimed. After she had finished her shift, she spent the store credit on the jewelry that she had been longing to obtain. Even though she had accomplished her goal, she kept her job at Uni's Clothing because she wanted some spending money now and then.

      Of course, she wore her gems to the party. The other guests were thoroughly impressed by the eclectic appearance of the accessories which adorned her body. She and her friends enjoyed delicious food and marvelous music. They sang splendidly as they danced the night away.

      The End.