Exactly. And Queenie rushing in and managing to diffuse the situation because she’s dealt with this kind of entitled posh customers before while Credence is just left trembling, on the verge of crying, behind the counter. It’s his first day on the job and he’s this close to having a full blown panic attack just cause he didn’t make the coffee right.
Queenie pours his coffee down the drain, makes another coffee for ‘Mr. Graves’, which he finds satisfying, all in less than three minutes. He leaves with a wink at her and Credence is officially disgusted, even if Queenie seems unfazed.
Seeing as he was the last customer - you know, the one who pops in five minutes before closing time - there’s no one else in the coffee to witness when Credence does break down. His day had been going so well so far. He had a job, he was proud, he could do this.
And then this guy had to come in and ruin everything.
Queenie consoles him, says if something like this ever happens again he has to call her first. Says it wasn’t his fault, says there’s no point discussing with these kind of clients cause they won’t hear it anyway. Shares a few “clients from hell” stories she lived through as well. Says that’s actually how she met Jacob, because he stepped in when the client seemed this close to actually hitting her.
Says Credence did very well, that she’s proud of him, that tomorrow is another day.
It makes him feel better, but only just.
The worst thing is - the next morning, the first customer is him.
Except he’s apparently come to … apologize? Tight-lipped and awkward and with eyebags so prounounced Credence has to double-take to ensure they’re not actually bruises.
The guy is actually halfway decent. He apologizes to Credence for behaving like he did properly, buys Credence a coffee, says he’d had a very rough day and took it out on Credence.
Credence is dubious but he accepts the coffee. The guy leaves with one last apologetic smile and Credence dearly hopes he never sees him again.
And for a good while he doesn’t. He has a few other ‘horror stories’ when dealing with customers of his own, but he grows a tough skin. It also helps that he’s no longer under Ma’s thumb and instead has his own place. He grows more mature, more independent, overall much happier than he was. Most people he sees during the day are actually lovely, with the exception of a few assholes - and if he’s lucky enough there are days where he doesn’t even have to deal with those.
And one day, about six months later, Percival Graves comes back.
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