Resto Opening— Part 1.

The purchase price of the restaurant had been $83,729, and Yulia had sunk an additional $29,301 cash into it before opening.

And taking into account the $34,757 worth of furniture and fixtures that she had supplied from her own inventory, the cost of the restaurant so far was a whopping $147,787.

Derek came over after he finished at the hospital for the day, and got to work as chef. ‘It’ll be great to cook something BESIDES mac and cheese for a change!’, he thought with a smile.

Yevgenya took a cab over after school, and happily set about making more of the take-out fare. ‘This is soooo much more fun than homework!’ she thought. Though she was an A+ student, and enjoyed school, she loved the hustle and bustle and relative chaos of the commercial kitchen.

“Looking good, cupcake,” her father encouraged her.

Yulia had been right about the appeal of mac and cheese—the takeout area had 3 customers,

but the restaurant’s tables had remained empty so far.

So Yulia went to greet her take-out customers,

and show the menu to them.

Once a customer saw how good the prices were, he would invariably decide to give the food a try and would put down the menu and wait at the podium to be seated by the hostess.

Then the hostess would show the customer to a table,

and one of the servers would wait on him.

The restaurant soon reached Rank 1! Yulia sent Shelby on break and took over the podium,

and Komei served their first diner.

Yulia had invited some of her friends over, and they were starting to show up.

Troy wanted to learn to cook and, working alongside Derek, he learned how to make mac and cheese.

Genya helped by greeting customers, especially the ones she knew well,

and the resto reached Rank 2!

While Yulia was trying to keep up with her employees’ wage demands, the resto reached Rank 3!

Rodney was so enthusiastic that, although the Managers kept giving him breaks, he kept returning to his restocking duties without being asked. But his mood wasn’t improving, so Troy sent him home for the day.

“Come on, Mom—I want to HELP!”, Genya complained. So, Yulia let her be a Server. Because there wasn’t a waiter uniform small enough to fit her, Yulia put her daughter in a nice dress,

and told the teen to go ahead and represent herself as a member of the owner’s family. Yulia figured that would make her customers feel valued.

Komei awoke from his nap in the tent and resumed as Server, and Genya—who was already a Level 10 cook--took over briefly in the kitchen so that her father could take a break and use the Energizer.

“This is like the best day of my life ever!” she exclaimed loudly, to no one in particular.

On Derek’s way back into the building, Yulia presented her husband with a set of chef’s whites.

“Great idea, honey!” he told her. “You should do this for ALL the cooks.”

The venue reached Rank 4.

Bruce woke up and wanted to work on his register skills, so Shelby took a break. When Marisa got up from her nap, Shelby gave her a raise,

and (at Derek’s good suggestion) presented the young sous-chef with her own set of chef’s whites. Marisa went proudly back to work.

Yulia gave her daughter another thrill by letting the teen be Hostess for a while.

Yulia covered restocking so that Troy could take a break. He went to find Shelby. The two had worked side by side for some time now, and were close friends.

“You look awesome in that hostess outfit!” he told her admiringly.

“You don’t look bad yourself!” she responded. “That gold vest really accents your coloring.”

Troy had no idea what that meant, but he figured it was a good thing. He was suddenly surprised by what he was feeling for his friend.

Shelby felt the same. (She had thought Troy was cute for some time, but then, she was a Romance Sim, and thought pretty much that every guy was cute.)

Shelby had a Want to ask someone on a date, so she asked Troy, and he accepted! And things progressed quickly,

and it was eventually a Dream Date!

Meanwhile, Yulia was doing well enough at Restocking that she had finally earned a Bronze badge.

and Bruce earned a Silver badge in Register! Yulia immediately gave him a raise.

Genya increased her Sales ability while at the podium.

And Komei was starting to think that Marisa was pretty darned attractive herself….

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NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

I got the “cost of the restaurant so far” by going to the neighborhood screen, getting the lot value of Yulia’s Restaurant ($147,787) and subtracting from that the lot purchase price ($83,729) and the cash she’d invested ($29,301, which I got from the Business Interface under “Cash Tracker”), and that allowed me to figure out the value of the inventory Yulia had contributed (the tents, the sofas, etc.).

Note that being Host/Hostess builds Sales skill:

The “Show Menu to …” interaction is done by clicking on the podium. The Host/Hostess is able to show the menu to take-out customers ONLY if they’re been greeted. Once greeted, their names will show up under “Show Menu.” Unless you do Greet and Show Menu, take-out customers tend to leave without considering dining. If Yulia clicks on the podium, and “Show Menu To” doesn’t show up, that means she needs to go greet people.

Stinky snapdragons again interfered—Christian kept abandoning his station, and I found a green one outdoors just behind the station. There was also one behind Shelby at the cash register. These particular bouquets were from Yulia’s inventory and had been pink before. I think I now remember that pink ones can go green after a while.

Genya is so obsessively neat that, even when she’s unassigned (as Server, or to “Tidy Up”, or whatever), she STILL buses dirty dishes!

The game was obviously trying to get Rodney to quit….

Why aren’t the nice waiter outfits available to teens??? That’s why Genya’s in a dress—because the waiter apron outfits that WERE available to her don’t fit in with the resto’s aesthetics.

More game sneak—Marisa was “Underpaid” (yes, again!) and cleverly evaded every owner/Manager who was trying to give her a raise. She went into a tent to sleep, and when she came out, she quit. I exited without saving, went back in, and had Troy (who, as a Manager, is able to change her wage) stand outside her tent. She then hid in the tent for hours! Shelby eventually got her, though.

The business reason for getting Troy and Shelby to fall in love was so that they could develop easily satisfied wants and get into good enough moods to use the Energizer on a regular basis.

(I know—I’m SUCH a romantic!) But also, I’ve always thought they were both SO cute. Can you imagine how adorable their children would be?—LOADS of messy blond hair! Their romance progressed quickly I guess because it’s Spring (and because of Romance Sim Shelby, natch). And because they were such good friends to begin with—they spent a lot of time hanging out together on breaks, and they’ve even napped together in the same tent several times. (I know—scandal!)

I never noticed this before with a Romance Sim, but Shelby seemed to swing her hips quite alluringly when she walked toward Troy to do “Flirt – Suggestion.” Am I imagining this, or does this actually happen?

And the Komei/Marisa thing is too funny! I wouldn’t even have noticed his leer if the game hadn’t done the picture-in-picture thing to alert me that the faucet next to Marisa was spouting water all over the floor. But, if the EA gods have decreed it….

What should I do about Shelby and Troy??? Shelby has a 20 Woo-Hoo LTW, and has a Fear of marrying Troy (or anyone else, obviously). (Troy—a Knowledge Sim—has the Criminal Mastermind LTW.)