Lexi and Lorraine were two of the things that were festering. Lexi was getting more and more discouraged by Drenovis. While Tommy would give her good shifts and do his best to make sure she could make money, he could not stop Drenovis from harassing her. Drenovis bothered her every chance he could get. He picked on everything about her beginning with her uniform choices. Eventually she settled into black pants and a white blouse which was never see-through and always buttoned to near the collar so she did not show cleavage. Even on the days that Drenovis was not there, he was there for Lexi because no one knew when he might show up. She was ever conscious of the fact that at any moment on any given shift the fat, greasy, slimy Drenovis might walk through the door. Worse, as he often did, he might sit himself on her station and force her to wait on him.
Over the years and through the course of his career, Bill would meet lots of different managers and chefs. One way or another they had their own styles of impressing their ways on their kitchens and/or restaurants. He found one chef making out with the secretary in the chef’s office which was located inside the main kitchen of one of the hotel’s many kitchens. They just drew the blinds and did it on the desk sometimes. Drenovis forced the waitresses into the back seat of his Riviera for his personal pleasure, this of course if they wanted to get good shifts. Another manager, one equally greasy and pockmarked as Drenovis, liked to take waitresses to his apartment in Manhattan. His co-manager simply liked them on their knees in the office.
Bill learned early on that it was a seedy business, one in which the only ones who thrived were the cooks, managers and owners. Waitresses were a dime a dozen and dishwashers, well they weren’t worth anything to speak of, that is if you were one of the ones like Drenovis. On the other hand, if you were a compassionate cook, and there were a few, they were worth everything. You couldn’t put up a meal without a clean plate. A waitress couldn’t serve a coffee without a clean mug or a cup and saucer. Bill also discovered that he could piss off Drenovis by feeding steak to the dishwashers, effectively accomplishing two goals with one action. He could ensure that he had whatever he needed from the dishwashers to be able to put up meals and he could irritate Drenovis all at once. Good business from his end, for sure.
Lorraine had met someone. She told Bill toward the end of January, one bitterly cold night when Ohio State was playing out of town and they were horribly slow. They were sitting out in the hall, Bill having cooked and cut her up a steak to eat. As he usually did, he was by the doorway so he could see if Tommy was coming through. Marie was sitting on her stool reading the newspaper. Jimmy and Grandma had already gone home and the night was winding down quickly.
“Want to hook up?” he asked her.
“Yes. But I have to tell you something.”
“Go for it.”
“I met someone. He wants to take me on a date.”
“Mazel Tov.”
“You’re not jealous?”
“You want me to be? Actually I’m happy for you.”
“He’s a customer. He’s a school teacher.”
“That’s great. Is it what you want?”
“Well, if you mean to date someone, I think so, but I don’t know. Meanwhile, he hasn’t actually asked me out yet. He said he’d come in to eat toward the end of the week and that we’d talk more.”
“So do you want to hook up later?”
“I don’t know what I want,” Lorraine said.. “I want to fool around. I don’t know if I want to date. Maybe I’m just afraid. I’m pretty much afraid of everything.”
“Finish your steak and get us a beer,” Bill said. “Welcome to that club.”
