When Lexi and Norma gave notice baseball season was under way and the spring had blossomed. Flowers were blooming. The trees wore their leaves proudly. It was just after Easter break, and they did it on the same day.
Victoria and Lorraine commented on their leaving. Part of it was due to Drenovis. In his overly boorish way, he had never eased up on Lexi. Even though Bill and Lexi were not really an item much anymore—they still hung out every now and then—Drenovis was still seething that Lexi had gone with Bill, that the kitchen staff had defended her and that Tommy would not fire her.
Norma was Norma. Drenovis had poisoned her when he’d put her to trying to get with Bill to mess things up for him. That had backfired big time. Norma told Bill, got with him to spite Drenovis and told Bill she derived double pleasure being with him because she knew it pissed Drenovis off. Seeing that the girls he had harassed were happy, Drenovis was continually pissed off.
One of the big wonders, altogether, was why Mr. Bowman kept Drenovis as his manager. He was number two in the organization. Below him was Tommy, the manager out east, and of course all the staff.
Mr. Bowman was no more or less ethical than Drenovis. He swung both ways, the other way mostly with Robert, and he made no bones about bringing his family and his children around to either one of the restaurants. Seemed there was no shame.
That same day they gave notice, Tommy came into the kitchen and asked if anything had happened. Bill said he hadn’t been messing with either one of them and as far as he knew nothing had gone on that would have caused them to quit. Tommy took that at face value but corroborated what Bill said with Bea and Mary. They all agreed business was slow and so maybe they had found other jobs. But business was slow everywhere as far as Tommy knew, as far as Drenovis knew, as far as what Robert reported to everyone especially his cooks.
Because it was slow, Tommy made it clear that he wasn’t in a hurry to replace them. But that wasn’t quite the case because Mother’s Day was upcoming and that was always a gangbuster day such that he would need all the waitresses he could get and then some.
Interviewing new waitresses was the height of Drenovis’ job. He selected only ones he liked, ones he could take to the back seat of his big, American car, ones who would not complain about harassment. Tommy knew what he did. Mr. Bowman knew. It was common practice in restaurants all over. Lexi and Norma understood this, understood wherever they went they would probably be subjected to another Drenovis.
On the first Monday after they gave their notices, Tommy took things into his own hands. He paraded three girls through the kitchen and the dining rooms as a group. On the sly, even though he knew it would not stay on the sly, he told Bea he was attempting to circumvent Drenovis and hoped he could do so.
Arlene was happy. Because Norma and Lexi were quitting, she got her choice of shifts and of course she took the ones later in the week for lunches and Tuesday through Saturday nights. Even if business was slower, she would still make money.
Lorraine and Victoria were okay with new help coming in. They solidified the shifts they wanted and made sure they had themselves set.
Bill was relieved. Two less complications! He promised himself he was not going to mess around with anyone else, that he was going to chill, to get ready to be a husband. He promised himself he was going to stop getting with Bea and start thinking about the rest of his life.
We plan. God laughs.
