Henry Lee stayed around to help Bill on the line. Bill said he didn’t need it, that he was quite all right, and he was all right. He popped two more black beauties and came down off the acid speeding. A few beers and some bourbon helped that, and later, when the dinner rush was over he went outside to smoke a joint.
Tommy immediately got on Bill’s case. He said for the amount of work Bill had done he shouldn’t get paid for the day and that was just his starting point.
Bill liked Tommy and didn’t want to go back at him, so he gently passed a comment that he was putting up the dinner. Then he reminded Tommy that he’d cut meat two times during the day, put up the lunch, did the breading, set up the line and was going to break it down, clean up, change the French-fry grease and close up.
Tommy had no response to the list Bill presented so he started on how bad the drugs and alcohol were for him, how they would, as much as the cigarettes if not more, end up killing him or messing up his mind.
Bill thanked Tommy for the caution and the concern and of course paid him no mind.
Both new girls, Lilly and Brooklyn hung out for the dinner, or, actually, they did a double. The overall and major concern was that Mother’s day was coming up in about two weeks, and the worst thing that could happen was not having enough or properly-trained and experienced wait staff.
The kitchen was set. Alvin would come over from the west side and the west side would work with their swing-shift cook, their relief man. The relief man was not familiar with the east because he only relieved part-time in the west. When the east needed help, Alvin came over because he knew the layout, the help and the system.
Before Bill was fully trained and experienced enough to handle a full-house, rip-roaring Friday and Saturday dinner rush, Alvin, who was training Bill on the broiler, worked the middle cutting the prime rib and putting up the side dishes until Bill needed help on the broiler. At that point, the rush in full-swing, Alvin would take over, but not before then, mostly cause he was lazy and was busy fooling around with Marie who was still over on the pantry station.
Alvin wasn’t fooling with her that way, although he would have if he could have. She had no interest in him cause she was messing with Henry Lee and Henry Lee and he were friends. Alvin would’ve done Alfreda too, if Alfreda had permitted it, even though he and Henry were friends. But Alvin was funky, fat and sloppy and always unshaved.
Alvin and Marie hung out. Alvin ate a boatload of cocktail shrimp and helped himself to whatever else he wanted from over there, things like ham and Swiss cheese for the chef’s salads or rice pudding or one of the other desserts.
Training Bill, from Alvin’s point of view, had been a good gig, much easier than doing Friday or Saturday nights out West on the open-hearth line.
But all good things have to come to an end and it ended when Bill could handle both Friday and Saturday nights no matter how busy they were. That’s when Bill got his first raise. That’s when Alvin didn’t have to come over anymore unless there were special circumstances or Bill was out.
So the kitchen was set and Tommy was doing his best to get the front of the house all set. Norma and Lexi might have stayed through Mother’s Day if not for Drenovis. Drenovis was a drag on their economy, a pain in their asses, and their leaving right before Mother’s Day was a way to let him know just how they felt about him.
By Peter Weiss
and
Coming in a few weeks
