Jimmy G and Bill sat down out by Kalista to enjoy a leisurely dinner. Kalista’s salad was enough for anyone for an entire meal, but Jimmy Banquet Chef had sent over braised tenderloin tips for their dinner. Victor came by to join them as did Jimmy Banquet Chef. So they all sat around by Kalista, the Greeks talking rapidly and happily in their native tongue.
Bill listened. He didn’t understand anything, but he was starting to get some of the words, and every so often one of them would stop to tell Bill what they were talking about, particularly if and when it involved him.
The banquet chef was not shy about telling his family about the plans he and the executive chef were making for Bill. First and foremost Bill would stay head-cook-in-charge in The Falstaff Room. That would be his first responsibility. But then he would work all the banquets he wanted whenever he wanted. Jimmy Banquet Chef would keep working Bill in the schedule on a two-week basis, meaning every two weeks he and Bill would be sitting down together to arrange Bill’s work schedule. Bill would get all Sundays off, except if there were banquets, and then he would work every one he wanted.
“You’re gonna work a lot and make a lot of money,” the banquet chef told Bill in the midst of the conversation with his cousins and aunt.
“Good,” Bill said. “I’ll work as much as I can.”
“Good,” Victor said. “The more we can keep it in the family the better for us.”
That’s what it was really about. It was about the banquet chef and his family making money and having a really reliable helping hand there as well.
Banquet cooks were just that. They didn’t work all the time in the hotel. They worked their shifts according to the banquet schedule and so they had no responsibility except to show up. One of the biggest rubs was keeping a crew who showed up all the times they were needed.
The executive chef came by while they all sat eating. He wished them a good meal and went on through the double doors and into the kitchen of The Falstaff Room. Bill gestured to get up and go after him, but Jimmy Banquet Chef bid him stay where he was.
“Let him check everything out,” the banquet chef said. “He’ll probably talk with Caesar too. I think that’s really why he came by.”
So a moment after the executive chef went into the room, the girls came out, first Rosie, then Edelgarde and then Jo Ann. They walked around where the cooks were eating and took coffee for themselves, stood leaning against the wall, drank their coffee and talked among themselves.
“Chef and Caesar talking?” Jimmy Banquet Chef asked them.
“Boy are they talking,” Jo Ann said. “Caesar’s fit to be tied. I thought for a moment he was gonna quit.”
The banquet chef looked at the three waitresses, each set snugly in their French Maid uniform, black today with white apron. They each had white stockings and black shoes on.
“He’ll never quit,” the banquet chef said in his nasal voice. “He’s got it too good and he makes too much money. There’s not another job like his in the city.”
“Well he sure hates Bill,” Edelgarde said.
“Bill is in charge of the food operation now, not him. What Bill says goes. If there’s a dispute with food, you follow what Bill says.” Jimmy Banquet Chef was emphatic in the way he said what he said.
“So that’s what it’s about,” Jo Ann said. “It’s a pissing contest.”
“No,” Victor said in his deep bass voice. “It’s not a contest. Bill here didn’t ask for it and doesn’t even want it, not really. The chef wants it.”
“Ya,” Jimmy G said.
Bill didn’t say anything. He ate every bit of the salad Kalista had made for him and cleaned his plate with a freshly warmed roll.
