Then the girls. They too were something he’d never anticipated. He went through it again. How many times could you have pussy thrown in your face and say no until you finally gave in? How many times could you be touched, felt up, goosed, fondled, until you fondled back?
That how it happened? He asked himself this. Then he thought about Mary, and he was the one who did that.
“You gonna be standing there all day?” Jimmy Banquet Chef asked him.
“Why?” Bill said a bit defensively. “Have I been here long?”
“I don’t know,” Jimmy Banquet Chef said. “I just came down. I’m looking for that worthless partner of yours.”
“He’s working today?’
“I asked him to. We have that one for three hundred tonight. We have two others this afternoon, the one for a hundred-fifty and one for six hundred. The six hundred one is some political thing, but it’s a simple and cheap one, chicken breasts and fish, about five hundred chicken. The night one is roast tenderloin. I want my cousin to do the vegetables. You, me and Victor will do most of the cooking. We have a full complement of stewards and pantry help, so we’re all set. I want you to come into the office for a minute before we start.”
Bill finished dressing and just as he and Jimmy Banquet Chef were leaving the locker room Jimmy G showed up. He was late and clearly not embarrassed about it. Seemed as if he didn’t even care. He told his cousin he’d be up in a minute. That minute turned out to be a half hour later.
The chef was already in the office. When Bill and Jimmy Banquet Chef entered, first thing the chef did was tell them that The Falstaff Room set a new weekly volume record.
“Not bad for your first week,” the chef said.
“Kid did real good,” the banquet chef said.
“Really well,” the chef said. “But it was the advertising. And now I’m hoping that handling it the way you did, Bill, will keep the people coming.”
“The waitress outfits help a lot too,” Bill said.
“They sure don’t hurt anything,” the banquet chef said.
“Next week’s a new week,” the chef said. “Cook some extra tenderloins today and we’ll run them as a special tomorrow.”
“Got it,” the banquet chef said. Then they turned to the day’s business.
The chef and banquet chef pulled down the day’s menus. They also pulled down the day’s work schedule. There were two schedules, one for the kitchen, one for the wait staff.
“We don’t do the dining room,” the chef said. “They give us that and I don’t spend any time on it. None. It is what it is. Jimmy and I do the kitchen staff, and as you see it’s all broken down.
Bill looked at it. He saw the breakdown: cooks, kitchen stewards, pantry. Simple enough.
“We don’t do the stewards,” Jimmy Banquet Chef said. “You met the head steward. He does them and that includes all the cleaning staff, which is his, except for the steam-cleaning crew. They are a private company.”
“We wanted you to start thinking abbot this,” the chef said. “I do talk with the chief steward to make sure he’s got everything covered. We want you to learn the kitchen scheduling.”
“I’ve only been here a week,” Bill said. “I know I’ve said this before, but I was thinking maybe you should make sure I’m the one you want for this stuff.”
“What makes you think we’re not sure?” the chef asked.
