They worked well into the night nearly nonstop. Jimmy Banquet Chef and Victor ran trip after trip of pans and pans of specials and side dishes. As soon as they got back to the main kitchen they started slicing and panning more ham and turkey while their kitchen stewards dished up vegetables, stuffing and mashed potatoes. Then, together, they all loaded the truck and headed back out to The Falstaff Room.
Kalista could have used a helping hand too. Adonia could have worked/should have worked. She could have spent the day with some of her family and made some money too.
Coulda/woulda/shoulda.
The only help she got was from the pantry in the main kitchen where a different set of stewards cut and washed lettuce and all the ingredients for the salad station. These stewards made their own trips out and replenished all Kalista’s ingredients. They also helped her set up shrimp cocktails and anything else she needed help with. Main concern for everyone everywhere was not to run out of anything. Running out of anything would mean having to slow down. Slowing down was not an option. The only way to play and win this game was to keep steady, keep up and stay the course.
Which they all did, all together. When Jimmy G or Bill had to pee, Victor or the banquet chef stepped in and stayed working until the one that was gone was back and ready to pick up where they were at. Same was true for Kalista. One of the kitchen pantry stewards would replace her while she relieved herself and they would stay until she was set to pick up without any disruption.
Several times when they were there with her, Kalista asked a steward to step in so she could make and deliver espresso for her boys. Her boys were now Jimmy G, Bill, Victor and the banquet chef. Each time she made them espresso she laced it with whiskey, and when her whiskey bottle was empty, she made sure to pass it to Victor who would refill it and return it on the next trip out.
No one got drunk. No one got high or buzzed. Everyone stayed steady and worked through.
“Man,” Rosie said to Bill when she was waiting on an order, “my panties are soaked. My ti6s are sweating and my feet are killing me.”
“I’m soaked too,” Bill said. “I’m on my third apron.”
“I thought I was gonna pee in my pants,” Rosie said. “It got so bad, I told Jo Ann I was running to the head and I didn’t care if Caesar fired me.”
“Caesar must be in his glory.”
“He didn’t like the banquet chef coming through the dining room. You should tell him to do it again.”
“I will.”
“Good. What you got to drink?” Rosie asked.
“Espresso,” said Bill. He put up his mug for her.
“No thanks,” she said.
“Drink it,” Bill said.
Even before Rosie put it to her lips she smelled the whiskey in it. Not wanting to be conspicuous, she simply smiled at Bill and put it to her lips.
“Let me know when you want more,” Bill told her.
“What about Eddie?”
“Kalista has the bottle. I just have beer.”
“I’ll tell her,” Rosie said.
Rosie picked up the order she was working on and the flow continued.
A runner would have been nice. An extra waitress would have been nice. But after the second turn, it slowed down in that people lingered and the tables that were emptying were more spaced out. This was because it was getting into the latter middle afternoon and people coming in were most likely not going anywhere. They were in no rush and had no interests in anything other than their own holiday meal.
With the seeming slowdown, with the spacing out of the orders, Jimmy G was able to go to the head and linger some. Bill watched everything, and Jimmy Banquet Chef and Victor slowed their trips.
They all knew, however, this was not the end of the day by any means.
