The next day at work, he remembered to ask Barry again about taking the day off for his niece’s birthday party. Barry was sitting in his cramped, little office staring at the computer screen. When Jason asked him about it, he sighed heavily and had to move scattered papers all over his desk in order to find the buried desk calendar.
Barry was a short and chubby man with balding hair that he attempted to fix with a poorly done comb over. He had a gruff voice and bushy eyebrows that made him look tougher than he actually was. His stubby, fat fingers kept tapping the date on the calendar as he looked up in the air, trying to think of some good excuse as to why Jason could not take the day off.
“I don’t know, Jason,” he said, still unsure of what reason to give other than he didn’t want to have to cook. “I really need you that day. It’s a Saturday.” As if Jason didn’t realize it was a Saturday. “You know we’ll be really busy.”
“I know, but it’s my niece’s first birthday. My sister will kill me if I don’t go. Could I maybe come in late that day instead?” He had thought about this all this morning when he was getting ready for work and then during the drive. He would try to get the whole day off, but if he wouldn’t budge, then he would see if he could work a shorter day instead. The party started at one, and it would probably be over by four or five at the latest. It would take him about a half hour to get to work from his sister’s in-laws’ house, so he could get here just in time for the dinner rush.
“Like what time are we talking?”
“I don’t know. Maybe five or six?”
He pursed his lips and squinted his eyes, deep in thought. “I don’t know. I mean, I really need you for the dinner prep.”
He wanted to say, what the fuck? Can’t Steve or Lou work on dinner prep? Why was he the only one that he relied on? He knew he was the head cook so these were part of his duties, but couldn’t someone else step up for once? What if he got sick? Fortunately, he rarely ever did. Even on days when he probably shouldn’t go to work, he would go in anyway. But instead, he didn’t say any of that.
Then Jason blurted out before even fully thinking about it, “Well, I could always stay late Friday night and work on dinner prep then.”
“Mmmhh. That could work.”
Wow, he really did let people step all over him. He had asked to have this day off a long time ago, and because Barry didn’t make other arrangements, he was getting screwed over as usual. After working all day on Friday starting at ten in the morning, he would then get stuck even later to do all the dinner prep, which consisted of cutting up and trimming the fat off of meat, deveining and removing shells from some of the seafood, chopping up vegetables, etc. This work was usually done after the lunch rush when they had a huge lull in orders. So he would get home incredibly late on Friday and then have to get up at a decent hour for this party that he was not exactly crazy about going to. After that, right back to work for the Saturday dinner rush. And he had promised his sister he would make homemade macaroni and cheese for the party. Everyone thinks that just because he cooks for a living that he actually likes to cook. He should have just offered to bring potato chips.
“Yeah, that will work. Take care of the dinner prep the night before, then you can come in at five.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Yup, no problem. I knew we could make it work.”
As if Barry was doing him a huge favor.
He walked back to the kitchen, wishing he wasn’t such a pussy all the time. Why could he never stand up to his boss? He signed his paycheck so of course he had to respect him, but at the same time he shouldn’t keep dicking him over all the time. Jason always just kept quiet about everything and let himself get taken advantage of. He constantly felt as if what everyone else needed or wanted was far more important than what he needed or wanted.
It was still early so the only other person in the kitchen was Lou. Lou was humming softly as he pulled items out of the refrigerator. He was tall but slightly hunched over with white hair and a kind wrinkled face. Jason genuinely liked Lou as a person but not as a worker. Neither one of them talked much, but once in awhile, Lou would tell some interesting stories or share some words of wisdom. He always mumbled so it was difficult to understand him, and Lou had trouble hearing as well. He was well past retirement age, but he only worked part time, which he said he did because he would go nuts sitting at home. He lost his wife over ten years ago and had a few children and grandchildren that would occasionally visit him.
It was hard to tell when Steve would show up. He supposedly worked full time, but Jason doubted he ever cleared even forty hours a week. He usually worked the earlier shift so that he could leave by eight or nine depending on how busy the night was. He had kids, so this was the reason why he could never work too late even though he had a wife at home. He had been married four years and already had two kids. Prior to that, he was notorious for sleeping around with various girls. Everyone was shocked when he finally settled down, but it was also rumored that he only married his wife because she got pregnant. Steve was a skinny guy, but he worked out at the gym and had a few muscles so he thought he was a badass.
So Jason came in early every day and got stuck with the clean up every night. He was the first one in and the last one to leave.
“Jason, do you have the list of specials for today?” Lou asked him.
“Oh, yeah. It’s right here. It’s basically the same as it is every Friday.” He handed him one of the sheets that would be inserted in all of the menus.
“Thanks.”
“Sure.”
He helped Lou out with the lunch prep, making all the salads: the chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad, and potato salad. As he worked, he glanced around the kitchen that he knew so well. The lights were too dim so they made everything look grayish. It looked like an ordinary kitchen with the commercial sized dishwasher, the walk in fridge and freezer, a coffee maker, a slicer, metal countertops, and stacks of dishes. They were working behind the line where the servers picked up their orders. There were several stovetops and ovens back here that were outdated, and some were in need of repair.
Barry was still living in the dark ages so everything was on paper. They didn’t have computerized order screens or printed receipts; they just had the traditional order pads, pens, and pocket calculators. They also had the old style time cards where all the employees had to punch their time in and out. Barry’s just a typical cheap bastard.
It was peaceful now, which he liked. He hated when Steve came in because he would immediately turn on the radio and put on some awful station that spouted rap music and other popular crap. Sometimes he would play country, which to him was even worse. Rarely ever did Jason get control of the radio, and whenever he did, he would put on a rock station which would inevitably get complaints.
Then it got worse when the waitresses began to pour in, complaining about being tired, how they didn’t feel like working, how their husbands or boyfriends were assholes… They would barely even look at Jason except when they had a problem with something. He figured they all thought he was a freak who hardly ever spoke except to say “we’re out of that” or “how do they want that cooked?”
When Steve finally came in around the same time the waitresses did, he was talking on his cell phone, reeking of too much cologne as usual. After he finally hung up with the person, he then worked on sending out some texts. He acted as if what he was doing was far more important than the work that actually needed to get done. Since Jason was the head cook, he could tell him to put the cell phone away and get to work, which he would do once in awhile. But he only did that sparingly when they got really busy and needed the help, because otherwise Steve would go crying to his uncle. He would make up some excuse as to why he had to be on the phone; the kids were sick or his wife hurt her back. Then Barry would end up getting mad at Jason for it and tell him to give Steve a break. He’s got kids at home after all, as if to say you wouldn’t understand because you don’t have a family. You don’t have any responsibility for anyone but yourself. You have no idea what it’s like. Oh poor Steve. He didn’t use a condom so now he has kids to worry about. He has it so hard. What an asshole.
It was the regular Friday crew that came in. Although they have had male waiters in the past, they currently only had female ones. None of the males seemed to last very long here. There was Nancy, a single mom in her forties who had three kids. She was on the plumper side, and she wore a lot of make-up and put up her dark brown hair in a fancy bun. She was usually in a bad mood and treated everyone like shit, but he was told that she was super sweet to her customers so she made out well in tips. She would transform from a completely different person just by walking in and out of the kitchen.
Shannon was a girl in her mid-twenties, who had naturally red hair and fair skin with freckles. She was very tall and skinny, and she was one of the nicer ones, but she had an attitude and could turn on someone in a second. Another girl that he couldn’t stand was Rachel. She just turned twenty-one a few weeks ago and had to make a big production of it. She looked like a model with her bleached blonde hair, big tits, and perfect looking body. All of the guys swooned over her, including all of the young dishwashers and of course Steve even though he was married. Rachel walked around like she was hot shit, considering everyone treated her that way. She didn’t pretend to think otherwise. Jason was the only one who didn’t like her, simply because she was such a bitch. She may look like she could be on the cover of a magazine, but the way she acted was extremely unattractive. Besides, he wasn’t delusional like most of the men in this world who actually believed they could get someone who looked like her.
Jason knew he wasn’t very good looking. He was on the taller side, and he used to be very scrawny which he hated. But now that he had gotten older, he was beginning to get a bit of a beer belly, and he was not nearly as skinny overall as he used to be. He had light brown hair and blue eyes, but he thought he was weird looking. His eyes were too small, his nose was too big, and he could never seem to grow a full beard. After a few days of not shaving, he would get some stubbles. Then it would eventually grow in thicker but only in certain areas so it would look really patchy. He would have to shave it off so it didn’t look ridiculous. He usually kept his hair fairly short, but his bangs were getting really long. He was overdue for a haircut.
The last waitress to walk in was Elaine, a woman in her early sixties with gray hair and a rough looking face from smoking for so many years. She had a deep, raspy voice, and she often spoke in a very disapproving tone. She would give out advice even when it wasn’t asked of her. She seemed to have an opinion about everything. But she was probably the hardest working waitress here. There were also a few other servers who worked part time and might only come in once or twice a week.
The dishwashers would come in a little later. They were all young kids in high school who had the motivation of a slug. Jason would be so annoyed by how slow they were. He used to be in their position so he never wanted to talk down to them like others did, but he also knew he worked a lot better and faster when he was their age. Of course they were all probably working just so they could save up money for a car or to pay for one they already had. Jason had to work so he could eat and pay the rent.
He nodded at the waitresses that looked at him and gave them a half smile to silently say hello, but none of them responded. They just looked away and started to pull items out of the fridge for the salad bar.
He saw Steve checking out Rachel. When she caught him, she looked up at him and smiled.
“Hey, Steve, how are you?”
“Not bad. How ’bout yourself? Lookin’ good as always, I see.”
“Thanks,” she said and giggled. “I’m good. Just wish I didn’t have to be here today.”
“Yeah, same here. I’m gonna try and cut out early. You gonna dress up for Halloween again this year and wear one of those sexy vampire outfits?”
“Yeah, except this year I think I’m gonna be a witch or maybe something else. I’m not sure.”
“You could be a Playboy bunny…”
“I don’t know if Barry would like that very much.”
“I don’t think he’d mind.”
She giggled again. “Well, maybe, we’ll see.”
The waitress uniform was simply black pants and a purple shirt that said Barry’s Restaurant on it. But somehow Rachel’s shirt was cut lower than everyone else’s so you could see a lot of cleavage. She also wore her pants really tight and low so when she bent over you could see her thong and her tramp stamp on her lower back; a butterfly tattoo of course. She probably made better tips than anyone here.
Nancy rolled her eyes as she scooped Russian dressing out of a container.
“Jason, did you tell Barry to order more shrimp this time so we don’t run out of it again?” Nancy asked him, very accusatorily.
“Yeah, we should be good,” he responded, not meeting her eyes as he pulled ground beef out of the freezer to thaw.
“I hope so,” she said in a tone that implied she would beat him down with her words if he didn’t. In a way, the workplace here was very much so like high school.
He just hoped this day went fast and the next day and the next day and the next day until he got to Tuesday. But he knew that day would go even faster, and he would get thrown right back in to all this bullshit all over again. It would never end…
He often wondered what the point was in living if you were miserable all the time. Why even bother?