“When she is on her game no one is better, more competent, more capable, ” says her former employer. “I have seen her work the whole room with just the help of a busser. ”
Her laughter is like bells trilling through the dining room. She has longish wispy blond hair that she keeps tied up tightly in a bun. She wears the uniform of a professional server: crisp white collared shirt, black straight leg slacks, black sensible shoes, small pearl earrings, a gold chain with a small white pearl.
She needs no make up but wears a little mascara to emphasize her beautiful hazel eyes, some blush on her flawless complexion, and a light pastel lip gloss on her luscious full lips. She has a cute figure, but the uniform does not embellish her looks.
After work when she lets her hair down, unbuttons her shirt, and roller blades past the restaurant in the moonlight, she is like some Parrish painting gone wild. She meets your eye when she talks to you. She jokes, laughs, flirts with everyone – including Jack who could be her father!
Jack is smitten. He can’t help it. She strings him along like a fish on a line and he follows the senseless urgings of his groin as he does her bidding. Busing tables, expediting her orders, following her down the back ramp like a puppy chasing a ball. It is the meal he’ll never feast on. Kristie is jealous beyond words which has the added side effect of making her horny as hell and Jack is enjoying her discomfort.
Jack has always worked with women and Kristie has managed to keep any thoughts of jealousy at bay because men need to be able to work with women without the threat of sexual involvement or jealous wives looming over them. It is the modern age after all and Kristie works with men too.
We all must learn to keep sexuality out of the work place. But as professional as we try to be, we drink, laugh, and make suggestive jokes back and forth. It simply cannot be helped. People are people. We are social. We interact.
One night Bebe flirts with Kristie ostentatiously unzipping her pants, pulling up her apron, revealing a cleanly shaven mons, “Look! I don’t wear underpants.”
“Look,” she says again, ” I like to smoke marijuana and I don’t really care who knows it. If you came over to my house, you would see it sitting out in every room. I don’t even hide it from my kids.”
Kristie doesn’t comment.
They sit at the bar having some drinks with friends. Bebe is behind the bar. They are all joking, checking her out, flirting. ” In our minds we are all having sex with you right now!” someone says. Everyone laughs… even Kristie. The men all sigh in agreement. Bebe blushes. She has never quite heard a line like that.
In spite of all her bravado, Kristie follows Bebe home making sure that Jack is not with her. After closing, she gets home late, wakes him up and demands sex to placate her urgings and worry. They are both worked up over her. Kristie is so jealous that she is raving, crying, afraid for the first time that she could lose him to this frivolous girl who would bed him, disrupt their marriage and leave him flat in two seconds.
Kristie keeps her temper as Bebe rubs her shoeless foot up and down Jack’s calf under the table. Later on when they get busy, Bebe is having a fit in the kitchen about wanting to get off early and getting her orders out. Kristie cusses her out, “Fuck you! Leave early if you need to!” she bellows. Bebe bursts into tears unaware of the greenish nature underlying Kristie’s outburst.
Later when Kristie explains her fears and anger, Jack agrees to stay away from Bebe and promises not to engage in any possible impropriety. Getting his commitment in this matter is a relief to her. She knows he loves her in his heart, but his penis sometimes might have another thought.
A bag of money goes missing. It is about $260 and a dozen drink chips. Bebe is a suspect. Other people are convinced it is her. She denies knowing anything about it. Months later the bank bag and some miscellaneous drink chips are found in Bebe’s car. She tells Kristie one evening that she has taken other work at another restaurant. Kristie is relieved.
Months later Bebe is accused of stealing tips from other servers, taking money out of the till, not ringing up tags, etc. She is fired from her next job. Her ex-husband has reason to suspect drug use and some neglect of their two children and has her removed as the custodial parent.
She comes to Kristie seeking advice. ” I advise you to get straight,” Kristie says.
“What would you tell a future employer about me?” she asks.
“I would say that when you are on your game there is no one better.”
“I really do hope for the best for her,” Kristie tells Jack. “Sometimes I feel like I am such a sucker…. I simply cannot wish ill on these people who have come into my life looking for some sustenance.”
(First published November 8, 2011)
