She should have known that she was in trouble when she took out an ad in the local paper asking for experienced cooks, prep cook, wait staff, servers, bussers, dishwashers, and bartenders to apply. She set herself up in her office and got ready for the onslaught. OMG! Every loser, drunk, drug addict, wacko, and miscreant in town came in to apply!
She interviewed people with no experience, people who had just been released from prison, people with alcohol on their breath, people who thought they were Elvis, people who thought they were in communion with John Lennon’s ghost, people with neck tattoos, piercings, shaved heads, Mohawks, no ID’s, illegals, you name it. She felt like the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your tired and poor… hungry masses yearning…” After rejecting nearly all of them, she called up some people she thought she’d like to work with: former students, neighbors with potential, friends…
Luckily, a restaurant with a good reputation had just closed its doors and the whole staff came in to apply. She hired nearly all of them. She had a vision: a professional staff that looked good and gave excellent service.
Rick, the cook, came in looking like crap, wrinkled chef’s coat, no shave, greasy hair, missing teeth… but he came with excellent references. ” No one better. I’ve seen him turn out 150 dinners each one looking like a piece of art from Gourmet Magazine!” But he came with substance abuse problems – alcohol, meth, and family problems to boot – ex-wives, child support issues, a current wife with control issues and her own substance abuse – prescription drugs.
Under the stairs at the back of the restaurant, the trash cans and recycling bins attract their share of vermin, flies, and stink, and an occasional rat. She should have known she was in trouble when she came in to work one evening and found Rick hiding under the back stairs by the trash cans crying and drunk. He was a basket case. He needed constant counseling and reassurance from everyone. She spent countless hours on the phone with him sorting out every detail of both the restaurant and his private life.
They worked together on a menu that was outstanding. His clam chowder was unsurpassed and his invention of the Stack which consisted of a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, a fillet Mignon, a tempura fried mushroom topped with a crab cake and a red wine reduction sauce became the signature dish.
They also developed a fiery shrimp dish served with sauteed red onions, red bell peppers and an Asian Mirin flavored sauce with red pepper flakes all sitting on top of a bed of mashed potatoes. Each dish came with the artistic placement of an orchid blossom. The restaurant also had pasta, chicken, fish, and hamburger dishes. Something to tempt every palate and every budget. She saw the menu as an American, Mexican, Asian, Mediterranean meld. Fusion for the common man.
It was a huge menu and required the additional help of a prep cook. This is where Reuben came in. Rick had trained him and they worked together very well. What she didn’t know was that Reuben was enabling Rick’s drug, family, and alcohol problems and would cover for him when he went out to score for or placate his demanding wife.
Reuben was a hard worker. But she should have known she was in trouble when she came into work one night and found both Rick and Reuben huddling together under the back stairs, crying lugubriously, and drinking her beer. No one was in the kitchen!
She should have known she was in trouble when she drove up one evening after closing and found Rick and Reuben loading huge black plastic bags filled with God-Knows-What in the back of Reuben”s van.
She should have known she was in trouble when both cooks walked off the job one Sunday evening in a show of solidarity when she had to cut back Reuben’s hours due to slowing business in the winter months. She should have known she was in trouble much earlier.
(First published 11/7/11)
