"Oh, because all the waitstaff each have two broken hands and thus can't do it?" Jade retorted.
"Jade, seriously, just do it." Helena said dismissively.
Jade rolled her eyes, because that's what she does when Helena tells her what to do. As soon as she began to clean the board, Jared walked in the door.
"Hi Jade!" he said, in a tone Jade deemed somewhat overly enthusiastic. "How are you?"
"Fine," Jade grunted without looking up.
"We're cheerful today, aren't we?" he said, stung by her apparent lack of friendliness.
Jade looked up at him just long enough to roll her eyes in disapproval, then continued with what she was doing.
Jared walked into the bar and said to Helena, "My, your sister must have had a large bowl of bitchy for breakfast this morning!"
"Oh Jared, don't take it personally. It's just her teen aged angst coming out."
"Yeah, but why take it out on me?"
"Because, Jared, you have a penis."
"Clearly all men are the enemy of her universe..." he muttered as he walked off.
"Where the fuck is Jeff?" Helena said, annoyed at his perpetual tardiness.
But as she uttered the last breath of her sentence, Jeff swung his fat ass through the door. "Heyyyyhowareyaaaaaa?" he groaned as if it was one long word. "Can I have a drink, Helena?"
"What the fuck, Jeff?" Helena snapped. "It's not even 11 am! Pino will have my balls if he found out I'm letting you drink at this time." or anytime while you're working for that matter! she thought.
A look of sheer disappointment, dare I say sadness, crossed Jeff''s bloodshot, ever-hungover face.
"Ok fine," Helena reluctantly gave in, more because she was at a loss as to what to do.
Pino, one of the owners, had promised to put an add in the newspaper for a new chef, but as with most of his promises, there was little hope of it ever happening.
"I couldn't cash my check that fucking-cunt Pino gave me." Jeff ranted with one hand in his crotch and a beer in the other.
Jade sat down on the kitchen bench because she knew he'd be talking a while.
"I'm sick of working for him. There's no gratitude for all the work that I do."
But imagine how much you've cost him in alcohol by now Jade thought to herself, but she knew better than to say anything. She tuned out for a while but was rudely jerked back to reality when Jeff yelled,
"It's just bullshit!" and threw an egg at the wall.
Jade's eyes widened as she watched it running down the wall. She knew she would have to clean it up eventually if not now, so she went to the bar to "get a rag", code for "I am telling Helena about this."
Soon it was time for lunch. Jade sat down at the window table with her calamari salad and short black coffee, no sugar, as she always did. Then she got out her black journal and began to write.
"Can I join you?" Jared asked cheerfully.
"If you want," Jade replied curtly, without looking up.
"Shall I take your lack of enthusiasm as a sign that you don't want me to sit here, or your consent as a compliment?" he mused.
"Whatever you like," Jade mumbled, still looking at the page.
"What does, 'whatever you like' mean, exactly?"
"It means whatever you like," Jade was secretly amused by his persistence. "Look, what I mean to say is, you can sit here if you want. If a vacant chair is what you are looking for, then congratulations Jared, you have come to the right place." Jade said in a voice of mock enthusiasm. "But if what you want is someone who is dying to sit with you, then maybe you should move somewhere else."
Jared was taken aback by that remark, which had come out of left field and cut him to the heart. How can I be so intrigued by someone so rude? he thought.
Much to everyone's surprise, it was a busy night at the Miscellaneous Mansion. Unfortunately, Jeff was busy getting shit-faced on the Scotch, and by the time orders were coming in for meals, he was already drunk, standing at the bar, drinking with the customers.
Helena, reluctant to confront him about his behavior with one of the owners present, went with Anne, the other waitress, into the kitchen and cooked the meals.
Helena also took the oppurtunity to speak to the other owner, Ange, about the situation. He assured her something would be done about it.
Jeff poured the customers double-shots of whisky "on the house" while Jade watched in helpless horror. He started blindly into his glass, looking as though he was about to vomit.
Finally, things died down and all the was left was cleaning the pub down and locking up. Anne decided to make herself a chicken schnitzel with potato wedges. She sat down to eat while Jeff was having a drink.
"Can I have a bit of your chicken?" he asked.
"Ok," Anne replied timidly, too afraid to say no. "Shall I get you a knife and fork?"
"No, that's ok," he said. To Anne's utter disgust, he took the whole chicken fillet off her plate with his hands and bit into it.
Anne ate her wedges, not even looking at her chicken for fear she would lose her appetite.
