7/14/13 - "Chapter 2 - The Pollock and the Donkey"
Blogger's Note: Well.. I'm late. Dang it. But fret not. I vow to get back on schedule this week with a post on Thursday. I was having trouble cranking this one out. But, at last, I have...
I went back and changed the title of "The Tea Monster" to "Chapter 1 - The Tea Monster". I wanted each chapter of our "How We Met" story to be easy to find. So, if you're just tuning in, I'd suggest scrolling down to a couple of weeks ago to read Chapter 1 before reading this week's post if you'd like to know what's going on. Well, that's really all to say this week... let's get to it...
"You'll be seeing some new faces around here today," Rita, our supervisor, was wrapping up our morning, pre-shift huddle. Our department listened to the routine checklist of the day's promotions, bus schedules, and motivational suggestions. "Our property is testing a new program that hires foreign exchange students. They are each assigned to a different department to gain some applicable work knowledge and practical language skills," she continued. "We may be getting a couple of these students in the buffet."
She wrapped up the news feed with a "team cheer" as we scattered to our separate departments. Passing through the dish room, Matt and I headed to our station. Here, I saw the first of these "new faces." A young, Hispanic looking fellow wearing a friendly smile nodded as I passed by. I smiled back, happy to see someone new. My jokes and pranks had worn thin with the regular crew; here was a potentially whole new cast of victims
Upon reaching the drink well, Enrique, one of the buffet Sous Chefs, was topping off a drink from the soda machine. He looked up when we arrived. Enrique was a rather tall Puerto Rican, three times my size and ten times my ego. He was the kind of person that could "throw a football clear across those mountains." When he wasn't frying chicken, he was hanging out with Albert Pujols (one of his personal friends he assured us). He would've been a professional catcher in the Major League if not for some mysterious injury that he got in college. If you meet Enrique in a narrow hallway, you have to squeeze to one side because he's too important/big/in-a-hurry to move any himself. He has this slow and heavy accent when he speaks that makes each word ooze from his mouth like thick syrup.
"Went golfing yesterday at Silo's," Matt started our morning ritual off with a bit of casual conversation. "I hit a beautiful 300 yard drive off the tee on Hole 5 and set myself up for a birdie putt."
Matt was addressing me, but Enrique responded. "That's nothing," he began with his cliché slogan, pausing to take a sip of Mountain Dew. "There was this one time that my brother and I was playing golf and he bet me that I couldn't reach the green on a Par 4 and I took his bet..." he paused here to chuckle. The effect, meant to be dramatic, gave Matt and I time to exchange a quick glance. "I hit it four hundred and thirty-five yards. And... it landed right on the green. I just putted it for eagle. My brother couldn't believe it. I didn't take his money though; I would not feel good about taking his money, you know what I mean?"
He finally lumbered back to the kitchen, wearing a smug grin. Matt and I just sighed and got to work.
We continued through the rest of the morning in typical fashion: waiting tables, cleaning the station, rolling silverware. That afternoon, after I returned from my lunch break, I noticed a new person near the Hostess Station. Shirley, one of our hostesses, was talking to a younger girl that had her hair tied up in buns. Her name tag, I could see as I got closer, read "JOANNA."
"Try to rotate sections," Shirley was explaining as she grabbed a couple of rolls of silverware from the basket, preparing to seat some guests. "Talk to them, tell them your name, and keep them smiling." She demonstrated the "proper" technique as she sat the two customers. "You can follow me for a couple of hours until you think you're ready to go it alone..."
"I'm pretty sure I got it," Joanna replied dryly in a charming, eastern European accent that I couldn't quite place. The sarcasm might have been misguided or condescending coming from someone else; but, from her, it felt real. Shirley, usually one quick to recoil, simply laughed. Apparently, she, too, had the same reaction as me.
The afternoon proceeded routinely. I left the new girl alone initially while she was getting her feet wet in her new role which was uncharacteristic for me. Until, at last, she led a lone elderly man to a table in my section.
"...and my name is Joanna. Enjoy your meal."
I arrived at the table to read the drink order just as she was turning to walk away. "You did that wrong," I prodded. She stopped and turned to look at me rather blankly. As our eyes met, the first thing she said to me was: "You stupid." Yeah, she missed the verb; but, that was ok. I liked her. I smiled charismatically but said nothing. She walked back to the Hostess Station after a moment, and I thought to myself, 'bitch just called me stupid. Charming...'
The day continued on in typical fashion. During one particular slow stretch, I noticed Joanna in the back rolling silverware by herself. Having no customers on our side of the buffet, I decided I would join her and meet the new girl.
"Having fun?" I began as I approached. She replied with a casual, "pfft" layered with a warm smile.
Matt was busy filling salt and pepper shakers at tables near us making strange, velociraptor noises that were eerily realistic. Joanna cornered her eyes in his direction and then back at me, as if to ask 'what's that about?' I replied with only a smile. The clicks and screeches of long-extinct dinosaurs provided our romantic backdrop.
"So where you from?" I asked.
"Poland," she answered.
"Yeah? The other new people don't look like they're from Poland," I conjectured.
"They're not." So she wasn't going to make this easy.
"Elaborate," I fired back amid the predatory ticks and shrieks emanating from our co-worker.
"Most of them are from South America," she resolved.
"So you're the different one?" I prodded with a friendly smirk.
"I am their supervisor," she explained.
"So why are you working in here?"
"Once the paper work is done there is nothing to do but sit in hotel room. I may as well make extra money while I am here."
"You're staying in a hotel room? That sucks, huh?"
"Yeah, but I am lucky. The students are three to a room. I have my own room."
"You got a car, too?"
"No."
"Well, what about food? Your laundry?"
"I walk."
"The nearest laundromat is a mile from here. The grocery's even farther."
"You Americans are afraid to walk. That is not far." I considered briefly that I might should be offended. After assessing my injuries, I decided I was ok and continued.
"What do you do for fun?" I prodded.
"Drink vodka," she said that as if rehearsed. I liked it.
Matt, finished with his salt and pepper-filling duties, joined us. The velociraptor between us shrilled with a cocked head and an argumentative posture. Joanna laughed out loud at this, and I couldn't help but notice how much her smile illuminated her whole face. She looked like a different person suddenly. She looked lovely.
"That must be lonely," I sympathized.
She shrugged with a dismissive shrug, so I let it be. I changed the subject. "What's Poland like?"
"We ride a donkey to school," Joanna's casual response hooked me for a moment. Unaccustomed to being the prey of sarcasm, I flopped around on this line of spurious information like a fool.
"Really?" I asked cautiously. The velociraptor's clicks slowed to a halt as Matt, too, turned to the Polish girl with the Princess Leia buns. After a very brief moment of silence, Joanna laughed.
Feeling foolish, I grimaced as Matt commenced the audio track for a Jurassic Park tour. At last, I, too, laughed. "Ok, ok. You got me," I admitted.
"It's not much different from here, really," she gave in, still smiling as she rolled the last set of silverware, "except better music..."
"Joanna, can you come help seat while Mandy takes here break?" Shirley called from the Hostess Station. Joanna picked up the pile of rolled silverware and carried it to the Hostess Station. Matt and I dispersed as well, heading to the station to prepare for the dinner rush.
(to be continued....)
Continue our "How We Met" story:
Chapter 3 - Another Day
Blogger's Note: Well.. I'm late. Dang it. But fret not. I vow to get back on schedule this week with a post on Thursday. I was having trouble cranking this one out. But, at last, I have...
I went back and changed the title of "The Tea Monster" to "Chapter 1 - The Tea Monster". I wanted each chapter of our "How We Met" story to be easy to find. So, if you're just tuning in, I'd suggest scrolling down to a couple of weeks ago to read Chapter 1 before reading this week's post if you'd like to know what's going on. Well, that's really all to say this week... let's get to it...
"You'll be seeing some new faces around here today," Rita, our supervisor, was wrapping up our morning, pre-shift huddle. Our department listened to the routine checklist of the day's promotions, bus schedules, and motivational suggestions. "Our property is testing a new program that hires foreign exchange students. They are each assigned to a different department to gain some applicable work knowledge and practical language skills," she continued. "We may be getting a couple of these students in the buffet."
She wrapped up the news feed with a "team cheer" as we scattered to our separate departments. Passing through the dish room, Matt and I headed to our station. Here, I saw the first of these "new faces." A young, Hispanic looking fellow wearing a friendly smile nodded as I passed by. I smiled back, happy to see someone new. My jokes and pranks had worn thin with the regular crew; here was a potentially whole new cast of victims
Upon reaching the drink well, Enrique, one of the buffet Sous Chefs, was topping off a drink from the soda machine. He looked up when we arrived. Enrique was a rather tall Puerto Rican, three times my size and ten times my ego. He was the kind of person that could "throw a football clear across those mountains." When he wasn't frying chicken, he was hanging out with Albert Pujols (one of his personal friends he assured us). He would've been a professional catcher in the Major League if not for some mysterious injury that he got in college. If you meet Enrique in a narrow hallway, you have to squeeze to one side because he's too important/big/in-a-hurry to move any himself. He has this slow and heavy accent when he speaks that makes each word ooze from his mouth like thick syrup.
"Went golfing yesterday at Silo's," Matt started our morning ritual off with a bit of casual conversation. "I hit a beautiful 300 yard drive off the tee on Hole 5 and set myself up for a birdie putt."
Matt was addressing me, but Enrique responded. "That's nothing," he began with his cliché slogan, pausing to take a sip of Mountain Dew. "There was this one time that my brother and I was playing golf and he bet me that I couldn't reach the green on a Par 4 and I took his bet..." he paused here to chuckle. The effect, meant to be dramatic, gave Matt and I time to exchange a quick glance. "I hit it four hundred and thirty-five yards. And... it landed right on the green. I just putted it for eagle. My brother couldn't believe it. I didn't take his money though; I would not feel good about taking his money, you know what I mean?"
He finally lumbered back to the kitchen, wearing a smug grin. Matt and I just sighed and got to work.
We continued through the rest of the morning in typical fashion: waiting tables, cleaning the station, rolling silverware. That afternoon, after I returned from my lunch break, I noticed a new person near the Hostess Station. Shirley, one of our hostesses, was talking to a younger girl that had her hair tied up in buns. Her name tag, I could see as I got closer, read "JOANNA."
"Try to rotate sections," Shirley was explaining as she grabbed a couple of rolls of silverware from the basket, preparing to seat some guests. "Talk to them, tell them your name, and keep them smiling." She demonstrated the "proper" technique as she sat the two customers. "You can follow me for a couple of hours until you think you're ready to go it alone..."
"I'm pretty sure I got it," Joanna replied dryly in a charming, eastern European accent that I couldn't quite place. The sarcasm might have been misguided or condescending coming from someone else; but, from her, it felt real. Shirley, usually one quick to recoil, simply laughed. Apparently, she, too, had the same reaction as me.
The afternoon proceeded routinely. I left the new girl alone initially while she was getting her feet wet in her new role which was uncharacteristic for me. Until, at last, she led a lone elderly man to a table in my section.
"...and my name is Joanna. Enjoy your meal."
I arrived at the table to read the drink order just as she was turning to walk away. "You did that wrong," I prodded. She stopped and turned to look at me rather blankly. As our eyes met, the first thing she said to me was: "You stupid." Yeah, she missed the verb; but, that was ok. I liked her. I smiled charismatically but said nothing. She walked back to the Hostess Station after a moment, and I thought to myself, 'bitch just called me stupid. Charming...'
The day continued on in typical fashion. During one particular slow stretch, I noticed Joanna in the back rolling silverware by herself. Having no customers on our side of the buffet, I decided I would join her and meet the new girl.
"Having fun?" I began as I approached. She replied with a casual, "pfft" layered with a warm smile.
Matt was busy filling salt and pepper shakers at tables near us making strange, velociraptor noises that were eerily realistic. Joanna cornered her eyes in his direction and then back at me, as if to ask 'what's that about?' I replied with only a smile. The clicks and screeches of long-extinct dinosaurs provided our romantic backdrop.
"So where you from?" I asked.
"Poland," she answered.
"Yeah? The other new people don't look like they're from Poland," I conjectured.
"They're not." So she wasn't going to make this easy.
"Elaborate," I fired back amid the predatory ticks and shrieks emanating from our co-worker.
"Most of them are from South America," she resolved.
"So you're the different one?" I prodded with a friendly smirk.
"I am their supervisor," she explained.
"So why are you working in here?"
"Once the paper work is done there is nothing to do but sit in hotel room. I may as well make extra money while I am here."
"You're staying in a hotel room? That sucks, huh?"
"Yeah, but I am lucky. The students are three to a room. I have my own room."
"You got a car, too?"
"No."
"Well, what about food? Your laundry?"
"I walk."
"The nearest laundromat is a mile from here. The grocery's even farther."
"You Americans are afraid to walk. That is not far." I considered briefly that I might should be offended. After assessing my injuries, I decided I was ok and continued.
"What do you do for fun?" I prodded.
"Drink vodka," she said that as if rehearsed. I liked it.
Matt, finished with his salt and pepper-filling duties, joined us. The velociraptor between us shrilled with a cocked head and an argumentative posture. Joanna laughed out loud at this, and I couldn't help but notice how much her smile illuminated her whole face. She looked like a different person suddenly. She looked lovely.
"That must be lonely," I sympathized.
She shrugged with a dismissive shrug, so I let it be. I changed the subject. "What's Poland like?"
"We ride a donkey to school," Joanna's casual response hooked me for a moment. Unaccustomed to being the prey of sarcasm, I flopped around on this line of spurious information like a fool.
"Really?" I asked cautiously. The velociraptor's clicks slowed to a halt as Matt, too, turned to the Polish girl with the Princess Leia buns. After a very brief moment of silence, Joanna laughed.
Feeling foolish, I grimaced as Matt commenced the audio track for a Jurassic Park tour. At last, I, too, laughed. "Ok, ok. You got me," I admitted.
"It's not much different from here, really," she gave in, still smiling as she rolled the last set of silverware, "except better music..."
"Joanna, can you come help seat while Mandy takes here break?" Shirley called from the Hostess Station. Joanna picked up the pile of rolled silverware and carried it to the Hostess Station. Matt and I dispersed as well, heading to the station to prepare for the dinner rush.
(to be continued....)
Continue our "How We Met" story:
Chapter 3 - Another Day
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