Nothing good is ever easy! Part 2

The Hardest Coin Part II

Beginning to get it together?

If life is just a bowl of cherries,

            How come I end up in the pits?

                               Anonymous

Yeah, I know, this is a strange twist from the first two openings. Especially for someone who has recently found religion. However, if you keep reading and you will see why I used this refrain and hopefully come to understand why it fits.

I continued my job search, applying at places I was comfortable applying. To me trying something new meant that my past might come back to haunt me. Like I said not the cleanest of life histories. I applied at Denny's and other restaurants to include Wendy's which I had worked for in Independence, before things went rotten. 

It was Denny's that called me first and I went in for the interview. They offered me a job as a dishwasher, which is what I had applied for, I didn't want to have direct contact with the public. Then I found out that contrary to other restaurants I had worked for they expected the dishwasher to clean the restrooms as opposed to the busboys. Needless to say, I turned the job down somehow knowing that something better was coming soon.

I hadn't been home for 20 minutes when Wendy's called me and asked if I was still interested in working for them. I said that I was, and somehow knew that this was the job I was meant to get. The interview was set up for the following day. In all the years I had been working or searching for work I had never been nervous or worried about a job interview, but for this one I was a bundle of nerves.

I had long hair and a fu manchu mustache, maybe that was why, I don't know, but what I did know was that I was willing to do whatever I needed to do to get the job, with one exception, I would NOT work on the Sabbath. I showed up and introduced myself to Anthony the assistant manager and the interview began. The last two  questions, which were the only ones I remember now were, "are you willing to cut your hair?", And "will you shave your mustache?" the answer to both was yes. 

Religion was not on his top concern list but it was mine, so I asked him if my not being willing to work from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday would be a problem. He said no and asked me when I would like to start, my response, would tomorrow be ok. Answer: Yes. I was all set. If only I had known how this would change two lives for the better I would have been more excited to have gotten this job.

18 inches off the top and a shave later I showed up for my first shift. Issued my uniform shirt, hat and apron I went to work. The manager that night was Sue, and she didn't seem too happy to have me working for her. Come to find out she had what she felt was enough Adventists working for her and she really didn't want or need another one. We got to talking about the hours I would be willing to work and I explained that the only time I absolutely had to have off were between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday for the Sabbath. Which I guess surprised her. If I had only known that the other Adventists working there had flatly refused to work the weekend period I would have understood her hesitation in having another one on the payroll.

Anthony was in charge of my training and it went something like this: "have you worked the grill before?" Answer "Yes." Response "well here it is and here you go." Two days later I was moved to sandwiches and was asked the same questions and I gave the same answers. One week later I  was actually trained on the front register by Sue, and she was not very happy that I didn't want to use the change machine. So we made a deal. I would use the changer that night and the next time I was on register with her as manager I wouldn't, and we would see which one was more accurate, and she agreed. I won and never had to use the changer again. 

The company had a policy that if your register came within a quarter + or - you earned a free meal. I guess I did alright, because I earned a free meal the first night I didn't use the charger. Shortly afterwards I was moved to drive through, I guess they figured that if I was that accurate on front register I would be safe to work the drive through. things were going along great, I was getting rave reviews from each of the managers for my job performance and my ability to keep calm in high stress situations. After 30 days I got my first raise. 

I had the peace of mind I had been seeking, I was able to get along with almost everyone else on the crew. Then they hired Clyde. This turned out to be a mistake. He couldn't seem to grasp the idea of running the grill, and lied about ever being trained on it, especially when the managers all knew that I was the one who  had trained him! Then it got worse, having him scrub the floors in the sink and line areas was like watching a two year old gently brush their hair. 

Having him put away stock was an adventure in and of itself, man's finding the items needed became a hunting experience of a different nature. It seemed to me like all this kid wanted was a paycheck without actually having to work for it. He made excuses for everything and complained when asked to do something he was supposed to do in relation to his position. 

Things came to a head one night during pre close. While I was taking out the trash the chicken fryer timer went off. Anthony asked Clyde to pull the chicken and he yelled "where the hell is Charles, I don't know how to do this shit." I kicked the door to get someone to open it for me so I could get in, it was Clyde. He told me that Anthony wanted me to get the chicken and I wasn't there and he wanted to  know why. I informed him that I had heard Anthony tell him to get the chicken and was called a liar. It went down hill from there. I threw the tongs that I had just taken the chicken out with and lost my temper. In no uncertain terms I told him what I thought of him while advancing on him in an unfriendly manner. 

The next night when I came to work I was again working with Anthony as the manager and I found out that Anthony had spread the story around that it was Clyde who had gotten aggressive and that I was backing away from him. Now there are a few things I will not deal with one of them is being called a liar, and the second is being lied about. A fact I brought up to Anthony when the first chance came to do so. He denied it but the entire crew was told the same story by him, but in the interest of my sanity I let it slide. The sad thing was Anthony was in the office with the door open so he was a witness to the whole episode.

I went to Paco, who was the store's general manager and asked if it would be possible for me to not work a shift with Anthony for awhile. I even went so far as to tell him that I would take a cut in hours to make it happen. He had heard about the problems with both Anthony and Clyde and was told that it wouldn't be a problem. 

The next shift I worked was with Sue and she could see that I wasn't my usually calm self, and asked if I wanted to talk about it. I asked if we could go to Denny's in Apopka to talk over coffee after work, and she agreed. It was the night that payroll was supposed to be done so we didn't leave the store until well after midnight. We  sat and talked for three hours before we both realized how late it was. She went her way and I went mine. 

What had been to that time a work relationship was about to take a drastic turn. We continued to go out for coffee and talk, but one night at work I did something to help her out and she commented "aren't you sweet?" without really thinking about what I was going to say I asked "wouldn't you like to find out?" That night the conversation turned to our personal lives in a way that hadn't yet happened. 

We were both in marriages that weren't working out. I was still married to Brenda, and she was in an unhappy marriage as well. I had already met her husband without knowing it, and I had already made an impression on her in how I dealt with comments. Now it was time for me to make one on him. One of my coworkers and I were talking about how late we had been in starting the pre close, and for some reason he felt the need to interject himself into the conversation with the comment "Well you all need to hurry up I don't want to be here all night waiting on you." Me being who and how I was responded with "I don't see anything holding your ass to that bench, you can leave anytime you want." There were and are times that I don't work or play well with others, and for all I know there always will be, this just happened to be one of them. Oops!

To be concluded: Peace