Chapter 2
Lisa wasn’t sure what to think about her new boss; he’d only taken over the management the week before.
He seemed to be all right, but there was something about him that had her thinking that he was just one short fuse from blowing up.
He was forever counting to ten and sometimes beyond to cool himself down.
She just waited for him to cool off before she spoke to him again.
Or like this time, she’d just walk away. She didn’t need the drama.
“Lily? Lily, where are you?” She knew that he was talking to her, but ignored him.
She’d been telling him her name was Lisa since she showed up at five-thirty this morning.
Here it was going on three, her time off, and he still hadn’t bothered to learn it.
“I’ve been yelling for you. Why the hell aren’t you listening to me? ”
“First of all, I don’t like being yelled at. I’m a human being, and I like to be talked to as such. Secondly, and most importantly, my name is Lisa. L. I. S. A. Not Lily or Paula or any other name you’ve been calling me.”
“You’ll answer to what I call you.” She took off her apron, put the coffee pot back, and told him that she quit. “You can’t quit. I know you need this job as much as anyone else in this place does.”
“You need me more than I need this job.” She told her customers that she was leaving and that she wasn’t coming back, and they just watched her walk out the door.
Some of the people at the bar only came in for her to wait on them, and she wasn’t going to put up with a jerk treating her like snot again.
She was out the door and to her car before she changed her mind.
No one was going to treat her like he had and get away with it. “Stupid jerk.”
Making her way home, she decided that she had just enough tips to get herself a coffee.
She didn’t care for the fancy kind; just a coffee with whipped cream on the top was fancy enough for her.
But as soon as she got out of her car, she realized that she wanted something with caramel in it, and she was going to get the large one too.
Sitting at a table all on her own, she pulled out her cell phone and began playing a game.
She was really trying her best to calm down before she drove again and figured that this was the best way to do it.
When she was about halfway through her drink, she decided that she was calm enough to drive and went to her car.
The drink had done the trick, and she felt better about her day.
At least until she got in the car and saw that she was on empty.
Stretching her neck, she heard it pop twice.
Lisa headed to the gas station and filled up her car.
She’d made really good tips today and was splurging on filling her tank.
Plus, it would last her until she found another job, but she’d worry about that tomorrow.
Today, she didn’t want to think about how much of a jerk the new boss had been to her all morning.
Usually, Lisa would come in early and have the stoves turned on so that the cook could come in a little later.
All the tables would be wiped down and silverware and coffee cups put on them before seven, when the first customer would come in.
All the coffee pots were filled and hot, and sides like cottage cheese and applesauce would be dished up and ready to use as well.
She’d even have the sections filled out where each staff member would go, and the drawer counted out and ready to start taking money.
She had this all done before the first staff member came in to help her.
Lisa worked the front bar, so she didn’t have to run around the store as much as the other girls did.
However, they were busy enough through the week that she could pay her rent and buy food all out of the same week’s worth of tips.
She’d been working at the same place since she was sixteen, and after she’d gotten out of the service.
She knew this place better than anyone else who worked there.
Mr. Jerk was going to be in trouble tomorrow when no one showed up to get the restaurant ready like she did.
Nor would there be anyone to do the banking and make sure that the drawers were ready to go for the afternoon shift.
She was the store’s only early morning worker.
Her cell was ringing when she got home. Deciding to ignore all the calls from the restaurant, she put it on mute and laid it on the table.
Changing out of her work uniform, she decided to lounge around the house for the rest of the day, and she layed down on the couch.
It would catch up to her sooner rather than later that she was unemployed, but for today, right now, she was just off early and had nothing to do.
After taking a nap, something that she’d not done in a long time, she gathered up her laundry and put it in the washer.
There were sheets to wash too, but she was going to do them last. After making her bed up with the clean sheets that she had, Lisa decided to fix herself some lunch and have a nice glass of iced tea.
That was another thing she thought about.
How she would make the iced tea at the Little Diner too for the day.
She was making herself dinner when she remembered her phone.
Turning it back on, she had thirty-three missed calls and almost as many voicemails.
There were text messages too that were from Jackass.
Ignoring them for the moment, she answered the next phone call that came in from a number she didn’t know.
“You’re very difficult to get a hold of.
” She said that she’d been having a bad day and that she had a nice afternoon.
“My name is Brandy Fraizer. I own the Little Diner. Can you tell me what prompted you to walk out in the middle of a shift? I’ve heard Gary Roman’s version of it, but I’d like to hear yours. ”
“For the past week, he’s been yelling at people.
” She drew in a deep breath before continuing.
“I know that makes me sound childish, but we don’t yell at one another when we work there.
He never got my name right and told me that I wasn’t to do the banking anymore.
I don’t have a problem with that, but I’ve shown him how to do it several times now, and he’s just not getting it. ”
“He said that you were too anal about getting it done.” She told Brandy that he wouldn’t stack the bills all in the right order, nor would he put the bills in order of denomination. “I take it there is a reason for that.”
“The bank requires us to do that, or they charge us a one-hundred-dollar fee for each time we mess up. So far, that’s been two hundred dollars a day because he won’t do what’s required.
Then there is the schedule. He thinks that he can just put people on the schedule and expect them to be all right with him putting them on there and taking them off without notice.
” She growled low and didn’t realize that she’d heard her until she laughed.
“I’m sorry. He’ll run the place in the ground.
And I know he thinks that we have too many people on the schedule for the first thing in the morning, but the restaurant is right off the highway, and we do five hundred breakfasts a day.
More on the weekend. Then—” She stopped herself. “Why do you care why I quit?”
“You’re one of the reasons that I bought the place.
I knew you were the one who kept it going until I could get someone in there to run the place.
” She said not anymore, she can’t work with Mr. Roman.
“His version is much different than yours. And while I believe you. I think there is more going on there than him just being stubborn. I’m on my way there now. Can you meet me there?”
“I can, but I’m not working for you or him.
He’s a tyrant.” She said that she understood.
“All right. I’ll meet you there when you say.
But don’t expect me to just say it’s all right now because the owner has been involved.
I’ve been working that place since I was a kid, and I’m not going to put up with the shit that he’s been tossing around anymore.
After a week with him, I deserve combat pay.
” She laughed again and told her when she’d be there.
“I’ll be there at ten after. I don’t want to have to be yelled at again. ”
“All right. I’m coming from Dresden, so I might be a few minutes late.
I’ve never been there before.” Lisa decided to wear the clothes that she had on and didn’t care if she ever wore another uniform again.
She’d been thinking of using her education and getting something better for a while now. “I’ll see you when I get there.”
She headed to the Little Diner at four. She didn’t want to be there, but figured that she’d get things resolved before she found herself another job.
And she would too. She was too old to be waiting tables when she had some education that she could work with.
Being in the service had afforded her a college education, and she was going to use it.
“You’re in so much trouble.” The first person she saw was Jackass. “I called the owner, and she is going to come here and fire you.”
“Since I’ve already quit, that makes no sense.” He laughed and said that she only had her word for quitting, and who did she think that the boss was going to believe? “I frankly don’t care. I quit, and I’m not coming back. You can fuck up anyway you want.”
The slap to her face startled her. When she received another blow to the face, she pulled out her gun. Never was she not armed, and today was no different. She could feel the blood running down her cheek where he’d cut her.