Joe begins to question why she left a steady job at the bank after her new manager pulls some sneaky moves with staff assignments.
Joe sat in the tiny office surrounded by a tangle of adding machine tapes and messy files. Someone banged on the door and she jumped. There stood George, the head chef, clicking a pair of tongs.
"Someone's got a boyfriend. Someone's got a boyfriend," he crooned like a girl. One of his hands was tucked behind his bulk which filled the door frame.
He liked ducking into Joe's air-conditioned office to get out of the steaming heat of the kitchen. Right after she'd been hired, she'd learned to steer clear of him. He had an ugly habit of pinching female staff members with his ever-present tongs. That first week, passing his station at the grill, he'd gotten behind her and picked her up bodily, then, pointed her toward the upper cabinets.
"Grab those napkins for me, would ya'?" Snickering, he peeked under her mini-skirt as he held her up. Joe's face flushed while the kitchen staff looked on, saying nothing.
This time he had a legitimate reason for the interruption. He tipped forward daintily like a ballerina, leaned in and set a flower arrangement on her desk. George had on a sneaky smirk when he reached across and snatched the card out of the bouquet. Joe pulled a ruler from under the mountain of paperwork and smacked his hand hard. He dropped the card and winced.
She opened the envelope and read the note. Immediately she picked up the phone and started dialing when her manager's face appeared behind the chef.
"You, OUT!" Jason pointed at the suddenly somber chef, then pointed to the kitchen. There was an awkward dance as George backed out and Joe's manager barged in. The chef shot Joe one more silly grin as the door slammed in his face.
"So, how about it?" Jason asked with a wink. She hung up the phone and turned her attention to her work. He slid smoothly onto the bench across the table. A cold silence filled the room. Unfazed, he stared at the top of her head and began whistling off key.
Jason had been hired to replace Bob, the manager who had hired Joe. Rumors of embezzlement and cooked books had put Joe under scrutiny during the investigation that followed. Thankfully, her friendship with the owner had saved her job.
"I'm sure you had nothing to do with the missing cash, Joe," the owner told her. His fondness for the bookkeeper was no secret. The investigation dragged on.
Dick liked being seen with pretty women who were willing to chauffeur him around in his Maserati. He told her they were checking out the competition when he invited her to join him for dinner at comparable restaurants along the coast. Joe ended up driving back most evenings when he drank too much.
The silent partner from Chicago wasn't nearly as friendly. In fact, he hadn't made up his mind about the bookkeeper and her part in the financial turmoil that followed Bob's abrupt departure.
Joe was busy ordering the week's liquor supply when he showed up unannounced shortly after Bob left. She looked up to see him standing, briefcase in hand, at the open door.
The last time she'd seen Ervin had been when she interviewed for the job. She was glad he left the day-to-day operational decisions to Dick. According to Ervin, all that was about to change. He could be heard around the restaurant blustering about his plans.
"I'm here to get to the bottom of this. This accounting mess will be resolved. Be assured, heads will roll." Employees tried to steer clear of the not-so-silent partner.
Jason spent nearly two weeks during the investigation, back in Jamaica, closing out his affairs before moving to the States and into the condominium that came with his new position. He returned in time to join the staff's as they celebrated the silent partner's departure for Chicago.
The new food and beverage tracking system Ervin had put in place caused confusion and much grumbling from the staff. On the bookkeeping end, Joe was flooded with indecipherable food tickets as staff resisted the new system.
Once Ervin left, Jason changed things back to the old food and beverage codes. That made him an immediate hero of everyone except Joe. She had to deal with the aftermath of returning to the old system. New hires had been trained one way. Now, they had to learn the old method of handling food orders. Registers failed to balance for weeks.
Despite Joe's misgivings about Jason, he could dish out the charm when he wanted to. It was useful for drawing people to him, happy for a round of drinks, the telling of bawdy jokes and a fond slap on the back. But, it didn't take long for him to alienate most of the female staff with his racy innuendos and off-color remarks that annoyed his bookkeeper.
A chopping noise and the aroma of prime rib cooking came in with him as he stepped inside.
"Joey!" He'd only started calling her that after he discovered the name annoyed her. He smirked at her expression when he made his grand entrance.
The phone rang and she picked it up, eager for any kind of diversion.
"Good morning, The Pub. How may I help you?" She turned away from his stare.
"Hey, baby!" It was a familiar sleepy voice. She shuffled through the piles on her desk and opened a random file.
"Yes, I have that file right here," she paused, flipping through some invoices. "Certainly. I can send you an itemized statement."
The door slammed as Jason stormed out.
"But Baby," the voice said. "Don't you recognize my voice? It's meeee!" The caller drew the word out in a whine.
"Of course I do. 'He' was in here."
"Oh. I get it. Meet me for lunch?"
"Noon in the lobby," she said and hung up.
Jason returned holding a page he'd ripped from the bulletin board. He tossed it on the desk where it landed in front of her. The staff schedule had deep lines through the page where he'd crossed off a few names. Chip, the assistant manager was one of those names.
"What's this?" Joe asked.
"You've been promoted."
"But, what about Chip?"
"Oh, that's your first assignment. You get to tell him he's fired."
"What if I don't want the job?"
He grinned and pointed. "There's the door."
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