Unwanted

14

"Cortez," Ian made his way towards the chef.

"I'm out of oil," Cortez maneuvered around Ian with a spatula and a bowl of caramel sauce in his hands. He drizzled chocolate sauce on the dessert that he was preparing before putting it on a server's tray.

"Order up!" He shouted and within seconds a waitress grabbed the tray.

"What do you mean?" Ian asked him as Cortez started up the grill. In the corner of the kitchen, one of the new hires was on his phone.

"Michael!" Ian shouted and the startled young man jumped at the sound of his name.

"Get your ass over here and work?" Ian ordered before facing Cortez.

"Why didn't you tell Shelby about this? She's the one that handles this type of situation." Ian's asked and Cortez flipped a burger. Ian grabbed the spatula from him and handed it to Michael.

"I find you on your phone again and you're fired, got it?" He asked and Michael nodded. Ian faced the head chef again.

"This is your kitchen, control it." Ian said and Cortez crosses his arms in front of his chest. He wanted to tell Ian off right here in front of his staff, to show him that that there's no one better that knows how to run his kitchen. But Cortez knew that it wouldn't get them anywhere. So, he led Ian towards the back office of the kitchen and closed the door behind him.

"The kitchen isn't the only thing that's a disaster. All of the staff is a mess. Someone almost drowned in the pool today because you didn't have enough lifeguards on duty. Two staff memebers were caught having sex on the course yesterday." Cortez explained and Ian stared at him in surprise.

"You're slipping, this is the same shit that happened before we almost got shut down last time." Cortez warned and Ian nodded. "I'm not going to stick around to watch history repeat itself."

Ian had been slacking a bit but he had not realized that he was slacking that bad.

"What do you suggest I do?" He asked.

"Communicate, you created a chain of command which is a great start. But we have to make sure people stick to it. The oil thing shouldn't have even reached me and it reached you. There's a problem." Cortez explained and Ian nodded.

"Alright," Ian nodded and the head chef smiled at him.

"You're not doing a shitty job," he reassured and Ian waved him off, not wanting his words of encouragements. "Just get a grip of things before it gets out of hand."

"Alright," Ian nodded and the two men left the small office.

With a new headache, Ian left the kitchen and the made his way to the pool house to take care of the drowning situation. As he walked across the parking lot, Avery was getting out of his car.

"Hi," she closed her car door and Ian frowned at her.

"Are you CPR certified?" He asked ignoring her greeting and Avery nodded.

"Come with me, I think I need you at the pool instead of the restaurant."

Avery didn't complain and she followed Ian towards the pool house. Ian pulled out his phone and he texted Shelby of the shift change.

"The pool closes at seven, do I go home then or do I go to the restaurant?" Avery asked and Ian pocketed his phone.

"Restaurant, I think," he nodded. "I will let you know later on." Ian opened the door to the pool house and allowed Avery to walk in.