I walk through the back of the restaurant, peeking into the staff room to see a few staff sat at the table eating their dinner or doing their make-up in a mirror. I push open the door, walking into some kind of bitching about someone. They fall quiet and their eyes stare at me.
"Hi." I say, closing the door.
"You're the owner, right?" a brunette girl with glasses asks me as she looks up from her phone at the table.
"Right," I say. "I'm Jason. I wanted to ask you some questions, if you're free."
"Sure," the girl from the mirror says as she plucks at her eyebrows. "What do you want to know?"
I lean against the wall with my arms crossed. "I just wanted to ask how you're finding working here. If there's any problems that I should be aware of."
"How long have you got?" a young man snorts as he chomps on a sandwich.
"There's always problems," the girl with glasses says. "Mainly with the managers. They talk to us like shit and patronize us in front of customers."
"Lee's not so bad," the girl at the mirror says. "I enjoy his shifts. Everyone gets on with him."
"It's just Rachael," the other girl says. "And Helen. We can't even stop to breathe when it's their shifts. They're on our case straight away."
"Can't you supervise?" the male asks me.
"Yeah, you're actually cool," the girl at the mirror laughs as she adds lip gloss. "Everyone loves it when they hear you're dropping by because Rachael backs off. She had a go at me earlier because the chef made the wrong meal for the wrong table, it wasn't even my fault. She practically yelled at me in front of a table."
"And if we're so much as three minutes late off our break, she gives us the busiest tables when it's not even our section."
"Or if we're late turning up, even though we call in to give her notice, she'll give us less or extreme shifts the following week. I rang in sick for a few days because I was really ill with flu and she requested to see a doctor's note. Why the hell would I give her a doctor's note for the flu? The following month she put me on seven days straight, without a day off."
"Right," I nod, tightening my arms. "I'll be speaking to her about all of that. And Helen?"
"Depends on her mood," the girl from the mirror says quietly. "Sometimes she's okay, other times she's a nightmare. She made this new girl cry once, the girl even formed a complaint to Rachael that Helen was bullying her, but they're pals so not much was done about it. We told the girl to contact Lee, but he was working at the other restaurant and she had quit by the time he came back."
I rub my head, frustrated that I hadn't heard anything about this. "Is Helen at work tonight?"
"Yep," she sighs, tying her pinny around her waist. "She's working the bar. But I think she went into the office. Lee's in there too."
"Are you going back to work?" I ask.
She nods with a frown. "The joys."
"Could you tell Rachael to round up all the managers? I want to see them in the office in five minutes."
"Sure, pretty much all the floor managers are on tonight," she smiles. "Nice to meet you."
I open the door for her and she shuffles out of it, fiddling with her blouse. I follow her out into the hallway and I go the opposite way, pushing open the door to the office at the end.
Lee is sat at one of the computers, rubbing his bald head in circles that imprint dimples into the side of his face. He's a few years younger than I am, and he worked as an assistant manager at McDonald's before I hired him. He's intelligent, sophisticated and he's good with authority, but he's also a big kid deep down. He looks up at me with wide eyes. "Jase! Nice to see you, bro."
Helen sits next to him, she straightens in her seat. She's in her twenties and I think the power of being promoted to manager has gone to her head. "Good evening."
"It's not, actually," I say. "I've just been talking with some staff and they had a lot to say about what's been going on here."
"Like what?" Lee asks, while typing into the computer. "The staff are never happy."
"I'm calling an emergency manager's meeting," I tell them. "With Rachael. So, Lee, I'm going to need you in the restaurant for a while."
He eyes me. "Sounds serious. Should I be worried?"
"Nah," I shake my head. "Not for you. I'll catch you up after."
"Yes, boss," he says, clicking his mouse for a few seconds before wheeling his chair back.
"Could you do me a favor?" I say to him as he pauses at the door. "There's a woman waiting for me in section two. She's blonde, wearing a white blouse. Could you tell her I'll be another thirty minutes and just bring her whatever she wants."
"You got it," he says with a wink, patting my shoulder. "Have fun kids."
He opens the door, passing Rachael and the other manager's in the process as they come shuffling inside. I back up to the other side of the office and I lean against one of the computer desks as they trail inside, confused and agitated.
"Will this take long?" Rachael asks. "Only, it's busy out there."
"It'll take as long as it takes," I tell her sternly. "Lee can handle it."
She nods, folding her arms against a wall of lockers. The other managers stand in a huddle. Hayley, Tim, Henley and Mike stare at me, waiting for a reason that they're here.
"I called you here because I want honesty," I say to each of them, except Rachael. "Rachael isn't your boss, I am. So if there's anything you want to say in front of her, now is the time to do it."
"Shall I start?" Hayley says loudly, she glares at Rachael. "You're a bitch. That email you sent me yesterday was uncalled for," she looks at me. "She constantly emails us with a list of everything we've done wrong on shift. She makes us out to be useless."
"You are," Rachael argues back. "You let the staff do whatever they want. If they turn up late, you shrug your shoulders and look the other way."
"No, we don't," Mike says. "We email you to let you know, because that's what you demanded we do."
"She talks to the staff like they're toddlers," Hayley tells me. "She's selfish and thinks she's better than anyone else here."
I glance down at Helen. "And you?" I ask her.
"Hmm?" she mumbles.
"I heard you were bullying a new starter here. She made an official complaint," I look up and meet Rachael's furious eyes. "And you didn't inform me of any of that!"
"It wasn't relevant," she shrugs. "The girl was sensitive. Helen was just doing her job."
"Any complaints by staff towards managers go through me," I shout at her. "That's in your contract. But you ignored that and took it upon yourself to force that girl to quit before Lee got wind of it, because you knew he'd call me straight away. Now that makes me wonder if there's anything else you're keeping from me."
"No," she says through her teeth. "There isn't."
"Good," I say. "And Helen, I advise you to tread carefully in future, because I'll be watching you very closely."
Helen glances up with a lump in her throat. "I didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't bullying her I swear, she was-"
"I don't care," I cut her off. "Things are going to be changing around here. If I can't trust you to respect my staff then you can find somewhere else to work," I glare at Rachael. "And that goes for you, too."
Rachael's eyes widen, panic sets in over her face. "Jason, come on. I've worked here since opening day, have you ever had a problem with me before?"
"No, and that's what worries me. Until I'm satisfied that you've got it under control, I'm demoting you to floor manager. I'll be taking over as supervisor at this restaurant and Lee will be moved to Jaguar. Or vise versa and he'll report back to me."
"You can't be serious!" she protests angrily. "Just because I sent a few harsh emails?"
"It's more than that. And you know it. I don't know what's happened to you, but I can't trust you as head manager anymore. I want the staff to be excited to be coming to work here, not trembling with fear when they find out you're the shift manager."
Hayley bounces happily, grinning sideways at Rachael with a smug look of joy. The others stand still like statues.
"That's all," I say. "You can go back to work now."
Helen is the first to dive across the office to escape, followed by the other managers, with only Rachael left. She's reluctant to leave, she doesn't go down quietly.
"That's all, Rachael," I say. "Unless you want to negotiate your job all together?"
She swallows angrily and surrenders, charging out of the office and slamming the door shut. I rub my head as an ache begins to form, I settle into the quiet calmness for a moment before it hits me.
Shit. Ebony.
And I run.