Chapter 19

On the drive to meet the district manager, the three of us discussed what we all witnessed last night.

Jill was still fuming to herself, albeit Dakota and I knew it as well. The district manager, Laura Hondo arrived about 5 minutes late,

She was all smiles. Jill was really fuming at this point.

“Hello Ms. Hondo. Glad you could make it.” I said trying to cut off Jill from launching into a rail.

“I know, traffic was difficult. However, I did make it here.” Ms. Hondo spoke as if she was not prepared for usual Sunday traffic.

“Ms. Hondo, how many restaurants do you oversee for Jaxson, Inc.?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“Um, about 7 or 8.”

“About 7 or 8? I’m confused, how do you not know how many restaurants you oversee?” I asked now being curious to her answer.

“Well, you see, the home office keeps rearranging the districts. Two years ago, I oversaw 6 restaurants. Then last year they added 2 more but took one back at the end of the year. So, um ... let’s see ... seven ... seven restaurants. Why do you ask?”

“Well, your answer concerns me. We pay you top money to oversee our restaurants and you don’t seem to know how many you oversee. I just can’t fathom that type of lazy mentality.” Now, I am getting pretty ticked off by her blaze of her job.

“OK, let’s not get off track. Did you know that I was here last night?”

“No, I didn’t. No one ever called me. That’s what they are supposed to do.” She replied obviously trying to figure out whom to blame.

“Is Dwight Willis here today? I spoke to him.” I replied.

“You did? I’m going to have to take him out to the woodshed for not telling me you were here.” Ms. Hondo replied.

“Ok, but is he here?”

“Yes, he arrived just before you did, I think.” She replied.

“Could we speak to him please?”

Ms. Hondo got up and left the table to head into the kitchen. A few minutes passed before she came back out with Mr. Willis.

“Mr. Willis have a seat please.” I directed.

Dwight Willis looked tired. He pulled out his chair and plunked down.

“Mr. Willis do you remember me?”

“No, not really. Should I?”

My wife is now seething.

She finally can’t hold back any longer.

“You were managing last night, right? You don’t have a twin?” Jill asked with an amount of venom in her tone.

“Oh, yeah, now I remember you were the party that I had to ask to come back another night since we were closing.” Mr. Willis said very matter of fact.

“But you weren’t closed. You even said so yourself that you’d close in about 20 minutes. So why were we turned away?” I said getting even more annoyed.

“Sir, as I told you last night, we stop taking customers an hour before we close to help the kitchen. You just came at the wrong time, that’s all.” He responded as if he was doing his job.

“Mr. Willis, Ms. Hondo what business are we in?” I asked knowing that they wouldn’t be able to answer the question properly if I put it on a cue card.

Mr. Willis spoke first, “To make money.” Followed by Ms. Hondo, “To run a restaurant.”

I was counting to ten before speaking as they couldn’t be any further from the proper answer.

“Dakota, what business do you think we are in?”

“To serve the customer, which in turns makes the restaurant money, which in turn makes the company money.” Dakota said.

“She got it in one.” I said to them.

“Huh? You asked some little girl what business we’re in. This is a waste of time. I’ve got to help the kitchen prepare for tonight. Excuse me.” Mr. Willis began to get up from the table.

“You should probably sit back down or ... hand me your keys.” I said thinking ‘thank you for making this easy.’

Willis reached into his pocket and tossed his keys on the table and walked out the front door.

“Fuck this place and fuck you. You know nothing about how to run a restaurant ... you’ll see. It’s not so easy when you have to do the daily grind.” Willis yelled at me as her left the building.

“Ms. Hondo, anything to say?” I said wondering if it would be a clean sweep of inept management.

“I can’t believe how rude you were to him. He works hard, and you insult him. Maybe I should call your boss. Give me his name.” Ms. Hondo demanded.

She went on to say, “I know your type. Trying to make some sort of name for yourself by intimidating those who do all the hard work. You won’t give me your boss’ name because you’re scared.” Ms. Hondo barked.

Jill was already dialing before I even turned my head.

“Hi, yeah, its Jill. I have someone who is demanding to speak to you. May I put her on? Yes Ma’am. Her name is Ms. Hondo. Hold on, I’ll hand her the phone.” Jill said into the phone.

“Who am I talking to?” Ms. Hondo demanded.

Silence.

Ms. Hondo didn’t say a word after that.

She turned the phone off. Set the phone down. She knew she was beat.

Dakota was grinning from ear to ear.

“Um, Mr. Greene I didn’t know who you were. I’m not sure who you are (pointing to Jill). But Mrs. Jaxson said that I’m supposed to shut up and listen or take a hike.” Ms. Hondo said.

“She actually said ‘take a hike’?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Ok, lets start over. Hello Ms. Hondo. My name is David Green. I’m the new Director of Operations for all the brands of Jaxson Inc. This beautiful lady that handed you the phone is Jill, my lovely and beautiful wife. She is the new Director of Financial affairs in all of our brands.”

She just sat there stunned. She didn’t know what to say.

“Ms. Hondo lets sort this out. First, we will be closing for the balance of the week. We will reopen this unit next Thursday. Any problems so far with the plan so far?”

“No sir.”

“Step two: We are to clean this restaurant from top to bottom. We’ll steam clean all the carpets and drapes to remove the old fryer smell. Any problem with step two?”

“No sir.”

“Step three: We are to hire two chefs from the local Vo-tech school. We will also hire at least 5 more kitchen staff and double the number of waiters. We will also hire at least three more hostesses. Any problem with step three?”

“No sir.”

“Step four: You will send me a daily email telling me how many customers we had. How much sales went up versus last week, last month, and last year. You will also email me the number of reservations for the next business day. Any problems with step four?”

“No sir.”

“For now, that’s all. I would like to see the kitchen and meet your chef.” I still love being in a restaurant. However, this one is taking on water and needs bigger buckets to help bail it out.

She led me to the kitchen.

Unbelievable! Quite possibly the most unorganized disgusting mess that I have witnessed in a long, long time. It took me back to my days as the restaurant ‘fixer’ for the major pizza company that I worked for. The one with the bright red trapezoidal roof. I spent years as one of their top operational managers. The company would move me from one location to another across the US. My job at each unit was an 18-month project. I would assess the unit unbeknown to the staff by becoming a customer at three different times. My choice of times usually: Friday or Saturday night (THE busiest nights of most every restaurant); then again on Sunday afternoon; and finally, a week day (often Tuesday). These three visits would give me a 360 degree look of what’s really happening with the unit. However, it wouldn’t stop there. I would look at other things such as the trash disposal, employee parking, outside lighting, handicap accessibility, and cleanliness of the bathrooms. My thinking has always been that all the advertising in the world won’t fix a customer’s perception. That comes from the unit itself.

I ask for a piece of paper. I begin making immediate notes about re-organizing. One issue that usually defines how well a kitchen runs has to do with grouping, items together, such as all the carryout items (containers, napkins, plastic-ware, drink cups, lids, and straws) should all be found in one location and yet, it rarely done that way. Common sense, one would think, would make that an obvious choice, yet I have seen it numerous times things scattered all over a kitchen and even in the restaurant itself.

I introduce myself and my gorgeous wife to the Chef and his sparse staff. I walk the kitchen asking him who organized the kitchen; how does he feel about the way it is organized; what would he have done different; and what plans he will have for increased business.

The Chef answered all my questions ‘Politically Correct’. I would have rather him just answer in plain speak, not political speak.

One question he did have was if he was going to get paid for the time the restaurant would be closed.

“Of course, you will be paid as well as everyone else. However, I expect everyone, with you included, to work as a team getting this restaurant better.” I told him.

In front of the Chef, I said to Ms. Hondo, “I would like everyone to be paid for a full 40-hour week, even if they usually work less than 40. I want this group to become a team.”

“Yes, sir.”

I saw Jill speaking to a couple of servers that had arrived ready to work, only to find out that the restaurant would be closed until Thursday. I could tell by their faces that they were unsure if this was a good move, or if this was the beginning of the end for the restaurant.

“Ms. Hondo, lets finish our discussion outside before Jill and I leave you and your team to get to work.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jill thanked the servers for their hard work. One of the female servers hugged Jill before she followed Ms. Hondo and I outside.

“Ms. Hondo, I want you to start interviewing a couple of assistant managers from your other units for promotion to this restaurant’s General Manager position. What concerns me is that this unit ranks at the bottom of the entire chain in several categories such as profits, sales, turnover, and several other measurements. You get a P&L statement each period and yet your actions lead me to believe that you may be over your head being a district manager. I hope you prove me wrong, but you are now on our radar and we will be keeping an eye on your teams.”

Jill followed up with, “Ms. Hondo, what we are asking is very doable. We are not putting a target on your back. Instead we are trying to give you the tools necessary to change this and every other poorly performing restaurant the opportunity to be great again.”

We both thanked her for her time and headed back to the car.

On the drive back to the hotel, the Jill’s phone rang. It was Donna wanting to know if there were any plans for today or if the day would be open until dinner tonight.

Jill explained that the day is perfectly open for whatever they wanted to do. Donna apparently made some sort of mention about staying in bed with Roger until dinner time.

“David, I think we should probably see if anyone else wants to just have some free-time. Donna and Roger want to stay in bed until dinner tonight.” Jill said.

Dakota chimed in, “That sound like a great day. Can we do that too?”

I just smiled. Jill smiled. Dakota seemed very excited at the possibility of spending the afternoon having sex. To be honest, I did as well.

“Dakota, call everyone and see what they want to do. Do they want to go to Hoover Dam or have the day to do whatever they want?”

Jill piped up, “David, that’s not what we had planned.”

“I know. I phrased it that way to open the afternoon up for all of us.”

Dakota’s fingers could not dial her phone fast enough.

As we approached the Palms hotel, only John and Diane had indicated that they would still be interested in going to Hoover Dam.

I looked at Jill and shrugged my shoulders indicating I didn’t know what to do.

“Why don’t you and Dakota and whomever else have an afternoon of playing and I’ll take John and Diane down to the dam.” Jill suggested.

“You don’t want to play?” I asked.

“No, not really. I feel a bit nauseated today. Probably from partying too much lately.”

“Are you sure? I’ll go with you if you would like.” I offered.

“No darling, I want you to continue with Dakota, which I’m sure she’s happy about the possibility of spending play time with you.”

“Ok. But, if you change your mind before you leave, let me know.” I said.

When we arrived at the hotel, we saw Marcus and Ronda kissing while waiting at the cab stand.

“Where are you two going?” Jill asked smiling.

“We thought since the afternoon is available, we would head to the old downtown and check it out.” Ronda answered.

“Well, David and Dakota are heading upstairs and I’m taking John and Diane to the Hoover Dam, care to tag along?”

They looked at each other and shrugged saying, “OK, sure.”

“Ronda don’t change your plans because of me. If you want to head to the downtown, then go do that.”

Marcus then answered, “No, we just wanted to go see something. We’ve never been here before and we don’t really know if or when we might make it back.”

I headed inside with Dakota.

Ronda leaned into Jill and thanked her for introducing her to Marcus. She explained that it was Diane’s doing. Marcus said that he would have to thank her later.

As I rode the elevator to the suite floor, I could feel Dakota’s anticipation. I tried hard to not look at her. I was a bit concerned that if I looked at her, she would leap right into me. I kept facing the elevator doors. When they opened, the two gay boys were standing there holding hands. I invited them to join us in the master suite. They declined saying that they wanted to spend some of the money on souvenirs for friends and family. They thanked me for including them on the trip. I commented that they need to thank Diane, it was her doing.

Dakota took her card key and started with suite 2 checking if anyone wanted to come play in suite #1. She moved on to suite 3 asking the same.

By the time I was sitting relaxed in the suite with a drink poured thinking about eating a small something to hold me through until dinner.

Jill texted me. She reminded me that the Vegas Limo company was ripe for the taking.

Dakota arrived back to the suite with Roger/Donna, Paula, Tina, and Amy. I got up and welcomed them all. I suggested that we order some room service as I was sure there was more than just me being hungry.

I responded: “Will do. Dakota rounded up the available gang. Tina, Roger and Donna, Paula and Amy. All others bowed out.”

I began a text to Bob and Melanie: “Tom Jaxson has a limo company in Vegas. Company is doing ok, might be a good addition to our company if he is willing to sell at a reasonable price. Vegas uses more limos and rakes in more money than any other city in the US, much like the cabs in NY.”

A few minutes passed before Melanie responded: “Bob is busy eating (me). We will investigate. Great Idea! Gotta go.”

I responded: “Enjoy!”

Roger was already naked on a bed with Paula and Amy working hard on a double blowjob with Tina riding his face. I sat there just watching, admiring really.

Donna came over to me asking what I wanted her to do.

“Anything you want.” I responded.

“ANYTHING?” she asked.

“Yeah, anything. What would you like to do?”

“I have a fantasy. I would like two big strong men just take me. Make me be their slut. Double penetrate me. Treat me like a whore.”

“Um, does Roger know?” I asked as carefully as I could.

“He does. We discussed it last night. He’s OK with it if you are. If you’re not, then his second option was to get John to join us, but I don’t see him here.” Donna replied.

“I think he’s trying to develop a relationship with Diane. My wife is taking them along with Marcus and Ronda down to Hoover Dam. Jill wasn’t feeling all that well. She bowed out of playing to take them all by limo down there. The two gay boys are downstairs shopping for souvenirs. They may or may not get back here much before dinner reservations tonight.”