Revisiting Rome

Thursday I revisited the restaurant, checking up on how things are going.

Thomas, the older new guy, a new girl, they've all been let go.
"Too slow" he tells me over espresso. "They should be working in a cemetery".
There are new faces, a pretty girl and an obviously gay waiter, they're being shown the ropes, the owner notices the new waiter's wedding ring and so enquires about his wife, he answers discreetly, these Italians, they're slow to notice such things but eventually he'll figure it out.

They don't need me that night so I'm off the hook, I scratch lottery tickets with the owner's nephew, chat to the owner, he asks how my projects are going and I lie and tell him good, I saw the boy over the weekend but otherwise have done nothing, not read a single book or unpacked a single box. I've been a vegetable, going out only for the occasional trip to the Restore, humming and hawing over the price and selection, there will have to be some compromises....

"Next Week" I tell myself.

The new staff, the survivors, they have already that prematurely aged and harried look on their faces, of day to day terror and one of the ones I trained pulls me aside, asks me how I did it for a year and I reassure him that it will get better, it's just there's been a lot of transition there lately....

Franco was back on the weekend, the new job at $13.00 an hour wasn't holding his interest, he wants to work only evenings and the owner's trying to reconcile himself to this idea. He doesn't want him back, but he needs him and I wished that Franco was there so I could give him a small piece of my mind, order a cappucino and look longingly at the desserts, but this will have to wait until I am a somewhat more accomplished artist ....