Page 4 of One More Baby for the Boss

“My phone was on the charger and it died,” Alex explained.

Marjorie sniffed. “The power outage was at two in the morning. Your phone wasn’t on the charger until then? I suppose you were out partying until all hours.”

“I wasn’t,” Alex said, and it was true. She’d had her phone off the charger late because she liked to listen to a meditation app before going to sleep — it was something that always helped her to relax, especially when she needed a good night’s sleep. “I wouldn’t stay out late when I had work the next morning. That isn’t me.”

“Well, I don’t know what isyou,” Marjorie said. “The only thing I know is that you’re here an hour late, and Stacy has been running the place by herself. You’d better get in there and help her — and do better next time.”

Alex nodded, feeling chastised and deeply embarrassed even though she knew the incident hadn’t been her fault and she hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d buy a battery-powered alarm clock, she decided as she scrubbed her hands and got ready to start her day.

Maybe it was the stress of her first three days getting to her, but on day four one thing after another seemed to go wrong. A kid dropped his crayons on the floor, causing Alex to slip and drop a tray of water glasses. Nothing broke, thankfully, but water spilled all over the customers, and it was clear they were angry about it. Afterward, Alex saw them talking to the manager on duty. She was so upset about how things were going that she forgot to clock out for her lunch break, which led to yet another stern reprimand. The restaurant was understaffed again, and her feet began to ache from all the running around.

Friday was supposed to be her day off, and she had been looking forward to it desperately, but on Friday morning at eight o’clock, her phone rang. She fumbled for it, jolted out of sleep. “Hello?”

“Alex?” Marjorie’s voice was brisk and businesslike. “I need you to come down to the café, please.”

Alex’s heart skipped a beat. Had she made another mistake? Had she gotten her schedule confused? “I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought Fridays were my day off?”

“Yes.”

“Did someone call out? Do you need me to fill in?” She was eager to show that she could be an asset, given the way things had been going so far.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Marjorie said. “I need to meet with you for a few minutes, that’s all.”

Alex felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach — this couldn’t possibly mean anything good. “I’ll be down in five minutes.”

“I’ll expect you in ten,” Marjorie said wryly.

Alex burned with humiliation as she threw on some clothes. That really hadn’t been a very fair remark. She knew she’d had her problems, but it wasn’t as if she was habitually late. And nothing that had happened had been her fault.

It’s my bad luck catching up with me again.

She hurried down the stairs to the restaurant and found Marjorie waiting by the door to her office looking impatient, even though Alex knew she hadn’t even taken the five minutes she’d asked for.

“Into my office please,” Marjorie said, gesturing.

Stacy — on her way past, holding two heaped plates aloft — stared at Alex with wide eyes. Alex wondered whether Stacy knew what was about to happen in this meeting. The idea that she might made it feel worse somehow.

Marjorie shut the door and sat down, gesturing to a chair. Alex took it.

“I’m not going to mince words with you, Alex,” Marjorie said. “This week hasn’t gone well.”

“I know.” Alex said, thinking it was probably best to just own up to it. “I know I’m off to a rocky start. I can do better. I promise.”

Marjorie held up a bunch of slips of paper. They looked like receipts. “Do you know what these are?”

“No,” Alex admitted.

“Customer complaints,” Marjorie said. “Complaints about you.”

Alex felt sick. “I’ve gotten that many complaints?” She knew things had been rough, and customers could be very harsh, but she had no idea it had been this bad.

Marjorie plucked one from the pile and read it out. “Our waitress was Alex. She seemed very disorganized and acted as if she had no idea what was on the menu. She took the menu from my wife’s hands to read it when my wife asked about the French toast.” Marjorie looked up at Alex. “Is that true?”

“I didn’t— he makes it sound like I snatched the menu away from her.” Alex tried to clarify. “I asked her if I could look. I didn’t take it from her.”

“But you didn’t know the menu.”

“I—” Alex didn’t want to seem as if she was making excuses, but surely this would be considered relevant. “I didn’t know there was a different menu on Tuesdays. No one mentioned that to me.”

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