Employee of the Year

Chapter 12 - TrueLove45

Oaxaca’s had a sports bar near the front entrance flanked by two dining halls stacked with enough tables and booths to seat a few hundred people. On the night of the Christmas party, the whole place was swarming with call center staff. The restaurant had another two private party rooms in the back, which Lenny also reserved. These rooms had long dining tables running down the middle and open, unstaffed bars where anybody could make their own drink. The extra party rooms really weren’t necessary, since we already had the whole restaurant to ourselves. I suspected that Lenny intended these rooms as a quiet getaway, for intimate conversations. I had a pretty good idea that Lenny was planning to use them himself at some point later in the evening.

Suzy and I were back on speaking terms. I’d convinced her it was still a good idea to come out to the party. We sat in a booth in one of the main dining halls and shared an enchilada platter. The plan was just to stay for dinner, say hello to a few friends, and head home early. Lenny came by our table midway through the meal and congratulated my wife on the pregnancy.

“Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy yet?”

“We have a sonogram on Monday morning,” I explained.

“You want a boy, right Temo? Someone to carry on the family name?

“I’m happy either way,” I said. I knew that Suzy was hoping for a girl.

“I am rooting for a boy,” Lenny said, chugging the glass of scotch in his hand. “It’s still a man’s world, isn’t it?”

Lenny staggered away from the table without waiting for a response.

“How much longer do we have to stay?” Suzy asked.

“I know, Lenny’s a jerk,” I said. “As soon as we finish our meal, we can leave whenever you want.”

In the restaurant I ran into a few more co-workers and wished them a Merry Christmas. Olivia, the church-going mom, was drinking a non-alcoholic margarita at a table with some of the other ladies from the floor. She was a pious woman and seemed vaguely disgusted with her environment. Even Jaime and his cleaning crew were at the party. They waved me over to join them for tequila shots at the bar counter, which I politely refused. Tequila would hit me hard. If I drank something that strong, I had no idea what would happen.

From the bar I could hear shouting from the sidewalk outside. I moved through the crowd and saw Lenny planted in the doorway, blocking Roland from entering the restaurant.

“This is my party.” Lenny shoved Roland hard, knocking him off balance onto the pavement.

“Hey,” I said, trying to wedge myself between them. The last thing we needed was a brawl at the Christmas party.

“You said this was for the whole call center,” Roland said, picking himself up off the sidewalk. “I had the best record on the floor this month. You saying I didn’t earn this?”

“I run the show, you ungrateful little prick,” Lenny said, still edging toward Roland. I strained to hold him back. “I decide who belongs. And you don’t. So get out of here.”

Roland smiled. “You’re going to be sorry for this.” Then he disappeared into the parking lot.

“Come on, Lenny. Let’s go back inside and get you another scotch,” I said.

Lenny sat down at the bar and waited for me to place his drink order with the bartender.

“You seen Teresa, yet?” he asked after his first sip.

I handed Lenny off to one of my other colleagues and headed back to finish dinner. We cleaned up the enchiladas and ordered dessert. Just as the waiter was placing flan and coffee on our table, Gina approached.