The lunches and dinners have picked up, there's scarce an empty table most days in the restaurant. This doesn't stop people from attempting to just "drop by" in the hopes we'll accommodate them - frequently we do, we're good that way - tables set up in the front foyer, wine cupboard, beside the bathrooms and the bar...
It's Xmas, time to pack-em-in like sardines.
Mafia boss comes in with his lawyer, mafia boss in a long overcoat and overly dramatic dark glasses, no reservation, G finds room for him in the private room.
This disgruntles a regular who has a standing reservation for the Private Room, but he understands (begrudgingly) that over Christmas it's waived.
Mafia Boss, he's asking about the noise in the kitchen, the bosses curses and shouting, it's the boss isn't it? And I tell him that yes, indeed it is. Maybe then I want to go and tell him to shut-up? No, thank you, but he's more than welcome to if he'd like to, the door's right here and the boss, well, he values all of his patron's feedback.
Mafia boss looks at me. Maybe he's not used to being contradicted, or he detects the slight matter-of-fact insolence in my voice, the regular he's sharing the room leans forward "Ask him to shut-up after I get my meal please" and the mafia boss gets where this is going, laughs and makes a joke, tells me he likes my sense of humor. His lawyer, he looks good natured enough, but the look of good nature has frozen upon his face as he listens to the terrors in the kitchen.
Bringing his bill later the regular who's privacy was thwarted tells me "Whatever you make, it isn't enough....".