"You Lazy" he says, then corrects himself: "You're lazy!".
He's annoyed because the new manager has called him lazy and told on him to his pa. Now the new manager isn't one exactly to be throwing stones, and really, it's such a small arena and we're all in it together and small trifles like this annoy him, annoy everyone.
It's true he's lazy, but he also puts in the overtime and shows up on his days off to make sure things are running smoothly. And he's the boss's nephew and so he's not going anywhere and like so many things in the restaurant, you just have to work around it.
So now he's trying to wind me up: "You Lazy" he says to me, hoping for some reaction. I just laugh. And he starts in on how he hates working with all the girls, girls have no place in this restaurant, it's fine dining, they're all lazy, they have no class, and I get to listen.
It's true, the girls are for the most part pretty lazy and have far to many dramatic meetings out back for a cigarette or in the washroom or after work which is fine because it's on their own time but the after work meetings generally lead to hungover mornings of doing absolutely nothing at all besides showing you pictures on their cellphones of the night before and if you were at all thinking you'd think this was a bad thing but it's the job, it'll do it to anyone. And so you overlook it.
But the boys, they don't see it that way, G and the Nephew, they want it to be an all man show. Not that there aren't any lazy men out there, but despite G's many faults he's not lazy. Me, I'm all for the fluff, it's easier to look at than the men and seems to divert them both immensely but in the end I don't care, I just want to get the work done and get home to my small little life.
The Nephew, he's discovered, suspects, that his girlfriend may be cheating on him, he's searched her coat pockets and found a phone number and a name and has been calling it all day, trying for an answer, he's threatening to beat her when he gets home: "I'm a traditional Italian man" he explains to me.
He goes downtown to pick her up on his break. He sits outside on the pavement and has a cigarette, the manager of the restaurant he's in front of comes outside and gives him $3.00 and tells him to go and buy himself a coffee. I'm laughing as he tells me, it's perfect this, and he's offended no end, "What the fuck is this?" he's saying, "Why did he give me three dollars? I don't understand...." and I think he does, really, he's just not acknowledging it....
He's been playing online poker on his girlfriend's credit card. He's been winning, or so he says, $1500 Sunday, $300 Tuesday, anther $1000 after work on Friday. He's not a reliable witness, gamblers never are, he's reported casino jackpots to me of $1300 and then later confessed that he gave it all back to the casino plus another $500 of his own money, still, in his mind he's up $1300....and there's the fact that his girlfriend has taken issue with his gambling on her credit card. If he were really winning there would be no complaining.