icfreeman

The next day, I saw Eric at work.  I was still running through yesterday's events in my head trying to make sense of everything.  Was this a one time thing?  Did he want to start a relationship?  Did I want to start a relationship?  What's next? 

Luckily, as I got to work, I saw my friend Crystal.  She was bartending that night, and the only one I was close enough to tell about last night.  I ran through the details.

"Are you going to see him again?" she asked.

Great, just what I was wondering.  "I don't know," I said.  "I know that this can't be right, and so we shouldn't even think about getting involved together."

"You can't.  It's against the rules.  Managers and employees aren't allowed to date," said Crystal.

My thoughts went directly to a former employee, Kayla, who was dating a manager, Tom.  They were engaged to get married.  "Well, sometimes it can work.  Look at Kayla."

"Yeah, but Kayla and Tom were going to get married.  Plus they worked at separate stores."

She had a point.  I'm not marrying Eric, and we work at the same store.  Hmm...  I wondered.

After serving several tables and talking through the decision with Crystal, we decided that no one could know about yesterday, and that I shouldn't see Eric again.

The next day Eric and I started talking as we both toyed with the idea of starting a relationship.  We both knew the dangers, but if we kept it secret, then what could it hurt?

That week, Eric found out that he was being temporarily transferred to a store about an hour away.  He would be there for six weeks, and the company would put him up in a hotel.  When Eric found out, he was upset.

"You'll come visit me when I'm gone, won't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," I responded.

"After all, it's only an hour away.  That's not too far, and it's interstate most of the way."

So off he went.  Though I was still juggling with the idea of whether or not I wanted to pursue this relationship, I knew the time away was a welcomed relief.  After all, if we did date, then he was in a different store, right?

Eric came back to my apartment on his days off.  I would try to correlate my schedule so that we could spend time together, and it worked pretty well.  But as the weeks passed, Eric kept insisting that I come to visit him.

"I've been telling everyone about my girlfriend," he said.  "You just have to come up here so that I can show you off.  They want to meet you.  You can stay with me."

"OK," I finally agreed.

After my shift that Wednesday, I packed my bags and hit the road.  I left around nine and traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I guess it's because I was traveling during the week.  As I approached the town where he was, I called to see if he had gotten off.

"I'm closing everything down, but a few of the employees know that you're coming, and they want to meet you."

"I'm still in my work pants, but I have on a tank top.  Do you think that they will figure it out?"  I wondered.

"Don't worry.  No one will figure it out."

I drove to the restaurant, and there were a handful of employees left.  As Eric introduced me, they smiled and went their different ways.  They only one that stayed was the bartender, Trina.

She was a thick, black southern girl with a heavy accent.  Though she was in her early to mid twenties she talked an a high-pitch voice.

"Oh, it's so good to finally meet you, Eric's told us so much about you," she said.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

As she finished closing the bar, Eric disappeared to the back office, and I took in the restaurant.  It wasn't the same as the ones I know.  Table numbers had to be all mixed up, and if I were to attempt to work at this location, I would need to go through orientation again just to figure out where everything belongs.  I gathered a few drink menus and went around ensuring that every table had one.

About the time I was finished, Eric came from the back.

"All finished?" I asked.

"Yup, all done," he said. 

We looked over toward the bar and Eric shouted, "All done Trina?"

"Yup, I'm finished," she shouted back.

We all walked out of the door to our cars.  Though the hotel was across the street from the restaurant, Eric had decided to drive.  We pulled out of the parking lot only to drive into the hotel lot.

The hotel room was nothing to write home about.  It had dark green carpet with a king size bed, a lamp, a television and a fridge for Eric's cokes.  Eric took a shower as I brought my stuff in and got settled.  Then I hopped in the shower to was the work funk off  of me.  Then we settled in for the night.

As we laid in bed, with Eric's arms around me, he whispered, "I was afraid that you wouldn't come see me.  I'm really glad that you're here.  You mean a lot to me."

Funny thing...  After several months of working with this manager I despised, I actually learned to deal with him.  That is after he left to work in the Oxford, Alabama store for six weeks.  He came back and worked-- a little.  Instead of finding him in the office, he now hung out at the bar.  It wasn't until one cold night that something changed between us.

First off, you need to know that Eric owns a Jeep.  Now this Jeep isn't new by any means.  In fact, it was made in 1993, and he's had it about that long.  The radio doesn't work, the heater doesn't work, and there aren't any window in it because they have been slashed.

So one winter night he called me.  When I asked what he had been up to that day, he replied that he was working on his Jeep, trying to replace or fix a water pump or something like that.  He also added that it was not fixed and he was the opening Kitchen Manager in the morning.  He was going to get up early to try to finish fixing it, but if he couldn't would I be willing to pick him up and drive him to work.  We talked for a couple of hours before I finally said I needed some sleep.

I agreed to take him to work.  I don't know why.  Maybe it was because our relationship was more friendship now than loathing enemies.

As I slept that night, I kept dreaming about the early morning call from Eric.  Over and over again, my mind played out different scenarios about my reaction if he called, and his house he lived in.  In some scenarios, I knew exactly where he lived, in others I set out to get him before realizing I had no clue where I was going, and then I couldn't get back in touch with him.

Around six a.m., my phone rang, waking me.  It was Eric saying that he needed my help.  He'd been working on his Jeep for about an hour and a half with no luck.

"Let me get dressed and I'll call you right back," I told him.

I jumped out of bed and threw on clothes for my second job-- playing with kids at Pump it Up.  Soon after, I called him back.

"I'm getting in my car now.  Where do I need to go?"

"I live out on 280.  Call me when you get to the Summit."

I turned the heater on as hot and fast as it would blow as I drove to Eric's place.

As he got into the car, Pink was playing in my CD player.

"I love Pink," Eric said.

"Yeah, me too.  She's my favorite.  I have several of her CDs," I responded.

We talked on the way to work about nothing in particular.  When we arrived, Mark was already in the office.  As the three of us sat in the office, Mark questioning why Eric chose me to take him to work (because I lived the closest to him.  Everyone else was a good 30 minutes away), and Eric asking about the morning duties, I looked over to Eric and began to wonder.

What if he were my boyfriend?  He does smile a lot, and can be sort of a clown.  Naw, that'd be too weird, I thought.  To like Eric like that?  No way!

I looked across the crowded room and there he was.  A tall man in his late twenties, early thirties with khaki shorts and a dark green polo shirt.  His brownish-red hair was cut short and he had thin-framed glasses that his chocolate eyes peered out of.  He was with two of his buddies, and they were laughing at some joke that one had just told.  As he scanned the room, our eyes met and instantly I knew he was the one.

If that's the type of story that interests you, then my story isn't for you.  My story isn't about love at first sight.  No.  My story is more like loathe at first sight.  Like when Elphaba and Galinda first met in the story Wicked.  But just as in Wicked, our loathing of one another grew into respect before finally changing into "love."

My story begins in my senior year of college.  Normally, I wait tables, but soon after the new year, a manager was fired, leaving the store short on management.  I was asked to help out.  While working a management shift on day, my boss, Mark, came to me and says that they are transferring a manager from the Homewood location to come help us out.

I groaned.  I didn't mean to.  After all, I worked in the Homewood store for more than two years, but after my boss was transferred to another store, they brought in a new management team, and the store has gone downhill ever since.  In fact, Homewood managers are lazy, and if rumors are true, then this manager is going to do nothing but sit in the office most of his shifts.  I was close...

I came into work eager to get started.  I already had my set of manager keys, borrowed from the administrative assistant.  I was scheduled to work the alley, the server part of the kitchen where food is picked up, drinks are fixed and, by the looks of the kitchen at this time, messed are bound to happen. 

Servers can be such pigs!  Soup spilled on the counter from ladling it out of the pot, lettuce on the floor from cooks and servers making salads and tea mixed with sugar from where servers had sweetened the tea, which has now dried on the counter, causing me to scrub to get it clean.  As I was scrubbing, Mark cam around the corner with the new manager.

"Eric, I want you to meet Ivie.  She's a hard working girl who will be helping you out in the alley tonight," he said.

"Nice to meet you," said Eric.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

Not bad, I guess, but then I had only endured about thirty seconds of him.  At least he wasn't sitting in the office.

Mark soon left, leaving me and Eric to fend for ourselves.  Even though it was a weeknight, we were busy.  Cooks kept running out of meat, causing me to run to the cooler to retrieve whatever was needed.  Then there were the servers who needed coupons taken off of checks and change for a twenty.  Looking up and down the alley, a tornado must have come through when I wasn't looking.  I knew I had just swept the floor less than five minutes ago, but now there are croutons, that damn lettuce, rolls, fries... Geesh.

After catching a breather, I went to look for the new manager.  After all he can get change too.  I'm not the only one around here with that kind of authority.  Two guesses to where this Homewood transferred manager was.  Yes, that's right, the office.  Sitting at the computer doing who knows what when there are tables to talk to, servers to assist and cooks to look after.

Throughout the night, I kept running to retrieve pieces of meat for the cooks, and every time I passed by the office, my blood pressure jumped.  I guess the rumors are true.  All Homewood managers know how to do is sit on their butts doing nothing much. 

By the end of the night, not only was I exhausted, but I was also pissed off.  I hated working with this new manager.  I'm doing all of the work, while he just lazes around.  Thus started the attitude Eric and I would have for each other for months. 

GRRRR!!  Guys are so infuriating sometimes.  I think I will get on my soapbox a little this morning. 

I love Eric, but he can sometimes irritate the mess out of me.  This morning when our alarms went off, instead of hitting "snooze" so that I can gradually wake up, he turns the alarms "off' after the first ring.  Let me just say that it is much harder to turn the alarms off than to send them to snooze.  The alarms are on our cell phones, so by pushing ANY button, you are sent to snooze, but only by opening the phone and pushing the "exit" button will make the alarm actually stop.  Eric says, "Baby, it's 6:30."  -- Really, why hasn't my alarm woken me up before this time-- Oh yeah, he turned it completely off.  I usually wake up between 6:30 and 6:45.  Needless to say, I woke up in a bad mood.  Wouldn't you??  Then he gets pissy because I'm in a bad mood.  He fusses, "I just hate your moods."  Well, if you hate them so much, then 1. don't turn OFF the morning alarms or 2. go away and leave me so that you never have to deal with me again.  If I did that to him, then he would wake up in a bad mood.  Maybe then I could complain "I just hate your moods." 

And oh yes, I have to deal with his moods every week.  On Sundays, he has to deal with church people (The worst people to wait on because they think they are holier than God, should get superior one-on-one service, then not tip. "I give 10% to the church, why should I give more than that to you?"  Oh, yeah, because God doesn't make a living off your tips.  I have to put up with being harassed by you and then not being tipped?  Next time, just go eat somewhere else.)  Anyways, he comes home in a bad mood.  Then, on Mondays he comes home in a bad mood because he had to do inventory at 5 a.m., which tells him his Gap.  That's always stressful, plus he has to work with a certain lazy manager who never supports him, even when Eric asks for help, but likes to fuss at Eric when he messes up.  I understand why Eric can come home in a bad mood.  I just deal with it.  After all, if I had to work with the "fat, lazy" manager, or worse the "I'm a dumb-ass" manager that are his coworkers, I would pull my hair out!

So, he has no right to get fully upset with me.  I deal with his moodiness, he can deal with mine!