Climbing the Ladder (Kenny B. Part III)

It had been about two weeks since Kenny had fired Eric and things had been going quite well on all fronts. In fact, after hearing the tale of Kenny's first termination, Sammy, the owner of the quaint and increasingly popular cantina and cafe where Kenny had been the bar manager, had offered Kenny a promotion.
"I'll still be overseeing things day to day," Sammy had said, "but, you'll be in charge when I'm not here. You just make sure things run smoothly and lock up at the end of the night. We'll take it from there."
Kenny enthusiastically accepted. Along with a decent pay raise, Kenny thought about how nice it would be to get out of the requisite server/bartender uniform and come into work dressed in a nice pair of slacks and button up shirt of his choice. Kenny felt that he cleaned up pretty well, and he hoped that Ruby, his secret

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crush, would notice as well.
It was proving difficult for Kenny to garner the attention of Ruby, despite his numerous efforts. Thankfully, Sammy had accelerated the process substantially. On the first night of the staffs' orientation, he had noticed something unusual while reviewing the new employees I-9 forms.
"It looks like we have a couple with the same birthday," Sammy announced to the staff. "Ruby and Kenny are both Christmas babies. Well - close, at least. December 23rd."
That was actually the first moment that Kenny had really, really, noticed Ruby.
"Let's be birthday buddies!" Ruby motioned to Kenny.
Kenny smiled and nodded. "Yeh, birthday buddies."
She was gorgeous. Curly, dirty blond hair. Bright blue eyes. A smile that lit up the dark.

Later, during that first evening of orientation, Sammy had initiated a game amongst the staff meant to be an icebreaker. Passing around a huge bowl of M&Ms, he instructed everyone to take as many as they pleased. Once the bowl had circulated the room, Sammy announced, "For every piece you took, you have to announce one fact about yourself."
Kenny noticed some of the people nonchalantly raise their hands to their mouths, suddenly full and chewing. Kenny, thank God, had only taken two. He felt like all the sudden he had nothing to say about himself. No past. Just future.
The blurbs and facts were declared one after another, and then it finally got to Ruby. Kenny was all ears.
"I once got a tic-tac stuck in my nose when I was two," Ruby gleamed, "and I also bungee jumped naked in Australia."
Kenny involuntarily spit his M&M from his mouth. "Wow," he thought.

So, since that evening, Kenny had been bound and determined to learn more about Ruby, and, the more he learned the more he liked. But, that's a long story for another time...

Naturally, Kenny had seen his promotion as an opportunity to prove himself to Ruby. In the end, this turned up to be a mixed bag.
All in all, Kenny reckoned that his advancement was proving to be mostly positive. He felt that he was doing a good job as the manager. Massaging the guests was second nature. Kenny was a natural. He used to say that he could "sell shaving lather to a bearded woman." I never really understood that. At any rate, his even-keeledness and rapport with the staff seemed to be meeting a happy medium.
One thing had concerned Kenny, though. He noticed that the kitchen crew had been speaking to him in more Spanish than usual. Kenny, however, had taken French.


Kenny had prided himself on the bond he had built with the back of the house crew since the restaurant had opened. For a year previously, Kenny had been a sous chef at a tasteful Neaveu American restaurant, and had experience cooking. He knew what it was like to be behind the line.

Carlos, the head chef, began referring to Kenny as Hefe, which Kenny knew to mean "boss". As much as Kenny dreaded being called that, he was more concerned about the untranslatable words that always seemed to proceed it. Kenny often deciphered the words donkey, mother, and bludgeon, but not much else. It did not bode well.
As time over the next few weeks passed, Kenny noticed that the ripples that began in the kitchen began to work their way through the rest of the restaurant.
As a manager, he had to encourage, reprimand, mediate, and even fire people that were his friends. He had to be that hefe that Carlos referred to him as.
It's not fun when people you used to chug beer and bitch about business with become all of the sudden guarded around you. Sometimes, it's not pleasant being in charge.
Kenny thought about Ruby.
"Maybe I can stick it out a little longer."