Kenny Bloggins: The Story Unfolds

I had always admired Kenny. He had been in the restaurant business a lot longer than I had been, and he seemed to be saged yet severly battered down at the same time. His stories made me realize how truly insane and unpredictable working in a restaurant could be, and, with due respect, I submit some of his tales to you. Don't forget that Running Restaurants 101 wants your stories, too. Just check out the Kenny Bloggins summary on the right side of the blog's main page! Anyway, on to Kenny...

Cover of The Terminator

The Terminator

Kenny had been the bar manager at a newly opened, Baja cuisine Mexican restaurant for about two weeks when it all went down. Sammy, the owner, had tied on a bit of a buzz that night. In only two weeks the restaurant had shown excellent potential, and Sammy was celebrating. He left a corporate consultant job to open his own place and it was working out like a charm. Sammy ordered another Crown and Coke, slammed it down, and kissed his wife, Beth. Thrusting the keys over the bar, Sammy proclaimed that he would be taking his wife out for a well-deserved date, and asked Kenny if he could run the show and lock up at the end of the night. Kenny gladly accepted, blissfully unaware of the weight that keys can bring.
After a bit, Kenny briefly thought it was odd the owner would leave the reigns - not to mention the keys - with a newish twentysomething bar manager on a busy Friday night. What the hell, right? What's the worst that could happen? Kenny had been in restaurants a long time. What could possibly go wrong?
An hour after Sammy left there was a line at the door. A big line. Ushering people to the bar to have drinks while they waited for their tables, the hostesses corralled the remaining patrons as best they could. Eric and Candi were scurrying behind the small bar, attempting to serve drinks as quickly as possible, but the thirsty guests kept asking for more margaritas, more pina coladas, and mai-tai have anothers'. Trying to maintain equilibrium of the restaurant in the owner's absence, Kenny scuttled back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room to the bar in an attempt to make certain that everyones' needs were met.
Midway through the crowded dinner service Kenny passed the bar when Candi, Eric's barback, caught his arm. Much to Kenny's dismay, Candi informed him that Eric, the bartender, had been making lewd comments and unduly rubbing himself against her all night. Kenny thought he knew what he had to do, but unsure of his authority, hesitantly called Sammy for his advice.
"Fire 'im," said Sammy. "Tell him to see me Monday if he has a problem."
Kenny had never terminated anyone before, but it was down to it. Not only had Eric demeaned Candi at this point, he had also called Ruby ( a beautiful waitress Kenny happened to be enamored with, and later engaged to) an "impatient beeyatch" for waiting on her drinks at the service bar.
Pulling himself up by his bootstraps, Kenny walked up to Eric and asked him to step back into the office. Unsure what to say, Kenny looked at Eric and quickly blurted, "Candi said you were groping her and you called a waitress a bitch and Sammy said you need to leave right now."
"What?" Eric scoffed. "You can't send me home for the night."
"Actually," Kenny replied, "I'm sorry, dude, but you're actually fired." It was at this moment Kenny realized how much larger Eric was than him. Bracing himself, Kenny said, "I know it totally sucks, bro."
Strangely enough, after that comment, Eric turned around and slammed the door of the office. He then walked through the open kitchen, through the dining room, and quietly exited.

Kenny followed him at a distance and subsequently leaned against the bar, giving Candi the nod. She smiled back appreciatively. All the guests had been seated and the tempo had seemed to slow to a more easily manageable pace. The cantina was at peace.
Ruby walked past Kenny, abruptly halted, and spun around.
"What happened with Eric?" she asked.
"Well, I heard what he called you and I told him to get the hell outta' here. That's what happened. No big whoop," Kenny replied while trying out his best impersonation of Robert Goulet.
"Oh...thanks," Ruby smirked, as she turned and resumed waiting on her tables.
Feeling cooler than the other side of the pillow, Kenny made his way behind the bar and began helping Candi with the service well - mostly in hopes that Ruby would be back for more margaritas.
After slinging a couple of dozen drinks, Kenny noticed Shel, the hostess, slinking toward the bar with an unsure look on her face. Kenny was generally good at reading emotions, but this girl's facial clues seemed altogether blurry. Whatever they indicated, Kenny was pretty sure she wasn't looking forward to saying whatever it was she was about to say.
"Um, Kenny?"
"What's up, Shel?"
"Um, you remember when you fired Eric?"
"Yeah," Kenny replied, "It was literally like an hour ago."
"Well, he just called."
"Okay, so what did he say?"
"He said he wanted to talk to you."
"Well, is he still on the phone?" Kenny asked.
"Um, no," Shel squirmed, "He said he's waiting in the parking lot."

TO BE CONTINUED...