There was a lakefront restaurant in New Jersey. It was a small, boathouse-style building with a large deck and boat docks that definitely was not known for its size or ambiance, but was known for its seafood.
It was one of my first jobs as a waitress and was my very first job serving alcohol. Owned and operated by identical twin brothers from the area, Tim and Pat, the little hole in the wall prided themselves on having the freshest seafood available. Pat drove to the fish markets on the docks of New York City every morning before they opened for lunch at 11 a.m. Whatever one brother, Pat, could catch and bring back, the other brother, Tim, would turn into delicious works of art.
Tim and Pat were sole owners of their restaurant, and they were barely over the legal age. Not too bad for two local boys. Everyone in our community knew them. Everyone in the area ate there regularly. It was the place to go, especially in the summertime. There was no better place to stop by if you wanted to have some fresh food and ice-cold beers.
The restaurant offered lots of tasty items on their menu, along with a deli section where they sold a variety of raw seafood and fresh accompaniments, and it was topped off with a full liquor bar. During the summer, especially on the weekends, it really was the place to be. That is also why it was a great place to work over summer vacation, especially if you were looking to have fun while making lots of cash all summer long. It was my first true taste of how lucrative the hospitality industry could be. It was really close to home, so my dad approved, even though he didn’t like the idea of me serving cocktails.
The only negative part of the job was that Pat owned half of everything. Even before I ever applied, my friends and family had dined at the restaurant regularly for years. I was a local. I knew the brothers and their families, but we had never been formally introduced. They were a few years older than I was, but my older sister, Vivi, was in the same grade in school as them. We all lived in the same hometown our entire lives. It was hard to not know everyone from somewhere.
Pat was definitely known around town as the weirder brother. I had heard “girl talk” through the grapevine that he was an “odd bird.”
Great! My new boss has some strange brain dysfunction when it comes to females, and I learned immediately that I somehow brought out the stupid in him. Everyone started kidding around that I must have been his flavor because back in the day, he was a borderline stalker.
I had heard the stories, but what started out as flowers on my car windshield, turned into fishbones in my backseat really quickly. I had to have repeated myself at least a couple of hundred times, “No thank you, I’m not interested.”
One day I came to work, and Pat was already in one of his moods. The kind of mood when he wants everyone on the planet to bow to him. He was not a drinker. He did not do drugs. He was a true narcissistic, male chauvinist, pig with a God complex. Sure, he was handsome, but so was his identical twin brother. Yes, he was a successful young man that got where he was from hard work and his merit, but so did his identical twin brother. Not to mention, he could easily become a Fortune 500 millionaire by the time he was 30, but, again, so could his identical twin brother. The only real difference was that Tim would probably reach all his goals, plus end up with a beautiful wife and wonderful children in a fabulous home. While chances are, Pat would end up more like the Grinch, alone and grumpy, with everything money could buy, but no one to share it with.
That day, I clocked in and I started to set up the outside section of the restaurant. I had to wipe down all the dead bugs off the patio tables and hose down all the bird and duck crap from the deck and docks. I didn’t realize Pat was watching me the entire time. It wasn’t until he jumped out at me from the corner of the building, where I had just tied the hose back up, and sprayed the crap out of me, that I noticed he was there. Even though I was dressed in my clean uniform ready to start my shift, he thought it would be a grand idea to drench me from head to toe. I was soaked!
Why? Because my boss was an idiot that somehow honestly believed he had the right to do whatever he desired because I worked for him. Wrong! As I marched into the restaurant dripping wet, past customers in the dining room, I went straight to Tim in the kitchen, who was peacefully and professionally cooking, as usual. “I quit!” I snapped. “Signing someone’s check does not give him the right to treat people as he pleases.”
Tim looked at me looking like a hot wet mess, and said, “What happened?”
“I’m sorry, I would rather shovel manure than work for your brother another minute. I don’t need this job!” I added holding back my tears as I walked out the back kitchen door to my car.
About an hour later, Tim called me at home and asked if I would come back to the restaurant. He said he wasn’t asking me to come back to work, but Pat needed to apologize properly so that we could keep things pleasant after I parted. Despite my reluctance, I did. I went back to the restaurant, and I was extremely surprised to find that not only was Pat extremely apologetic, but he also had a nice black eye. I could honestly feel the sincerity in his voice, which I assumed was because his older brother (of 12 minutes) beat the crap out of him for messing with me. I also assume that this incident was Tim’s last straw with his brother always pushing everyone around.
So, when Pat begged me to take my job back, swore on his life that he would never bother me again, and agreed to Tim’s requirement that he give me a raise that he was going to personally pay me in cash weekly out of his own pocket – enough said. I agreed to return. I went back to work my next scheduled shift with a happy face and a clean slate.
However, a few days later, I was enlightened on what really happened that day. A bunch of guys my sister hung out with came in off their boat. Matt, one of the guys that I personally knew because he was dreaming about dating Vivi and the owner of the great boat, immediately started questioning me about how my boss had been feeling lately. “Pat’s attitude gotten any better lately?” He asked.
Surprised, I answered, “Yeah… Why?”
“Let’s just say he won’t be bothering you anymore. Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing you all wet,” he said with a smile and a giggle.
With that, I now knew it wasn’t Tim at all, but instead, I had a bodyguard on the lake watching out for me. All I had to do was make sure Matt never found out that he didn’t have a chance with my big sista.
Laugh on. Peace out!
Lisa DeMarco is a waitress at Billy’s Cafe and a columnist for Villages-News.com.