Chapter 2 – A homeless food critique…

Roman was glad when he closed down the restaurant at 1 am tonight. It had been the worst night so far. He really needed to hire more help not just because he told Antonio he would but because he needed the help and badly. He sent Damien, Brie and Nikki home and stayed behind cleaning the kitchen. He actually enjoyed scrubbing the surfaces it was relaxing but soon enough he needed someone for this task as well. He really needed to coordinate work as much as he hated it.

Last he picked up the two trash bags, switched off the lights, set the alarm and walked out.

He almost stepped onto the two plates on the steps into the alley. Both were still full.

"You call yourself a chef?" came a voice from the other side of the alley and the homeless guy got up and walked up to him.

"The fish is raw. The steak is so bloody it tried to walk away a couple of times on its own. And the vegetables were salty."

Roman was speechless for a second. That was more or less what Antonio had said. And Tony was an expert in food. Now a homeless guy told him the same?

"What do you really know?" Roman asked defensive while he sidestepped the plates to put the trash away.

"I have taste buds, you know? Half the stuff I pull out of your dumpster is better than this. How can you even do business serving stuff like this?"

Inwardly Roman sighed. First Antonio and now this homeless guy told him his food sucked. If he didn't know that he could cook he would question this whole endeavor with the restaurant. But he knew he could cook so the only thing he questioned was his choice for a kitchen help and why he hadn't hired more people already.

"Tonight has been bad. Things went wrong. As you attested yourself my stuff is usually better than that. Which brings me back to the original question. What do you even know about food?"

The guy pushed his hands in his jacket pockets and shrugged.

"Maybe I like food? Maybe I kinda worked at a restaurant before the economy really went down the drain?"

"Is that so? But it is picking up again. Why don't you go get a job now?" Roman challenged him. From childhood on Roman was taught that hard work paid off and he strongly believed that.

He was met with a chuckle.

"To get hired you need a permanent place to live. To get a permanent place to live you need a job. I can't write down: Behind the dumpster in the back alley now, can I?"

Roman had to agree that was a problem and a downward spiral. But for tonight he really had enough problems of his own and he couldn't worry about some homeless guy and his unemployment as well so he ended this conversation rather quickly.

"Yeah well...you should try. Goodnight."

Roman walked off and heard how his dumpsters was opened. The nerve that guy had! He really would rather eat the leftovers than the two slightly messed up dishes. Unbelievable.

A/N:

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Poor Roman! At first his Ex talked badly about his food and now the homeless guy does the same! Rome really has a bad night! But who is that homeless guy who dares to call him out on the messed up meals? Find out in the next chapter!