Clean Slate
Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious.
A/N:
Chapter 2 (Back to Work)
"When your husband is one of the top prosecuting attorneys in the state, you get stuff done," Tori remarked as Trina followed her and Jade into the office of her former boss. Along with them was her boss's superior, who had just interviewed with the barmaid that deserved the managerial position.
The thin man at the desk looked up with his ashen face and frowned when he saw his boss. His eyes darted to Trina, and he further shrank in his chair. "W-What is this?" His supervisor, a balding man of fifty, stepped forward and crossed his arms. "Mr. Howe, sir, what do I owe this visit to?"
"I've been alerted of a serious issue, Tim." Mr. Howe narrowed his sharp gaze onto Tim and set his fingers on the top of a nearby empty chair, slowly tapping the edge. The man rose above everyone in the room, clearl pissed off with the news he'd heard. He was a proud owner of the Spice's Bar and Grill restaurant, with small stores open throughout New York. "One of my managers has been harassing his female employees and denying promotions to employees who more than earn it from their hard work." Tim chuckled nervously as Mr. Howe's mouth fell to a low growl. "My employees are meant to embody customer service, kindness Why did it take an FBI agent to tell me otherwise about you?"
"FBI, sir?" Jade and Tori both flashed their badges and Tim grew dangerously pale. Trina pointed out with confidence her relation to Tori, then went on to explain who Tori's husband was. Tim whimpered as Mr. Howe let out a deep growl.
"I do not want any lawsuits, Tim. If an employee asks you for a raise, or even a promotion, you do so on conduct. If they are an exemplary employee, if they are loyal and devoted to the company and you feel they deserve a raise, you give it to them." Tim bowed his head and began muttering as his boss pointed towards the door. "You are fired, you no longer have a place here." The man gasped out and immediately started shaking his head. His eyes were wide and his body trembling.
"N-No, I can't lose my job, sir. You-" Mr. Howe deflected the frantic blubbering and waved his hand into the air, silencing Tim.
"You should have thought about that before making your suggestive comments to the staff. If it was just this one lady here, I'd consider just suspending you without pay for a week or two, but it is nearly every employee here that I have asked prior to this meeting. We run a business founded on teamwork, do you understand me? There's no more room for you here."
"Just go out with grace," Trina remarked, "I won't press charges if you just leave." She felt Tori nudge her and silenced immediately. Her eyes rolled over as her sister reprimanded her with a glare. Mr. Howe chuckled and turned to her.
"Would you mind returning to your job, Miss Vega? I have heard good things about you from the other employees. You have a daughter you bring here as well?"
"On occasion." Trina straightened herself and looked directly into the CEO's eyes. She needed to keep an honest answer as well as not piss anyone else off, though pissing people off was usually her last concern. "I live with my sister and her husband, and I have a four year old daughter that comes with me when Tori and her husband are not able to watch over her."
"Where does she stay when she is here?"
"There is a table closest to the waiter's station and cook's window, I let her stay there and color or draw on some paper." Sasha was well behaved and would stay right there for the majority of the shift or until Tori got home and had to come pick the child up. "I don't trust anyone else to look after Sasha unless they're someone I know personally."
"You've not run into any trouble?"
"No sir. Except I had been told by Tim that if I wanted to keep bringing her here, I'd have to do certain 'jobs' for him." She looked to her former boss, who was now leaning over his desk and burying his head into his hands and rubbing his temples with his palms. "So I quit. I have low tolerance for being disrespected and as my sister tells me, it's better to avoid getting into a fight…" She glanced to Tori, smirking slightly at the girl. Tori sighed heavily and pushed towards the desk.
"As previously stated my husband is a prosecuting attorney, and he has dealt in sexual harassment cases." Tim met Tori's ferocious eyes with a quiet whimper. "I think you know what the law is regarding sexual harassment." Tim muttered under his breath and swayed to the right. His hand ran over his forehead while his eyes took a dull appearance.
"Fine." He clasped his hands together over the desk and looked up to Mr. Howe. "But you'd have to find someone to replace me."
"Done," Howe replied gruffly. He leaned out of the doorway and snapped his fingers. "Venturi!" Trina looked to the door as the bartender made her way over. The woman walked in, adjusting the nametag on her chest. She had long brown hair, and a soft expression. She was also a good friend of Trina's who knew some tidbits about her life, such as her name not being 'Sherry'.
"You called for me, Sir?" Casey asked with a warm smile. Casey actually still went by MacDonald, but considering her parents had married years ago, she let people call her by Venturi. They were a cool group of people, though Trina had only ever met and spoken with Casey's brother, Derek, who came in to order a steak from time to time.
Casey met Trina's gaze and started to smile. When Trina left earlier, it had been Casey to ask her to try and stay if she would.
"I need you on the ball Miss Venturi." Howe locked his wrists behind his back and looked sharply into the woman's eyes. Casey snapped her gaze to the boss while everyone else silenced. "You manage the bar, so I assume you know everything about the bar?"
"Yes sir. We have a new daily special every day, today's daily margarita is the passion margarita with a hint of mango and passion fruit. We have a special going on right now on our draft beers-" Mr. Howe held his hand up, impressed.
"Now you know the menu? Dinner and lunch?"
"Like the back of my hand sir."
"What is this store's monthly revenue?" Casey recited the revenue for the store, then subtracted how much they were paying to buy the food for preparation. She was also asked the wages of the cooks and waitresses. Tim had it set up that the men were making a full dollar extra than the women.
"All our waiters and cooks should be paid the same." Casey's eyes flickered over to Trina and her expression grew serious. "Every day we're losing more and more of our female employees-they're just quitting because of our supervisor's actions and comments. People don't want to work here. If people don't want to work here, then that means less people to serve our customers. If we have a shortage of employees, customers will stop coming, and it's only downhill from there, sir."
"You are right." The man rubbed his chin and looked towards Tim, taking a long pause before returning to Casey. "Tim is out. You know what leadership takes, so I want you to take his place." Trina grinned as the woman's eyes widened and her lips curved upwards at the opportunity. "You'll have to go through some training, so I'll have one of my other store managers meet with you regularly. Will you take the offer?"
"Y-Yes sir!" Casey looked back out the door and took a deep breath. "Customers are piling up at the bar, sir, if you don't mind-"
"Yes go and take care of them. I will be back with you in a moment."
"Thank you, and thank you for the offer."
The man smiled as she hurried back to her post. "Of course." Trina was happy for her friend, and now she was truly considering a return to this job. With Tim gone and Casey the supervisor, she was comfortable re turning. "Now. Miss Vega? I don't believe I received an answer from you yet. Will you come back or are you going to look for employment elsewhere?"
"I'll come back," she replied. She didn't know why it was she enjoyed working as a waitress, though it wasn't a permanent career choice for her. She attributed it to Jesse's sub shop, though. Which, ironically, she never worked at a Subway restaurant. She would be a shoe in for that. "I enjoy work here, the customers are great and the staff has made me feel more welcome here than anywhere else I've worked at."
Pleased with the answer, Mr. Howe gave her a smile and extended his hand for a handshake. She gripped his hand, meeting his eyes and taking in the firmness of his grip. It was the handshake of a leader. "Good to hear, I'm glad we have you on as an employee still." She pulled her hand back and the man looked out to the bar. "Tell me, have you run the bar before?"
Only when Casey was overwhelmed by customers, she would help out. She'd worked here now for nearly two months, and Casey had taught her everything from how to pour a drink, mixing drinks, and throwing out the unruly late night customer while calling a cab. "Yes sir, I've learned a few things from Casey."
"I understand. I have a mind to place you as her replacement, but you would have to receive further training-perhaps she would be willing?" Her heart jumped up and a smile fought its way up to her face.
"I think so, she taught me all she could."
"I see." Trina looked out the door to see Casey popping the cap off a bottle of beer for a customer. The bar was surrounded, and the lobby of tables were filled. This was, of course, the busiest day for the restaurant. "If you would, go help Miss Venturi while we finish up here."
"Yes sir, and thank you sir." Trina made haste out of the office and jumped when she heard the door shut behind her. Meeting Casey's gaze, she rushed to the bar. Casey set a beer down in front of one of the customers and flashed a smirk.
"So you're back?"
"For sure."
"Glad to hear it." She laughed as her friend pat her shoulder and walked over to the cash register to ring up a receipt. "It's about time someone stood up to Tim."
"Yeah, well…it wasn't me, really." Her shoulders slumped as she watched the printer shoot out a receipt. Casey grabbed the paper and walked over to one of the customers, setting it and a pen down. Trina pulled a rag from under the counter and threw it over her shoulder. "Tori's the one that urged me to come back, but I had to anyway. I need a job, I have to take care of my daughter. I just…have anger issues when it comes to other people like Tim."
"I think we all do." Tim reminded Trina a lot of Wesley Craven, and that was an issue for her. "So what is Mr. Howe saying? Tim's been fired?"
"Yes. He also wants me to work the bar in your place, maybe with you training me." Casey flashed a grin and nodded.
"That sounds great! Although, I honestly think you're more fit for a managerial position." She laughed at the statement while Casey merely put her hands to her hips and raised an eyebrow. "What? You don't believe me? You've got leader and manager written all over you."
"Yeah, you don't know the half of it." Her eyes drifted towards the door and Mr. Howe came to mind. CEO. She'd love to be the boss, but the thought of it frightened her. She could easily get job as a manger, or maybe she couldn't, she didn't know.
"You should do what's best for Sasha."
"I always try and do what's best for her. That's what her dad would have wanted."
"You never talk about him. Why?" Her heart sank and her eyes drifted downwards as she watched a new customer sit down at the bar. Casey tended to the customer, and hearing the order, Trina went to make the drink.
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Sure there is. What happened to him? Were you two married? In love? What?"
"It's personal, but yes we were in love. Never married-didn't get the chance." She still wanted to go back to LA, find Beck's grave and destroy it. "He was…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. Casey reached over, touching her wrist to calm her down and smiling reassuringly.
"Hey, it's okay, you don't have to talk about it." She set the drink down for the customer, who promptly thanked her. "Have you ever thought about dating again? Sasha needs a father figure in her life."
"No…besides, she's my primary concern." She started to shake a margarita for a second customer, narrowing her eyes at the metal container. "I don't have time to date, nor do I care to." Not when the last two people she was with were murdered. She felt like a black widow!
"Fair enough, but surely you don't want to be single forever."
"Love's overrated. No offense." Casey was engaged to someone currently, so she didn't want to upset the girl. Her friend laughed, clearly not worried.
"None taken. I'm just as happy with James as I can be. Anyway, I'm glad you're coming back to work, and glad you'll be working the bar."
She leaned on the edge of the back counter, gripping it with her fingers. She leaned her head to the right, sighing as her neck popped. "I think I'll miss waiting tables though." The only reason she was good at the bartender even though learning for a short time from Casey was due to Roger having taught her some tricks of the trade during her time on the Knights.
She did wonder about them, how the whole gang was faring. It broke her heart to think about, seeing as how so many people didn't survive, but she did. It was hard for her to believe in this second chance, but Tori was right, her baby needed her, and she needed her baby.
"You honestly think I'd be better as a manager?"
"You'd make more money than you would as a waitress or a bartender, so yes."
"Maybe I'll think about it. I don't know…" For her low tolerance it would also seem like a manager would be a better job than her than a waitress or a bartender. Both positions enabled the person to be hit on by customers that were either drunk or stupid, and she despised people that hit on their servers. Typically she worked through it and didn't concern herself with it, it wasn't their fault for doing it when drunk. She'd simply turn them down politely and move on.
"I can't see myself as a manager right now." Too many Knights flashbacks could come with that territory. At the same time she questioned, what was best for Sasha? Sasha needed that financial security, yes, but she also needed emotional security from her mother. "Would I be working too much as a manager? Would I be away from my daughter where I don't want to be?"
"You'll figure it out, I'm sure."
See any names you may recognize that will soon be crucial characters? Anyway I gave you the second chapter since it was tied in to the first and I'm being nice since this isn't on daily update yet. Tell me your thoughts