For a moment, I was at a complete loss as to why Colette would think there was such a difference in the quality of my food, 'And why she would even care in the first place, for that matter.'
But after some careful consideration, I could only think of one plausible explanation, 'My food is better in the restaurant, with all the bonuses I get from my equipment and cooking appliances. There must be a world of difference!'
Sure, Colette hadn't tasted my food during the competition, but with her experience, the French chef must have been able to surmise that the food I served to the judges wasn't the same as what I could produce with the game-like bonuses in my kitchen.
'Any sane person would just brush it off and think that I was off my game that day, but of course she had to investigate and make a big scene out of it instead of just accepting her win and media deal.'
Now that I was fully caught up with the situation, I encountered yet another problem, 'How the hell am I going to convince her that I didn't throw the competition on purpose? I can't tell her about the system, and she definitely won't accept the excuse that I messed up that badly during the cookoff her ego won't allow that.'
Realizing what I needed to do, I let out a loud sigh and put my hands up, "You got me, Colette. I lost the competition on purpose. I wanted to show you that winning wasn't everything, though it looks like that backfired epically."
'Time to feed her delusion and get her to leave my restaurant asap!'
I ignored the look that Tiana sent my way, as she no doubt immediately saw through my bullshit, but before she could comment, Colette spoke up, "Aha! I knew it, you American piece of shit! Always thinking you can lecture and prove yourselves right for the sake of your ego!"
'I'm the one with an ego?!' I could help but exclaim internally while managing to keep a guilty look on my face, "You're right, I shouldn't have toyed with you or your cooking…you deserved that much at least."
"Hmmm," Colette huffed and crossed her arms, "A barely acceptable apology, but for the sake of our relationship I will accept it."
"Thank you, and I promise this will be… wait, did you say relationship?" I interrupted myself as Colette's words replayed back in my mind.
"Yes," Colette replied, "Now that we both agree that I should have lost the competition, I am obligated to hold up my end of the terms. I will now work at your restaurant free of charge."
"Ah…that's not necessary," I replied lamely as I felt Tiana's eyes boring a hole in the back of my head, "I don't think you're obligated to go through with that."
"No, I insist," Colette demanded, "I will work here, and learn in your kitchen until I am confident that I can beat you fairly and earn my freedom once more."
"No one is taking away your freedom, and it's definitely not something you need to earn," I quickly shot down Colette's argument as I realized I had dug myself into an even deeper hole, 'Seriously, what is her issue? This is bordering on an obsession.'
"Even if you are a better chef than I am, surely you would not deprive yourself of my skills," Colette scoffed, somehow managing to sound both humble and arrogant at the same time, "After all, it is clear that you are in desperate need of additional cooks. You can barely keep up with the current rate of orders and your restaurant is poorly optimized to handle such a high level of traffic."
"I won't say that you're wrong, but we're more than capable of adapting and changing our structure without taking on additional staff," I refuted while wondering if it was gonna come down to me throwing Colette out the back door and locking it behind her.
"Why are you so opposed to having me work in your kitchen?" Colette asked, offended that I wasn't falling over myself to hire her on the spot.
"Because your attitude sucks," I snapped back, reaching the end of my patience as the timer in my head went off and I moved over to the oven, "You may be skilled, but from this conversation alone I can tell that your head isn't in the right place to be in my kitchen. You're competitive. You said it yourself, your only goal is to get better to one day defeat me like this is some 90s bushido movie. In my kitchen, we have one goal and one goal only, make good food and enjoy doing it. And even if you weren't competing with me, I would have no doubt that you would eventually set your eyes on the position of sous chef, which will cause all sorts of problems that I can be bothered to deal with."
Grabbing a towel, I opened the oven and took out the rack of short ribs that had just finished braising, "So in summary, I will not have you in my kitchen because you will negatively impact the functionality and environment of my restaurant because you are entrapped in your ego, hyper-competitive, and unable to comprehend that not everything is a win-or-lose situation."
I finished my tirade by slamming down the rack on the counter, "Now get out of my kitchen. I'm in the middle of a dinner rush, and I can not be bothered with your lack of self-fulfillment."
I stared Colette down for a long moment, wondering if I had finally managed to drive some sense into her thick skull.
"This isn't the last you've heard of me," Colette muttered before spinning around and storming out the door, nearly knocking over Star and Janna, who had obviously been eavesdropping.
"You three, order up! Table 3, 17, and 23 back to it!" I snapped, now whipped up into a frenzy, "We've wasted enough time already, from now on, no more distractions!"
I received a slew of hurried nods and yeses as the three of them jumped to pick up the plates that needed to be bused out before rushing out of the kitchen, with their heads ducked and their eyes looking anywhere but in my direction.
"Wow, I've never heard you raise your voice like that before," Tiana noted as she went about shredding the short rib before it went into the gumbo, "I almost started to think that nothing could get under your skin."
"Everyone's got their limits," I muttered darkly, trying to cool off and get my mind back to thinking straight, "Now I'm pissed off at people who don't deserve it, and I'm completely out of focus now. This shift is going to take twice as long now, and we've lost all momentum we had."
"Hey!" Tiana suddenly shouted, shocking me with the steel in her voice, "Don't let her fuck with you any more than she already has. We got a line out the door, and they're here to taste your food. So focus on that and let's get through the rest of this hell shift."
My mouth formed a firm line as I slowly nodded along to Tiana's rousing speech, "You're right, you're right, you're right. Now's not the time to beat myself up over losing my shit. Where are we on that batch of mashed potatoes and what was the order for that party of six at table 20?"
---
"I don't think I'll ever complain about how boring working at the pool is," Jackie droned on, barely standing and relying on a broom to support herself.
"The place I worked at wasn't even that busy on Cinco de Mayo." Marco muttered, resting on the bottom stair with his head hanging and his eyes barely open, "You think Ramon would mind if we just sleep here tonight instead of going home?"
"Speak for yourself, walking around town this late is something else. Everything is dead silent, and no one is watching," Janna said with a broad, almost unnerving grin, "It's the perfect time to practice."
Marco looked up with a concerned look on his face, "Practice what, Jenna?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" Janna's grin stretched even wider, making Marco shudder, "Not any more, I'm not. I just want to get my money and go home before the sun comes up."
"Ask, and you shall receive," Ramon said as he walked out of the kitchen and started tossing out rolls of cash, "1250 dollars as we agreed, plus a five hundred dollar bonus on top of that."
"Look, don't take this the wrong way, but next time maybe mention if you're gonna keep us here until midnight," Star muttered, clearly not impressed, even as she caught the fat roll of cash.
"Why do you think I included the bonus?" Ramon countered with a raised brow, "But in all seriousness, I owe you guys."
"Can I get that in writing? It would be nice to have an IOU from a demon. On another note, can you possess people or farm animals?" Janna asked in a far too serious tone.
"Sorry, that's not in my demon tool kit," Ramon quickly turned Janna down, "Now everyone, please go home. You deserve a good night's rest, and I can't lock up the restaurant until you guys are gone."