Christmas at the Restaurant - Pamela M. Kelley Page 0,5
they came in.
“Thank you. It’s one of my favorites too. I’ll be right back with this for you.”
She returned a few minutes later with the credit card and receipt and set it on the table along with a pen for Connie to sign. Connie looked thoughtful as she picked up the pen. Mandy was about to walk off to greet a new party that was waiting to be seated when Connie spoke. “It’s a shame about Stacy’s husband. Terrible time of year to be laid off and they have three small children too. I hope he finds something soon. She’s a nice girl, that Stacy.”
Mandy was caught off guard. She hadn’t heard about the layoff. She didn’t know what to say other than to agree with her. “It is a terrible time.” She realized that she didn’t know what kind of work Stacy’s husband did.
Connie looked deep in thought for a moment before smiling and asking, “Your husband does something with finance too, doesn’t he? I don’t really know what John does, but maybe it’s something similar?”
“I’ll see what I can find out. Thank you.” Mandy felt bad that she hadn’t known about the layoff. She imagined it must be a stressful time for Stacy and her family.
Later that afternoon as the shift was winding down and the day servers were getting ready to leave, Mandy walked over to where Stacy was doing her closing sidework, rolling silverware into a dinner napkin and stacking the bundles in a bin so they could be easily grabbed for the evening service.
“I was chatting with Connie Boyle and she mentioned that John was laid off. I’m sorry, Stacy, I had no idea.”
Stacy looked uncomfortable and looked away. “I haven’t really talked about it much. I did want to see if there might be any extra shifts I could pick up for the next few weeks? I’m happy to fill in if anyone wants a day off.”
“Of course.” Mandy thought for a moment, mentally running through the week’s schedule which she’d just updated that morning so it was fresh in her mind. “Would you like to help with the wine dinner? I could use an extra server since the count has gone up. It should be a fun, and easy night.”
Stacy nodded and looked grateful. “I’d love that, thank you.”
“What kind of work does your husband do?”
“He was an analyst with a Boston-based financial services firm. They were just acquired and had a big layoff a few weeks ago. John is one of the newer employees and works remotely so he was caught in the layoff. He’s been sending out resumes but all the jobs he’s finding are in the city.”
“I can’t promise anything, but if you want to email me a copy of his resume, I can give it to my ex-husband. His company is headquartered in Boston too, but he works out of the Nantucket office and has a small team here. I don’t know if he needs anyone, but I can at least give him John’s resume.”
“Really? That would be wonderful. I’ll send it to you as soon as I get home.”
Chapter 2
Jill turned at the sound of a bell ringing in the office bull pen where most of their recruiters sat in an open space. She knew what that meant. She smiled, pushed her chair back and walked out of her spacious corner office with its floor-to-ceiling glass windows and stunning city views. Her husband and business partner, Billy Carmanetti, was a few steps ahead of her and had his hand up to high-five Emily, their newest hire, on making her first placement.
“Fantastic job, Em. That was a tough one. Did the counteroffer happen the way you expected?”
Emily nodded. She was a pretty girl, in her mid-twenties, and this was her first job in recruiting. She’d joined the company after working for several years in marketing at one of the city’s top financial services firms. Her salary was good, but she’d been bored with her job and had come in to meet with Billy regarding a search he was working on. But once he met her, Billy had another idea and had Jill meet her, too. Without him saying a thing about what he was thinking, Jill made the same suggestion, and asked Emily if she’d ever thought about recruiting? She hadn’t. But once it was presented to her, Emily immediately saw the potential and became excited about the opportunity.
“Yes, it happened exactly the way you and Jill said it