I am tethered to the couch...

...in order to keep myself from exploding. Like, just blowing up in a panic. Every now and then something happens to remind me how...sheltered...my life is. And when it does, I have to tether myself to a solid object and hide in a tent until the panic goes away. As of right now, it's still here.

The Big Kid started waiting tables just before her 16th birthday. Turned out to be a good thing because if you get your driver's license on a Monday, and your first speeding ticket that Friday? The Mama be pissed. And you have to pay for your own car insurance.

Waiting tables is a good thing for kids to do...the best and the worst of the planet come through a restaurant and it's a great learning experience. It also, if you are good at what you do, pays exceptionally well for a student.

Later on, she got into bartending and that is...extremely lucrative. As in, nothing else she could do straight out of college touched being the only female bartender (and blonde to boot ;) in the hottest spot downtown in a high-tech town. But things happen...age in this case...and people move on.

But. Before she moved on (to an MBA in two more weeks! *beaming mom* ;) there was a problem. A manager within the organization was...volatile. Pushy. It started off low-key but the guy got...more bizarre. TBK complained. He was reprimanded. He started getting physical...grabbing her in a anger, pushing her in frustration. It wasn't her job performance...she has always been a model employee...it was because she was the only girl there and he COULD.

(IF you turn the following part of this into a race issue? We will block you. This is NOT about race.)

TBK started to get scared. She was told to "document" the issues. The guy got more violent and more off-the-wall. TBK complained again and was informed about the "difficulties" in firing the manager. Tony.

He was ex-military, and he was black. He was the only black person in management within the organization. To fire him? He had to REALLY screw up.

He did. More and more and more until finally...we discussed getting a restraining order...I'm not sure if she did or not. One of the bartender/bouncers started following her home...because Tony was doing the same thing.

The man had three chldren by three women, never married any of them. He was in a panic about his child support and his $1000 suits and his girlfriend.

Finally, they got rid of him. Demoted him to another level of the restaurant, then fired him from there. He blamed TBK, and never took responsibility for anything that happened.

She left that job and took a break, studying fulltime for her MBA and working off and on here and there when she wanted to. She has a job lined up for when she graduates in two weeks; one that's in her field. Acquisitions and contract negotiations. ;)

Last night, Tony walked into the restaurant 15 minutes after closing time, pulled a gun and when one of the locksmiths who was there recognized him, shot the locksmith. The other locksmith grappled with him, and in the ensuing fight, shot Tony.

He's dead.

The wounded locksmith is okay, in the hospital with a hole in his shoulder which is what guns DO.

My kid, by the grace of God, wasn't there but...she could have been. And she TOLD them. Over and over and over. And nothing happened for over a year, because that's not the way things work these days. Which is wrong...just really wrong.

Thank God that son of a bitch is dead. Saved the taxpayers a hell of a lot of money.

I think I'll go be sick now.

Again.

Comments

Wow, just Wow...TBK did all the right things. I hope that if faced withthe situation again (and hopefully she is not) she would persist and do it all again. So glad she is ok~
wineandroasts said…
Holy friggin' shit.

There's a reason TBK wasn't there. Bigger plan. Cosmic reason. It wasn't her time.

Other side of the coin? Some people need killin' and sometimes, when we get lucky? those people get themselves killed and nobody has to pay for it.
Comet Girl said…
Whoa Mama! I don't think there is enough Valium in the world to cope with that one.
Country Girl said…
When she finally told us about it? She had bruises on her upper arm, where he had grabbed her and shoved her into a wall because the linen truck was late. I don't thing God is holding it against us for being so damn glad he's dead. Better him than my kid ;(
Comet Girl said…
It's definitely better than you or The Big Boy going to prison, that's for sure!