Adam Blake - 48. Chapter 48

I walked into the kitchen, everyone was looking at me. “Your Chef won’t be coming back, he’s on leave. I’m generally an easy-going guy, but everything I do is for the welfare of the students who are put in my charge. For you who have children or grandchildren, ask yourselves, would you want your family to eat from the condition of this kitchen. The floor is filthy, I’m surprised we don’t have rats or cockroaches running all over. Your clothes are stained with food, your hands probably haven’t been washed since you started today. How many of you would handle chicken with your bare hands and then go and make sandwiches.”

I could see they are beginning to think about what I said as they began to look for bugs, I few looked at their hands. “Starting now, I want all the food prep to stop, food that hasn’t been cooked, I want you to put it back into the fridges. Food that has been cooked, you can eat it here or take it home. You’ll not serve it for lunch. For the rest of your shift, I want this kitchen cleaned.”

One of the cooks looked at me with daggers, “I’m not paid to clean floors.”

“That isn’t a problem” I took out my cellphone and called James, “James, have payroll cut a check for, what’s your name? for Nancy Webford. Tell them to include 2-week severance pay. Wait just a moment, anyone else feels like Nancy Webford, your name? Also have them cut a check for Betty Sacord. Tell them I want the checks in the next 15 minutes and I don’t care what they are doing.”

“They all looked at me, “Ms.Webford and Ms.Sacord, if you will please leave the kitchen, you can wait for your checks in my office. Gather your personal belongings and follow me.” I didn’t need to tell the rest, they started to clean and followed my orders.

When we arrived at my office, the Financial Director was there with the two checks, “This is highly irregular.”

“Yes, a dirty kitchen is highly irregular.” I gave them their checks, a security office led them to their car and watched as they drove off.

I watched as the Director of Finance left my office. “James, did he bring the invoices I requested?

“Yes, but they don’t appear complete. There are no invoices for meat.”

“Call him and tell him I want those invoices within the next 15 minutes.”

I called dad, “Dad, I need an audit of my books here at the school… Yes, as soon as possible…I’m having a hard time getting the financial department to give me what I requested….They appear to be stalling or thinking I’m dumb, I’m not sure which… Yes, I agree… ok as soon as possible, thanks, Dad.”

“Your Director of Finance said it would take longer since the invoices for meat are kept in a different file and he has someone getting them.”

“Maybe we should stop by, better yet, let’s check the freezer and see if the meat there is tagged. That will give us the name of the supplier.”

When I walked into the kitchen, I noticed an improvement. One of the janitors was replacing light bulbs, appears that there were a lot burned out and not replaced. James and I went to the freezer, I knew all eyes were on us, “James, just take the tag on that beef, I’ll get the one from the pork.”

Leaving the kitchen, “You are making a good start. Keep it up and this will be a clean and pleasant place to work.”

Back in my office, “James, call this supplier, ask them to fax over the last invoice. Tell them we weren’t able to find it. I’ll go to the financial office and wait for the fax.”

I think my Director of Finance, Mr. Shoring, was surprised to see me. It was my first time in his office, and plush it was. It appeared that all of the Director’s offices were plush except mine. “ Bernard, I thought since I was walking around I’d stop here and pick up the meat invoices. Do you have them?” Then I heard the fax machine, so I casually walked over and picked up the fax. “This is the fax from one of our suppliers, is this where we buy all of our meat?” I let him read the fax, I then took it back. “What is this handling charge? I never have seen an invoice from a contracted supplier include a handling fee.”

After turning red in the face, he stuttered out, “I’m sure it’s a mistake. I’ll call them if you give me the fax and have them correct it.”

“No, I’ll call them. Do you have the other invoices I asked for?” I think he knew he was in trouble, he picked up his phone and soon a young lady brought in a folder of invoices. I took the folder, “I’ll look through this and then have James returned it to you.”

It was obvious he didn’t like what I just did. But tough, the new President had some powers. “James, let’s go I want to check out the dorms.” I needed to get away from these people and the students are for me a refreshing experience. “The student dorms are on the left side, what is on the right side?”

“According to Jane, that is the staff apartments.”

“I’d like to see them as well, but maybe not today. I assume they are like mine.” I know they wouldn’t be anything like mine. They gave me that apartment on the third floor as a punishment, but it didn’t matter to me.

“Let’s look in this one, it is marked as empty.” Opening the door we were surprised to see a student there. As soon as he saw us, he jumped up and started to cry.

“It’s ok, I’m sorry we should have knocked. We thought this room was empty. Don’t cry, come here.” When he came over, I hugged him. “It’s ok, don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry sir, this room was empty and I took it.”

“Why, is something wrong with your assigned room?”

“It’s my roommate, he wakes a lot at night and he makes a noise like he can’t breathe.”

“What is your name? Mr. Butler and I will go and check on your roommate? He has a medical problem that can be fixed very easily.”

He gave James his name and we went to his room. I knocked on the door, and a young man opened the door. “We talked to your roommate and he said you have a hard time sleeping, he’s worried about you.”

He started to cry as well, “Hey no tears, you have a medical condition called apnea. They have a method of correcting it and you will have a good night's sleep with a roommate. Trust me, in a few days you’ll see.” I hugged him, “Let me see a smile.” I got a smile.

When I got back to the office, I called Marie, “Hi how’s your day?.. Really, I’m glad to hear you are having a lazy day… No, my day has been anything but lazy… I need a favor, I have a student who is suffering from apnea and I need you to give me the name of a doctor who can perform a sleep test and prescribe a breathing device…I suspect he has had it for a long time but I’m not sure. I know his roommate said he had to leave…Yes, call me back as soon as you can… love you too.”