-:- SILVER -:-
Managing Club Whisky with Fox has turned out to be a full-time job. We agreed to co-manage and, mostly; it has worked well. We throw ideas between us and meet once a week with Mia, who is the first-lady of the club, being Axel’s, our President’s, ol’ lady. We are all working to renovate this place.
Mia is pretty good at saving money and her ideas so far have worked well. The stage area has been ripped out and rebuilt, which has added a touch of class to the whole thing. Instead of it looking like it needed a stripper pole, it now looks like where a band would want to play.
The costs were more than I initially thought for replacing the furnishings, but thanks to the ideas Mia had, and then researched, we have a couple of brothers refinish the furniture and I’m surprised that Fox is really damn good at it, too.
Although we’re closed for renovation, I’m still here early in the morning to help in any way that I can. After our last weekly meeting, we took our idea of having basket meals to Church and getting the go ahead. We are now emptying the two rooms behind the bar and creating a decent sized kitchen.
Mia will be here in a few minutes and we’ll be looking on the internet for the kitchen equipment, cabinets, freezer, etc, that we are going to need.
Banging at the back door near the office has me jumping. My mind was wandering about all the things we still have to do before we can reopen.
Chaos strolls in wearing scruffy jeans, a torn t-shirt with a pair of coveralls thrown over his shoulder, grinning like a fucking idiot. I’ve known no one pulling themselves out of depression as he has. Both Chaos and Target left the service with a form of PTSD, but both have been able to fit into the MC and have thrown themselves into prospecting with more enthusiasm than I’ve ever seen.
Target has gone to find two of his friends from the service who he hopes will fit into the club. One they call Meat, as he used to be a cook in the service and would go off to find rabbits and such to give the guys a fresh meal when he could.
The other they call Stitch. He was the medic and put more stitches in the men than a seamstress.
Target and Chaos are hoping their friends will join us as they all left the service at the same time, but went their own way. Finding them could be difficult, but I’m sure Target will do it.
“Mornin’ Silver.” Chaos shouts as he slips on his coveralls.
“You are bright this morning. Have a good evening, did you?”
Chaos grins, winks, and then laughs. “Sure did. A pretty little redhead, actually.”
Shaking my head because I’ve been staying away from a lot of the women that have been hanging around the club of late, they are all so ready to fuck around that it just leaves a nasty taste in your mouth and I don’t mean literally.
Chaos stands, runs his hand over his short hair, and nods to the back door. “Who’s coming to work in the kitchen?”
“Ruger, Sting, Brag and Hammer will be here. Hammer is coordinating with them to get the kitchen started and rip up the stinking flooring in here. I just hope we find nothing unexpected when it’s all lifted,” I state.
“What do you want me to start on while we wait for them to turn up?” Chaos asks, but heads into the kitchen as he’s speaking.
“Let’s get rid of all the rubble and toss it into the dumpster out back. That way, everything will be empty, ready to make a start on putting the place to rights.”
Twenty minutes later, we are halfway through moving all the rubble when we hear laughter, cursing, and banter coming from the parking lot.
Hammer struts into the kitchen, grinning. “Morning, I see you’ve made a good start. Brag and Sting are working with me to rip up all that flooring. Ruger is staying in here with you, Chaos. Mia said she’ll be along in half an hour Silver, and can you have the laptop or the office computer at the ready, as she’s short on time today?”
Nodding, I dust my hands off on a cloth I have in my back pocket and head to the office where I switch on the computer, then grab the thermos of coffee I’d brought in with me.
Getting comfortable, I pick up my notepad and check what items we are going to be getting prices for. I also make a note to check on delivery and any installation costs that we may have to add to the price.
Lost in the work, I look up sharply when Mia storms into the office, “I’m sorry I’m late Silver, it’s been one of those mornings. We have to get staff into the clubhouse. I’m cooking breakfast most mornings and it’s just taking more time out of my day. Of course, cleaning is impossible, but I’ve got prospects doing some, which I have to say is laughable when you see the lack of skills they have in the laundry room.” She says all that without taking a breath and I have to grin at her, as she can be so dramatic without even knowing it.
“It’s okay. Do you want a coffee? I have some left in the thermos.”
“No thanks. Let me grab that chair and we can get started.”
Once Mia has herself settled, I hand over the notes so she can see how much I’ve been able to check out. The commercial appliances are costly but they will be here for years so they will pay for themselves given time.
The list is extensive by the time we’ve finished, from a commercial fryer to cutlery. I never realized how much was needed to run a kitchen, but I understand Mia’s thinking if we go from basket meals to anything else, we don’t want to be spending more on the kitchen. So best to get what we know we’ll be able to use if we upgrade to a full-service option.
Lunchtime has rolled around pretty quickly, and Mia is gone again. She’s like a bee buzzing from one thing to another.
Walking out of the office and behind the bar, I can see the flooring is up and being taken out to the dumpster, the new flooring will be down before we leave for the day.
The dumpster will be taken today and replaced with a fresh one, as we’ll still have plenty to fill it before opening night. The company had a poor reputation at one time, but since the son took over, it seems to have picked up and it’s being given word-of-mouth recommendations.
I make a start boxing up all the glassware from behind the bar. We were supposed to have this done before they ripped the floor out, but time just got away with us.
Fox walks in through the front door, makes his way around the bar and starts helping me pack boxes. Looking at me, he comments, “We’ve nearly finished all the furnishings. They look pretty good and once brought back in, I reckon the place will look okay.”
Nodding, I’m pleased to hear we are making headway because we need this place open and earning.
“Carol, Twig and Sue are staying on as waitress staff. We’re going to need two more and someone who can cook the basket meals.” I’m not into doing interviews for jobs and hope to pass this on to someone else.
“I think we need to do meals Wednesday thru’ Sunday, then nothing on the Monday and Tuesday which are really quiet, anyway. So only need a full-time cook and a helper. What do you think?” Fox asks me and after giving it a little thought, I nod in agreement.
“Who is gonna’ do the interviews? Don’t be looking at me either. I’m not doing them.” I state, making it damn clear that he has to or find someone else to do it.
Fox grins. “Mia can do it. She’s pretty good at reading people, or we could have Pres sit in with her. Can you imagine it? They’d piss their pants? They pass the test and we employ them.”
I look up to see if he’s fucking serious or not and seeing his grin; I chuckle as you can just imagine Axel giving any applicant the death glare.
Hammer steps over to us and leans on the bar top. “We’re ready to prime the floor as I want it done before we leave today, but before we do that, have you decided what we’re doing with the ceiling and walls?”
“We’ve discussed this in Church and we’re just painting it everywhere in an eggshell color, but the lighting is where the mood will come from. Behind the bar you need to have yellow lighting. Make sure it will be bright enough for the bar staff to see well.” I notice Hammer has taken out his small notepad and pencil. “Blue lights above the stage and purple lights above all the seating areas.”
“Fuckin’ hell, that’s going to be shocking, don’t you think?” Hammer says as he grins.
“Well, we are a nightclub, not a midafternoon tea party.” Fox snaps touchy much. I think to myself, but am wise enough to keep that to myself.
Hammer shakes his head, laughing. “We’ll get started straight after lunch. We’ll work on the lighting today, and hopefully get it done before we finish for the day, even if we stay later. We need the place done and moved on, as we’re not earning anything with the doors closed.”
Finished packing all the glassware, we move onto boxing up all the bottles, take down the glass shelves and remove all the wooden shelving. Once that’s done, we’re ready to scrub it all down and polish up all the woodwork.
Fox is great with carpentry, so I know he’s itching to get his hands on this old wood and bring it back to life. I’m not even going to touch it, as all I’ll do is ruin it all.
Heading back to the office, I call the companies and start ordering all the appliances for the kitchen, making sure we get a discount for the amount we’re purchasing and free delivery. I even make sure we get them installed free, so I’m feeling pretty good by the end of the day.
