Meeting the Significant Other

We had our opening party last night. It went well. Incredibly well. I don’t know what percentage of our servers and hosts will still be working here in a month, but they were in sync tonight. I hope 80 percent of them hang in there with us. I’ll be thrilled if 20 percent last three months.

Each manager and chef was told they could invite several guests. Of course, I invited Mr. Restaurant Gal. I also invited my favorite manager from my old restaurant, because I adore him and his girlfriend, and he would have loved this evening. Unfortunately, he was headed out of town.

At 6 p.m. sharp, the celebration began. Signature cocktails were presented on silver trays and readily quaffed. No one declined the servers’ presentations of the kitchen’s creations. The restaurant, in a phrase, looked stunning and operated with surprising sophistication for one so young.

In the crush of investors, chef’s family and friends, a couple of liquor reps, and neighborhood business owners, the significant others slipped in.

You can tell a lot about a person by their significant other.

For example, we have a very good server whose boyfriend was part of her hiring package. She is bright and eager and on top of it all. He is quiet and wears a deadpan expression most of the time. My take–he lives through her energy and she has a very big insecurity issue going on outside of work.

On this night, I met the other assistant manager’s girlfriend. When he introduced us, he was awkward as he identified her as “my friend,” in that she’s-my-girlfriend-but-I-am-too-old-to-say-girlfriend kind of way. Turns out, they have lived together for more than four years. And she’s his “friend?” I think not. She is also cute, smart, adorable. What commitment paralysis is in play here?

I also met my GM’s girlfriend. Truth be told, until yesterday, I didn’t know he had a girlfriend. When I met her tonight, however, my first reaction was my lasting reflection: This is one incredible lady.

Why? Difficult to narrow down the details. I only spent a few minutes chatting with her. But she has a bright, warm expression in her eyes that immediately draws you in, welcomes you, and makes you feel like you’re great friends. Her outward beauty is obvious, but she also conveys a graciousness and subtle humor that resonates.

My GM is one very fortunate man.

I have this thing about managers who have great girlfriends–I want to hear that there is a ring, a date, and all that other girly stuff.

But it’s really none of my business. I don’t know my GM on that kind of personal level. And I don’t know much about the other assistant manager, either, when it comes to judging his closeness quotient with his girlfriend.

But their ladies–they are wonderful. And I needed no time whatsoever to figure that out.

Right now, these two guys are MY significant others, for more than 14 hours a day, every day, for the foreseeable future–no exaggeration.

Thus, if I adore their significant others, then I must adore them, too. Right?

Sure. Maybe. Probably. When I get to know them.

Better.