Chapter 108: The Not-So-Seniors

The older members of the Vance household weren’t the only ones discovering that running a business was considerably different from maintaining a private home.

The younger staff simply had different problems.

Until that morning, most of them had perfectly ordinary responsibilities around the estate.

Housekeeping.

Laundry.

Cleaning.

General maintenance.

None of those duties had prepared anyone for a café full of customers who all seemed to finish eating at the same time.

One of the younger housekeepers had been assigned to clear tables.

Within an hour, she was also carrying water, collecting used dishes, wiping down tables, and answering questions about a menu she hadn’t actually memorized.

Another employee helped with dishwashing until someone discovered he was much faster at carrying trays without spilling anything.

He was immediately promoted to waiter.

Nobody asked whether he wanted the promotion.

"Table four needs coffee."

"I was washing dishes."

"You’re carrying a tray."

He looked down at the tray in his hands.

Apparently, that settled it.

Another member of the household staff had been placed in the kitchen to handle plating.

That assignment worked considerably better.

She had a good eye for presentation, remembered which dishes belonged to which table, and seemed perfectly happy staying away from customers.

By lunchtime, Rosalie had already learned something useful.

Not everyone needed training to do everything.

They needed to figure out what each person was actually good at.

Alexander discovered the same thing from the opposite direction.

Once Alejandro put him to work carrying plates, Alex found himself doing considerably more than he’d expected.

He didn’t mind.

Serving people was oddly satisfying when nobody was asking him about quarterly projections afterward.

But it also made the problem obvious.

They didn’t have enough servers.

The household staff could keep things moving for one soft opening by abandoning half their normal responsibilities.

They couldn’t do that every weekend.

Eventually, the guest rooms would need housekeeping even while the café was busy. The grounds still required maintenance, and somebody presumably needed to continue running the ancestral home itself.

They needed actual café staff.

The kitchen had its own shortage.

Angelina was comfortable handling the short-order meals, while their younger helper concentrated on plating.

That left Rosalie with the bakery.

And Rosalie couldn’t be the only person capable of producing what was rapidly becoming the busiest part of the business.

Fortunately, someone with actual bakery experience had already been dragged into the kitchen.

Giovanni.

Whatever else Giovanni Mercer had become over the years, his hands apparently remembered the jobs he’d worked during college.

Rosalie watched him shape dough for a while.

"You really did this for work?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Long enough."

Alexander, working on his own piece beside him, looked over.

"That sounds suspiciously vague."

"I had several jobs."

"I know."

"You asked."

"I didn’t."

"You were going to."

Alex stared at him.

Rosalie pushed another bowl toward her son.

"Less talking."

"Yes, Mother."

A few minutes passed before Rosalie looked at Giovanni again.

"If I hired someone to help me here, what would you look for?"

Giovanni continued working.

"Depends on what you want them doing."

"Helping me bake."

"That narrows it down."

Alexander laughed.

Rosalie frowned at Giovanni.

"I’m serious."

"So am I. Do you want someone who follows your recipes, or someone experienced enough to handle production when you aren’t here?"

Rosalie stopped.

That was a better question.

"The second one."

"Then hire for that."

"How experienced?"

"Enough that you don’t have to supervise every batch."

Alexander looked down at the piece of dough he’d been shaping.

Giovanni looked at it too.

"No."

Alex frowned.

"What?"

"That’s too big."

"It’ll taste the same."

"That’s not the point."

"Then what’s the point?"

Giovanni reached over and corrected it.

Alexander slapped his hand away.

"Mine."

"You’re making bread, not claiming territory."

"Stop touching my work."

"Then do it properly."

Rosalie stared at both of them.

She was asking two CEOs fighting over a bread roll for staffing advice.

Wonderful.

"Can we return to my question?"

Giovanni did.

"If you’re keeping production at this level, one experienced baker assisting you should be enough to start. You can train someone else alongside them if any of the existing staff are interested."

"And the kitchen?"

Angelina answered from the stove before Giovanni could.

"I’ll stay here."

Rosalie smiled.

"I know."

"I don’t want the counter."

"Why?"

Angelina glanced toward the dining area.

"People ask too many questions."

Alexander laughed.

"At least she knows what she wants."

"So does your mother," Giovanni said.

Rosalie looked pleased.

"Yes, I do."

That simplified matters.

Before hiring anyone, Rosalie would talk to the existing household staff individually.

Anyone interested in customer service could be trained for the café. Someone willing to learn baking could work alongside Rosalie and whichever experienced baker they eventually hired.

The others could remain exactly where they were.

There was no point turning a perfectly good housekeeper into a miserable server simply because the family had opened a café.

Whatever gaps remained afterward could be filled with new employees.

Alexander carried another tray out and returned several minutes later.

"We definitely need servers."

"How many?" Rosalie asked.

"I don’t know."

Giovanni looked at him.

"Useful."

"I’ve been a waiter for approximately two hours."

"And?"

"And my professional assessment is that my feet hurt."

Giovanni smiled.

"Excellent analysis."

"Thank you."

"But he’s right," Giovanni added, turning to Rosalie. "Don’t hire based on today alone."

"Why?"

"Opening traffic isn’t normal traffic."

That made sense.

They could use the next several weeks to see which hours were consistently busy before deciding how many permanent employees they actually needed.

Rosalie nodded.

"Part-time first?"

"For some positions, probably."

Alexander looked toward Giovanni.

"You’re enjoying this."

"No."

"You are."

"I’m making bread."

"You’re reorganizing my mother’s workforce."

"She asked."

"And you answered immediately."

Giovanni glanced at Rosalie.

"Would you prefer I stop?"

"No," Rosalie said.

Alex looked betrayed.

"Whose mother are you?"

"The one who currently needs employees."

Giovanni smiled.

Alex pointed at him.

"Don’t get comfortable."

Too late.

Giovanni already looked remarkably comfortable standing in the Vance kitchen, flour on his hands, with Rosalie asking his opinion as though he’d been helping her for years.

Alex noticed.

For some reason, he didn’t mind that either.

By late afternoon, the younger household staff no longer looked quite so lost.

The employee who’d started the morning washing dishes was still carrying trays.

Their kitchen helper had firmly claimed plating as her territory.

And the young housekeeper clearing tables had become surprisingly good at remembering which customers wanted coffee refills without being asked.

Perhaps they wouldn’t need to replace everyone with experienced hires after all.

Some people simply needed training.

Others needed to be left in the jobs they already did well.

The rest could be hired once Rosalie knew exactly what was missing.

For a business that hadn’t even completed its first proper weekend, that seemed like enough decisions for one day.

Alexander looked down at his hands.

There was flour on his shirt.

His feet hurt.

Somewhere outside, one of the dogs was snoring.

Beside him, Giovanni quietly reached toward another badly shaped piece of dough.

Alex caught his wrist before he could touch it.

"Don’t."

Giovanni looked at him.

"It’s uneven."

"I know."

"And you’re leaving it like that?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Alexander smiled.

"Because I know it bothers you."

Giovanni stared at him.

Then at the dough.

Alex walked away before Giovanni could fix it.

Apparently, working with Giovanni was considerably more entertaining when Alexander wasn’t required to behave like a CEO.