‘That would be lovely, but I’ve no chance of getting any time off work.’
‘How is the job going?’ Liz asked.
‘That’s the other problem. Work is just awful.’ And to Liz’s surprise, Emma burst into tears.
Chapter Two
Instinctively Liz put her arms around her friend and hugged her.
‘Tell me what’s the matter.’ She reached for the tissue box on the ornate coffee table and handed it to Emma.
‘It’s my line manager. She’s making my life hell. Nothing I ever do is right and she’s constantly pulling me up in front of everyone. Yesterday she asked me to go and see Chef about an amendment to a function tomorrow, but when I got to the kitchen he’d nipped out. One of the other chefs told me he’d only be a minute so I decided to wait. We were chatting away when Heather barged into the kitchen. She gave me a dressing-down in front of all the other staff, shouting that I was useless and incompetent. She literally snatched the paperwork out of my hands and stomped off to find Chef herself. I was so embarrassed!’
‘I can imagine.’ Liz sympathised. She was familiar with workplace bullying. Both she and Jay had been bullied by the same chef, Louis Garcia, when they’d worked at the Michelin-starred restaurant La Emporium. ‘And what do the other staff say about it?’
‘I don’t really know the other staff. Certainly not enough to talk to them about this.’
Liz remembered all too vividly how Louis had made her feel. How anxious she’d become, questioning everything she did so that her confidence had quickly diminished and she’d started making real mistakes he could pick on. It had frightened her so much she had feared she’d relapse into anorexia.
‘I do understand how you feel, but you can’t let it go on. You’ll make yourself ill. You either have to go over her head and make a complaint, or get to the root cause of the bullying.’
Emma frowned. ‘I daren’t go over her head. You know what the industry is like. It’d probably make things even worse.’
‘You might be right there. I do think things are slowly changing and management have a responsibility to take any allegations seriously, but you still have to work with the woman. She has to be held accountable for what’s she’s doing, though, and, if you don’t feel that you can make a complaint, the only other way is to find out why she’s picking on you.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Bullies are often people who feel insecure about something, that’s why they lash out. If you can get to the root of her problem, maybe you can make her to face up to it.’ When Emma still looked confused, Liz continued. ‘Look, I realise that the onus shouldn’t be on you to find out what’s wrong with her, but if you can’t call her out, this might be the only way to make it stop. Kill her with kindness and get her to confide in you. Then she’ll see you as her ally and not her enemy.’
Emma nodded slowly. ‘I have no idea how I’d do that. She’s about as friendly as a rattlesnake. But it’s worth a try, I suppose. Things can’t get any worse than they already are.’ She scrubbed at her eyes. ‘I must look a state and we’ve been gone for ages. We should get back.’
Liz looked at her watch and gasped. It was nearly time to get everyone sitting down. ‘Yes, we should. There’s a cloakroom just down the hall if you want to wash your face. I’ll go and see Jay.’
‘Thanks, Liz. Not an ideal time for me to have a meltdown, I know.’
‘There’s never a good time, but I’m always here to listen.’
‘You’re a good friend. But how are you? Working here must bring back memories.’
Liz thought back to the engagement party, which had ended with a phone call from her sister telling her that their father had been in a terrible car crash in Cheshire. Sadly, after weeks in a coma, he had died.
Liz nodded and fought back her own tears. ‘It has brought back memories, but I’m trying not to dwell on them. I have so much in my life to be grateful for, even though I still miss him and think about him every day.’
‘I’m sure you do.’ Emma gave her friend a big hug before going to repair her face.
* * *
Jay wondered where Liz had got to. He was conscious that time was slipping by and they needed to get the starters out. The last of the canapés were being taken out of the kitchen when Lord Weatherton ambled in. Jay groaned inwardly. As much as he liked the man, he didn’t have the time to talk to him right now. But Lord Weatherton was the client, so Jay pinned a smile on his face. ‘Lord Weatherton, how nice to see you. I hope everything is to your satisfaction so far?’
Lord Weatherton beamed and his chubby face lit up. ‘Indeed it is — the food is excellent as usual. I was just coming to see how things were going.’
‘All good,’ Jay replied. ‘The last of the canapés are just going out and then we’ll be ready for everyone to take their seats.’
Lord Weatherton looked around the kitchen. ‘That’s good, that’s good.’
Jay suspected he’d come in here looking for any titbits. Liz had warned him that Henry liked to sample the food personally. He quickly called one of the servers back. ‘While you’re here, Lord Weatherton, would you like to sample some of these aigrettes? They haven’t been out before, so you won’t have tasted them.’
‘Oh, yes, delightful. And, please, call me Henry. Lord Weatherton is such a mouthful.’ His eyes roved over the silver platter as it was put down in front of him. ‘They look a bit like profiteroles.’