Atlanta, Part II

Maria’s POV

I’m beginning to see, more and more, that I’m not treated fairly at RangeMan Miami and I wonder how I allowed it to happen. More importantly, how am I going to fix it?

The Atlanta men are sweethearts. Again, I’m picked up at the airport by the XO and the strategist, Danny and Chase. Danny is an incredibly handsome man and Chase is pretty good looking too. Problem is, standing next to Danny, he looks somewhat ordinary, but he reminds me so much of Bobby. Same dimples, same beautiful brown eyes, same impish grin.

“Hello, Ms. Maria!” Danny says. He kisses my hand and steps back to allow Chase to do the same. I’m star struck by the attention.

“We understand that you are coming to take care of us for two weeks,” Chase says. I nod. “Well, we’ll give you the rundown of the office and the men, but I’ll tell you now that whatever standards were in place in Trenton will probably be in place here in Atlanta.”

Danny grins. “We’ve taken Trenton on as our model for a lot of things and how to treat the housekeeper was among those topics. I left Trenton after the CO’s skip tracing workshop feeling as if I’d steal Ella if I wasn’t absolutely sure the Trenton men would shoot me before I got out the door with her.”

I laugh, the first belly laugh I’ve had in a while. It feels good.

“We adore our Rose and we’re ready to adore you too. Just let the men know what you need and want and we’ll be happy to assist,” Chase adds, smiling. They fill me in on office procedure (they have the same grocery procedures! I’m flabbergasted.) and ask me if there is anything special that I do that they need to accommodate. I can’t think of anything. We arrive at the Atlanta building and they carry my bags up to the ninth floor and allow me to settle in.

Danny explains that Rose doesn’t really use her apartment because she’s married to a teacher, so they reserve the space for visitors. The apartment is very nice, very classy, and they have the AC running when I step in. It’s cool and comfortable and, after giving me the lowdown on the intercom system and leaving their phone numbers, they leave me in peace.

Rose has left her binder in here, but I see a note taped to the DVD remote. Play me first! I click ‘Play’ and I’m startled to hear Rose’s voice behind me. 

“Are you sure this fool thing is on?” Rose looks annoyed then smiles directly at the camera. “Hey Maria! Girl, I hope my men are treating you right and if they aren’t, you let me know. I’m more than willing to cuss them out from 500 miles away.” I love Rose. She’s completely direct.

“Look, my binder should be right in front of you on the table, but let me give you the quick rundown. Better yet, I know you. Pause this tape, take off your bra, go grab some water and get comfortable.”

I giggle uncontrollably, but I follow directions. I unpack, take a shower, and get comfortable. Once I’m braless and have a big glass of water, I restart the tape.

“You comfy? Good. Alright, let me give you the lay of the land. One, I don’t do personal laundry. Don’t start no precedent with them men that they’re going to expect me to keep up. I know you. I know you love to please, but I’m telling you I don’t do laundry. Don’t offer and don’t accept. If their clothes are that bad, they know where the washer and dryer is.”

I make a note. This must be the only self-serve laundry location.

“I do iron and press suits for Leadership only. Ask Danny for an org chart because this is a big branch with a lot of leaders. I left a org chart, but I’m not sure if it’s current. Ask him which ones qualify for laundry service and you can iron and press for them alone. None others.”

Rose is a hoot. I pause the tape and pull out the org chart. I attach a sticky note to find out if this is current and who qualifies for press n fold.

“Second, I make three squares a day plus snacks, so you and I are alike there, but my three squares are mostly vegetable-based in the summer. Take a look in my binder and you’ll see that I sauté and steam a lot of vegetables and serve grains there. I’m not braising big hunks of meat all the time. I do a lot of vegetarian options and those men are learning to like tofu, so don’t be afraid to serve it.”

I laugh. Sounds like Ella.

“You really wanna have fun cooking but not cooking? Marinate some meat and vegetables and merely hint that you plan to grill.” Rose laughs. “I don’t know what it is about open flames, but the caveman instinct in those boys comes out full force! You can relax for the rest of the day. They’ll cook for themselves.” She grins. “I choose the hottest day of the week every two weeks and let it out that I plan to grill. Then I make plans to get out and see the city.”

I pause the tape to laugh. OK, so I need to plan for a grill day or two. I want to see this.

“Third, it’s about time for my semi-annual meat haul. What that means is I have contracts with local suppliers to obtain entire sides of beef, pork, chickens, you name it, I buy it. Coordinate with Max, Maxwell, on that. He’s got wicked knife skills and he’ll lead the brigade. All you need to do is pay for it and tell them how many steaks, chops, etc, you need. The list is in the folder. The men have taken classes in butchery. All you need do is direct the brigade. Trust me.”

I pause the tape and open her binder. I find the contracts inside. OK, so we’re buying the equivalent of 4 cows, 6 lambs plus parts, 20 pigs, 100 chickens, 25 turkeys . . . Lord help, where does she put all this? I make a note to go investigate.

“Finally, enjoy your stay. My men should treat you right, but if you aren’t being treated fairly, bring it up with Danny immediately. He doesn’t tolerate disrespect of leadership and you count. Quick to term it insubordination and the men do mat time for it. Get out, explore Atlanta, and have fun. Oh, I told my husband to give you a call and take you out. Don’t worry about him coming on to you. He fears me.” She winks at the camera and I laugh.

Rose. No one like her.

---

I head down to the fourth floor and check out the kitchen. Rose’s kitchen is set up similarly to mine and I feel completely at home. Rose has a massive walk-in and two additional freezer spaces. I also find the laundry area. There are two RangeMen already in the laundry.

“Hello!”

They turn around and smile. “Hello. Are you Ms. Maria?”

“Yes, I’m Maria,” I reply. They are both looking at the bleach stations curiously. “Do you need help?”

The two men look at each other. I want to see how they respond. My Miami boys would leave me with their laundry. Rose was clear she doesn’t do laundry.

“Well, yes,” one replies. “I’m Josh, by the way.” He shakes my hand then lifts a white shirt which has what appears to be a ketchup stain. “I need to wash this and I forgot what Ms. Rose told me. I’m sure she told me to pretreat, then wash, but I’m not sure what to pretreat with.” He pulls the Shout! Spray and the Resolve Max stick. “Can you tell me which one to use?”

“Ah. The Shout! Spray is a gel. You should spray the stain well. It is ketchup, right?” He nods. “Yes, turn the shirt inside out, spray the stain well, use the shirt to rub the gel in, leave it for about 30 minutes, then you can wash it as usual. Use the other to pretreat if you aren’t going to wash the shirt immediately.”

“Great!” He pokes the other RangeMan. “See? Told you she might help.” He turns to me and smiles. “Ms. Rose is clear about the fact that she doesn’t do laundry, but she will advise.” I giggle and they smile. “Yeah, she said if she runs into ‘one more grown-ass man who can’t do his own damn laundry, she’s gonna scream! We gon’ learn how to do our own laundry round here’.”

He’s mimicking Rose, and he sounds so much like her that I giggle harder. I can just imagine her saying that and it explains the self-serve laundry. She’s teaching them to do their laundry correctly.

Josh grins. “I’m glad to meet you, Ms. Maria, and thank you for the help.”

“Thank you for the laugh. I needed it.” I wave and head back to the kitchen. My cheeks hurt. Inside the kitchen is a handsome young black man with long dreads. He smiles.

“Ms. Maria?” I nod. “Great. I’m Max. Welcome to Atlanta. Ms. Rose told me to look for you.”

“Right! You’re going to help me with the meat run, right?” I’m trying to remember what was in the folder.

“Right. Now, I don’t mean to misstep, but I got a call today from our beef supplier and he said he would be ready for us tomorrow, so I told him we would come only because he doesn’t know you. So, I need to know if that’s OK with you. If not, I’ll call him back and let him know that we need to move the day.”

The men in the laundry room didn’t try to take advantage of my probable ignorance, and Max wants to ensure that the plans he’s tentatively made are OK with me. I’m making a list of the behaviors that my boys are going to have to change in order for me to go home. Top of the list: consideration and respect.

“That sounds fine to me. What’s the procedure?”

“You know how to butcher?” he asks. I make a face and he smiles. His smile is more beautiful than Vince’s. “I’ll take that to mean no. OK, well, do you have Ms. Rose’s folder?”

“It’s upstairs.”

“Well, I think it would be good to have it while I walk you through this. I’ll fetch it or wait here while you grab it.”

I motion for him to stay and go grab the binder. I return and Max is seated at the table.

“OK, so somewhere in there you’ll find Ms. Rose’s list of cuts from last year. We ordered slightly more beef this year, because Ms. Rose did a lot of stews last year and those were really popular. Last year we landed contracts in a few tight negotiations from businessmen who came to headquarters to negotiate and smelled lunch.”

He grins and I’m surprised. “So, Rose’s cooking directly contributed to your landing contracts?”

He nods. “Oh yeah. We can attribute about $500,000 to her last year. That was a nice chunk of change, believe me. It’s why Danny upped her meat budget this year. If he could pipe the smell of Ms. Rose’s meals through this building when we’re in a tight negotiation, I think he would.”

I laugh and make a mental note to find out if my cooking has ever led to our landing contracts in Miami.

---

Meat day is a big event in Atlanta. I look around the gathering of 25 men in my room, all armed with cleavers, knives, and axes, and smile. I’m not sure what to do. This is Rose’s event, not mine.

Max walks over and hugs me. He whispers in my ear, “Be Ms. Rose. Be fearless. You know what you need. Tell us and let us organize. You’re the general. You just have to make sure the show is running.” He pats my back and stands back.

Be Rose.

Be fearless.

Don’t be a potty mouth. The thought makes me grin.

“OK men, listen up.” Last part was unnecessary. The moment I spoke they all came to attention. “I have a list of the cuts that I need and the animals we’re buying. Divide yourselves up into groups. I think we’re going to the beef and pork supplier today, right Max?” I look at him and hope for guidance.

He nods. “And lamb.”

“Right. So, here’s the sheets,” I pass around the individual sheets, “and once you’re ready, we’ll go.”

The men quickly divide themselves up. Four more RangeMen walk in and Josh walks over. “Ms. Maria, we hear you have Wüsthofs.” The men whistle and smile and I say a quick prayer for Armand’s soul. “Do they need sharpening?”

I smile. “Yes! The Trenton men got me a rasp and I haven’t had a chance to use it yet. I’m so afraid of ruining my knives.”

The mention of the Trenton boys gets boos and I look around in confusion. The men smile. “Rivalry with Trenton. They bought you a rasp?” Josh asks. I nod. “Cheapos. Should’ve gotten you a knife.”

I smile. “They did, for my birthday. They replaced my Chef’s knife, the first knife my husband ever bought me.”

I see significant looks being passed around. “OK. Well, if you leave your knives, we’ll sharpen them and we’ll give you a lesson on how to sharpen a blade.”

That sounds great, so I run and grab my knives from upstairs. I’ve treated them well over the years and each one has its own guard. The men examine them, smiling.

“Each one has its own guard?” Josh asks. I nod. “Nice. No case?”

I shook my head. “It was the last item on Armand’s list.” I smile sadly. My husband was a prince among men.

The men smile. “OK, we’ll handle your babies with care. Time to suit up and bring us meat!” The men make caveman noises and I laugh. That sounds more like my Miami boys!

---

After confirming each animal with the supplier there wasn’t much more for me to do. The men drive to a special building where the butchery takes place. Max had explained that my job was to a) check off each man’s cuts as acceptable and b) ensure we ended up with Rose’s minimum. If we managed to get more cuts than expected, great. Any odds and ends would be ground into ground beef and I could make sausage or leave it for Rose.

I think I’ll leave that for Rose, but I’d like to come back and watch her do it in the fall.
The next few hours are interesting. The men make quick work of breaking down those animals and we get more than the minimum cuts in everything. We end up with enough odds and ends for about 100 pounds of sausage and ground beef. The men are thrilled.

I get the shock of my life when we get back to the building. The Atlanta men had purchased a 17-pocket knife case and had my initials embroidered on it. Danny and his men stand back and watch me stare at it.

“Ms. Maria?” Danny whispers, but I shake my head. I need a moment. I can almost feel Armand standing next to me, squeezing me and reminding me that I am loved.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “I’ve never felt my late husband so clearly as I just did a moment ago.”

The RangeMen shuffle and smile. I can hear a few clear their throats. Finally I turn around but I can’t lift my face. I’m overcome, and I feel Danny press a handkerchief into my hand.

“Umm …Ms. Maria?” I look over at Josh. “Umm …we don’t have any women or chocolate here to help make you feel better. What would Miami do?”

Good question. They generally just look uncomfortable and shuffle until I pull myself together.

Danny snorts. “OK, what would Trenton do?” he mutters.

That makes me laugh, and I laugh so hard I rock back into Danny. Finally, I look at all of them, wiping my face. “They would say, and I quote, “We’re good with hankies and hugs, but we don’t know what to do beyond that.” Last time I cried in Trenton, they sent Stephanie after me. She’s the only woman they had.”

All the men look at each other and laugh. I have the hankie, so each man lines up to hug me.

---

I did as Rose suggested. I marinated some meat then told Max I planned to barbeque the next day. I walked in the next morning and found six RangeMen in my space.

“Ms. Maria, we hear you plan to barbeque?” Chase says. I nod, amused. Will this really work? “Well, no need to have you on the roof in this heat getting smoky. We’ll help. We have experience.” He turns to three men and they leave.

Rose was not wrong. I grin. “OK, well, I marinated plenty of meat and veggies, rubbed a few things, and jerked a few. I made a variety because I found some new rub recipes.”

Max smiles. “You’re using us as test subjects?” I nod. “Good. Blind tasting?” I can see the other RangeMen grin and poke each other.

“Yes. Just tell me which ones you enjoy most. Each different rub is labeled A-E.” I move to the fridge and begin pulling meats. The men pull a cart over and begin loading it. “I just want to know how each man feels about those rubs.”

The guys are grinning and poking each other. I prepped chicken (legs, breasts, wings, and thighs), flank steaks, brisket, ribs, and pork roasts. Also, tofu and portabella mushroom caps. Atlanta has a few vegetarians and vegans and Rose reminded me to ensure they could eat hearty with everyone else. The guys take the meat to the roof and I follow, curious. Turns out, the other three men had gone to the roof to start the grills. There were two gas grills and two charcoal grills on the roof, waiting.

I watch as the men divide themselves and set up to grill. Max leaves and returns with a cooler of drinks.

“I left a list of the drinks I pulled so they can be replaced at the next grocery run,” he says.

Each RangeMan cycles up to the roof. The men make a quick grocery run of their own, because I walk downstairs to find them prepping more corn on the cob to go on the grill. Danny grins.

“Not enough corn, Ms. Maria. Believe me, you needed twice as much.” I begin laughing. Yes, they grabbed corn, but they also had eggplant, zucchini, more onions, and asparagus. They also grabbed some fish and prepped fish for the grill.

It was a great day. The men turned it into a contest and I heard, from Danny, that Chase and Adam are considered the grill masters of the branch. They grilled those meats and veggies (and tofu!) to perfection and anyone who had family that could make it was allowed to come. It turned into a summer evening’s party and everyone had a great time. I had a great time. The men and their wives and girlfriends thanked me for prepping the meals and the new smoky spicy rub, Rub C, was the winner. There was so much food that the guys told me they’d have the leftovers for lunch the next day. I decided to leave oatmeal for breakfast and do something light for dinner, like a few salads.

I sipped my drink and thought about how I would implement this in Miami. Atlanta has men who cook for themselves as long as I do the easy part. They do their own laundry as long as someone is willing to advise them on stain removal. They respect the housekeeper and I’m part of the management team.

Miami could learn.

---

Ella’s POV

When I first started this little ‘attitude adjustment’, I wondered if it would even work. Between myself and Rose, we can see that affecting the Miami men’s stomachs and refusing to do their laundry has had an impact. They’re now very careful and respectful of how they speak to the housekeeper. During Rose’s last three days there, she cooked her normal cuisine and the Miami men ‘devoured it, honey. Plague of locusts. Didn’t even leave crumbs’, in her words.

The men are learning that to treat the housekeeper with respect leads to respectful service.

Rose told me she told Mario about her ability to poison them with a smile. She said she could tell he kept that to himself, but he started smiling and nodding at her every time he saw her. Luis and I laughed.

Given the success rate, I’ve decided to pull Lucia and Susan in. I decided to move Susan, from Boston, next. Susan is about the middle of all of us in temperament. She’s not as fiery as me or Rose but not as laid back at Lucia. I’ve asked her to honestly respond to what they do. Punish as she feels necessary, reward as she feels necessary and it will serve as my gauge for moving Lucia in. Lucia is closest to Maria in temperament and if she feels respected there, then I can move Maria back. If not, we’ll start this process all over again.

On the other front, I can tell that my plan is working on Maria quite well. Rose and Max are great friends, and he has reported to her that Maria is enjoying her stay in Atlanta and is starting to expect the better treatment.

“Relief, I tell you. Max sounded relieved. I told him to treat her with kid gloves, and he said that far from needing kid gloves she needed to be shown respect,” Rose says. I’m smiling.

“So what did they do?”

“Well, first, the Atlanta boys know that I’m Ms. Rose, not Rose, and they applied that to her too. They call her Ms. Maria. They did the grocery run with her and said she cried because she thought it was a one off thing in Trenton. Max told her every location did the grocery run, that it was something we all picked up from you, and it showed her how out of the loop she was. Honey, sounds to me like the housekeepers need a monthly call. If we had one then maybe Maria would have known she was not being treated right long before now.”

I write that down quickly as an idea to consider.

“Second, they bought her a knife case.”

I gasp. “They didn’t!”

“They did! They had it embroidered and everything. Said she cried like the world was gonna end. Apparently that was the last item on her husband’s list and it made her feel as if he were there with her when she found it.”

I sit back and smile, tears in my eyes. Luis looks at me and grasps my hands.

“Other than that, they simply thanked her for her meals and made sure she’d made plans to get out and have fun. Made sure she had access to a car and a good GPS and gave her a list of some things to do in Atlanta. Loaned her a digital camera and let her loose.”

“Did she have a good time?”

Rose laughs. “She went all over the place! Found the foodie spots in Atlanta and went to some tastings, hit the Georgia Aquarium and the Mall of Georgia, went to a comedy show—”
“Really?”

“Oh yeah. Chris escorted her to that and said she laughed through the whole thing. Ella, she’s had a blast. She did a grill day and the men told her not to bother cooking the next day because she prepped so much meat they had leftovers. She left some salads for them and they were a happy bunch. And my meat run went off like a charm! I think she’ll probably ask to come assist when I make sausage in the fall. She seemed really interested. Max says she’s been making copies of things in my binder to take home.”

Hmm … Vince said the same thing. Perhaps Maria is starting to get the idea. I wonder if Stephanie has considered giving the housekeepers some space in the new RangeWorld, as it’s been dubbed. We could swap recipes and digitize the binders there. I write this down as an idea to present to Stephanie at the next project meeting.

---

I hang up on Rose and sit back to reflect on everything I’ve learned in the past six weeks. As the Head Housekeeper, I’ve allowed each housekeeper the ability to do as she pleases in her domain, but I should have supported Maria more. Unlike every other housekeeper, Maria had no other outside support. Her husband is deceased and they didn’t have any children, so her Miami boys were her boys. The men of Miami took complete advantage of that. There was nothing to set off a longstanding review of Maria or Miami to prompt this, except for Stephanie. Carlito’s concerns about Stephanie’s treatment in Miami prompted him to finally do something about it to protect her.

As usual, Stephanie has inadvertently uncovered a problem. We had a grieving widow being taken advantage of in Miami. Now we are allowing her to see how badly she has been treated by allowing her to see how the housekeeper is treated elsewhere in the company, and she is beginning to come into her own. Plus, each housekeeper is getting a sense of what Maria is going through. I wonder if Susan and Lucia will also have ideas about ways to improve housekeeping services for RangeMan. Rose’s meat idea is an excellent one (she pays 30% less than I do!) and her idea about having a monthly call is one that I probably will implement, if for no other reason than to allow us to talk about cost-saving strategies.

Naming Stephanie as CO has had an effect on the housekeeping staff. I’ll bet no one planned that one. I lean back and laugh.

My oh my, what will happen next?