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Page 114
"Oh, dear. A minute, please." He dashed back into the kitchen, emerging with a box of napkins. As he spoke, he refilled the dispenser. "I'm sorry, Mike, but I've had to let a lot of help go in the past months, thanks to the big economy drive at the home office."
"I see," Mike said untruthfully. "Jose, what happened?"
Jose's gaze dropped so that he seemed to study the way his belly hung over his belt. "A disaster. A couple months ago, Lowell and Ruth sent out instructions. All managers were to start a new line of gourmet foods and desserts. Gourmet, in a family fast-food restaurant!"
Mike was astounded. "What? Where did that come from?"
The heavy shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Who knows? But it required extra equipment, and we had to move things around to make room when the home office delivered it. All us managers tried to tell them it wouldn't work. But we were given our orders."
Mike's anger welled up inside. Why on earth would Lowell and Ruth do such a ridiculous thing? "And?"
"It didn't work. Customers stuck with the old favorites. So the equipment was repossessed in only a few weeks. Then there were the cutbacks ordered to pay for the mess."
"Thanks for telling me." Keeping his breathing as even as possible to hide his rage, Mike hesitated. "No johnnycakes at all now?"
Jose's large head shook mournfully. "Too expen-

 
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