People's Court

I think that People's Court may be one of the best shows on television these days. The crazy dramas between the people in the court are priceless. You can't make up this stuff, it's so good.

I'd like to see Saturday Night Live do a People's Court skit - have they done that before? Or, even better, that gay sketch comedy show could do a gay version of People's Court. One gay could sue another gay because he spilled a cappuccino on his new Prada shoes or something like that.

I had the rare pleasure of watching the People's Court today on television. Odd hours - another great perk of the restaurant/bar tending business. The court case that I saw today hit so close to home, that I think I need to make up my own version of the trial. The case was the assistant manager of a bar (who started out as the bar manager) suing the owner of the place for not paying him overtime hours while the owner was away. I nearly peed my pants when I heard what the case was.

Only a couple of weeks ago, the owner of the restaurant where I work was summoned to small claims court from the former assistant manage (who also started as the bar manager) who was suing him for unpaid wages. I think it was to the tune of $2000 or so. I don't know many of the actual details of the case, just what I've heard from the gossip around the restaurant. Oh, and when the guy served the papers to Antoine, he wasn't around so the paper's were left with the morning barista. I did manage to get a glance or two at the papers.

So, I don't think that I am very good at writing dialog, but I thought I should give it a chance by writing my own People's Court scene.

Plantiff: Javier Duran, suing $2500 for unpaid wages.

Defendant: Antoine, claims that Javier is a whiner and that he walked out on the job, and never actually performed the functions of the assistant manager.

Judge: "Javier, tell me what happened. "

Javier: "Well, when I first started working at this restaurant, it was clear to me that it needed help. The staff were all a bunch of lazy idiots and the manager was kind of a clown, more interested in talking about politics than bettering the restaurant. Naturally, since I have many years in the industry and extensive wine and spirits knowledge, and people love me because I am one sexy Venuzalean, I did what I could to help the place. "

Judge: "We get that you have a big head, but what did you actually do that causes you to believe that you did not receive proper payment."

Javier: "When I started kissing up to the owner and manager, they quickly made me the assistant manager and they told me that on the days that I worked when the manager was not there that I would receive an additional $150 plus my usual salary and tips."

Judge: "Defendant, did you in fact make this deal with Javier?"

Antoine: (Denote, here that the man speaking has a distinct French accent, a belly that never ends, and a huge face which fluctuates between the color white and red). "You see, the thing is that I gave Javier a job. It was not a very hard job. He needed to do his job and he needed to be where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be. And he didn't come to work, in fact, he walked out. Can't have that at my place. I only want people who are happy, happy to work, no bad attitudes. You know, I have other restaurants where I have had the same employees for 10 years or more. I'm not a bad guy, I just want everyone to be happy. And I have to clean house when there are people who are not helping the team."

I think that's enough for right now. I need to go do some cleaning up in my room. I just want to say one other thing about my last post. I was reading in a book about writing today and it reminded the reader that lots of people want to write novels but that not many ever will or, if they do, they will not get published. This reminded me to not get ahead of myself in thinking about writing a book. And I'm just joking about becoming famous. I think it's important to note, because I need to remind myself that I want to write for the enjoyment of writing. For the expression, the creativity, the art. That's that.