moustache Petes from the local, two sinister-looking guys in long coats
who'd show up to settle disputes. Sous-chef, commis, chef and all holed
up in a room for half an hour, after which the sous emerged, tail between
his legs and suitably apologetic, having found out who the bosses really
were. Like all his predecessors, he disappeared soon after.
I began to move more freely through the halls, back stairways, offices,
dining and storage areas of the Rainbow Room. I made an interesting
discovery. There was, in an unused area, a narrow passage through
stacked tables, where employees could actually crawl out an open
window. On my union-mandated fifteen-minute breaks, I would sit out
on a narrow precipice, sixty-four flights up, my legs dangling over the
edge, one arm wrapped around a sash, smoking weed with the
dishwashers, Central Park and upper Manhattan splayed out before me.
The observation deck on the roof was open as well, for a little mid-shift
sunbathing.
If you looked carefully, there were other perks. There was a healthy
sports book up and running—and side bets aplenty. When a Panamanian
and a Dominican were duking it out for the world middleweight title,
there was always an employee willing to bet big bucks along national
pride lines—whatever the Vegas odds were. A Puerto Rican has a hard
time betting on a boxer from Ecuador, even if he's heavily favored.
Sensibly, however, I'd buy a case of beer for the whole crew with a
portion of my winnings, so there was never any ill will. Many of the
Spanish-speaking members of the crew took part in an unusual "banking"
scheme where each week all the members of a large group would sign
over all their paychecks to one guy. The recipient was selected on a
rotating basis, and the way it worked, I gathered, was that for about two
months or so everybody squeaked by, doing their best to make do
without a check, spending little . . . until the day it was their turn, at
which point they came into thousands of dollars and could spend like
drunken sailors. This practice made no sense to me. It also required an
extraordinary amount of trust in one's fellow cooks. I did not share my