Coworker apparel.

At the one (Thai) restaurant where I now work, I've noticed that the Guatemalans who work back-of-the-house sometimes wear t-shirts with pop cultural references.

I've seen Nirvana, Tupac, and the movie Scream, in addition to the jersey of the Guatemalan national soccer team.

Change, and gone.

So, the one local sewing shop here had changed locations after (I guess) its multi-shop building was slated for demolition.

Around the holidays, I was out for a walk and happened to be by its new location, and there was a handwritten magic marker sign up in the window that they were full up on work and shutting down after Christmas, since the owner was retiring after all of these years.

Seen, moved, and then gone, and that's it.

I had popped in there to ask about repairs to my couch cushions like a year ago, before the (older) (white) lady directed me to an upholstery shop that did more of that thing.

Knowing locals.

A few weeks ago before the holidays when I was at the local liquor store picking up a bottle of wine and  a few tall cans of craft beer and some cheesy popcorn snacks, the (late middle-aged) (Indian) owner who I know by sight just rounded down the price like sixty cents so it was a flat number that I could pay in bills.

"[A flat dollar amount] is okay," he was like, head bobbing around a little bit.

And, I paid that amount.

Aging parents.

For the first time ever, I think, my mother express-mailed my birthday card.

Restaurant advice.

During the week before school opened back up, a couple of the (Thai) restaurant's owners' kids helped cover a few shifts at the restaurant.

The one was in high school, but the other one was in eighth grade, and she was wearing a pink t-shirt with hypercute (Japanese) cartoons on it, and she was ringing up customers's bills and everything.

"When you do that, you should apologize to customers for being slow and say that you don't usually do this, but you're in the restaurant to help your mom and dad out," I was like. "That way, you'll get better tips."

"Really?!", she was like.

"Yeah," I was like, and I told her that I made sure to tell people that I was new the first few months I was working, and sometimes people would leave a nice tip because they wanted to be nice to the new person.

"It's kind of the same thing, only you can do that because you're young," I was like.

Putting pieces together (4 of 4): Denouement.

Basically, after the one blow-up day, I realized that my one (Thai) (newlywed) coworker had probably treated the one (very short) (Guatemalan) cook very badly at some point, and that was what was probably behind him telling me out of nowhere when I had first started working that he didn't like her.

I wasn't sure what to do at first, and so I thought that I'd just be quiet and tolerate everything if I had to work with her again before she left, but then I decided I'd rather not, so I texted the boss on the one messaging chat when I submitted my weekly schedule and said that she seemed stressed out because she's moving and it was difficult to work with her and that if it was possible, I'd prefer not to work with her again.

(That way, I'd maybe not have to work with her again, and also, if she said anything to him or his wife, he was kind of forewarned that she was not behaving like her normal self, and that way she couldn't poison the well as easily and I could say that I didn't understand what was wrong, she had seemed upset at work, etc. etc. etc.)

And, he was cool about it and said there might be a few shifts, and I said that that was fine, thanks.

Too, me and my one friend with Thai background who I had texted about her were texting more, and they said that whenever they encounter a personality like that, they just don't engage, they just say "okay" and ignore them, since they're not behaving rationally and there's no right way to behave with them.

Also also, in thinking over my behavior, I should have just sucked it up and refilled the salad dressing rather than bait her, since her behavior was wildly inappropriate and fault-finding, and overall she was moving soon and it would have been better to do that rather than risk having some situation blow up at work and blow back in my face.

Then, the last week, I did end up having like 2 shifts scheduled with her, but with the one, her husband filled in like they sometimes do, and then the 2nd was cancelled because of the extreme cold we were having.

So, to smooth things over and since I'd never have to see her again, I texted her to stay warm and safe travels and enjoy their vacation on the way back to Thailand, and she said bye or something like that.

And, done.

What a nasty way to leave a place behind you.

Also, in the future, if someone ever brings up with me out-of-nowhere that they don't like a person, I should have one simply question for them: "Why?".

Rather than assuming it's them, maybe it's them trying to warn me.

Putting pieces together (3 of 4): Blow-up.

Like in the dwindling days before her husband was finishing his degree and going back to (Thailand) to serve in the government, I didn't really notice it at first, but my one (Thai) (newlywed) coworker was a bit more combative than usual, to the point where I even texted someone I know with (Thai) background, to see if there were more productive ways to deal with that coworker since it seemed like there was face-saving issues going on, and that person then asked me if they were (Chinese Thai), and when I said no, they were like, ummmm, that's not a Thai thing, that's a them thing, and don't let them pin that on being Thai.

And, I just stayed out by the front counter a lot, rather than deal with her.

Then, the next time that I worked with her after the incredibly busy day that I worked with her husband and we got slammed and I made like two mistakes, one minor (forgot to bring out salads to a difficult table that kept me running about other stuff), and one more major (forgot to hold one ingredient on an order because I was interrupted by a phonecall and people coming in through the door), she was a total know-it-all and was saying that we had to have one person do one table and then one person do another, but when I told her that that didn't work since one person would get trapped in the back by work popping up there and one person would get trapped up front by the other work popping up there, she was like, "[My husband] said it wasn't busy," and then she threw it in my face that I made a mistake, and she was nasty when I asked her about something with a gift certificate, too.

And, I realized from other things that she said that she was upset about moving back to (Thailand) because she wanted to stay in the States, but, like she would occasionally do on mornings, she was now taking out those frustrations on me, only she was kicking it up a couple levels to the point where it was very unpleasant, like to the point where if you did something, it was wrong, and if you stayed out of her way and didn't do something, that was wrong too.

And, later, she told me to refill salad dressing because we were running out, which I couldn't do because of a problem with my shoulder, and she told me to get someone from the kitchen to bring it out, but that would be interrupting them when the kitchen was slammed, so I didn't do it and told her that it was a bad time for that, and later when it died down, I could hear that she was in the back talking with one of the cooks, and I was out front since someone always has to be out front, and I was basically realizing that not only was she just lollygagging around, but she was probably also watching me to see if I refilled the salad dressing, like she was my boss or something and I had to do what she said.

So, I didn't do it, and then when we surprisingly got another rush and the salad dressing ran out, without telling anyone, I snuck out the special ginger dressing and used that for the house salads, and then the one owner, the wife with the (tired) face had to come out to help, and since the salad dressing wasn't done and it was needed, she needed to go and do that, since both of us were so busy waiting tables.

And, as the rush was happening, my one (Thai) (newlywed) coworker asked me why I didn't refill the dressing, "Look, the owner did it!".

And, I told her that when it was first needed, I couldn't lift it and it was a bad time to ask the cooks to do it, and after that I couldn't go back in the kitchen to do it when it was slow since I had to be outside.

And, she said something, and I told her that I heard her talking with the kitchen workers, and if she was free and could talk with them, she had the time to do it.

"No, if you are working , I am working," she was like, making up shit on the fly to put me down and twist the situation and dump everything on me.

So, I said something heated, I can't remember what, and later she said she didn't want issues with me, that we can go talk to the owner, but I played dumb and said that I didn't understand what was wrong.

"Is my English bad?", she was like, "I don't understand why you don't understand."

And, she said we should talk to the owners, but I said I didn't understand what was happening, and when she tried to explain, she made something up, and so I was like, "That's a lie, and I don't want to talk to the owners when there are lies about what is happening."

And, I added that she was leaving soon anyways, and it made no sense to start something now.

When it was time to leave, too, we usually have to decide something between us two to order for our free staff meal, but I said I didn't want anything, and I just stayed out of her way and kept interactions to a minimum and then left.