working with rick the self-proclaimed pimp

recently i've been scheduled to work on the make table with pizza hut veteran rick harker quite frequently.

it's always fun because rick feigns chauvinism and i verbally abuse him. he'll tell me my place is in the kitchen and i should speak only when spoken to, and when he gets extremely frustrated with me he'll refer to me as "Woman!" then about once a night he'll get serious and make certain that i understand he's only kidding and he truly believes woman are equal to men and shouldn't be mistreated. i try to find every mistake and fault of his during work and point them out. he gets frustrated becuase he's something of a perfectionist and then he begins wringing his hands. i've never known a person before who truly would "wring" their hands, but rick is such a person. i'll start to call him on a mess-up and immediately he'll glance about wildly to make sure no one else has noticed and shush me..."SHHHHHH! SHHHHHH! SHHHHHHH!" and then i LAUGH at him.

and he's cool becuase he goes above and beyond in his work and cleanups. and he's willing to stay late.

but probably the best thing is his "pimp" mantra. i had him explain this to me at the beginning of the summer. he calls himself a "pimp" and tells us he "pimps" at certain jobs (like cleaning underneath the make table, restocking underneath, and washing dishes). i asked him if this "pimping" had anything to do with chicks, and he assured me it didn't. "no, no. no. not that kind of a pimp. this kind of a pimp has to do with being cool and chillaxed."

Chillaxe: v. a combination of "relax" and "chill"; slang

last week michael called rick and told him not to come in for a lunch shift he was scheduled for. turns out we desperately needed him (we got swamped). that night when rick came in for the dinner shift i told him how horrible it was that he hadn't worked and how we'd needed him there despite the shift cancellation. he let me know he'd been "chillaxing by the pool and drinking koolaid" all afternoon. "oh.....like most ten-year-olds are doing this summer?" i think he blushed.

and thus ends my ode to rick harker.

shut up julia.