Reply from Varghese

You were great, thank you very much Carmen! And I never could have realised my downward spiral had you not opened my eyes to the world, that there are better things worth fighting for than merely being a slave to a society that pays no mind to rewarding its key supporters' contributions.

I wrote this letter for them to think about. I trust that they are at least, intelligent enough to recognise the lessons they have to learn in order to keep up with the New World's progress. This is not imperial Vespanola.

Don't be happy for me too soon my love, for I still have a constable's training to attend to next week. I will try my best, but if the unfortunate occurs please do not be surprised at my incompetence!

But I guess being a private policeman has been my life's true calling all along - I realised that in assisting you last week on your... secret admirer problem. I am glad my concept of an undercover operation worked out perfectly the first attempt, and am even more honoured to serve under your command in our extended family.

You can forget about me disappearing for weeks on end running the restaurant full-time 12 or more hours per day because they have "no staff". This new job entitles me 4 off-days per week in exchange for my commitment as a trained professional. I am very happy with my colleagues and manager, for they are all capable ex-military/police veterans.

I will see you soon my dear - for I have much to learn in this new life with you!

Copy of Varghese's resignation letter attached:

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Dear Sir.

As your humble servant for the past 1 year and 3 months I write to you to apologise for the problems I apparently seem to cause at my place of work recently.

Come next month my career would span 500 days in Cafe Konditorei and this is my first ever period of medical leave taken. In the past year I would go to work even when having fever or serious cough because I know that no one can take my place in the service crew and that I don't have enough vis to consult a doctor myself and continue to support my rental, bills and family. Luckily my family has provided me a fine steed or else public transport will be much slower and more expensive.

The horse is even used for regular despatch runs to other outlets in order to rapidly requisition stock on demand.

All this full-time commitment I realise is taken for granted, because just from one spell of medical leave I get accused of many things, leading to constant spam of my mailbox on my rest day. I never replied, I just about fainted on my bed when I reached home Tuesday evening. And I remember seeking TWO managers' permission to rest the day because of my worsening condition at work. I shouldn't have went to work after my fingers were badly cut at home while preparing food for my mother. I lost a lot of blood, and the wounds were not properly closed, yet I rode my horse to work through serious peak hour traffic jams on the Reboldeux to Porto Coimbra to make it for the 9-5 shift on Tuesday. Between overladen convoy wagons. High speed following Reboldeux infamous couriers from hell, holding the reins with on my right hand grand total of TWO working fingers.

I opened the shop and realised how bad my condition was; not only the dressing on my fingers were soaked through with discharge, it was painful when I touched anything and blood loss weakened me considerably. I reported this to the morning manager who was gracious enough to put me on service floor duty for lunchtime.

But even that was hell for it was a full-house period and I literally RAN the entire session holding the tray on my right arm and serving with the left. My arm was literally dead cramped (physician said nerve damage) and I couldn't use my hand at all so I supported the tray with my forearm.

After 2 hours of that I was gradually losing strength and realised if it went on like this.. I would eventually faint. Bar staff demanded I start topping things up for her, which I did with some assitance from our part time waitstaff, and since I could not contribute to service, I went to register today's in-stock.

All the while I realised that as soon as it was not busy, everyone gathered around the cashier area talking including the managers.

And so I waited assuming that when the night shift manager arrived my medical condition will be attended to. Fat hope. I was duly forgotten amid the merry making and I had to specifically instruct the manager on duty regarding the seriousness of my condition.

I made a tactical decision then. I can let my condition worsen until the point where I could not safely ride a horse, or I can transport myself to a clinic as soon as possible. Apparently it seems initiative is a four letter word to our management team, as I notice from the last 6 months of work.

Oh, and it was extremely insulting to finally have the medical chit and everyone started a huge hoo-hah regarding "management" of medical leave - that I should take the next day on medival leave so I can have a free holiday. I told them I didn't care, I needed aid right now, so removing me from another half an hour of suffering. Getting surrounded by 5 or 6 staff talking nonsense. Incredible display of professionalism. Not.

Finally I got my leave, and I could transport myself to any physician I wanted. Instead of nearby Merchant Street I picked Esparanza Way because it would be closer to the stables. This is a more practical choice than a long walk later considering my worsening condition. A matter that was later obviously misunderstood as my condition being not as serious as it was.

So there was peace, I hoped - the physician reassured me that since the cut had sealed itself I didn't have much to worry about besides infection and the effects of blood loss and nerve damage on my fingers leading to terrible feedback on my arms (as aforementioned in lunch peak period).

He graciously gave me 2 days off.. I was seriously down since the morning and I didn't lie to anyone. He was the first person who took my sufferring seriously and gave me correct medical advise.

And I returned home, had a small dinner, wrote to the shop regarding my situation, went to sleep... but next dawn I was greeted with the house servant dropping a vertiable pile of hate mail on my desk. Huh? I explained myself already.

Very gracious to treat a wounded man like a slave who has to serve until his death. I, by the way, never woke up until a very, very long time later the next day. And saw all the hate mail from various people on my desk demanding why I had 2 days medical leave. As though I was the doctor. If I were I wouldn't be working in a restaurant.

And thus I would like to tender my resignation with immediate effect, for it was never part of my ambition in the New World to sacrifice so much and be seen as nothing more than a doormat even after 400 plus days of loyal service. Not only did I go beyond the call of duty many, many times during my tenure in this fine chain of restaurants, I also promoted the good name of the Cafe to many family and friends including those disheartened by the high dropout rate of trainees in this company for my batch of interns (of 21, only 3 survive).

It appears that, and maybe a couple hundred customer compliments in a year isn't enough for my management, and so I have decided to sail forth for new horizons. I already am welcomed with open arms from some of our competitors in the restaurant business as well as companies of other trades.

Why should I tolerate more abuse from undereducated managers who do not know how to nurture their staff but use every means at their disposal to destroy them? Oh, they won all right, I will let them win. Because this war isn't worth 950 vis a month - if the same treatment were to be bestowed on all our staff (and I am a fan of madame Florence my favourite trainer and her harsh and efficient methods!) then I am fine with it, we can see that the management team has a reason for being as they are. It creates a team of battle-hardened soldiers, in time. Just like my first year.

But now, I can say that I was under a lot of artificial stress ever since, long time ago, you mentioned my potential for promotion openly to my colleagues. It's quite charming, really, to be blamed for every single problem in the outlet and be ordered frequenrtly to do things that I never had any training for, or rather, half-hearted training that leads to the trainer disappearing for some social activities in the kitchen later, never following up with practical sessions to hammer down the trainee's competence.

Finally after so many months I get to enjoy professional bar captain training, and even that, as I've feedbacked in HQ, degenerated to the trainer favouring the foreign students and constantly harrassing me during peak hour where initiative (translated to speed) is life. So don't blame me if I am a slow worker. No one ever notices when I go into "assault" mode in both the service floor and fountain duty.

And so, I shall take my leave, with sincere thanks to your guidance and leadership sir. It could have turned out as we intended it to be had our full-time veteran staffs not treated my potential and enthiusiasm as a threat to their very existence. They, I understand, would like to suppress certain trainees and develop others fully so they can have their own social club at work, and in time, an organisation based purely on perfect personal relationships with everyone thinking alike.

I shudder at the thought of working in such an organisation, stunted and boring as its genetic pool would be - no creativity and huge resistance to change. That's why I stopped learning once I got promoted to Supervisor!

Well, I think I shall go make myself a manager now! Farewell!

I'm not waiting 2 weeks. I've already waited almost 500 days for people to realise that we have to work together to make this business a success. And no, I can't be persuaded to return. Ever.

Yours Sincerely,
Varghese Sivarja (who was once trusting of this organisation to make his dreams come true)
Cafe Konditorei Reboldeux