The new owner decided to expand the field of activity and make one more location, placing it in the park, which, to be honest, was not particularly popular with vacationers. I assume that Mark Yanovich was busy there.

Foundations were poured among the trees for guest houses and another restaurant-kolyba. "Dubravushka" - the working name of the new recreation area now and then flashed in the conversations of employees. Who was more inquisitive - went to see, and people like me - continued to unwittingly listen to the suffering to gossip.

Over the past days, I managed to calm down so much that the appearance of the director in our pavilion produced an internal explosion on a universal scale. Feeling how suddenly not only her cheeks, but also her ears flared up, she stepped back into a dark corner. Fortunately, the weather was overcast and because of the dim lighting hid my embarrassment. It rained for the second day in a row.

Wulf folded his umbrella and placed it on the table next to him, not bothering about the tablecloth. He sat facing me and, nodding, pointing to the place in front of him, ordered:

Alexandra, sit down.

Nothing to do. I had to obey. Kira came right up to us.

- Good afternoon, Mark Yanovich. Do you like always? Coffee and water?

- Yes. And bring it for Alexandra Anatolyevna.

Seeing a momentary pause, he raised his eyebrows in surprise, which made the stiffness of the left side of his face even more pronounced.

- I don't drink coffee, Mark Yanovich. – Explained quietly. - Kir, I'll have a glass of juice. - I turned to my deputy.

As soon as she left, the director looked at me.

- Do you like your job?

“I came to fire you,” a thought flashed through my mind.

- Yes. Quite.

- And the employees of this restaurant?

- I guess so. - What he was getting at, I could not understand yet.

- Do you know that your chef is looking for a new job?

- Not. - I was taken aback by surprise.

- This is bad, Alexandra. You must be aware of everything that happens in your team.

She did not know what to answer to this, and therefore she blushed even more than before. In the end, it didn't last:

- Sorry, but for tracking such things - we have a security service and an HR manager. This is what they get paid for. Or are you suggesting that I eavesdrop on my employees standing outside the door?

In his eyes, I immediately realized that he perfectly remembered his words, spoken to me once. And my response hook, on the one hand, angered him, and on the other, made him accept the challenge. Well, one-one, comrade director?

- It would be nice if you also made a feasible participation in the life of the complex, fulfilling not only the items of the job description. - His words, like it or not, but sounded in two ways. And seeing how my face changed, he added: - I'm not asking you to eavesdrop. But it's in your best interest to know everyone's mood. The performance of the location entrusted to you should not suffer due to the absence or change of employees.

Kira brought our drinks and went behind the counter.

- I understand this, Mark Yanovich, and I will try to prevent this from happening.

There was a ringing sound from the other end of the hall. The new waitress Lena managed to miss the cutlery. Fortunately, she didn’t break the dishes, but all the same - such a blunder with the manager was unacceptable. Involuntarily twitching in an attempt to get up, she was stopped by the words:

- I think they'll figure it out without you.

Kira quickly took off towards Lena.

- Well? Calmed down a little? he asked, lowering his tone, making him freeze. Let's try to start over.

Not really understanding the meaning of his words, she swallowed, but did not answer.

- Call me when you're free. Let's go somewhere, relax, talk ...

"Ah, here's the thing! Decided that a candy-bouquet period was necessary before getting under my skirt?!” - a hunch dawned.

- Mark Yanovich, - She answered just as quietly, - when I got a job at Sofitel, in the rules that I signed up to comply with, there is a clause that love relationships between employees of different ranks are not welcome in the club.

- I'm the rules here. - I remembered, smiling a little. - What is allowed to Jupiter is not allowed to the bull.

- It's lovely. - She could not stand it and immediately bit her tongue, meeting with the heavy darkness of his eyes. - But besides that, I have my own personal beliefs. And they are not taken from the air or the tabloid press. Such relationships do not end well.

- Personal experience?

- Yes.

- Your past is in the past. Forget about him. It was very strange to listen to him. The man who spoke all the time in commands and orders suddenly began to ... persuade?

- I can not. She said grimly and firmly through her teeth. The chief looked carefully, thinking about something, then asked:

- Will you tell?

- It's none of your business. The rudeness flew out before it could stop itself.

- Already concerned. - He replied calmly. - And it began to concern as soon as you turned from Alexandra Anatolyevna into my bibabo.

I thought that I already felt the limits of embarrassment that day, but it turned out - no. The way she blushed even more than before, she felt, without even seeing her own reflection. If someone is not in the know, a bibabo is a toy that is put on the hand. I only know about this because I once worked part-time in a children's puppet theater during my student days.

After his words, it seemed to me that all the oxygen had disappeared somewhere and there was nothing more to breathe. And he, looking at my reaction condescendingly smiled.

- Sash, I now suggest that you do everything beautifully so that you don’t suffer later because of the nonsense that you women love to bother with. “He called me by my first name for the first time, after which my chest went cold. - Think. And call me when you're done. Do you know my number?

Without waiting for an answer, he took out a business card from his jacket pocket and placed it in front of me.

- Just don't overdo it. You have time like Cinderella - until twelve. - Added, leaning over. Then he got up and was about to leave.

- Otherwise the carriage will turn into a pumpkin? She exhaled her thoughts out loud.

Mark Yanovich leaned close to my ear:

“Otherwise, I can turn from a good wizard into an evil sorcerer.

Inside, everything broke off and rushed down like a stone, giving off a dull pressure in the area of ​​​​the solar plexus. Seeing Kira heading towards me, with the dexterity of a card sharper, she shoved her business card into her sleeve.

- Sasha, what? - she asked, nodding towards the exit, where our director disappeared.

- I'm not doing my job well, Cyrus.

- You?!

- Yes. She nodded and went to her office. There she took out a business card and hid in the compartment of the bag, which she had already talked about. Hands trembled slightly.

How to understand the words of the manager? Despite the harmlessness of the phrases, was it a veiled threat at the end? Or how? I haven't had such a mess in my head for a long time.

I took my phone and got on the Internet, entering in the search: "Article for harassment at work." Looked through.

I learned new terms like: harassment and victim behavior. And also that the actions of the chief fall under the qualification of Part 1 of Art. 154 of the Criminal Code “Forcing a woman or a man to have sexual intercourse “in a natural or unnatural way” by a person from whom a woman or a man is financially or service dependent.” And is punishable by a fine up to fifty non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens, or arrest for up to six months.

But in practice, of course, it is almost impossible to prove coercion.

That is, in order to sue, you need to have on hand videos where you are being molested or obscene remarks recorded on a recorder. Moreover, it will be necessary to justify that all this really humiliates you, and not ordinary flirting at work.

In a very clever article on this topic, they also drew attention to the fact that in the case of a criminal case, the victim must prove not only the indecent actions of the boss, but also the very fact of coercion and the desire to have sexual intercourse, and not just pester. That is, the very proposal to have sexual intercourse, for example, for promotion through the ranks, does not create a composition under the article. But if the manager threatens to fire you for refusal, then this is another matter.

Nobody threatened me with dismissal. And what he said out loud, even if it was recorded on a dictaphone, would not have any probative force.

You just don't think, everything is in order with my head. Everyone knows about the futility of such a step, without even reading about. My interest in this subject was dictated by nerves. If before this conversation, I felt attracted to him, what a sin to hide, then after - it became really scary. People like him don't joke.

After reviewing empty advice on various forums, I realized that I made a mistake at the very beginning. The response to harassment should be tough and categorical. Under no circumstances should any interest be shown. No smiles, antics, or God forgive flirting in response. I, tactfully speaking, managed not only to make it clear that I was not against it, but, according to the men, I practically opened my legs hospitably.

From everything I read, there was the only practical recommendation - to complain to the higher management, but it also flew past me. I had the pleasure of seeing communication between Vyacheslav Bogdanovich and Wolf a couple of times. And it was not just a formal “owner-director”, but resembled, if not friendship, then rather friendly relations.

As a result, until the end of the day, I had such jitters that I could not think of anything else. Unaccountable fear rolled in storm waves, releasing only for short periods of time.

Yes, I was drawn to him. Attracted by the fundamental appeal that sometimes happens between a man and a woman. But I knew the price of all this, because I had already paid it once.

I had two possible options: to explain all this to Wulf, who, to my misfortune, was also interested in me, or to look for a new job.

Finishing the shift, handing over the proceeds and sending the order to the kitchen for the next day, she was shaking like a hare under a bush. The steward loomed in every dark corner. In the delivery of the village neither alive nor dead. Mark Yanovich's car was still in the parking lot near the administration building, which meant that he was waiting. From this I was so lousy at heart that even a wolf howl.

Being at home, I didn’t even make tea for myself, although I liked to drink a cup of hot, chamomile tea at night. Instead, I climbed into the bath and sat there for an hour, trying to wash off all the negativity and anxiety.

I won't say it helped. And when I went to bed and saw two missed calls from an unknown number, it became generally bad. After lying awake for some time, she could not stand it, went into the corridor and pulled out the director's business card from her bag. I compared the number. He. My heart fluttered inside, picking up the pace...

Crouching in a fetal position under the covers, she lay until one in the morning, and only then turned off to see a strange dream.

Mom dreamed. Or rather, a female image, I did not see her face, but I knew that it was her. We stood by the river and talked. About what - I do not remember. The sun was rising on the horizon. Only it was so unusually large that it covered half the sky at once. My eyes hurt. Then the location suddenly changed, and I ended up in a strange wooden house. She ran along the long echoing corridors, called and tried to find her ...

When I woke up, I could not catch my breath for a long time. Dreams are forgotten almost immediately and only a few remain in memory. This one was from that series.

Getting ready for work, I decided that on the weekends I should go to the cemetery to visit my relatives.

She entered the Sofitel territory with anxiety quickly turning into panic. I even thought about the fact that I had ignored Wulf's calls yesterday in vain. It was necessary to call back and try to talk, but the tension at that time ate all the endurance and courage.

And now I had to pay for my own cowardice with nerve cells. My body produced cortisol that day for at least a month in advance, and maybe two.

The most depressing thing was that I did absolutely nothing of the sort. She lived peacefully and calmly, not looking for adventures on her facade, and for some reason fate decided that it was time to end with calmness and relaxation, otherwise something good would happen from serenity.

In addition to fear, I was tormented by an imbalance due to my own feelings. It's one thing when someone you don't want sticks to you, and quite another when someone who turns you on. So I knew what I wanted without any extra sentiment. Highly. From all over and into the pool with his head. It attracted and pulled not like a child, but I knew how it would all end, and therefore, in order to protect myself from another depression, I had to extinguish any rudiments of such feelings in myself. And believe me, I had every reason for such categoricalness.

But Mark Yanovich had his own opinion on this matter, which he did not fail to share at the first opportunity. He showed up at our restaurant in the morning. At that moment, I was sitting in my office, filling out a table of attendance at work by Milan employees, summing up the results for the past month, sorting out sick leave and all kinds of applications.

He knocked and, without waiting for an invitation, opened the door. He leaned against the wooden frame, stopping on the threshold, and looked with his freezing gaze.

- Good afternoon, Mark Yanovich.

- Hello, Alexandra Anatolyevna. After this pointedly polite greeting, Wulf stared at me with a condescending grin on his face.

With every second, the silence thickened, like a creeping night over the city, becoming more and more painful. And only when my endurance gave a noticeable roll, and the fighting spirit disappeared, and the army fled, the director raised his voice:

- Do not distract?

- Of course not. The authorities cannot distract.

- I'll take you just a minute.

And again he fell silent, as if not knowing how to formulate the thought into words, but behind this slowness there was something else, forcing my heart to pump blood twice as fast as normal.

- One ancient Greek philosopher said: "Destiny leads the one who wants it, but drags the unwilling one." Think about these words at your leisure. Well think. Then he turned around and left without closing behind him.

To explain the essence of his message, I think, does not make sense. Despite the camouflage, everything was very clear to me. Will not leave. It was foolish to expect a miracle, but the hope to get out of this situation still did not leave. I naively believed that it was only necessary to find the right moment and talk heart to heart, as everything would settle down by itself, and in the future we would be able to work normally. Yeah.

A few days later we were informed about the meeting and asked everyone to come to the meeting room of the administrative corps for six in the evening.

Expecting another thrashing about the delays of employees and untimely filing of applications for the kitchen and consumables, we sat down with humility and quietly talking, began to wait for Anna Dmitrievna. And she came, but not alone. Mark Yanovich followed and sat down at the head of the table.

Having made a regular sticking to working moments, we were informed that in mid-November, a training on the topic “Anti-stress self-regulation and stress resistance methods in the service sector” would be held for employees, and therefore we were asked to coordinate our deputies on certain days of the month so that the locations in These days have not gone unnoticed.

The meeting lasted no more than half an hour, and when they all gave up, I got up with joy, and froze when I heard from the director:

- Alexandra Yanush and Elena Samsonova, hold on. I have a couple of questions for you.

Having exchanged glances with Lena-Kindergarten, and showing her with her eyes that she did not know what was going to be discussed, she stepped aside, letting those who went to the exit pass.

When the hall was vacated, Mark Yanovich nodded, pointing to the chairs in front of him:

- Have a seat.

We silently approached and synchronously sat down on the sides of the table.

- Elena Evgenievna, a complaint was received that a child was injured on the playground yesterday. Please comment.

- Yes, this is so, and today I filed an explanatory note for Anna Dmitrievna. The boy ran up to the swing and was kicked by another.

- Where were the animators at that moment?

Further, I did not particularly concentrate on their conversation, since my inner instinct began to suggest that I would also receive it after her. Mentally analyzing the troubles that had occurred in my location, I began to figure out what exactly I would rake out right now: for spoiled food due to a broken freezer or for frequent smoke breaks of waiters who wanted to sneeze at the disposal “once an hour”.

Having dragged Lena to the point of hand tremor and stuttering, the director turned his gaze to me:

- I'm not detaining you anymore, Elena Evgenievna. And solve the issue with the quality of washing inflatable slides.

- Yes, of course, Mark Yanovich. - Poor Lenka has already begun to become covered with burgundy spots, and therefore, with a mouse's relief, she slipped out into the wild, quietly closing the door behind her.