We could listen to music on low while decorating cookies in the back two girls at a time at the fancy German bakery. Elle liked to listen to Christian music singing along and any parts with no words she would hum closing her eyes dipping cookies into white chocolate laying the moon shape cookies in a row six at  time and then sprinkling coconut shavings before the chocolate dried. During commercials she would brag about her missionary service and how she learned Portuguese in a few weeks time and then Portuguese sign language in just a few more and how her school was the best theology school blah blah I love God blah  blah I gave up all my material possessions and my school is so so expensive and so so hard like harder than Harvard or Yale but for Christians. We would nod and listen and be impressed because how can you not be impressed with christian missionary teenager who learned Portuguese sign language and slept on dirt floors and got eaten by bugs and lost so much weight because she only ate beans and the meat made her sick except it was pretty boring to hear over and over again and Yuliya had much more interesting stories about having sex and this boy who liked her and that boy and Yuliya looked like a german super model with these pouty lips and just right angle nose and big blue eyes and too much make up and the other girls started out jealous cause she was so so pretty then the jealous wore off because Yuliya was a good listener and made whoever she was talking to feel like they were the most important person in the room and in the world really. She made such intense eye contact while placing wedding cake orders nodding and listening as if butter cream was a word she had to take in and absorb, and she would repeat back slowly:

chocoLATE  b-u-t-t-e-r-cream. Got it.

Yuliya, Jenni  and I liked to listen to B96  the latest pop music and so did Rosa-but if Patrice was there she would convince Rosa to outvote us and agree to Spanish music and really two and three isn’t out voting but Patrice would make me switch my vote saying: shame on you for not speaking Spanish  your father is from Puerto Rico and you are gonna learn right now.

Gladys  was the only non high school bakery worker for the afternoon shift-but her other job got switched so she needed the 4-8pm hours even though we all worked 3:30-10.

Most of the morning shift workers had two jobs-some had three jobs and most were married. Gladys was divorced or separated or never married and just had kids and live in boyfriends -couldn’t quite get her story right since she always mumbled and looked down if you asked her about her boyfriend or husband or ex-husband. Her kids were half Mexican and she was Polish not from Poland like Klaudia from the the morning shift but just Polish. Gladys bleached her hair super blonde and wore bright pink lipstick that always wore off after eating soup and bread rolls and pastries. I use to weigh 105 Gladys would say. Not anymore. Not anymore. I’m up to 120. Can’t seem to keep this weight off working here.

Sometimes we would let Gladys leave at 7:30 or 7:45 if it was slow and we would punch her card for her.

Gladys  liked to be up in front helping customers and oh how she liked talking up a storm. She had super pretty handwriting for writing on cakes and if she did go in the back to make cookies she liked to listen to 104.3 50’s and 60’s music.

Gladys mumbled while she looked down about her stupid asshole ex and how she had to work two jobs and needed this job in between dips of cookies in the white chocolate and careful sprinkles of green coconut she would look up an make eye contact and say you girls stay in school stay in school you are all smart girls.

The day Gladys came in with a black eye Mrs. P was not so happy- we could hear her voice on the inter com Gladyssssssss she said –please come up to my office. Gladys thought she could hide the eye with a careful bang swoop and lots of makeup but nothing got past Mrs. P.

I can not have  you helping customers with a black eye Mrs P said. And she even gave her a hug and a raise but told her she had to stay in the back room until the eye swelling went down and she could clean up and decorate cookies and write on cakes and still take phone orders but no customers should be seeing her like that.

And thats how we knew Mrs. P had a heart although she liked to pretend that she didn’t and she was super strict we saw glimpses of it.

Gladys was happy for awhile and would laugh and she would listen to our stories and tell us stories and we would walk past all the rooms to go to the kitchen while the bakers baked. The bakers made 15-18  dollars per hour and made all these fancy wedding cakes that cost thousands of dollars.

One day one of the bakers slapped Gladys on the butt and she got real mad and told Mrs. P and he didn’t even get fired. I couldn’t believe he didn’t get fired or even suspended only written up and put in his files.

Isn’t sexual harassment immediate firing at a job? Us teenage girls were fuming and gave the baker glaring stares whenever we passed by him and when we said hi we wouldn’t say hi back.

Gladys said she forgave him and it won’t happen again and he worked there for 20 years after all and he had a family to support too after all and us little educated feminist teenage girls had a lot to learn if we thought one butt slap meant getting fired from a 20 year job and we were to stay in school and not marry men that hit and be grateful for working at a woman owned business and we could do anything really- like have our own business one day like Mrs. P did.

And after that we played the radio station Gladys wanted to listen to every time she worked and we talked less about ourselves and listened more about her and she smiled real big whenever she came to work and laughed  real laughs from the inside out where sometimes you just can’t stop laughing while we danced to oldies, dipped cookies and wrote on cakes.