"Yeah?" The voice at the other end of the line sounded groggy, half-asleep.
"Marty?" I asked, even though I knew who it was.
"Yeah?"
"Why aren't you here at work?"
"Who is this?"
"Marty, it's Hugo."
"Hugo..." He said my name, solemnly, as if he was contemplating its meaning . "Oh, Hugo! Sorry, man, I'm asleep."
"You were supposed to be here a half hour ago!" I said, gritting my teeth.
"I can't come in, Hugo. I have an audition."
"What time?"
"9:00. "
"Good. Then you can come in, like I scheduled you to," I said.
"I need to prepare," he mumbled. "I'm not coming in."
"How did you expect me to find this out? Dramalogue?"
"Whatever."
My face felt hot and my jaw started to hurt. "If you're not here in fifteen minutes, don't bother coming in at all."
"Whatever."
"I mean it," I hissed into the phone.
"Jerk."
I hung up the phone and opened the shop.
I locked the door and turned the "Open" sign to "Closed" at 11:00 p.m.
I was bushed. Not only had I been on my feet all day, I was hungry as hell. I'd eaten a couple of slices of luke-warm pizza around 2:00. Even then, I had to get up a couple of times to help Jenn when it got too busy for her to handle.
Bless her heart, she came in early. I gave her time and a half and offered to pay for her baby-sitter, which she accepted. She's a single mother and needs the money.
I'm going to have to get a couple more people here on the staff. If one of us got sick, it would be disastrous.
I remember a line from a Mel Brooks film: It's good to be king.
Well, let me now turn to the camera and say, It sucks to be boss. 
