Boss Sunshine sort of out-foxed me. He spent the day meeting with an interior designer, occupied his afternoon with Staffetto, then dropped by the office before making himself unavailable for the night. I've pretty much decided that there is little to lose and possibly something to gain in sitting down and having a heart-to-heart talk with him, so I'm gonna give it a whirl.

But here's what really leads me to blog. I just had such a great dinner! Like I haven't had in so long. I stopped in at a Vietnamese/Southeast Asian restaurant here in Jersey City. The fact that they have Thai and Malaysian items on the menu sort of lead me to discount the place, as sort of glorified chinese take-out. I've eaten there once before, and had Tai Gau (a big bowl of soup with chicken and rice vermicelli noodles) that wasn't as good as what I used to have almost daily for lunch at Pho Bang on Pke Street below Canal. Tonight I ordered there Tofu soup and rainbow trout served on a banana leaf. It was just stupendous. The trout was expertly fileted, very fresh, covered in an amazing ginger sauce, and served up with a salad of mangoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, and pineapple, in a dressing of lime juice, cilantro, basil, garlic, ginger, and honey. And the soup was perfectly balanced. And then the bill came... $20.09. How's that for getting off easy on an extravagant night on the town?

So I'm happy. Well, as happy as I can be given the fact that I need to spend two more days at The Office. At the end of the day, before I left to present testimony at an MTA public hearing, Staffania announced that she was leaving, as she and her husband are moving to California. I suppose I'll be expected to hire for the position. How am I gonna do that? I feel like I'm luring some unsuspecting young idealist to his or her doom.

Oh. Interesting thing went down. Before he left the office, Boss Sunshine came in and said to me sotto voce, "Are you aware that Staffella is assigning people to go to meetings? That's something that I expect you to be doing as Chief-of-Staff." My blood ran cold. There it all was. I was inadequate in my job. Staffella, who is my senior in age, was challenging my authority. I didn't have control of the staff. I'm a lousy boss.

So then, Boss Sunshine headed out the door. I went out of my office and said, "So Boss Sunshine just said to me, 'Are you aware that Staffella is assigning people to go to meetings? That's something that I expect you to be doing as Chief-of-Staff.'" Everybody laughed. "Oh my God, he's so crazy." Staffella was puzzled and said, he must have been referring to when I put a notice of a transit meeting in front of him and he told me he couldn't go to that, but that somebody should. Staffetto deals with transportation issues, so she said, "Staffetto, you have Transportation, right? Here's a meeting you'll need to attend."

I assumed a mock flustered and angry voice and stance and bellowed: "Staffella! You're challenging me! Don't you ever do that again! Do I make myself clear? I'm the Chief-of-Staff around here."

Yuk yuk yuk. We all laughed. Problem solved.