"If Mr. Dickerson hadn't always insisted on that place, who would've willingly put up with that kind of treatment?"

"I heard they're ridiculously cheap with their own staff, too." A well-connected guy in the group lowered his voice. "A buddy of mine from back home used to work there as a food runner. Said the owner watched costs like a hawk—eyes practically glowing green."

"Staff meals were basically water with a hint of flavor. And if you tried to take home any leftovers? You'd get a look like you were stealing from the register."

"Year-end bonuses? Delayed as long as possible, shaved down as much as they could get away with."

"Exactly," another voice chimed in immediately. "Business got bigger, but the heart got smaller."

"I used to think it was a solid, reputable place. Now it's all nickel-and-diming. The food hasn't gotten any better, but the attitude sure has."

"Last time my family went there for a birthday dinner, the servers couldn't have cared less. Dishes took forever. Probably figured walk-in customers weren't worth the effort since we weren't spending enough."

"What Mr. Dickerson did this time was..." The first voice wrapped things up with a note of genuine admiration. "Handled perfectly. I'd felt something was off for a while but never said anything. Looks like he'd finally had enough too."

"Something must've crossed the line."

"Honestly, it's a good thing. A new place might give us better value and better food."

"Mr. Dickerson should've looked elsewhere a long time ago."

The chatter gradually died down. I stood outside the break room, never stepping inside, just listening in silence.

These scattered complaints and revelations were like puzzle pieces, slowly assembling a full picture of how Gourmet Grace had quietly rotted from the inside over the years.

That uncomfortable feeling of being nickel-and-dimed—it had seeped into every corner of their daily operations. Not just toward major clients like me, but toward casual diners, and even their own employees.

The notice I'd sent out that morning had drawn little pushback. Most people understood. Many openly agreed. That alone told me everything I needed to know.

Back in my office, I gazed at the Gourmet Grace sign in the distance and thought of Gloria's face the night before—that undisguised glee when she'd pocketed a hundred dollars, that sharp, cutting expression when she'd dressed down the server.

Then I thought of a small restaurant years ago. A bowl of hot soup. A simple, honest smile.

Time can bring scale and profit. It can also corrode the very thing that made you worth believing in.

Thirteen years. Long enough for a restaurant to expand into something impressive. Long enough for a person to become unrecognizable.

I'd lost a hundred dollars. No—probably many hundreds of dollars over the years.

But I'd gained something far more valuable.

At the very least, my employees would no longer have to endure increasingly suffocating penny-pinching and miserable experiences just because of my "habit" or some unearned sense of "loyalty."

As for Gourmet Grace and its owner?

I picked up my coffee—long since gone cold—and took a quiet sip.

You choose your own path.

And you ruin your own business.

After New Year, the company stuck to the original plan: grand opening on the tenth.

Early on the morning of the ninth, a long string of messages from Gloria landed on my phone.

"Mr. Dickerson, Happy New Year! Wishing you a belated happy holiday! May your company have a fresh start and money rolling in!"

"Grand opening tomorrow on the tenth—shall we set up our usual opening banquet for you?"

"I know you're busy, so I've already handpicked all the dishes for you—all your favorites from years past, the luckiest ones on the menu!"

A detailed quote followed right after.

I tapped it open and skimmed the contents. The dish names were as familiar as my own handwriting. Roasted suckling pig, steamed grouper, crab roe tofu casserole...

Virtually unchanged from the past five or six years. The only difference was the numbers next to each item—they'd quietly crept upward again.

I scrolled straight to the total at the bottom. Compared to last year's opening banquet, it had jumped nearly twenty percent.

I fired back a cold reply: "The price is a bit steep. Any chance you could knock ten percent off?"

The message had barely gone through before Gloria was already calling.

"Oh, Mr. Dickerson! You think that price is steep?"

"I sat there with a calculator, crunching the numbers over and over—what I quoted you is straight-up cost, down to the penny! I didn't dare tack on a single cent of profit!"

"You have no idea what it's been like this year. It's impossible out here!"

"Pork's up! Vegetables are up! Seafood changes price by the hour! Every single supplier is crying about losses, and they won't float me even a day on payment!"

"And labor—do you know how hard it is to hire servers these days?"

"Anyone with a shred of experience wants five or six thousand a month with room and board, plus triple pay on every federal holiday, no exceptions!"

"I'm not hiring employees at this point—I'm hosting royalty!"

She paused to catch her breath, her voice taking on a theatrical, tear-choked wobble:

"Mr. Dickerson, my restaurant might look big and fancy, but it's all smoke and mirrors!"

"Every month I open my eyes to tens of thousands in rent and utilities crushing the life out of me! The quote I gave you—that came straight from the bottom of my heart!"

"Ten percent off? I wouldn't just be working for free—I'd be paying out of my own pocket to host your banquet!"

"Mr. Dickerson, have a little sympathy, please. After all these years we've known each other, you'd really stand there and watch me take a loss?"

I listened in silence, letting her entire tearful monologue run its course before I spoke, my tone perfectly even:

"Gloria, I hear you. I understand your difficulties."

"But here's the thing—funny coincidence."

"I had my people reach out to a few five-star hotels yesterday. The Grand Hyatt, places like that."

"Same specs, comparable menu, and honestly better ambiance and service. Their quotes came in at..." I let the pause hang deliberately. "Less than three-quarters of your total."

Dead silence on the other end.

Three, four seconds ticked by before her voice returned.

"F-five-star hotels?"

"Mr. Dickerson, you can't just look at the price! Do you know what kind of ingredients they use? You think they can compare to mine?"

"My pork comes from local heritage farms—slaughtered fresh that same day! My fish comes off the first boat at the docks before dawn, still flopping when it hits my kitchen!"

"My vegetables are sourced straight from organic farms outside the city! Those hotels use frozen goods—cheap bulk imports!"

"There's no comparison in freshness or flavor! I use nothing but the real deal, and I'm not making a dime off you!"

She was talking faster and faster now, pivoting to the emotional angle: "And besides, Mr. Dickerson—how many years have we worked together? Thirteen, fourteen?"

"My restaurant wouldn't be where it is today without your continued patronage."

"That kind of trust, that kind of history—can some cold, impersonal hotel match that?"

"They give you a low price today, and tomorrow they jack it right back up! Me? I've been consistent for over a decade. Fair and square, no tricks!"

Fair and square.

I nearly laughed out loud.

The memory flashed through my mind—that pack of tissues marked up to ten dollars. The whispers among my staff about twenty-eight-dollar peanuts, fish that wasn't fresh, the runaround every time you asked for a receipt, how she treated her own workers...

Whatever patience I had left evaporated. I had no interest in continuing this pointless back-and-forth.

"Gloria, if your ingredients are truly the best money can buy, and you're really not making a profit—"

"Then I'd feel terrible letting you take a loss on my account."

"This year's grand opening banquet, I'll find somewhere else. That's that."