Sweetbitter

Tess goes out with the other servers for the first time in a while. They all know about her and Jake. Simone goes on a fast to cleanse herself for spring, which puts her in a bad mood. When a former friend of hers—a woman named Samantha who used to be a server at the restaurant—requests Simone as her server, Simone refuses, but Howard insists.

Samantha dines in the restaurant with her older husband, Eugene. They live in Connecticut and have a son. Tess observes Simone and Samantha’s interactions with one another. Their forced politeness and subtle jabs at one another imply that they know one another’s darkest secrets. Samantha makes fun of the apartment Simone used to live in, with the bathtub in the kitchen, and Simone confirms that she still lives there. Tess cannot help but compare the two women. In the context of Samantha’s glamour and beauty, Tess finds Simone smaller and less beautiful. Samantha and Tess connect over the restaurant. Simone is uncharacteristically off for the rest of her shift, spilling wine on herself. Tess forces Simone to eat some bread, and when she helps Simone change her shirt, she discovers that Simone and Jake have matching key tattoos.

When Tess goes out with the other backwaiters again, she gets nervous about her upcoming promotion to server because she knows these friends won’t accept her asking them for things. They gossip about Simone and Samantha. Tess discovers that Simone once fell in love with an older married man who would not leave his wife for her. Samantha, on the other hand, got married and moved to Connecticut. Simone was a bridesmaid at her wedding, but they later had a falling out. Tess reconsiders Simone’s lifestyle, job, and apartment. Tess realizes that Simone “hadn’t made a choice. Someone else had” (283). Tess wonders if part of the conflict between Simone and Samantha includes Jake.

Tess takes herself out to lunch with a book. A man tries to strike up a conversation, but Tess just wants to read and eat alone. She tells the man she has a boyfriend, and she considers her worth independent of Jake.

On her next night out with the other backwaiters, Tess gets into an argument with Ariel about Britney Spears. Tess grows tired of hanging out with them.

Tess finds an old photograph of Simone and Jake in Jake’s apartment. She asks Jake if he has ever been with Simone romantically. He explains that when he was eight years old and Simone was 15, his mother died by drowning, and Simone moved in to help take care of Jake. Tess tells Jake about the man at lunch who hit on her. Jake tells Tess he doesn’t like the label “boyfriend” but concedes that he does not want Tess to date other men.

On a night shift, Tess waits for the last lingering regulars to leave. One of the customers gives Tess her coat check ticket because she cannot find the hostess. Tess goes into the coat closet and finds Howard hooking up with the hostess.

During a shift, the Health Department arrives to observe the restaurant. Tess observes the chaos in the kitchen. Howard orders the restaurant closed for the night—all customers are asked to leave. He calls for an all-staff meeting.

The inspector had ordered the restaurant closed for service because the pipes and walls of the old building do not meet new safety codes. The owner arrives and takes responsibility for the restaurant closing. They will close for three days to make repairs, and the owner assures that everyone will be paid. Simone cries.

When Tess is sent to Howard’s office to retrieve something for him, she finds an approved vacation request written by Simone on behalf of Simone and Jake, who plan to leave for the month of June to go to Europe. Tess feels betrayed. She asks Jake if they can talk, but he tells her he is walking Simone home. Tess tells him Simone is an adult and can walk herself home. Jake, annoyed, points out that closing a restaurant is bad for business, that restaurants often close, that Simone is overinvested in the restaurant because she is overqualified for any other job. When Tess tells him she knows he is going to France with Simone, he dismisses it as a problem for Tess. He promises to meet up with her later.

Tess has been drinking for hours and is high on cocaine. Jake has not messaged her. She takes a pill from a drug dealer named Carlos. He asks her where her friends are. Tess is angry and does not want Jake anymore. She is angry that they wouldn’t tell her about their trip or include her. Carlos offers a ride. Will tries to stop her from getting into his car, but she does and asks to be taken to Simone’s apartment.

Tess gets sick in the car. Outside Simone’s apartment building, she sees Jake’s bike. She rings Simone’s bell and rage texts her. Simone and Jake do not answer. Tess wakes up the next morning feeling sick. Her memory of the night before is blurred, but she recalls being pushed against a wall and kissing someone. She goes to the corner bodega for medicine. She is so sick that she forgets her wallet, and the owner of the bodega gives her medicine for free.

After two days, Tess goes back to the reopened restaurant. Everyone has been worried about her. Tess and Simone talk. She accuses Simone of being dishonest, but Simone reminds her that she warned her about Jake from the very beginning. Simone tells Tess that she does not have “the intelligence […] to interpret [her] feelings” (326). Tess acknowledges that Simone does not want Jake, but she also notes that Jake is the only man Simone has left after failed relationships. Tess says that the restaurant will one day retire Simone. Tess is happy that this angers Simone. Jake arrives. He tells Tess he looked for her that night. She hugs him and tells him she knows that he did not.

Tess and Jake meet up after work to talk. He explains that he fell asleep at Simone’s that night. Tess tells him that it is strange that he, a 30-year-old adult, has a relationship with another adult that is not sexual or romantic. She tells him she wants them both to apply for a transfer so that Tess can be a server and he can get some distance from Simone. Tess says Simone is not good for him. Jake says he cannot transfer. Tess knows he can, but he won’t. She realizes that the reason she felt Jake loved her is because she “saw a beautiful, tormented hero. Rescue and redemption. I never saw him. All promise—the new girl” (332). She recognizes that she and Jake had both projected a version of themselves onto the other. She says goodbye to Jake and leaves. On her walk, she respects herself for being a part of the city, even if Jake and Simone ultimately rejected her.

At the restaurant, Tess is happy to help serve Mrs. Neely, her favorite of the regulars. When Mrs. Neely is ready to go, Tess worries about her getting home safely.

Tess has not yet been promoted to server. One night at 10 o’clock, at the close of her shift, Tess goes to Howard’s office. They have a drink together, and Tess brings up being a server. Howard explains there is no space on the schedule for her yet, but that she is the first on his list. Tess says that it is Simone who really runs the restaurant, and Simone will never let Tess get ahead. Tess implies that Howard could fire Jake for a number of infractions, which would also get rid of Simone. She also implies that Howard has made his own infractions, sleeping with his employees. He cuts their meeting off and tells her to return to the back office at one o’clock in the morning.

Tess goes out with the other backwaiters. Sasha tells her that Simone messed Jake up as a kid. Tess wonders if part of Jake’s attachment to Simone is resentment. She realizes that one of her biggest misconceptions working at the restaurant has been the idea that the employees are irreplaceable.

Tess meets with Howard in the back office at one o’clock in the morning. They have sex. After, they talk about Simone and Jake. Howard tells Tess that he always found their dynamic strange as well. He reveals he had once been in love with Simone, who scares him. Nicky the bartender walks in. Tess knows everyone will find out about her having sex with Howard. She knows she has humiliated herself, but she does not care.

Simone finds Tess during a shift in the wine cellar. Simone tells Tess that she is being promoted to server at another restaurant in the company—a lower-tier restaurant. Tess accuses Simone of knowingly messing with her, which Simone denies. Tess wants to work in the wine industry instead.

Tess realizes that her time in the restaurant left her with permanent scars. She can still recall the snippets of conversation that the servers and backwaiters had behind the scenes of a shift.