Yet Another Reason For Me to Hate "The Grove"

In April of 2005, about 10 pm, a waiter named Eric Gelman was stabbed to death while walking to his car after getting off work at one of the restaurants in "The Grove" shopping center. Other than my initial "oh, that poor guy" I didn't really think about it again. Sadly, that type of thing has become pretty much an accepted part of life in a large city.

The other day, I read the following story posted on Bitter Waitress:

My daughter is working hostess in a restaurant located in The Grove, a big mall in Los Angeles.

The owner of the Grove, Rick Caruso, is charging the all the employee $5.00 everyday for parking in his big 8 -story garage. The garage can put over 3000 cars!

Even on the Mondays, when only the garage is only half-full. He still like to charge the empoyees 5$ for the parking!!! Why?

My poor daughter is working hard and studying to be an actress and she's just graduate college last year. Her student loans is $160 a month.Her health insurance is $95.00 for one month. And she working in the night. Then she pay $80.00 a month also for parking her car now!

Before, she parking in the street and walk to her car for ten minutes.

But 2 weeks ago one of the waiters from the other resaurant.He was walking to his car at 10:00 in the Sunday night after he finishing work.

He was stab in the back of the neck by a homeless. The homeless leave a six-inch knife in the waiters neck to die.

I say pobresito. I tell my daughter she needs to get a second job so she can pay for park in the garage.She tell me that the waiters and employees is not allowed to park in the 8-floor garge on the weekend. Thats how come the waiter don't parking there. She say Rick Caruso make the empoyees paying $5.00 in the weekend to park, but he make them park at the parking lot at CBS tv Studios. They still have to walking ten minutes so nobody want to pay $5.oo for parking ten -minutes away, because they can parking ten minutes away for free in the street.

I was crying in Church last Sunday and I pray for this man Rick Caruso that he find God in his heart and let the children parking when he have the room in his 8 floor garge to let them parking for free. Then maybe in the weekend they can afford to parking in the lot where is the security guard are.

My daughter she say all of the employees is parking in the street in the weekend , because they pay for parking every day during the week, so if they seeing a free parking in the street in the weekend, they parking in the free spot in the street.

She say sometimes the waitresses in the restaurant pay $12 in the weekend for parking in the weekend night, because they want to be safe in the 8-floor garage and not walk too far in the night.And no employee discount in garage on the weekends.

I tell my daughter to go to the funeral service for the waiter to say she's sorry to his mother for she's loosing her only son. She went to the service they having in the resaturant in the grove for the family. She say she was leaving the service on the Monday of the service and the mother is crying and the owners of the restaurant is sad and crying also.And all of the waiters and the waitress is crying.

Then I say, next time you working late in the weekend, I give you money for parking in the garage, even you $12.00 maximum rate. She say,"Mama they raise the maximum rate. Is more than 12$ maximum for parking, they raise it to keep employees out of the parking so the customers can park and eating in the Cheesecake Factory."

I understand that parking is a problem at the Grove, but sheesh. Once an employee gets killed because he's forced to walk through a not so great area late at night I'd think Caruso (a former member of the LA Police Commission) would feel some type of obligation to try to protect the underpaid worker bees who keep his INSANELY profitable mall running smoothly, but I guess not.

Yet another reason for me not to shop there.

"Bitter waitress" story was edited slightly to take out a few speculative statements about Caruso's dubious parentage and poor breeding that could potentially get me sued.