Fortunately for the Chest 'n Booty club, there was little remodeling or rearranging that had to be done, mostly moving the tables so they'd have the best visual access to the stage. What the place really needed was more workers. Fortunately, Miss Fabina and Wendy knew where to get them. The Meat Market actually has a surplus of workers who had to rotate shifts in order to accommodate them all. All Miss Fabina had to do was offer them a chance to move to a luxury cruise liner which was anchored at a tropical island and plenty of them volunteered. Though for the time being, to keep with the pirate theme, only particular Animalians were selected. That included scurvy dogs, ship's cats, and at least one parrot.
They were able to get a working crew over in time for International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day. All it took was a little marketing magic and the club was packed by dusk. While tourist season was coming to a close, there were still enough visitors to fill up the tables. And they found the pirate theme as hilarious as much as they found the dancers erotic.
Though the only one who wasn't completely happy was Ratlyne Piper. She was sulking at the bar, nursing some rum. Eventually, Wendy noticed and went over to her. "Hey, why so glum?" she asked, "We're doing good business now."
"No, you're the one doing the good business," said Ratlyne bitterly, "I was the one who almost mismanaged this place into nearly being shut down before it really opened."
Wendy sat down next to her and said, "Hey, it's not your fault. You were in over your head with running this place."
"Exactly," said Ratlyne, "I couldn't manage a simple dinner entertainment group, how could I handle a strip club?"
"I think that was mostly oversight from our side," said Wendy, "You and your brothers were the only ones with any experience in the entertainment business at the time."
"And we clearly weren't the best," said Ratlyne.
"Hey, you know the old saying 'there's no business like show business'? Well, that's because it's one of the more difficult businesses to get into. You have to adapt to different audiences, work on new material to keep the show fresh, and often it boils down to pure luck," said Wendy, "There's no shame at being an amateur. And frankly, being a manager isn't as glamorous as people make it out to be."
"You don't have to tell me that," said Ratlyne dryly, "I must have been crazy to even try to be a manager here."
"No, you were just untrained," said Wendy, "And there's no better training than supervised on-the-job training."
"What are you getting at?" asked Ratlyne.
"How about I make you assistant manager and show you how to run the place in case I'm too occupied with something," said Wendy. She gave a toothy grin and said, "Or to put it in pirate lingo, how'd ye like ta be me first mate?"
"Just like that?" asked Ratlyne.
"You helped put this place together, it's the least you deserve, within your capabilities that is," said Wendy, "We're trying to avoid the Peter Principle."
"The what?" asked Ratlyne.
"We'll cover that in your training," said Wendy, "But for right now, the captain and her first mate are wanted on the deck."
"What, now?" asked Ratlyne.
"After you finish your drink," said Wendy.
This would the beginning of a rather unusual relationship between Wendy and Ratlyne. Eventually, they'll discover they're both bi and a more informal off-duty relationship. Of course, Wendy was also going to be training Ratlyne hard so that she would be able to be a good acting manager if the situation calls for it. Not that Wendy was likely to leave anytime soon.