Ambition, failure, sex, and the service industry A dark and comic novel,
Congratulations On Everything tracks the struggles, frailties, and
cruelly pyrrhic victories of the middle-aged owner of a bar-restaurant
and a 30ish lunch-shift waitress. Jeremy has bought into the teachings
of an empowerment and success guru, hook, line, and sinker. A Toronto
service industry lifer, he's risen through the ranks until he finally
takes the keys to his destiny and opens his own place, The Ice Shack.
Everyone assumes Ice Shack daytime waitress Charlene is innocent and
empathetic, but in reality she's desperately unhappy and looking for a
way out of her marriage to her high-school sweetheart. A drunken
encounter sends Charlene and her boss careening. The Ice Shack stops
being an oasis of sanity and, as Jeremy struggles to keep his business
afloat, he'll stop at nothing to maintain his successful, good guy
self-image. In an era when the gourmand rules and chefs become
superstars, Congratulations On Everything is a hilarious and
occasionally uncomfortable dose of anti-foodie reality that reveals what
goes on when the customers and Instagrammers aren't around -- and even
sometimes when they are.