the whole story

ok, so, i've been thinking about writing this post for over a week.  those of you that read my blog already know most of the story, but i've also been asked to relay it to the KC readers.  so here goes.

two weeks ago, on tuesday, i came into a kitchen that was absolutely destroyed.  tuesday was my monday, and i was the opening cook.  now, before that tuesday, i had come into the kitchen numerous times to find last night's dishes still crusting over in a bus tub (not soaked), full garbages, poor stocking, etc...for 12 years i was a closer, and the way i was taught is that if you close at ten, you might get done at ten fifteen or eleven thirty but YOU DON'T LEAVE UNTIL YOUR WORK IS DONE.  you get the kitchen ready for the next guy to walk in.  if i got off at 2 i stocked and cleaned and did my business.  if i got off at ten i stocked and cleaned and did my business.  whether it was busy or slow, the kitchen looked exactly the same after i clocked out.  full, clean, and ready to go.  so, it's no surprise that i was getting upset at all the work that wasn't getting done at night.  i talked to el chefe about it on numerous occasions, and although he always told me he would talk to the night guys, i doubt he ever did, because nothing changed.  i think he saw me as being difficult and complainy.  i saw it as i was getting paid to open, not to open and finish up all of last nights stocking and cleaning.  that shit ain't my job, yo!  don't get me wrong, i'm all sorts of down to help out and be a team player, but when other people aren't pulling their weight, it gets tiresome after a while. 

so yeah, that tuesday was bad.  i took 11 pictures that morning of how shitty the kitchen looked.  i came home and posted a few of them, not in a "look what these assholes did" way, but in a "am i just being whiny about this" way.  i dunno how or when the folks i work with found out about my blog, but apparently they were already aware of it when i posted those pics.  on wednesday el chefe asked me to take them down, which i didn't want to do but i did anyway.  but i guess the damage was already done.  he saw it as me hurting his business.  i saw it as letting those guys leave the kitchen like that, that was hurting his business.  here's a few of the pictures, and you can judge for yourself.

ok, so not only are the garbages not taken out (dumpster is fifty feet from that door) but they were spilled and leaking.

here's the dish pit.  nothing was soaked.  two full bus tubs on the floor underneath it.

here's one of my favorites.  these tongs were obviously jammed down the grease trap on the grill.  i sprayed them off and it took five seconds.  however, they were just left like this.

this is great.  notice how every container is wrapped up tight, but not stocked.  hmm.

i got plenty more, including full garbages with crumpled up beer cans on top (how'd that happen?).  but i'll spare you all the grisly details.  anyway.  those were among the pics i posted, and the last line i wrote was "is this bullshit or am i just being whiny?"

apparently i was just being whiny, or so thought the management.  they all went back and read my blog, and there was a couple minute instances of me questioning the management.  they saw it as "talking shit".  i feel differently.  the only thing i said about owner #2 is that he scheduled himself at 8 on st. paddy's day and didn't show up till nine and i had to get the dining room open (not my job).  was i mad about that?  sure!  he was an hour late!  i don't care if it was one of the owners or not, i show up on time and expect everybody else too as well.  so yeah, i was a little ticked.  and owner #1, i rarely ever saw her, cause i was a day cook, and i know there's lots and lots of stuff that goes down when i wasn't there, but i hardly ever saw her, and the impression i got from her is that she didn't want to really work for it.  i'm sorry if that's the impression i got.  can't really help it.  i've since talked to her and i feel like we buried the hatchet.

ANYway, long story (not) short, on friday i got to work and el chefe shows up early and puts his chef jacket on.  uh-oh...i know something is up.  he never shows up that early, much less ready to take the line over.  he says "i gotta talk to you" and i go "if you're gonna fire me, just do it".  he says "well, no, not exactly..." and proceeds to spew out line after line of absolute bullshit about "everybody hating me" and "the night guys want to kill me" and "it's going to be a harsh work environment for me" and "neither of the owners want to talk to me so they sent him to fire me" and "they all discussed it and the best they could do was give me my two weeks notice".  all because i was mad that i had to finish up everybody else's work.  i asked to bring the other owners down to talk about the whole thing and i was told "they don't want to talk to you".

i never heard the words "you're fired" but giving me two weeks notice?  that's firing, folks.  and a bullshit way to do it at that.  but here's where it gets fun...that friday that i got fired, we were supposed to get our tips.  all the tips are pooled and split equally between the day guys and night guys.  needless to say, i was pissed and didn't come back for my tips that day.  i came in the next morning.  wasn't gonna get pissed and cause a scene, just wanted the tips that i worked for.  well, el chefe informs me that he gave my tips away to everybody else cause "we thought you were never coming back".  i said "well, i'm not coming back, i just want my tips".  so i left, and came home and fired off a post about it.  then a friend of mine found something on the web about when somebody gets fired in montana they are due their last paycheck within four hours.  so i went back and demanded my check, and owner number one got it for me with no hassles.  apparently owner number one read that post, though, and a couple hours later i get a facebook message from her that says "i'm fucking pissed.  you deserve your tips.  come get them from me".  so i went back, and found out that her and owner number 2 DID NOT send el chefe to fire me, they were completely unaware of what happened.  he told them i quit.  so i spent a few minutes explaining to her what really went down and she had tears in her eyes and she told me "i'm sorry, this is not the way this was supposed to go down".  i guess they were a little miffed about my blog but wanted to talk to me about it.  funny, cause el chefe very specifically told me that they didn't want to talk to me. and owner number one usually counted and split the tips herself and el chefe did it this time and everybody got almost twenty bucks less than they usually did, and mine got given away, and she was NOT fucking happy about it.  neither were the am servers, who only work with me...they were pissed the tips that were supposed to go to me went to the other guys.  anyway, i gave owner number one a big hug and told her i'm sorry that things went the way they did.  i haven't seen or spoken to owner number 2 since the incident, but i'm confident he knows the real story too.  if you're reading...no hard feelings.

anyway, long story short, el chefe is a total douche, and a habitual liar.  in retrospect, he never once actually named any of the "five star" places he worked, he just said he worked at all sorts of five star restaurants and he'd opened up six restaurants from scratch.  which is total bullshit, cause opening this one was kind of a train wreck, and one would think that by the sixth restaurant he'd have things pretty figured out.  but all i heard from that guy were empty promises and puffy-chested ego bragging.  so honestly, i'm glad i'm gone.  i got a new gig and it's a way better fit for me.  there's nothing pretentious about the food, it's just good, scratch made pub food.  and the new place is WAAAAAYYYY busier than the other place.  so i got that going for me.  it's almost a week into it and i don't think anybody has lied to my face yet, which is pretty nice.  and it's awesome for me, cause new place is just a couple blocks from old place and i know that all the people eating lunch at the new gig are NOT eating at the old gig.  plus all my friends have come forward to say "we were being nice cause you worked there, but honestly...the food sucks".  i didn't think all of it sucked, but i certainly didn't like a lot of it.  i have yet to see something at the new place that sucks.  in fact, the menu is pretty fucking awesome.  it's right up my alley.  it's cooks food.  i'm a line cook again.

and a happy one at that.