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Treading water

In late October we lost half of our four man culinary team. This was a huge blow to us, we all got along great and loved to work together. We could predict each other movements and help each other without even asking. People come and go in this business and I wish no ill will on either of these gentlemen, I still talk with them both frequently. The problem is who replaced them and why they are still employed.

Replacement number one was a house wife who is "sponsored" and does not need to work. She plays kitchen on a daily basis and needs to supervised to keep her from changing recipes and fucking up the whole place. She worked 9.5 hours on monday and made 12 salads and 3 soups thats it. That is five maybe six hours of work if you had one arm.

The other replacement was the sauicer from a hack French place about 30 minutes away. Mr Saucier, Slingblade, was supposed to work 3 days and two nights. Learning a new restaurants procedures takes time and hard work on all parties involved. He has no desire to work hard, his old restaurant was a " as long as it gets done who cares if it is any good" kind of place. Fucking McDonalds has better standards then this guy. Well he can't really cook to much(or make a sauce to save his life) and we have now changed everyones schedule to 4 nights and one day so he can be monitored. It was fine for a while but we are going to be getting busier and busier and I am not sure what the hell will happen. Someone needs to be on day shift everyday and get a flow going. Sometimes I prep dinner alone and the chef and slingblade will work on catering. I don't mind this now but it will burn me out fast when the spring time catering rush hits us and we have three huge catering orders a day. Plus we are denying some catering orders as it is because of the staff and we need that income now.

I am really sick of playing defense all the time. I want to be playing offense and knocking this shit out of the park but I can't. Being ready for problems instead of reacting to them when they pop-up. There will always be problems we can't predict but when there are ones we can we need to nip them in the butt. It sounds like a easy fix, fire everyone and start over. BUT... our new restaurant opens in two months and the owner will not be around to interview or approve any new hire. Oh, the housewife and the owners are friends so tight in fact that the housewives husband is doing work on the owners house. It is funny, he also works at a snails pace. He is of course sponsored too. Then there is Slingblade who happens to super tight with the EC. Gay references have gotten old with these two. Maybe I need to leave and work somewhere else, or I need to take one for the team and move to day shift. More then likely I will be working day shift. I don't mind it so much but I will miss dinner. I am much more confident in my abilities then I was six months ago. Day shift is much busier and definitely the hardest job we have. Slingblade of course will think he can cook better that is why he will be on nights. Oh well maybe this is a sign I am maturing as a person, getting to tired to put up a fight, or just getting dumber....

3 comments:

Cornstarch in my crotch said...

There is much more to this story, but telling it will reveal to much information about my restaurant. Day shift is important and it is falling apart. Housewife can't cook and she is making decisions which she is not qualified to make. Another example: She took a buffalo chix sandwich(sauce, blue cheese dressing and celery), I know how could she fuck that up, and then put cheddar cheese on it. Imagine that and try not to gag. Day shift needs help, having three people do the work of two at night is not good business.
I spend many nights after dinner making food for the day shift. I am tired of it, someone else gets paid to make this food. Yes I am chef and am paid to make food, but when does it end? Three fucking hours to make a soup. If I had three hours to make a soup it would taste like 22 year old gash after her first Phish show.

Mad Reductions said...

I'm still digesting your awesome post, but mainly trying to figure out how to incorporate 22yoGash Summer Tour Sorbet into my Valentine's menu.

Chef named Sous said...

Don't forget why you are there. You can quit, get fired, or take over. The most IMPORTANT thing is to become a better chef. Don't let the shit deteriorate your spirit. You are there to become a better chef. It never gets any easier. This is as good as it gets.

Become a better chef. That way in 5 years when you can't remember Housewife's and Slingblade's real names you will be proud to have milked the experience for what it was worth.

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