Update.

This is a small update if anyone still visits here. I am now back on the global interwebs. After harassing the telecommunications company over and over, they finally were able to hook me up to broadband. I am renting an older house located on a different farmstead now about 5 miles outside of city limits. It's immaculate out here; total serenity.

The business is still going well and all that crap, but I just wanted to get down that I will be back with some sort of regularity. I about went mad without internet for the last few months so I'm thrilled I have access to it again at my leisure rather than just for company dealings. I challenge any of you to willfully go a week; sheer horror. (I kid, but yeah it does suck)

Anyways, I hope I replenish my readers with some up and coming stories of the day-to-day ongoings of working in a restaurant. I really don't have much of a different perspective as I thought I would being I'm an owner/operator now, but who's to say that won't change over time. It's only been a few months now.

Ah crap, maybe I'll throw out a little bit here since I'm on and have some time to donate. It has to do with tipping. Maybe I've been fortunate to stay out of the whole gratuity thing being a cook and all, but I'm beginning to see greed first hand. I always felt bad for being offered one but do understand that certain aspects of the beautiful world of food rely on them for their bread and butter.

We pay the servers minimum wage. I've been a firm believer that gratuity is NEVER expected. It's based solely on the performance of the server. Yeah, I'm going to leave it at that.

Within the first few weeks, I had 2 different bartenders approach me about the servers not tipping them out at the end of the night. I said, "They are not required to tip any of you." This dude gets a bit surly with me, kudos to him for having the balls and now I like him even more. I abruptly ended the exchange with, "How much did you make in tips last night?" He said, "Almost $200." I replied, "That's odd, you only claimed $37." There was a bit of a lapse in conversation, and apparently his judgment. I go on to say, "None of the servers made that." His defense was, "It's not my fault but I made them all a lot of drinks the whole night long." I agreed and went on to say, "I understand that, and that's why you make considerably more per hour than them. But I can go ahead and make them tip you out and drop you down to minimum wage if you'd prefer, just like them." He had no comment what-so-ever. It was probably because when I handed him his first paycheck he was THRILLED that he was getting paid that much per hour and certainly didn't expect it. Never heard a word since from any bartender.

Was I right? Shit, I don't know and I'm sure any bartender reading this would disagree with me but being that I am now an owner, damn that still sounds weird, I have required myself to learn the drink pouring trade. I make myself work one day per week in the bar now, under the close supervision of another of course, so I can learn that aspect. I have to tell ya, I fucking love it, at least compared to the years and years of the kitchen life. It's still the same concept of memorization and being quick accompanied with a bit of the old dreaded customer service. I am really enjoying the social interaction along with the frantic pace. Not what I expected. And to be brutally honest, it's a lot easier and way more fun. Plus, I GET TIPPED!!!

Okay, I'm going to end this here as I'm sure I've made a few enemies. Not what you all expected but at least I did put forth some effort tonight. Thanks for reading and see you all again, in another day in the life of a line cook.

Apologies all around.

I must whole heartedly apologize for the extended absence. I did begin to write last week but was so tired by the time I actually logged on to place something down. I basically stared at the screen, racking my brain for something, and came out blank eventually. I mean, I have so much to write but no time to do it, plus it's even harder without internet where my current residence is located in the other city. I'm going to try tonight.

First things first. The business is doing absolutely amazing still. I am mesmerized with the volume of customers we do, and are actually capable of doing, some nights. The public response is unbelievable. We are the bringing in customers from miles and miles away based on word of mouth alone. I finally had time to devise and implement customer satisfaction cards which we require each server to hand out with the bill, and I'm finding out that people are happy to drive over an hour just to try out our restaurant based on someone else's recommendation. Incredible to say the least.

I've been interviewed by the local media several times for printed stories and even a photo shoot. How weird is that? Really odd to me considering I'm just...me. I don't like to place down $ amounts, but...after start-up costs, my business partner and I were in the hole big time; more than ever in my existence. After one month of business, we are already seeing profit. The debt the business entity itself incurred is paid off. The monthly expenses are settled and we are taking meager draws. I am floored and yet thrilled at the same time. The company as a whole, and in dumb accounting standards you all don't care about, is doing fantastic.

Let me think of some drama...ugh, I don't know. I am so damn tired. I will probably be dead from lack of sleep and stress next week, though I just wanted to place something down so you all know I didn't abandon the blog. I am in the process of renting a new home with internet within another week or two; so if I don't get time to post tomorrow, which I probably won't, it shouldn't be long before I'm writing again in a frequent manner. I'm really sorry, I would love to stay up and compose the longest novel of my blogging career, however, physically can not.

Thanks for reading this drivel and I should be online consistently again in the near future. In another day in the life of a line cook.

Another decent week in terms of business. Everything else, not so much.

I decided to travel back to my home city tonight as I was missing my family and doggies. I still haven't sold the home I purchased before this blog existed, and I believe it's because I don't really want to. I do love my hometown fully and maybe I'm scared to completely commit myself to a move I need to do eventually. There are so many wonderful memories I'm afraid I'd leave behind here, without the actuality of presence. I know that might sound odd to you all, but there is always a past to every single thing.

Anyways. It really hasn't sank in yet that I'm the guy making the money, taking the financial hits, and calling all of the shots. I still do all of the bookwork, though still see it as a separate entity. I'm used to someone else being my superior, though now, I'm the be-all-end-all guy. It's really weird. I've been in upper management positions but I've always had a boss above me. Now, it is me. It's still hard to get used to that. The biggest oddity is that my business partner sees thing way differently than me.

We had such a weird exchange the other night. When I see tickets to cook, I focus on the items and how I'm going to get them to the customer with total satisfaction. When he sees the tickets, he adds the item prices in his mind, and there else after. I was saying to him, "Wow, lots of full racks and prime rib tonight, huh?" I was reaching for a compliment because those were my special creations. His reply was, "Yeah! The half chicken was changed to the prime rib so that's an extra $10 to that plate!" That really surprised me.

Even though he pledged to not become a $ Nazi, he's slowly degrading into one. The funny thing is that he has no idea, other than what I show him, is our sales and projected profit.  We have no substantial reports yet as we're in our first month, but I see him frequently look at the POS report just to see some numbers.

It's a bit humorous though. He only looks at cash and checks, never even considers credit cards; which are an extreme income in real-time reports. I played a prank on him just yesterday and showed him a bank deposit receipt that I found from the same bank as ours. I found it laying on the ground in our restaurant. This is a lesson to you all; hold onto your bank transaction slips like they are your social security card. It paints a nice picture of your financial strength and/or weakness in a nice and simple form from that account.

I picked up the slip, reviewed it, and had a beautiful thought of how I'd test him to see if he actually paid attention to our books. I had just showed him our account balance hours earlier that day and we were sailing like no other. He went out for about a half an hour so I folded back the name on the slip and circled the deposit and withdrawal amounts including the current balance. I labeled one deposit credit to sales revenue debit to checking and then the other to credit checking debit to till cash. I then laid it out where I knew he'd see it and left for an hour.

When I came back, he had these slips in his hands and was asking me if these were correct. I said, "Well, yeah. It's going to be a tough week, that's why I didn't want you to order too heavy." He was getting panicked and said, "Can we make a deposit on Monday right away!" I almost burst out of my skin laughing and unfolded the paper and pointed to the name on the slips. He didn't get it. I then said, "Look at the name." He then started laughing like a madman and was relieved. I told him this story I just told all of you and he was fine with it.

I had just shown him (not going to go into monetary amounts here) A LOT of positive revenue in our checking account only hours earlier. And when he seen some dumb piece of paper with my scribbles he believed we were basically bankrupt.

I hope this isn't a sign to come. I embarked upon this adventure to make myself satisfied. I'm okay with money if need be with a boring job. I'm working my ass off because the feeling of making others happy with a food creation of my own is really outstanding to me. I like being mentally busy with un-mundane (is that even a word) tasks, plus it is physically exhausting. I just love it, in most parts...I think he's the same way still, though has never seen this kind of income before in his life, so I'll give him the benefit of that doubt.

It was another decent week in terms of business. Everything else, not so much (personally). I would be a fool to post personal drivel though. Ah, crap...my time is up as I'm going to bed. There was some restaurant drama too that I did intend to post. Maybe tomorrow before I head back or possibly next week when I'm forced to come back. Either way...Thanks for reading.

In another day in the life of a line cook.

We meet again.

I finally have a little time to waste tonight so I figured I'd throw down a bit of an update. I'm back in my home city and actually have internet to use. Wow, how much one is able to achieve when there is basically no outlet for online entertainment. I do have the web at my business but have no means to use it at my leisure on the farmstead I'm renting. It's been an adjustment, though I can't say a non-beneficial one.

I don't have enough time to complete my last post and it was really only going to turn out as a cheesy anecdote on how your perspective on life can be altered so easily by just a small change in your surroundings. Most of us really do sweat the small things and need to accept the most important thing is the reality of the bigger picture. Yeah, I know, lame, so I won't continue down that path and rather meander onto a new.

So, I have ventured into starting my own company. It is, of course, a restaurant and bar in a neighboring city. To catch you all up, the proposition was brought to me through a friend I used to work with in the food service industry. Our paths crossed again when I accepted employment at that last cesspool of culinary creation. He was as miserable as me and was secretly looking for his own opportunity. Well, he found a promising project.

He brought it to my attention and inquired about me going in with him and I basically brushed it off with minimal thought. It takes at least a half a million, and generally a lot more, to buy an existing building, the property and the equipment to begin an un-franchised restaurant, provided the place is set up to actually be a restaurant. Even though a bank likely would loan out that kind of money, I would never want to be in that position of outstanding debt in a very risky industry. So I wished him well and disregarded the rest.

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later when he said he went down and interviewed with the city committee for consideration of tenancy and received a phone call that he was accepted over a number of applicants. Wow, he was actually moving forward and this wasn't just some dream. He was fully pursuing it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not that I thought he was lying though was a bit surprised at how fully committed he was. He used to talk all the time about finding a place to set up shop and I suppose I never really grasped how much of a dream this was to him. Now I was interested in finding out more of the details.

The more he told me, the more I was intrigued, especially after he stated that the place wasn't for sale, only lease. Hmm...interesting. That can be both beneficial and detrimental. The good is that there is basically no start-up cost and most expenses are incurred by the owner. The downfall is that there is always a landlord and rent; no complete control. I was on my way out of that cooking torture chamber anyways and decided to make a trip with him to check the place out. I didn't have anything better to do on a day off, so why not. I still reiterated to him that I wasn't interested in being partners but would work a couple of weeks to get the place up and running. He was a good friend after all, and it would probably be fun for me.

Within an hour of my initial tour, I was convinced. I didn't say anything for a few days afterwards because I wanted to pound my brain in every conceivable manner to see if I was being rational and if I could basically talk myself out of this adventure. I couldn't justifiably not take the chance; things were about as optimal as I could surmise for this project.

There were many wonderful things that sold me. The first was the building. It was immaculate. The city had spent over 700k in renovations. The kitchen and all the equipment was brand spanking new. The bar had a new addition, again with all new furnishings. There was a special outdoors area constructed for open air events and seating during the nicer months. There was an event area built upstairs, yes up fucking stairs, that spanned the whole area of the lower level for events such as bands, DJs, weddings, anniversaries, meetings, catering, you name it; the list goes on and on. The basement, yes again, the fucking basement, was redesigned for bar overflow with pool tables and other recreational apparatus. My mind was blown at how beautiful this place was and how much effort the city put into the project.

The thing that baffled me was how in the world they did all of this with only 700k??? I found out when one of the board members took me off to the side to give me her own little interview, so to speak. It wasn't anything official; she just wanted to get to know me a little more I think. I answered her questions which were all casual and not formal in most ways. When she was done she asked me, "So what do you think about the place?" I wanted to strip naked and run around screaming "Woohoo!" but figured that would be somewhat over the top. Instead, I just told her that I was impressed with what they had done on such a small budget (yup, I cast out the fishing line). She told me, "Well, approximately 99% of the labor was volunteer work." WTF?! My mind was officially blown.

Here's the kicker. I was very concerned with how much the lease payments would be considering on how majestic this establishment was. The monthly lease payment is $1,500.00. Yes, the comma and decimal are in the correct places. You can barely rent a shitty one bedroom apartment in my city for that anymore these days let alone any kind of business space. I thought my ass was going to fall off when she told me that.

Fast forward a few more weeks. I told my buddy that I was on board and rolling full steam ahead. He was thrilled because he said he couldn't do it without me. I couldn't do it without him either as we both compliment each other in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Hands down I'm a way better cook in terms of speed and knowledge, can handle the day to day operations along with short and long-term finances, and have more management experience than him. He has me beat on the personal relationship level skills, be it with customers and employees as a whole. He's way more equipped to deal with the technical food safety and proper procedures than I and is generally better with face to face dealings with the public and certain associates. I simply don't have much patience anymore.

In a nut shell, it's like this; he interviews candidates and hires them, I take care of the paperwork and make sure they get paid. He does initial food and supply orders, I review, process and make sure the vendors get paid. He physically puts away and organizes the inventory, I make sure the inventory system is accurate and updated. You get the picture. On the line, yeah, I'm way better but in terms of hammering out beautiful food, though he's better at making sure everything is expedited properly. We mesh pretty well in the grand scheme.

We've only been open to the public for a week as I write this. So amazing. The feedback is nothing I would have ever believed to be possible. We have customers coming to our pass window just to thank us for their meal and how they've never had such exceptional food before. . Our homemade recipes are such a hit it's unbelievable.

We had one gentleman ask my business partner if he could just get a plate of his onion rings without the onions. He loved the batter and breading so much he said, "I could eat a bucket of that." Another table asked for my horseradish cream sauce recipe because, "I had to pour it over my baked potato, bread, and salad as well as my steak." They all loved it that much. We had some big ass body builder tell us that he was going to pledge to becoming "fat" because he tried my alfredo sauce his wife was consuming and was sure he wouldn't be able to resist it the next time they visited. My buddy has a badass hamburger recipe that wow'd the shit out of everyone. That's pretty awesome in itself when you have customers shitting themselves over a hamburger. My special rubbed and smoked ribs might as well have been gold plated euphoria. I smoked 84 pounds that day. We ran a special for three hours. All 84 pounds were gone within one and a half hours. I won't even get into my prime rib. Well, yeah I will, but not tonight. By far the best seller in our one week history.

Anyways, things are going very well to be modest. I wish I had more time to write tonight but have to be up and running at the crack of dawn once again. This has been the most grueling time in my life as far as work goes, though the most rewarding as well. We both put in two 22 hour days back to back with an hour of sleep between both plus 18's on top of it for the whole week. As exhausted as I currently am, I feel grateful for this opportunity to prove to myself as being successful in something I've always had a passion for. The accounting world is just fine and it's easy to make very good money being a CPA, it's just not rewarding in most any way. I get to make people happy with my creations and get paid for it! That's truly incredible to me. Even if I write in a month that we failed and are out of business, I'll be okay and glad I finally took a real shot at something I believe in.

Oh my God! I have so many stories to tell and good drama from the new restaurant, and for this reason alone, I am missing the internet.

Until next time, in a day in the life of a line cook.

Perspective, YES INDEED!

I've been a bit of a slacker and poop head lately. As I re-read my last entry, I wonder what kind of mind frame I was in when I posted. I know I was frustrated and downright pissy, for reasons of my own doing and things out of my control, though I will leave my thoughts as they will always be a testament to my faults. I don't like what I posted, but since it's not anything that will make or break a circumstance, it will remain as a personal reminder.

My favorite commenter left a remark, which I initially missed (Sorry again, Christy), though writing a reply did give me a nice refreshment in actualization and perspective.

I have a week or a bit more before I have to leave the internet. It's really comical when you think about it. I can remember when the internet didn't exist and the first time, roundabout, I logged on with my sweet 56k modem...=) I'll be without it for a couple of months from my new home, but actually welcome it. Every where you go in a city has some open access unsecure wireless signal so it's rarely a problem to find, though, that's the point of this story.

I was referred to look at a place of residence from a city board member because the area where I'm going into business is barren for rental property. I've tried everywhere within the city and had no luck. That really put a damper on my whole venture and was quite capable of squashing any plans I put into place. And then I took a view of likely my only available place, as I mentioned above.

It was a beautiful farmstead/homestead roughly 10 miles outside of city limits. The thing that I've seemed to forget driving on the interstate and highways, is that there are fields. When you're in a state like mine, you get used to it. Nothing but flat lands with things growing. I mean, it's really plain, pun intended. When you actually have to pay attention to the mundane, hmmm, that's where it gets interesting. I had to find this house out in the country, but have always been a "city boy" if you will. The only time I've been countryside is with my buddy from posts earlier, and that's after many trips. Even a few miles in the rural will get most people lost, if they have no reason to be there or are lacking a very good GPS or map. I don't travel with either. Yeah, I know, what a dummy. =)

Anyways, I find the location and it's a huge piece of property. Surrounded by basically a forest on 2 sides, the other a field of tilled land, grain bins, trucks, some garages, and just a whole shit load of land. I follow the driveway up to where I finally see some other vehicles and the house. I see outside, roughly 15 people of basically all ages. I'm really hoping I didn't disturb these nice people as I pull up, you know, in case this is the wrong location, which it may very well be, as I was still unsure.

I jump out of my vehicle, and every person I witnessed while driving to my inevitable parking spot, is making a beeline toward me. My inner being thought, "Crap, wrong place...", plus my anxiety level was quite high from traveling unknown roads alone. I just waved and smiled as I walked to them and said, "...". I was cut off before my brain could translate the message I wanted to relay by a woman's voice. It was hard to tell where this sound came from because there were so many individuals approaching me at the same time. I was a bit uneasy also because I didn't expect the whole crowd to swarm me like they were doing.

I just stopped dead in my tracks, and reiterated my happy expression and hand signal. I couldn't understand what that voice said to me...

What happened next is still in my brain. Sorry, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I'm so tired after today's antics, though I'm glad I got a chance to tell this much of a, not-so-long-ago story, thanks to Christy. I'll get to my perspective next post (or maybe I already have ;)), but this sparked my memory into telling this odd and crazy, to me at least, story which I guarantee will be told. I'm just so tired right now. I need sleep.

Take care all, in another day in the life of a line cook.

Sneaky edit incoming.

So I was still pondering what the voice said as I waited for the mob to consume me. The first person leading the march was a big ass ol farm boy. Yeah, the kind you hear about all the time. This dude was a monster and what was worse, he had an obvious alcoholic beverage in his hand. From my experiences, alcohol makes people way nicer initially, but if there's too much involved after the fact, just the opposite, and there was no way I wanted any piece of this dude.

I'm becoming more and more paranoid as they approach and this guy finally calmly yells out, if that makes any sense, "Are you (my name here)?" I reply, "Yes, I must be at the right place, huh?" He exclaims back to his crew, "This is (my name here)!" He slams his drink like it was an ounce of water as the others rush up to me.

With basically no hesitation, I am grabbed and hugged by multiple women, hands are extended by the men in friendship, with everyone smiling like I was a long lost relative. WOW! This is extremely odd to me. This doesn't happen ever from my background, at least not to this extent with a casual stranger like myself.

I'm blown away by the hospitality. I'm getting embraced by everyone with, "It's so nice to finally meet you!" and "We're so glad you finally made it here!" It's crazy. These people were actually waiting for me to arrive at the farm to greet and entertain me for the evening. I mean, seriously...I was so beside myself with awe. That big farm boy then picked me up, he fucking grabbed me in a bear hug and lifted me off the ground like I was a piece of paper and said to my face, which was way too close to his at this moment, "It's great to have you here.", as he smiled.

I started laughing, mostly out of relief, and he placed me back onto the gravel beneath me. Let me tell you all something. I'm not a small man by any means. Even though I'm still in my "mid-ish" 30's, I take very good care of myself as far as my physical appearance goes. I work out regularly to compensate for my diminished metabolism and generally poor eating habits and really am satisfied with how I appear to myself and others. This guy was like nothing I've ever seen before in real life, maybe on television, and what was most intimidating, is that I could tell he was easily in his early 20's. I like to talk shit and size up others all the time, but, oh my God, I was humbled.

I'm sorry, yet again, I do need to get some more sleep though will keep "ninja" editing this post as there is so much more to tell of that evening. Most other aspects of my venture are moving forward decently as of today. Progress, finally, for sure. And that woman's voice is the heart of the whole tale. See you all again, in another edit in the day in the life of a line cook.

No working drama, so I'll post some opinions.

I finally have a decent amount of time to sit down and view this most lovely, and at the same time, most horrific thing we call the internet. I was bored and started to do some searches on other blogs having to do with the restaurant industry. I happened upon a few; mind you, I didn't read all of the content, that absolutely blew my mind. The things I've read are so unbelievably stupid to me, and I'm quite aware that I'm no Einstein. Maybe I'm being too subjective but hey, I guess that's what blogging is all about.

The first one I found was from the perspective of a frequent diner, though apparently has worked in most aspects of a full dining establishment. I would whole-heartedly disagree.

He/she was out to eat at a breakfast shack and his/her Father cut his mouth eating scrambled eggs because apparently there was glass in it. Before hand, they both heard obvious glassware shattering somewhere in the restaurant and they wisely assumed it was the kitchen. There was blood coming out of his mouth after a single bite and his/her utensil inevitably discovered the glass in his meal. I can believe this fully. I'm sure it can happen, has happened, and will happen again somewhere on this globe.

What I have a hard time believing is the response from the restaurant and subsequent satisfaction, since apparently there is no outrage from the blogger at all really. WTF? I know my stories borderline on fact or fiction in the minds of others and that the trust relies on the reader, but come on! That's why I'm out of stories, because I don't have any and would never fabricate anything untrue and deem it my own for the viewers.

Anyways. his/her Dad was bleeding (horrifically, I assume) and they were compensated a 10% discount for the meal plus took the crystalline sand off the bill...does this seem weird to anyone else? Ummm, I consider myself a easy-going individual, but if I ate fucking glass shards, and someone with me also verified that I wasn't a raving lunatic, I would be livid at best! I'll just leave it at that.

"Oh My God! My Dad's mouth is bleeding because he ate glass in his eggs! I found subsequent traces as I checked his food!"

"Okay, Sir! We will take the eggs off of your bill and compensate you an additional 10%."

REALLY? Maybe the blogger has too many things on his/her mind, but seriously? That's an explosive country-wide lawsuit waiting to happen.

Do people still really do the "FACEBOOK PHOTO"? The angle that tries to hide the worst qualities and accentuate the "smallest"? This woman, is repulsive in most ways. Ugh. I'll just leave this here. "The Sanity of a Mad Woman." Again, I haven't read the content only her first post and opinions of such experiences, I am welcome to comment of her supreme fallacies and basic blindness.

My first job was at Chick fil-a making $5.15 an hour with an eventual raise to $5.35.  I worked that job during my junior year of high school, switching to retail for $6 an hour during my senior year and during breaks at college. <all rights reserved to this dumb bitch, whatever her name was> And yet you look down on others for not having this little italicized remark of yours.

 Woot! You had a chance to go to College. Wow. Most of your co-workers, who you even cared to notice or accept as someone in you pristine mindset, didn't. And were likely older than you, you conceded twat. " I made my life better because I chose to.", is what you basically said. You're life became better because you were better than these people is what you meant to say.

The girl at Hardee's who spoke in a fake British accent while taking my order doesn’t deserve $15 an hour.  Neither does the cranky cashier at Wal-Mart who shot me a dirty look when I said hello, or the guy at Burger King who screwed up my order, or the woman at Long John Silvers who shorted me $7 worth of food.  If you half ass your job, you deserve half of $15.  Unskilled labor done poorly does not deserve a higher wage.

What about the other 300 employees you disregarded? I've trained college graduates of 4 year on their way to supplementary diplomas and certifications. I've been floored with how much education they actually came out with concerning and could do nothing. They have messed my job up so much, and have thanked me for helping them. I've been told (yeah, tooting my own horn here), that they learned more from me in two weeks than they ever did in College. I've actually passed the LSAT before I did my CPA training and tests. Well, I'm lying here, I helped a friend study for an he subsequently passed (so I still count it as passing for me!). You Ma'am are pure garbage and I hate people like you.

Your excel copy/paste charts are laughable, at best. Wow, derp. WTF is wrong with you? My advice is go back to your FACEBOOK picture and hope, like you were always, that some producer will squash your dream of ever being intelligent or beautiful in your world and put you as a background dummy in a major motion picture. You're like the rest of the people you think are below you; equal; lesser actually. You're going to age horribly because you are smug and a, yes, I'm going to say it, nah, I still c(u)an't.

Go back to grade school and learn decency. We all are snowflakes; you are gross because you think you're special. You are nasty because, well...inner mirror.

Sorry all, it does really piss me off to find these miniscule mites within the detriment of society; and yet, I'm a line cook, for now.

In another day in the life of a non-turd societal member line cook.

I do have more to post, but need to head out for a bit tonight.

Just in case...in another day in the life of a line cook.

Yes indeed, perspective.

Blarg...

....can't do it tonight.

In another day in the life of a line cook.

Companions. Thank you, Bitchy Waiter.

I was really saddened this morning as I checked the Bitchy Waiter's blog. Most likely you readers have found your way here from his site, so you all know about his news and beautiful, yet heart-wrenching story about his fallen companion. I made myself read everything he wrote even though I knew from the picture and beginning paragraph, what had happened. I just can't handle it when our beloved friends/children/family/animals, whatever you choose to call them, pass on. When you truly get close to them, it's harder to accept than any other loss.

I don't have the guts to post a comment on your blog dealing with this, as I don't feel it would make a difference anyways. Please know, as a fellow absolute adorer of animals, and most importantly, a decent human being, I do feel your pain. My most heartfelt empathy goes out to you and your husband, sir.

I still have the dog bowl and collar of my first dog, including her precious ashes as I still to this day can't let go of. I had the horrible experience of euthanizing my sweet angel in her 16th year on September 13, 2007. My little kitty died from heart failure on November 13th, just two months later, and only after 5 years with me. I found her on my bed, waiting for me to jump in and snuggle. I have her little turtle she used to love playing with, her bowl, and ashes too. Yeah, life is really shitty some times. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about both of them. It gets easier no matter, as the psycho-babble states, but you never forget. That's the important thing.

Not a day goes by that I don't think of my doggy on our walks, when she woke me up to get me into the basement because of a storm, she needed to potty; the list is endless. Not a day goes by when I don't think about my little kitty as I jump into bed and oddly she isn't there.

You reminded me of my sad memories, but most importantly, my happy ones. Your experiences of walking to the window to see your beloved two and how it became a staple of habit was so uplifting. You painted a perfect picture and I could see your story taking place as I was reading. Memories, even though sad now will be happy in the future, the tears will flow just the same, but it's different. Thank you for that. Again, I am so, so sorry for your loss. It's nothing short of devastating, to put it lightly. It will absolutely destroy you for a time. But as dumb as it sounds, and as cliché too, as time passes, it does get better.

Even though I haven't always agreed with what you publicize, at this moment it doesn't matter. If I could give you and your husband a hug, I would. I'm right there with you. In memory of Sherman.

In another day in the life of a human being.

Unrealized education; a boss, mentor and friend. Budweiser babblings.

I don't really have too much to put down but I figured I might as well write something. Yesterday was such a nice and relaxing day. All I basically did was laid on the couch with my dogs and watched Netflix. I kind of felt worthless for doing so, but it was a nice change of pace and I really didn't have much else to do anyways. I started watching "Orange Is the New Black" just to see why it was rated so high, and damn, it was great. I ended up watching until the wee hours of the morning and then finished up the first season today. I highly recommend it if anyone is generally as disgusted as I when it comes to Netflix options. It's a really good drama/comedy, I suppose you could call it.

I found out that I will be without internet again when I make my move. This time it will be for about two months until service is hooked up. I'm sure I will be super busy though it would be nice to mess around for a while when I get home, but I guess not. So, heads up; I will be missing once again beginning around the first of September. Wow, listen to me sounding like I'm all important. =)

I received some disappointing news from the bank today. I was approved for a loan for my new venture and was lining up a day for final signings and to close. When I called this morning, I was informed that the loan officer who took care of me no longer works there. Sweet Jesus. Sounds right on par for me. I inquire about said loan and was told I would be called back by a gentleman. He phoned and informed me that previous loan officer didn't finish what they were supposed to. So, now I have to wait an additional week for the money. It's kind of a big deal as it's quite a large sum and the deterrence puts me at a bit of a standstill. I now have to cover, out of pocket, the necessary funds to keep things rolling with my appointments and obligations already set for next week. Things will be really tight though I should be able to squeak by, barely. The news left me a bit bummed out today, but what can I do. No reason raising my blood pressure over it.

I suppose I could embark on a past tale in the meantime. It was years ago, of course, though still at the restaurant I just quit, and when it was privately owned by a respectable mentor of mine before he decided to lease the building, property, and equipment back to the franchise. This is a bit of a kicker. This restaurant was so sought after by the franchise, I mean corporate REALLY wanted to purchase this place because of location, location, location. With all of the same restaurants within the state, this city was the middle meeting ground. But because it wasn't a corporate owned establishment, policy dictated that franchise meetings, training, testing, etc. could not be held here. They eventually started renting out facilities within this city to group all state management members and their chosen drones to be part of the brainwashing.

He did eventually decide, as he aged, to lease the aforementioned to the corporation. He showed me the real commercial property agreement. It was for $90,000 PER MONTH, FOR 20 YEARS. I mean, yeah, this guy had 25 years into making this place as successful as it currently was, so no doubt he paid his dues. The thing is, is that he was able to pretty much retire at the age of 49. His smarts and investment paid off for him and his family and I was so happy for him. He deserved it, fully. If you work that hard to make something flourish, you deserve to reap the rewards, and this guy was no slouch.

He gave me an opportunity to learn from him and after he trusted me, gave me basically full reins with only him to answer to. He was so impressed by my, I honestly don't mean to brag here but, detail to specifics, that he offered me my own decided wage. Yeah, he let me pick what wage I thought would be fair to me?! All he wanted was for me to put in 50 hours per week. This broke my brain quite honestly because I'd never had anything like this happen before. I set my own wage and ran it by him. He disagreed with my outcome and granted me quite a bit more. I think he was testing me at the time just to see what I came up with. I was granted salary though anything over 40 hours per week was also compensated by the overtime standard.

On one product alone, after looking over past inventories and simply re-evaluating pricing guides with vendors and options with allowed outside vendors, I saved him over 5K per year, for that exact same one product.

In the restaurant business, you can get the very same thing as a competitor, you just have to know what and how to look for it. For example, if I wanted to, I could get the same truly identical products from another popular franchise, granted they use the same supplier. And that's what's really interesting. The supplier you sign contracts with is just a subsidiary of a larger one, which in turn, supplies many other popular restaurants. They just use different names. So say you go to Chile's and you love a menu item. Chances are that the very identical item is available for other restaurants, just not brand named as in the Chile's contract. The same parent provider still distributes the same product to their subsidiaries, though under a no-name or generic name. It's the same thing as being a television station. Where ever you are from, you get NBC but have local news station called something else though they are an affiliate of NBC. Same parent, different local distributors. It's the same concept.

Blah blah blah, I'm off the trail again. Forgive me as I'm guilty of consuming a few Budweisers tonight. He eventually sold every right he had within this franchise for $2.2 million dollars. If you do the math...ugh. Seems odd huh? Something for all of us to think about. There are always extenuating circumstances. Hell, if I was 49 years of age and dumped my 25 years into something I believed in and made substantial profit from each year, I would do the same if offered a buyout of similar denomination. And then here we are; Corporate Nazis ruining the place with only caring about the bottom line. Meh, I digress.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my drivel, yet again, in another day in the life of a line cook (forever in spirit).

Daily frustrations end with replete serenity.

So, I roll into my most recent restaurant of past today to pick up my last pay check before heading out on my morning adventure in a neighboring city. The place is barren. I walk up to the front till and wait for about five minutes before someone finally notices me. I don't really give a crap as I'm in no hurry. Hmmm, I bet customers love waiting around to pay their bill.

So, I'm finally spotted and it's a veteran waitress and she approaches me with open arms. I begin to smile from ear to ear as she gives me a big hug. She says she never got to say goodbye to me. I told her how much I enjoyed working with her again and she to me vice versa; the usual sappy stuff. As we are talking another server come over and says, "So is your vacation done yet?" I just smirked and replied, "Nope, not yet. It's more of one of those permanent deals." She grimaces and says back, "Yeah I know but I was hoping you had changed your mind. We already miss you soooooo much. Jenny talks about how she misses you every day." I say, "I feel the same way. I'm really going to miss some of you too."

This is one of the examples of what I wrote before about the positive things that come from working in a restaurant. The people you meet and work with can be so amazing. I'm going to miss some of them for sure. There are always some, no matter where you go.

What a nice moment with a couple of the people I've had the absolute pleasure working with...and then the assistant GM appears from the back. The storm clouds begin to hover overhead and there is gloom in the air. The girls wish me luck and scatter. Thanks for ruining our moment jerk, which is astoundingly apparent just by your presence.

I'm really not exactly sure what it is about this guy, but I just, in no uncertain terms, do not care for him one bit. He's always been really nice to me and was never hesitant to kiss my ass, so to speak. I think we've all met this type of person at some point before. I find it disgusting because I know that he's probably not sincere in even the most miniscule way. He's so God damn fake that it makes me sick. He's the type of person who I can see immediately turning around and talking shit behind another's back, just for the sake of doing it. In his mind, he thinks he's better than everyone else when it's so incredibly the opposite in reality, it's just that he's too stupid and/or close-minded to comprehend it. Anyways, I can't fucking stand him. I think he knows it too, but whatever.

He's all like, "Hey buddy! Great to see you again!" I reciprocate with, "Hey, good to see you too." I hand him my shirts and aprons and say, "Two shirts, two aprons. That's all I received when I started." He says, "Oh, okay.", as he grabs and places them behind the counter. He tries to spark some conversation and I shoot him down every chance. I just want my check, not to chit-chat with a scumbag. He says, "So, did you move yet?" I just replied, "Nope." He goes on to ask, "Did you start your new job yet?" I say, "Not yet." He inquires, "So where are you going to be working?" Jesus dude, if I refused to tell you this information when I was still working here, what makes you think I'm going to now? I plainly state, "I'd rather not say." He gets all defensive with, "Wow! I was just asking. I guess it's none of MY business." Ahahahaha! You finally get it dick head. I reply, "Well, it really isn't."

Now, here's where things seem to go south. He volunteers to tell me some important information, at least he thinks so, plus he must have been upset now or something. He says, "Well, about Labor Day weekend. You can't work because you're not allowed to ever work here again." Oh my God, you are such a tool. I, once again, simply can't believe this is going to take place. This dummy has me irritated now. I laugh in disbelief, as I wasn't expecting anything like that to come out of his mouth all of a sudden. I spit back, "Good! Now I know I never have to help carry a failing business again. And what made you think I wanted to work Labor Day after the first twenty time I told you NO after you kept badgering me?" He just smiles and says, "You have yourself a good day." and begins to walk past me out the door.

Holy shit. My mind raced with two possible outcomes. I could pound this sub-human until I achieved personal euphoria after he went outside, or I could do what I came here to do. Yeah, I know I tend to fantasize about punishing these creatures physically all the time, but I doubt there is anyone else out there that wouldn't also succumb to these temptations from time to time. I say to him, "Hey! I'm here for my check!" He stops, turns around and begins to waddle back to the counter. He hands me my check with a, "Here you go, sir!" all smug and uppity. I look it over to make sure they didn't try to screw me with some bullshit excuse, sign the sheet, turn and leave.

I catch myself sitting in my vehicle waiting for him to come out. Damn I want a piece of this guy so bad but I know deep down that I wouldn't do anything anyways. Maybe ten years ago. We all have these thoughts, don't try to tell me you all don't. I leave and am officially done with that establishment in all aspects.

By the time I get onto the interstate it's gone from my mind. I travel to do my business for the day and return home in a fantastic mood. I walk in and start to play with my doggies and that only accelerates my happiness. The phone rings and I see on the caller ID, that dreadful restaurant's name and number. Seriously! What the fuck do they want now!? I am terminating this relationship forever and answer the phone thinking it's the assistant GM.  It's the actual GM.

He says, "(my name)?" I reply, "Yup. What now!? Was there a grease stain on one of my shirts?!" I mean, I washed those garments and even added fabric softener, then folded them neatly rather than just slopping them back to the place; blah, anyways...He says, "No no no. I just wanted to apologize for what (assistant GM) said to you. He was way out of line and if you'd still like to work Labor Day weekend that would be fine." OH MY GOD!!! THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!! That's what was going through my head at the moment.

Have any of you ever been at that point where you just kind of sigh to yourself and give up because you can't fathom what or why the hell something is happening? Yeah, well...ugh! It's just so ridiculous. I tell the GM, "I appreciate you calling to apologize on behalf of that fuck stick (you bet your ass I said that), but I never wanted to or even remotely intended to work on Labor Day weekend. I have another job and I won't even be living here anymore. I've told him that a billion times before my last day. Had you asked, I would have told you the same thing."

He tries acting surprised and says, "Alright. That's fine. From what he explained to me, I thought you wanted to work but it's policy to not allow any high level employees back after they quit. I still have you on payroll so I wanted to let you know you could work if you wanted to." I said, "Thank you. Believe me, it's nothing personal between YOU and I, it just isn't going to happen. Let's make it official with your policy and take me off payroll effective immediately." I wasn't trying to be a jerk to him, just wanted to make sure with 100% accuracy that I clearly stated this is over.

He said, "No problem. I can do that before I leave tonight. I just wanted to cover all my bases and check with you first." I said, "I understand (fuck, not really) and thanks." He genuinely wishes me the best of luck and I return the gesture sincerely. The call ends it's finally over; or is it? As I sit here writing this, I still truly wonder.

Christy! Thank you once again for the question. I will admit that I don't really care to get into those specific details and I probably shouldn't have posted that information to begin with. I was having a really bad night, we all do once in a while, and I let it fly. It's out there, so I'll leave it and try to give you an acceptable answer.

She will be fine, trust me. Family is number one no matter what and if I didn't feel my own Mother would be anything but perfect, I wouldn't be leaving. I came back per her request, and believe me, she is such a stubborn and strong woman that it took likely everything for her to ask me. Without going too much into the situation, she has been to specialists for her injury and there are quite promising solutions to alleviate most of her ailments. She is self-sufficient in income easily for the rest of her life, and five more lifetimes if necessary, and doesn't rely on me for anything like that. Her injury incapacitated her initially but not fully. She has demonstrated considerable progress and she's on her way to full recovery. Not to be short or rude, but I hope you understand. I honestly enjoy your questions, so keep asking! I'll always answer what I feel comfortable doing so, therefore, please don't feel disheartened by this response. ;)

Onward. My project is coming together nicely. Every little setback I've incurred results in other things moving forward with even greater progress. Each obstacle has resulted in much better solutions and in multiple areas. Like I posted before, I don't want to throw everything out just yet, perhaps after I've had success for a month or so, or even failure if it comes to that. It's so much happening in such a short period of time. I was looking through my phone tonight at the saved pictures, and it dawned on me that the very first time I even minutely considered this proposition was on July 29th; less than a month ago. Since, I have been going full steam ahead and only finished working in the 9th circle of hell less than two weeks ago. I have officially given myself tomorrow off. I'm not doing anything I don't absolutely need to. =)

Anyways, novel again. See you all next time in another day in the life of a line cook (at heart).

Questions and answers. Volume One.

Hey Christy! I'm glad to see you are starting something of your own, I'll definitely check out whatever you decide to place down as content when you get it up and running. Forgive me, I just did a quick click on your name after you stated you went "no-so-anonymous" and a simple view. Thanks for letting me know by the way, I would have likely not even noticed that in your comment. =)

Okay, the name Beefcake. It's a pretty stupid story actually. It has to do with the Comedy Central animation, 'South Park'. Yeah, I know, lame, but I've been an avid fan since College. The episode where Cartman was taking supplements and screaming, "BEEFCAKE!" all the time was hilarious, so it spilled over to my twisted sense of humor when I'd go to the gym. It always got laughs when I screamed it out loud while lifting, thus everyone kind of starting calling me that because of how retarded it was, plus I could do his voice fairly well. All of my old online personas followed suit in user names and I guess I never really strayed from that. Yeah, dumb, I know, but that's the truth.

Macho; probably. I used to watch professional wrestling as a kid and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake was one of my favorites, (OMG! I am getting old!) so maybe that was also hidden in my psyche when I happened upon that South Park episode.

Cooking related; nope. I knew it was some sort of food substance though have never experienced (as far as I know) that type of cuisine.

As far as revealing my last place of employment; YES! It is definitely one of the two. =) I figured it was an easy answer, though still hesitate to state specifically which. I'm still not sure how binding the laws are when signing policies for employment, and even though I'm not fabricating or embellishing anything, I suppose it could still be considered libel. I have no physical proof to back up anything I have written so far, so, if the franchise caught wind of me publically defaming the corporation, I could quite possibly suffer some consequences. I just don't want to completely risk it, yet. But you betcha it is one of those two! The first franchise, the one which started this whole blog, is quite a bit smaller, though you have several in your home state as well.

The new opportunity. Wow, I might have to save that for another post. It's a beautiful thing and something that I HAVE to go for. I have to put in a decent sum of capital to begin, though just can't talk myself out of it. I'm a bit more reserved as I age (I'm still in my thirties, damn it!), but I'm going all out, all in. I honestly cannot see it NOT working out as I've covered every base imaginable.

My mental train of thought is to always start from implied, though normally unrealized, catastrophes and work my way backwards to success. That way I minimize the risks. That sounds weird, though when you actually think about it, really sensible in the process. I'd rather stay proactive and count on the potential failures and work on solutions before they come to light than just jump in blindly at what appears to be a great opportunity.

Sadly, most of the time and for most people, things are too good to be true and maybe that's how I've adapted after all this time. I've seen first hand, being in finance, the most unbelievable concepts fail because of not properly "over thinking" the unforeseen obstacles. I've seen start-ups that hit the ground running but went under shortly after because they forgot about keeping working capital in equity when the big speed bump hit, and they were never able to recover. Blah, I'm still no expert by any kind of definition, though always "try" cover my tracks.

Anyways, I do have two degrees; one in Accounting and am professionally licensed for and one in Business Administration. I was one semester from completing a third in Computer Science and still use those skills from time to time. The thing is, and I want to also comment on from your remarks, is that I'm a normal guy by any standards in the working world. It doesn't matter what a piece of paper says, it matters the intellectual capacity of the person.

Your comment was so awesome and undeniably truthful in every imaginable way; "Finally! Somebody else who sees all the stupid!" I have worked side by side with people who possessed way more education than I and was blown away by just how clueless they were. Going to my last paragraph, it doesn't really matter what a document says you've achieved, it only matters if you absorbed the education and can put it into basic, practical use. Experience trumps education in many ways, though these days, most don't even get a chance unless they have a diploma from a respectable institution. But yeah, Christy, you are wiser than most. So many dumb people in general, but in the "educated" sector, it's disgusting.

My last comment before I go way off tangent tonight about this subject; My favorite College Professor, he was just a down-to-earth kind of guy. He cared if we learned and not that if he failed students it would look bad for him because that meant he was a bad "teacher". He was a higher level Professor in an economics course, had the Dr. prefix before his name, and was the single author of our state accepted College course text book. This dude was so amazing. He said, and I quote verbatim after all of these years, "It's not necessarily what you know in business. It's mostly who you know. Be your own person and make a difference." Way back then as a student, that really made me wonder what the hell he was talking about. All of these years later, I know exactly what he meant and why he said it.

Whoa, way off course for the evening. Yeah, I'd like to wait for another month until I actually am successful in my venture, if I am at all. I'm quite confident I will be, though none of us can foresee the actual future. Thank you again, Christy! You managed to get my brain functioning in a pleasant way tonight typing this post. I'm really glad you comment publically and keep me writing. I am dry with work stories other than the saved ones I don't feel comfortable posting yet, so thank you for making me put something down. The fans who only email me, please feel free to put something down in public. I promise there is no way I can tell who or where you are from if you post anything under the anonymous status; plus, it's none of my concern anyways. I always respect privacy to the fullest extent unless it's already public.

Please keep the questions coming, especially you, Christy! I really enjoy the exchange and will do the best to answer each and every additional one in certain terms. I will see you all again, in another day in the life of a line cook.

Event horizon; no turning back now.

I have about 4 posts saved in drafts as of tonight. I'm not sure I feel comfortable releasing these stories just yet as I'm not quite out of the last company I worked for. I officially terminated my employment as allowed by state law, though they have the right to keep me as an "employee" for an allotted amount of time thereafter; and that time hasn't expired yet.

The policies I signed are not yet "void" as they put it. I think they're full of shit and the "at will" laws are fairly plain and simple, but I won't push my luck.

Anyways, I can still talk shit as much as I like and voice my opinion. This is how fucked up the assistant GM is. Oh my Lord, he's just so...I'm not even sure how to explain it.

When I originally put in my notice of resignation, the assistant GM (yup, not going back to look for his made up name anymore) was very concerned if I'd be able to help on Labor Day weekend. Yes, Labor Day weekend...My last day was the first week of August, though he wanted to know if I'd be available to work on Labor Day weekend. Is this odd to anyone else?

I asked him, "Do you know when Labor Day weekend is?" He said, "Yeah, I think it's the first weekend in September." Durrrr is what I was thinking. I then said, "Well, I will have a new job by then, so..." This dude, not kidding, told me to ask my interviewer/new employer if I could have Labor Day weekend off so I could work at the restaurant. SERIOUSLY!!! HE SAID THAT TO ME!!! THE ASSISTANT GM OF A VERY POPULAR CORPORATE FRANCHISE RESTAURANT SAID THAT TO ME!!!

I told him, "If I have the weekend off, that means I'm working the week and it's a holiday." He's all like, "Great! You can work here then!" I actually had to explain to him what most normal people are thinking right now, and he still didn't understand.

I'm still not sure if it's pure, and I mean the purest of stupidity, or just selfish. The best part was when he kept checking back with me daily to see if I would work it. During my final days I flat out told him, "I now have a new job in another city. That means I will not be living here and will not be working on Labor Day." I'm still not sure he if he ever "got" it.

My last "week" at the establishment, the GM had Saturday, Sunday off; worked Monday, Tuesday; and then had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off again. The thing is, is that he always has at least 2 weekends off per month since I've been there. I've never had even one, and when I wanted a Sunday off, he wasn't happy about it, so I had to take a Saturday instead. I didn't have to, but conceded to it, and then the July 4th verbal massacre happened.

My last day working there, within hours of leaving, the assistant GM called my home phone. I seen the caller ID and let the machine pick it up. He was asking me about working the next week for a few days...I just don't get it.

Anyways, I would like to do a Q & A next post. Ask me a question in a comment and I'll do my best to answer it, so long as it isn't too personal. Anything about anything I have posted so far, and even more in-depth if we stay on a decent level. I would like public comments, like my favorite, Christy! She has the courage to at least post her name, even though she's still anonymous. I promise not to add any comments from my blog email, as I never have. I wish you all would post in comments here instead of emailing them to me, though I appreciate each and every one I receive, just the same.

Q & A, hopefully, in another day in the life of a line cook.

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EDIT:

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Brief but thorough?

Yeah, I know it's been a bit since my last post. I've been so damn busy with what's been going on. The only thing keeping me going is excitement mostly. My final days at this restaurant have been the most trying as any in my time here.

Drama! Drama! Oh my God, I have no clue how I could even begin to describe the horror this place has been exposed to in the recent weeks. I'll throw out there that the GM has been working sixteen hour days and the assistant GM just finished up a TWENTY-SEVEN hour day this morning. Yeah, you both should make out okay here, at least until the psychosis sets in.

Some highlights; Since the GM has been working on the line for the last week, we've been getting along really well. When I want to smoke, I tell him to go take a five, get some air, clear your head, and then I'm going to do the same after. The first few times he's flat out said, "Nah, if I sit down I won't want to get back up." Well duh, I don't sit down though go outside to smoke and get away from this shithole of a kitchen for just a few minutes. It makes all the difference, believe me. So anyways, he declines my offers for the entire first day. Kudos to you.

Day two of the same working conditions. He's a cook now to cover for his shortage. I'm his co-worker and the normal tornado of customers come in. When there is a small hiccup in orders I tell him the same speech, "Go take five, get some air and relax for a few." He again declines saying he'll be fine. I take mine and get refocused. When I come back I tell him, "You're gonna break." He smiles and says nothing and I repeat, "You will break." and go back to work. It wasn't a taunt or anything on my part, I just knew it was inevitable and wanted him to know that it's okay to show some vulnerability, especially working in the worst part of this establishment.

A few hours later, I re-propose yet again. He takes the opportunity, finally. Straight out I say, "It's a five and I'll be timing you.", as I look up at the digital clock. He laughs and walks off. I was serious though. I don't even take five minutes to do what I do, he's had multiple opportunities to do the same, and now that he finally took one doesn't mean they are all added together. I'm not shitting you, he came back on the line, looked at the clock, and said, "It was less than five minutes." I was floored and smiled accordingly.

Okay, that was the end of that day, not really, but what was pertinent in my eyes.

The day after was the same for the most part. I could easily tell that his mood shifted and he didn't want anything to do with cooking anymore. I did the same as before and told him to go grab a five because I was going to right after. He took each offer and robustly abused it. I did the same in retaliation. Before I left for the day I asked him, "Can I get the address and phone number where you'll be staying so I can send a card, flowers and my condolences?" Confused, he replied, "What do you mean?" I went on to say, "I would like the state institution you'll be confined to so I can send my sympathies. You're gonna break eventually man." The thing is, I was serious though. It's only a matter of time considering he's still trying to do his management duties, plus a lot more than cooking hours. The day ends and I go home.

The next day I come in and he's doing the serving, host, cook, prep and bakery duties all concurrently. He's been there for hours and only left maybe eight hours earlier to get some kind of sleep. He tells me that the prep cook called in sick, sweet Jesus, who would have predicted that? Yeah, should be expected by now but the call-ins are a bit random still, especially with no consequence, so. I tell him, "I'll hold down the line and prep as much as I can.", and we both go our separate ways. I do my best to get as much done as possible. It works for the first hour.

His beautiful projections only called for a forty hour so of course there wasn't any help on the way any time soon, what meager help it would have been, though still another body. We got rocked so bad until the first waitress showed up as he scheduled. He threw on an apron and tried to help me recover. It was such a mess no matter how hard we tried. I'm not sure if anyone understands how hard it is for one cook to actually "cook" for one hundred people in one hour; it's tough with even two, even in this kitchen that is somewhat set up for it. It's impossible, flat out, impossible. When he actually had time to jump in and try to help, there was just no way. On top of that, everything we needed prepped had run dry...blah, just disgusting. He calls in a hostess and gets geared to spend another day exclusively in the kitchen.

So horrible. We get a small lull in tickets and I tell him to go take five as I'm going to after. He doesn't hesitate and bolts. When he comes back I do the same. When I come back there are six tickets hanging and he's scrambling so bad. As I walk by to my side I view the tickets. They are six tickets in total, all amounting to twelve people. The thing is that this menu is so God damn complex that what he has on those six tickets make it extremely tough to cook at the same time. Ten damn steps for each individual item. I took the opportunity as I passed to say, "When you chat with your corporate superiors, you should give them an idea I've been thinking about." I wait for his reply, "What do you mean?" I go on to say, "We really need to expand this menu. It's so limited." The GM knows I'm talking shit but he now understands why I'm talking shit; because he's trying to cook for twelve measly people but is having a very hard time doing it.

Here's the thing that stuck out to me. He agreed that the menu is tough to cook but doable. In his words, "What makes it even harder is all of these stupid substitutions. These customers are so unbelievable. How can they expect all of this?!" Whoa, he's finally breaking. He's becoming, oh my goodness, as bad a me?! Good, glad you got to walk a few days in my shoes here.

Fast forward to today. Horrible, oh my, so horrible. Same thing. Out of the blue we got rocked so hard and he had to help cook earlier than expected. By the end of the shift he actually said to me, "I have the address if you still want it." I didn't know what he was talking about and replied accordingly. He went on to say, "For the mental institution." , and he cracked a smile. I said back seriously, "Are you fried yet?" and he said, "I think so." I told him to go do his shit and I'll clean and restock as much as I could between tickets. Both sides were completely trashed. He asked me if I'd stay until five (three hours after my shift ended) and I just looked at him solemnly and said, "No." I went on to say, "Just go take your five and get some fresh air. It's beautiful outside." He did just that. It wasn't a five though, it was a forty-five. The tickets subsided and I managed to get both sides cleaned and back up to exceptional standards. He came back and apologized for taking so long and had some excuse I wasn't listening to, it didn't matter, this dude needed a mental break and I was happy to give it to him, even though he deserved every bit of what atmosphere he's created here.

I do pity this guy and his little lap dog, but it's his restaurant and he makes every little single decision accordingly to what he decides. He has his bosses too, but he's so concerned with making number one top sales and GM performance standards. Yes, he's bragged that he's the number one GM in the entire Midwest region in all of the corporate restaurants. So, it's his own doing. And his assistant decided to hitch his wagon to this horse, so, no one is to blame except them.

I have one day left until my time is done. The KM has five. We are easily their two strongest cooks/workers. The KM has been out on vacation for the last eight days, so they got to see how it was just missing one fantastic employee. After Sunday, it's neither of our problems anymore, and God help them, as smug as it sounds, they are so fucked, I can't even imagine how they will function in any form.

Okay, brief but thorough turned into long and no so thorough. I just touched on some points of interest. I actually proofread this post before I hit the publish button. It appears a bit lame to me but I'll leave it just the same. Wow, if I only had time to post what is in my brain.

I have and am going for a fantastic investment opportunity. I will elaborate on it when I find time as it has me running back and forth from cities most chances I get. When I'm officially done working, it will be way more intense as I'm throwing in a lot of money and all of my time. I will even give away the actual franchises' names of the two I have been writing about sooner or later. I'm going in with everything I have as when I was offered this unbelievable connection and actually had time to check it out substantially, I couldn't say no. I've been meeting with investors, city council members, city planners, and area banks who would like to offer me grants and 0% startup loans. It's just amazing all around. Until then, in another day in the life of a line cook.

How two weeks can feel like an eternity. Part I.

Well, worked sucked especially hard today. It was just so busy I can't even try to explain. The number of customers keep reaching new heights per hour, and for longer lengths of time too. It's just unbelievable how many people we serve each morning and afternoon shift. The evening numbers have risen also, but thankfully I'm not around for that slaughter. Plus the exuberant menu additions and allowed substitutions and general pickiness of the public makes it mostly unbearable. It was a God damn nightmare in no easier terms.

We had our first "somewhat" of a psychological breakdown today from a fellow cook. It was only a matter of time before someone snapped. At one point he screamed, "Why the fuck do they keep seating people!" I silently agreed within my own mind, but knew all too well why. The management doesn't give a shit if it literally kills us, or even if people aren't perfectly happy with their dining experience. They only see the $$$ signs, and that's the absolute truth no matter what anyone says otherwise. Everything comes there after.

He had a very good point though. The restaurant seats approximately TWO-HUNDRED and FORTY people. We were getting our asses handed to us, terribly, and they just kept seating customers. At several times each side had an easy sixty menu count items to make, sometimes more. The ticket flows never stopped. At many places, smart ones anyways, there will be a limit to how many people can get a table. If the kitchen is backed up, they won't seat any more customers until the kitchen gets back on its feet. Not here. Both sides of the kitchen were choking so viciously today that we never had a chance to get back on our feet; it was just impossible. We were kept at a solid maximum capacity for a solid eight hours. Ticket times were atrocious. Had we had even five minutes to regroup, everything would have went unbelievably better. But nope, push them in and out as fast as possible to get the $$$. Who cares if they had to wait or are upset, we got the $$$ and that's all that counts.

This poor soul of a co-worker became broken, and he was on my side cooking with me. He just starts randomly blabbing, aka freaking out, and didn't give a shit who was in listening distance. It wasn't anything new to me, as I've seen it before. I let him vent and slam things around and just kind of listened. When he appeared that he was finished, I told him, "It's okay man. We all feel like this most of the time. Go sit down on the curb, take your time, and enjoy a cigarette. Let your head clear. I've got this no problem." It was either that or watch him implode and leave forever. He honestly didn't want to because he knew full well that I was full of shit when I said, "I've got this no problem" but his brain was boiling over and he had to concede to my offer. He got really quiet like he felt bad for having to step away for a few minutes, and I'm sure he did, but damn, it gets to you sometimes, and in a really bad way. I could see this dude had met the point and thought I'd give him a quick solace. He finally took it after apologizing ten or so times and walked off the line.

He came back! Woohoo! And was in a much better place mentally. We proceeded to get pounded until after an hour past my scheduled time to leave. It was simply brutal and never ending.

On a happy note, I have a set day of resignation. I have blessedly come into an opportunity of which I won't yet mention, though am very exited about. Any exit from this realm of crap is positive, and this an excellent situation. I am traveling tomorrow to meet and discuss specifics of said circumstance and have the utmost confidence things will go my way. If things work out, this will be my final career path, and most importantly, I will love what I will do.

Let's regress back to my notice of self termination though. I thought it was disgusting and a bit humorous at the same time. There's a lot to the back story, though I'll just describe what I told the assistant GM whilst we were cooking away together the other fine morning. Well, a pertinent point is that the KM put in his notice the day earlier.

The morning is going normally bad and the assistant GM is scheduled to cook. When he gets there, he immediately comes up and opens the other side. This is quite odd as generally he'd try to do everything but, however not today. He opens the other side and says, "Turn your printer off and go have a smoke." WTF is going on here, wait a second, I know. They aren't sure if I'm aware that the KM set a date for departure or not. Well, I sure as hell do because we're friends, but I'm just going to act like normal with nothing out of the ordinary happening. I get ready to head off line and he stops me suddenly. He says, "Oh, I'm not sure if the back door is open, hang on.", he views that it is and continues, "Yeah the alarm is off so it must not be locked." I sander out the back and enjoy the morning breeze with my self-inflicted lung pollution.

I come back and things proceed into the norm. We both are cooking tickets and having small, basic chit-chat from across the line. He won't say anything, which I think is a very professional move on his part. It's none of my business what happens between employees and management, so that's great that he won't bust and spill the beans. I get sick of the charade and throw my fishing pole line out with a little bait attached. I boldly say, "I can't believe (KM) is going on vacation for ten whole days! Geeze, that sucks, I don't know if I'm going to make it." He smiles and says, "Yeah, but we'll get through it no problem. Me and Roy will be available so no worries." Okay, that's all I'm going to cast into the water. I'll just sit and wait for a nibble. Yup, you betcha I got more than just a nibble; I got a big bite. Hook, line and sinker. Damn I hate being cliché but it couldn't be more true.

The assistant GM 'casually' asks me, "So what would you do if (KM) ever decided to quit?" AHAHAHA, yeah I got you now sucker. I reply, "I don't know. I think about quitting everyday so I'd probably quit too. I'm not here for much longer anyways." He counters with, "Really? Why? That would mean you have an opportunity to move up." That really disturbed me. Firstly because they should know by now, especially with how unequivocally pronounced I've been, that I will never have nor allow myself a future here. Second of all, refer to my first point.

I inquire, "You mean take over the kitchen?" He says, "Yeah, you'd be an easy choice if that ever happened." I know my shit and would be a fantastic manager (not trying to gloat, really, I would be) but I'm an easy choice because there is no one else whatsoever. How many people verbally abuse the GM and assistant GM of a corporate restaurant semi-frequently and are rewarded for it? Yeah, none. I should have been fired weeks ago, but they can't. Not to beat around the bush I tell him, "If the job paid 100k per year, I'd still EASILY turn it down." He's blown away. Yeah, it sucks that bad buddy!

I then let him know that I'll be leaving a letter of resignation before the day is done. This guy goes into panic mode and drills me with questions, one after the other. I won't say anything other than I have a job interview that I'm sure I will get; and will accept. He possibly didn't see this coming, how I have no clue. Gahhh! I don't want to type anymore out tonight. It will likely be another twenty paragraphs. The day was so bad I am just wanting to eat and get a good night's sleep for my big day tomorrow. I hope you understand and will gladly fill in the rest of the story in a day or a few. I apologize and will see you all in another day in the life of a line cook.

How the mighty have fallen.

So I left work today and there was a message on my cell from one of my buddies. It said he was getting ready to take off for a couple of weeks for work. He's the one who is a private contractor and he's trying to finish up for the year, so he's taking on a ton of jobs in order to try to quit early this season. He wants to know if I'd like to go grab a bite before he leaves. I message him back that I will meet him after I get home and shower, and whatnot.

I finish with my tasks and check my phone and there are a couple of messages from him. The first one says, "Meet me here. t'.'t" I think that's kind of clever and something that basically defines his personality in a nut shell; a face and two arms holding up middle fingers. The next message was in the form of a photo. When I viewed it I was horrified. It was him sitting at a table in a restaurant. The picture had something else in it that made me realize undoubtedly where he was. Let's just say it was something like the golden arches that anyone would be able to figure out is McDonald's. Well this restaurant also has a trademark of sorts that I could never confuse; it was from my old restaurant. You're such a dick, I forget why we're friends.

I message him back a few vulgarities though concede to his 'random' choice. He's always loved the food there and fucking knows I don't really ever want to step foot inside that crap hole again, so it's a win/win for him. Why do best friends get so much satisfaction and happiness from the other's disdain? I'm not sure but it remains true when the tables are turned as well. Maybe it's just a guy thing but I also take any opportunity I can to embarrass the hell out of him too. It's just funny.

I figure, "Screw it." It's not like my boycott was going to last forever. At worst I'll have to say hi to a few people I used to work with, some of which I really liked anyways. So I just embark on the twenty minute journey into destiny.

When I pull up into the parking lot, I see a familiar face smoking outside by the front door. It was an ex co-worker of the kitchen from the not so distant past. First of all, what are the odds that the first human being I see would be him. Pretty good I suppose after how bad my day has progressed up to this point. Second of all, where the hell is that dick head that ninja stalked me last week? Why the hell doesn't he eat here? This guy is standing literally no less than two feet from the main entrance. If reincarnation is actually real, then I must have been the worst kind of being in my last life and am now atoning for my misdeeds.

I walk up and he spots me coming from the distance. He starts to smile and we do the usual greetings. The best part is what he tells me mid conversation. I ask him how the place has been treating him and he says, "Really good. I run the kitchen now." My brain slams on the mental brakes. Screeeech! Whoa, did I just hear that correctly? He's continuing on with some drivel that I'm not paying any attention to. I question him mid sentence, "Did you say that you're running the kitchen now?" He replies, "Yup!" That can mean only one thing; Gary has met an unfortunate outcome.

I blurt out, probably in a spastic demeanor, "That's great news, man! If anyone deserved it, you did! Congratulations!" I didn't really give a rat's ass that he was the new KM of this sinkhole, but did want to convey a bit of enthusiasm in order to make sure he would answer my next question. He says, "Thanks!" and is grinning from ear to ear. Before he can say another word, I strike. "So what happened to Gary?", appearing quite concerned. He states, "Unfortunately he was let go. He moved to (another state) and no one has heard from him since." I take in a large volume of fresh air and for that single moment, all is right in the universe once again. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy in my opinion.

For those of you that are wondering, "Who the hell is Gary?", go ahead and drift back a few months in posts. When I was working at that establishment, the mighty Gary had already invested two and a half years of his scummy bottom feeder life into the business. About a month after I began my tribulation within, he purchased a forty-thousand dollar car, I'm sure to deflect his looks and personality. Hmmmm, I wonder if he still has that sweet piece of machinery after being FIRED from his career? My satisfaction knows no bounds, truly.

I go in eventually and can hardly contain my upward mood swing. My buddy asks me why I'm so damn happy and I just tell him that I'll explain after we leave. "Drinks and the food are on me, my good friend." We have a mediocre meal and I notice that not a single other employee is familiar. Either a bunch more jumped ship or this is the new crew they managed to secure. Either way, I don't give a shit. So long as my nemesis has met, what I believed to be, his well deserved fate.

See you all in another day in the life of a line cook.

In homage to a conquered enemy I say; Good night to you, "Sweet Butter" Gary. Oh how the mighty have fallen. P.S. Suck it!