A little taste.

I’m a bit tired after tonight so I’m not going to go too much into detail on my past experiences and stories just yet. As stated before, I recently accepted a position in a privately owned franchise restaurant. I was in between jobs at the time I applied and getting somewhat desperate, thus a bit why I chose to come back to the cooking profession. I knew I should have a decent shot of securing employment in a relatively short amount of time.

I applied and was called the very next day. I was given an interview a few days later and offered the job as a basic line cook. One of my concerns I brought up during the interview was about healthcare. The General Manager said he did offer it to all of his full-time employees, though since ObamaCare was going into effect, he wasn’t sure how the company was going to handle the changes. I told him it was a deciding factor in my decision and he assured me that I would indeed be full-time and be offered it once things were more clear, which should be after my 3 month probation period.

I left the interview with high hopes having received a good starting wage with substantial increases in the near future, a good chance of being promoted to lower management very early on, and my healthcare I really wanted. The perks were right on point and the path looked promising. Now, if I could just fall back into my old ways in the cooking world and pick up where I left off, over 5 years ago.

It was mostly the same as I remembered, like riding a bike. The first couple of days I was on prep. In my experience, this is the easiest damn part of working in a kitchen by far. I almost feel bad for getting paid a higher wage and probably would have except for the fact that it can get boring and you can be abused by the cooks if they are lazy. The third night, a Saturday, I was on line and on broiler; the first time in many years. To make 10 paragraphs a lot shorter, I did well. The proceeding nights I was cross-trained in fryers, salad station, grill, and so on. Fast forward to 4 weeks later, I’m running the line, calling out orders, checking quality, garnishing, expediting, etc. and feeling very confident on my future here. I learned the line quickly and can go toe-to-toe with most every cook here in any position.

Two weeks ago, I come in early to set up and the owner is already in the kitchen. First time I had ever seen him. He introduces himself and we shake hands and exchange pleasantries. When the kitchen manager arrives, he informs me that the General Manager was let go and there is a new one coming in later in the day. That’s why the owner was there. That’s just fantastic. So there goes my whole “deal” I had with the hiring GM.

Last week after our mandatory company meeting, I question the kitchen manager about my concerns. He tells me we’ll sit down and discuss it with our new GM. He pulls him aside and we grab a table in the dining room. I explain to him the conversation I had during my interview and he flat out tells me that what I was told was a blatant lie. He goes on to say that no cook at my level within the entire franchise has health insurance, and only some management receives it. The kitchen manager backs up his word saying that the old GM had a tendency of saying things that people wanted to hear to get what he wanted out of them. I was floored. How absolutely shady is that!? To think I felt bad for the guy getting fired, shame on me. I should know this crap happens by now.

We discuss the other stipulations and he tells me that he could honor them should I progress further as they expect me to. He then asks me, jokingly, which was an insult, if this changes my outlook on working there. I told him YES, VERY MUCH SO. Visually taken back, he then goes off into how he’ll try to compensate me “down the road”. Yeah, I know exactly what that means; I’m not going to do anything, I just want to get out of this uncomfortable conversation for now and I’ll deal with it later, should it arise again. Then to further subdue me, he tells me that I’m already being thought of for a supervisor or assistant management position. I just said, “Thank you for the consideration and clearing things up for me”. He shook my hand and I left. I’ve been stewing on this since last week.

Feeling particularly low, I go in tonight. I rock the line per usual when this self-proclaimed second in command tells me how it’s going to be with “cut work” for the night. This is the work a person, who isn’t the closer, has to do before their shift ends. It’s a lot of cleaning and re-stocking basically, but it takes a lot of time to do. He states that I will be doing my own plus the other guy’s, who is off an hour later than me, because he wants an easy close. I say “Sure”, as I’m kind of pissed off inside, but who am I to say anything. I’ve only been there a bit over a month and I’m not the type of person to rock the boat, just yet.

The orders slow for a minute and he tells me to go out back to take 5 and grab a smoke. I do and a minute behind me is him. I stay civil and we chat. At that point, it occurs to me I’ve heard his lighter ignite way more times than just once to fire up a cig. I look over at him and from the glow of the outside lights I can see him taking hits off of a pipe. Hmm, I wonder what he is doing.

Let me get this out first and foremost. I don’t give a **** if people want to smoke marijuana. I did it when I was younger and think it should be legal. HOWEVER, I don’t condone it when you’re getting paid to do a job with a clear head. Other people’s actions can directly affect me, and this, I assume, was the reason he wanted an easy close. So it affected me into doing more work and staying late so one dickhead could have an easier workload. Hell, I like to drink but don’t do it while I’m at work and I sure as hell wouldn’t expect others to compensate for my lack of work ethic.

I put up with the inconvenience and have to stay a little later. I put my coat on to leave and go to clock out at a computer. This high as hell dummy tells me to wait so he can check my work. I tell him that he can check it whenever he wants and to let me know if something is wrong the next time we work together, but I’m leaving regardless. He doesn’t say a word, just mindlessly looks at me as I walk out of the kitchen.

So that was a little history of my current work and night, and that wasn’t even the complete story of the whole evening. I just don’t feel like writing anymore tonight. I can’t wait to see if this dick says anything, you know, because he was getting high and trying to subordinate another co-worker to makes his night easier. I’ll elaborate in my next post or I’ll possibly just wait for the next tale to tell, of a day in the life of a fry cook. I know it won’t be long.

Coming attractions may include some past experiences and stories that will blow your mind from different popular restaurants. I’ll probably even name the franchises.