Nice day for a drive.

Not a whole lot to write about today. Went in this morning with a positive attitude as I was working with someone I could easily get along with. He is a very likable guy and a solid cook, though seems to be afraid of the line. He’s been there for two years and will take every opportunity to get out of cooking, which I suppose I can’t blame him because prep is like having a day off in this place.

So I just immediately go on line and do the set ups. I get everything just the way I like it because I know I’ll be cooking alone until I’m buried and it’s acceptable to call for help. It’s like the popular fad around there is to wait until it’s too late and then try to get caught up. It makes no sense to me, but who am I to insert my opinion yet, I’m just the new guy still. Seems keeping a steady pace throughout the service would be a rational plane of thought, you know, so the food goes out perfectly and quickly and the customers are happy. But nah, we’ll just wait until that’s not possible anymore, then go into panic mode and slop it out as quickly as we can. Sigh.

I’ve swallowed my pride before several times and requested help only to be told, “I’ll be up after I finish making the fajita marinade”. (which takes about fifteen minutes to do) Yeah, sure, take your time because I wasn’t serious buddy. I can easily wait that long, no problem. Idiot.

I’ve also been told, “I’ll help after you reach ten tickets”. Wow, thank you kindly co-worker! The first three orders are two tables of six and one of nine, but I see your point. It’s not about how many dishes I am trying to prepare concurrently, it’s all about how many tickets there are overall. Brilliant!

It also certainly doesn’t help that the line is twenty-five feet long and for one order you sometimes need to do laps.

After the lunch service is over I go back to re-stocking and pull some prep items on to the line for me to do while cooking tickets off and on. It’s efficient I think as I can kill two birds with one stone rather than walk to the prep area, start something only to be interrupted, go cook an order or two, go back to the prep area and begin, then get called back to cook…you get it, it’s a vicious circle. This way I can help prep while staying in the vicinity to cook. I’m the only person who has figured out this super-duper complex strategy. Blah, I’m rambling again.

Anyways, as I’m doing the previously mentioned, the kitchen manager comes in. He’s carrying some food items. I inquire about said items and he tells me he had to run to another city to pick up some menu components because we ran out. I was blown away. Last week he couldn’t even run to a supermarket or borrow from another restaurant but today he decides to drive two hundred miles round trip for a few things. I’m literally baffled until I realize he was actually supposed to be working on service today. Ah, now it’s becoming clear. He didn’t want to so instead he took a leisurely stroll to another city rather than, you know, work at the restaurant where we could have used him. Wow, these people are crafty!

I shrug it off best I can. I’m leaving a five p.m. so whatever. He leaves for the day because his shift is now over, poor guy, what a stressful day. I get bombed with orders from two p.m. to four p.m., so I don’t really have time to do much else other than what is necessary to get ready for the evening service. Unlike that guy in my other post, I actually make sure the night shift is ready to go, even if I’m not working that night. Weird, huh?

I finish up just before five when a front manager approaches me while she’s talking on her phone. She asks me if I could stay another four hours. I flat out tell her “Nope”. I’ll get to why in the proceeding paragraphs. She says, “He said no”, into her phone. I can see her grimace and she walks away without another word. When she strolls back through the kitchen, I ask her why she needs someone to stay. She tells me a cook called in sick. It was the kitchen manager on the phone looking for me to work because if I wouldn’t, he’d have to. I look away and continue on doing what I was doing before, all the while smiling inside.

Here’s the thing. Last week, everyone had their hours cut, and mine were shaved down to being borderline pathetic. I made it a point to speak to the kitchen manager about it and he told me that’s just how it was. They need to cut labor cost. I explained to him our conversation on my first day of work where he assured me I would receive at least forty hours per week, and probably more. He said things changed and that was final. Great! So I was again told another lie. Wow, I can see myself having an excellent future here.

This is the number one reason I said I wouldn’t work. When I ask about meager hours, I’m met with a “sorry, can’t do anything about it” attitude. It’s amusing how that pans out. When I want my guaranteed hours, it’s too bad. When they need someone to work on a moment’s notice, they expect it. I wait for the kitchen manager show up to cover this shift, imagining a confrontation; actually expecting it.

He comes in and walks past me. Doesn’t say anything until I start to tell him how I managed to get all of the night shift service work in order. He nods and asks me when I want to leave. I said I’m almost finished and tell him to let me know if there’s anything he needs before I go. He says flat out, “You were just complaining to me that you weren’t getting enough hours this week, but now you don’t want to work longer tonight”? I knew that was coming at some point. I told him I came to terms with only having this little of hours earlier in the week when I was told how it was going to be, so I made plans accordingly. This guy then says to me, “And you can’t break these important plans”? I said, “I suppose I could, but I don’t want to with fifteen minutes left on my scheduled shift. I’m sure you can understand”. He says back, “Yeah, I get it. Finish up what you’re doing here and have a good night”, as he walks away. Holy crap! I wasn’t expecting that at all. For once I won’t be leaving pissed off. I’m going to have to speak my mind more often from here on out. As I stated before, I’m new so I feel it’s too early to rock the boat. Maybe not after all.

I’ll have to wait and see how this episode affects my schedule next week. I’m thinking I’ll have way more hours than this week, but who knows. I’m VERY confident that the establishment is not prepared to let me go with all of the progress I’ve made and in such a short time. Oh yeah, another cook quit a couple days ago after he seen the new and improved schedule. So that might have something to do with my job being quite secure.

I always mean to write about stories of my past but the day-to-day of this seems to trump. Next post I’ll really try to concentrate on some doozies rather than just the daily drama. I’ll wait and see how the next day in the life of a fry cook goes.