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.

REDACTED

EDIT:

REDACTED

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.