introducing the f n g. again.

for those of you not in the business, f n g means fucking new guy.  for the second time in around three months, i am the f n g.  but that's good, though, cause it means i got a job!  i was out of work for a week.  dropped tons of resumes but only got two callbacks.  the good thing is the second callback was for a place i really wanted to work.  the first place is a highly recommended steakhouse, but it's a bit of a drive, and the job i took is way easier to get to.  i also take perverse pleasure in the fact that it's just a stone's throw from the place i was unceremoniously dumped from.  although, i gotta tell ya, a week after the fact, i honestly couldn't care less.  it wasn't really working for me anyway.  i am glad that i made up with some people, and word on the street is that everybody knows what really went down, so it's all good.  although i did hear today from somebody who heard it was "a mutual thing" that i left.

ha.

anyway...i don't care.  everybody at that place rules except for one lying little snake-type creature, and that person digs their own holes, and kitchen karma works way faster than regular karma. 

anyway, new job!  it's awesome!  i rocked the broiler and the fryers.  made lots and lots of killer fish tacos, and cooked a ton of BIG FAT JUICY burgers.  new new place (i gotta find a better name for it) has a kick ass menu, and virtually everything is scratch made...just how i like it.

my pizza is done and the mets game is on, so i'm not gonna go on and on, although i could.  new job is rad.  love it already.

also glad to blog again.

a final act of classiness

so, how we did the tips at the old place (place i was just pushed out of) is that instead of having each server tip the cooks and dishwashers out at the end of each shift, all the tips are pooled and on the fridays we don't get paid we got our tips.  they were always split equally between the day crew (who did most of the prep) and night crew (who did lots of cooking).  so, yesterday was the tip friday.  after all the stuff that went down i didn't go back and get my tips cause i needed to cool off, and i was busy looking for another job.  so i went in this morning.  calm, smiling, not looking for a fight or to cause a scene.  el chefe was out front and i said "hey, do i got tips?" and he goes "no, we split them up between everybody else, we didn't think you were coming back."  i said "well, i'm not really coming back, i just want my tips."  he said "we thought you'd never set foot in here again"

is that a good reason to not give me the tips i worked for and rightfully deserve?  i don't think so.  was i surprised?  fuck no!  do i feel my last paycheck is in jeopardy?  fuck yes!  do i feel fucked out of fifty bucks?  you bet!  am i gonna get mad and do something about it?  nah. 

but do i want to?

hell yes i do.

guess who's the asshole?

guess who's the bad guy here?  me.  i got let go today.  fired isn't really the right word but i was told "you don't want to work here anymore.  nobody likes you."  i was pushed out.  i'm not a cool kid.  can't hang with the big boys.  apparently the pictures i posted (and took down when i was asked) had a few people up in arms, angry with me for pointing out their mistakes.  nobody asked if i was angry for having to deal with all that in the am (which i was), nobody asked if i maybe had something else going on in my life that was influencing my attitude at work (which there is), and nobody looked at it as constructive criticism (which it is).  people just looked at it as "oh, mike is a big fat jerk for showing and telling people there's problems that need to be addressed". 

you know, this blog used to be fun to write.  it's always been anonymous, i've been pretty careful not to use anybody's real names or ever, EVER mention the name of the place i work.  if you know me it's not too hard to connect the dots but that's not my problem.  i never meant to hurt anybody's feelings, nor was i personally attacking anyone.  i used this forum as a place to vent my frustrations and anger so it didn't end up elsewhere.  i have a problem with letting my anger and frustrations bottle up inside me and i know that, and my blog was a fun way to blow off steam at the end of the day, and i always felt better after getting my thoughts out.

today i felt personally attacked and disrespected, to a degree i've never felt before.  i've been working in kitchens since a lot of this staff was in grade school, and i know my shit.  i've always worked for owners and managers that knew their shit.  my old boss grew up in the business, and i got to pick his brain for nearly 12 years about the do's and don't's of the whole thing.  i know my stuff.  i'm truly sorry if pointing out things that i'm worried about bothered anybody.  maybe my blog wasn't the place for that.  but nobody around that place ever listened to me, or asked for my input or help, everytime i tried to step up and say something it fell on deaf ears, and i never felt like i was part of their little gang.  outsider since day one.  i tried to fit in, but i guess that's just how it goes.  i feel like nobody there cares that my wife has been out of work for nearly a month and i'm worried i can't pay my bills.  yesterday was my wife's birthday and i didn't have the money to buy her anything or take her out to dinner.  that bothered me.  and you know why i didn't have any money?  because i took a $500 dollar a month pay cut to come to the new place and be a part of their team, because i believed in them.  all i was told from day one was how awesome and professional everything would be, and then when i see things that maybe aren't so awesome and professional, i'm the asshole for pointing it out.  i just wanted to work, and to try and make that place all that i know it can be.  i'm sorry if i feel that someone who put themselves on the schedule at 8 should be there at 8.  i'm sorry if that made me mad.  apparently i'm the jerk for just wanting people to show up on time.  the night guys don't finish their work before they leave, and i'm the jerk for saying "hey, the night guys don't finish their work before they leave".  i'm sorry if i'm the one that had to point out a lot of things, and i'm sorry that everybody was seemingly blind to them in the first place.

i feel like i'm apologizing too much.  my feelings are hurt, though, and there's a huge part of me that wants to just blast out a post that's nothing but anger and profanity and tell-all information.  but that's not how i roll.  i'm bigger than that.  i wish the other owners would have talked to me about their issues.  i would have loved to sit down and point out to them all the times i mentioned on my blog how awesome that place is, and how stoked i was about it's potential, and how i really wanted to make it successful, and how happy and proud i was of the work i did there.  but sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. 

i'm a worker, man, and i'm gonna carry on.  i'll find something.  it just sucks to be the last one picked for kickball, or i guess in my case, the kid who gets pushed down and told "you can't play with us, you told me i pooped my pants!"  hey...you're the one who pooped your pants.  don't get pissed at me cause i pointed it out.

it sucks, cause today i showed up ready to work, smile on my face and ready to put a sticky situation behind us, i was ready to apologize to the owners for hurting their feelings, but also defend and explain myself.  i really wanted the chance to do that.  whether or not that changed the outcome of anything, i still wanted to explain my side of the story.  i'm bummed nobody let me.

on a lighter note, i have the weekend off, which is pretty awesome.  also i don't have to pick rosemary out of my teeth anymore. 

wish i coulda made one last soup though...

you must be mistaken

no.  no, i'm sorry, sir...i'm afraid you must be mistaken.  there wasn't a post here earlier.  what's that you say?  pictures?  no, i'm sorry, i don't remember anything like that sir, perhaps you were thinking of another blog?  hmm...you're sure it was this one...i'm afraid i can't help you sir.  well, no, sir, there's very clearly not any pictures here.  i don't like your tone, if you don't mind me saying...well, do you see any pictures?  ok then.  have a nice day.

also check this out

so, i was at a bookstore recently and bought a book called waiter rant.  it's really good, it's kind of a front of the house kitchen confidential.  even though i've never waited tables, as a kitchen lifer i identify and sympathize with a lot of the stories and experiences in the book.  anyway, highly recommended.  turns out this guy had a blog that was a lot like what i do, he came home after a shitty shift and ranted a bit, or after a good day he shared his triumphs.  just a good ol restaurant blog.  anyway, he's still at it, and it's a fantastic read.


http://www.waiterrant.net

who's more important?

every place i've worked has some sort of disconnect between the day crew and the night crew.  as someone who spent nearly all of my 12 years in kitchens working mid shifts (11-8) i've always been able to straddle the line, so to speak, and be on good terms with both the day crew and night crew.  don't get me wrong, i did my fair share of closing,  but for some reason i've always been scheduled in a mid shift.  i think it's so i could cook both lunch and dinner.  anyway.  what i'm getting at is that there's always sniping back and forth between the day and night guys, "these guys didn't stock this" and "those guys didn't clean this"  as a night guy i was forever complaining that the day crew could spill pancake batter on the floor and i had to clean it up, but if i forgot to stock the tomatoes before i closed i'd hear about it the next day.  now that i'm the opener, i see things from a whole new perspective.  and maybe it's the new shifts, or maybe it's the new restaurant, but part of me has totally switched allegiances and part of me is pissed at myself for jumping ship.  i dunno, it's hard to describe.  i love my new hours...i don't mind at all getting up early and going to work early because i know i'll be home at a reasonable hour, and after so many years of odd nighttime hours it's pretty nice to lead a sort of normal home life with my wife.  we eat dinner when the rest of the world does, i find we cook more (as opposed to fast food type stuff), and i don't have to dvr any of my shows anymore, i get to watch them when they're on now.  but there's a part of me that knows dinner service is when the big money is made, and it's when the restaurant is busiest and loudest and most banging and there's a part of me that misses being there, that feels like, knowing how good i am at what i do, i should be there.

anyway, that's not my point.  my point is that as an opener i'm dealing with a whole different set of hurdles at work every day.  nearly every day when i come in, there's at least one bus tub full of dinner dishes, with sauce and ketchup and melted cheese crusted on everything, and the remnants of ranch dressing solidifying in the dressing cups.  the silverware is usually still sitting in the soak bin.  a couple of times here recently there's been a lot of dishes left overnight, so many so that i have to actually run a few loads just so i have clean plates to serve breakfast on.  also it's apparently ok for the night guys to leave the stations unstocked...like, i come in in the morning and flip open the sandwich station and all the cheeses are half full and the mayo is pretty much gone and there's only a handful of mushrooms left, but everything is wrapped, meaning the time was took to saran wrap each six pan, but no time was taken to stock.  i dunno...i know at all the places i closed at, i had to stock my shit at the end of the night.  i'd hear about it the next day if i didn't.  and the kitchens i came up in, whether you were closing or not, you stocked and cleaned before you left.  period.  now i get to work, stock and clean somebody else's shit, cook my shift, stock and clean my shit, and leave. 

it leaves me feeling wierd.