so, i'm sure i have worked a saturday night slower than last night, but i can't remember one. it was bad. the griz game was on tv at 4 so i know a lot of our customers were at home watching, and i just figured it would get busy afterwards. nuh-uh. it was funny, when i came in at two the boss, who was already working for somebody in the am, told me he called off jenney again and that he was coming back for dinner. i told him he didn't have to, that i could handle it by myself. then all night when it was slow i keep looking at him going "see? i told you i could have done this!". it seems like when i get super prepared for a rush i never get one, and last night was no exception. i worked furiously to get things done for dinner rush and then there was no freaking dinner rush.
here's a timeline of my day
1:40 pm - leave house, stop and get gas and smokes, head to work
2:00 pm - arrive at work, excited it's my friday and hopeful of a slammin dinner
2:20 pm - finally get everybody else out of kitchen and get it somewhat clean. cooked a six top.
2:25 pm - flipped the sammich bar--22 containers, washed said containers
2:30 pm - got a few open minutes to change the oil in the fryer--this is important, as we're running fish n chips for special, and it's better when the oil is new.
2:45 pm - got bakers washed and in the oven, got more mashed potatoes and chicken gravy hot, made sure garlic butter was topped off, filled water and oil squeeze bottles, cooked a couple more tables
3:00 pm - smoked.
3:10 pm - made a double batch of beer batter, complete with six bottles of bayern amber. wanted to take a bath in it. we had 17 orders of the halibut prepped up so i needed a ton of batter.
3:15 pm - washed and thinly sliced 8 or 9 russet potatoes for the pub chips, got them blanching in cold water with a splash of lemon juice. the way i slice them, half a potato will yield about 20-25 slices, and that's plenty enough, it's a nice pile in the basket.
now i'm kind of losing it...i remember cooking a few orders, consoling jessie (as much as anyone can console jessie) about getting screwed on like three tables in a row (two bucks on a forty five dollar ticket, four bucks on a seventy dollar ticket, and one other i can't remember), and i probably smoked a bunch more times.
4:00 pm - had the prime rib on the board to let it rest for an hour, had the bakers on the line, mashies full, reach in cooler stocked (cheeses, diced/sliced veg, sammich meats), stand up cooler stocked (burgers, chicken breasts, salmon filets, racks of ribs, lasagna, meatloaf, pesto, heavy whip, sirloins, ribeyes, pork chops), line freezers stocked (fries, sweet tater fries, chicken strips, chicken fried steaks, breaded mushrooms, cheese sticks, fantail shrimp, pastys, kid burgers, p & d shrimpies), all breads and buns stocked to the gills....pretty much just fucking ready for anything.
4-6 pm - was sort of busy...not busy, i guess, but occupied the whole time. still convinced a good dinner rush would happen. by myself since two (usually the second cook comes in at 5, i told boss he could come in whenever or not come in at all) bossman gets there a little after six, and i had just rocked what would turn out to be the only significant rush of the night.
6-8 pm - nothing. just me and boss bullshitting in the kitchen, cooking the occasional table. messed about with the girls and danny boy. oh, actually i told a story that made my boss hustle out of the kitchen toward the office with his fingers plugging his ears. it was hilarious. he's super easily grossed out. i smoked a lot in this time frame. at 8 i told boss to "get his shit done and get out of here" like i would with any other cook. "sweep this fucking floor i'm gonna go smoke"
8-10 pm - also nothing. just a busted ass saturday. we would have saved money by being closed. there was me, three servers, a dishwasher, and a hostess, and i bet there wasn't 800 in sales all night. on a good saturday all three servers can do 800. out of the seventeen fish n chips we had prepped up, we sold a whopping TWO.
yeah, two.
and i think i only sold like four or five cuts of prime. we did a lot of standing in what i refer to as kitchen pose, one hand steadying you against a counter or cutting board or freezer or whatever, and the other hand on the hip. we all do it. it's not terribly comfortable or manly looking but i've noticed i slip into kitchen pose a lot and so does everybody else. if we lean back against anything that anything just starts scooting backwards and pretty soon the steam table in in the dish pit. so kitchen pose it is.
anyway, what a long post about absolutely nothing happening. till next week y'all, i gots some sunday morninging to do...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
uno mas
so, friday went pretty well. the halibut and pub chips started off slow but then went on a little run and we sold quite a few...at least ten orders, and i think we only had 12 prepped up. we ran out of the chips three times, though...two times coming within a minute and a half of another. plus boss took two orders home and crystal and jessie each had one. and my usual friday night kitchen compatriot was out with the flu and tina came in and she's never worked a friday at this restaurant, and her and i only work together one day a week (spag day!) and we don't really have a good routine. aaron (usual fri closer) and i have been working together for seven or eight years, and can pretty much knock out a dinner rush without having to talk about food or tickets...we each kind of have a side of the kitchen that we're responsible for, but we also swap back and forth if need be. i call it the kitchen dance. we're so used to scooting past eachother with knives and plates of hot things in our hands that it flows like a little dance. i sometimes feel clunky working with other people. anyway, tina did a helluva job. i dunno how busy she gets on sunday or monday, but i know how busy we get on tuesdays (not much) and we got hella busy for a little while yesterday. not super good friday night dinner rush busy, but busy enough that i had to pop to her side of the kitchen and help her out a bit. it's okay, i'm cool with that. also boss was kind of hanging around the kitchen and i like it when he sees me kick the shit out of a dinner rush. i've worked for him for many moons and he's seen it countless times, but it's still fun to show off to somebody who appreciates it.
anyway, we're doing the halibut again tonight, and hopefully jenney works...she's supposed to, but she also called in with the flu yesterday. me and tina are the only not-sick night cooks, and she has to have a day off...i may end up working dinner rush with the boss. and lemme tell ya, i've worked for a guy who would never in a million years put on an apron and rub elbows with the kitchen staff for a lunch rush, much less help out doing dishes or waiting tables. my current boss actually works every sunday morning, knocking out hashbrowns and pancakes, is around pretty much every day with an apron on at some point, doing prep or washing dishes or letting a cook go home early and watching the kitchen. it's great. it's good to have a boss that knows exactly what it's like to be on the line getting your ass whooped. anyhoo, if bossman has to work tonight that's fine, cause we get along great, he laughs at all my dirty jokes, and i can cook circles around him and i like showing off. plus i like letting him get a little behind and then yelling "i need those fucking fries! goddammit, keep up with me here!"
i'd like to address what has become somewhat of a question for some folks i know (mainly mikey and his gf over at http://www.mikewatchestoomuchtv.blogspot.com/). yes. most chefs/cooks/kitchen folk smoke cigarettes. theres's two main reasons, for that, i think...
1. it's hot, hectic, and at times, frustrating and annoying working in restaurants. especially in the kitchen. we stand up all day, and it's at least 90 degrees at eye level in my kitchen with the potential to get much hotter, everything is kind of smoking and steaming and throwing wavy heat lines in the air, it smells of fryer and grilled meat, and smoking a cigarette is a welcome relief to all that, providing an opportunity mostly to sit down and get some fresh air. and the front of the house has it's own frustrations, like screaming children, demanding customers, and in our case, pervy truckers. sometimes a server just HAS TO GET THE FUCK OUT for a second so she doesn't stab somebody. it's funny, in my experience, cooks smoke and make dick jokes and laugh a lot, and servers smoke really quickly and in a tense manner, usually texting somebody. anyway, most of us smoke cause it's an excuse to leave for a second and we don't normally follow any regimented break pattern. i just smoke when there's no tickets and i feel like it.
2. i feel like this is the most important reason. remember when you were in high school, and when you went to lunch at taco bell with your buddies, you drove past all those metal and punker kids across the street smoking? remember those kids? the ones with dyed hair and ramones and slayer t shirts? yeah. we grew up. you went to college, and we took menial jobs right out of high school (if indeed we graduated at all). we smoke so much cause we started early. most of us in the restaurant biz, and in the service industry in general, are those kids. granted, some of us went to college (like me), graduated (like me), and couldn't find a job in their field of study (like me). i just realized i liked cooking more than i liked business management. i don't want to wear a polo shirt with a corporate logo. i don't want to wear khakis. anyway, we in the restaurant business, and cooks especially, are the kids you saw out the window skateboarding while you were actually sitting in history class. we're the ones who smelled like weed after lunch, and who carved metallica and van halen logos into the desks. and we just got older. but we're still the same kids.
hope that helps. anyway, i'll give ya the lazy sunday am post and let ya know how much ass i kicked tonight.
anyway, we're doing the halibut again tonight, and hopefully jenney works...she's supposed to, but she also called in with the flu yesterday. me and tina are the only not-sick night cooks, and she has to have a day off...i may end up working dinner rush with the boss. and lemme tell ya, i've worked for a guy who would never in a million years put on an apron and rub elbows with the kitchen staff for a lunch rush, much less help out doing dishes or waiting tables. my current boss actually works every sunday morning, knocking out hashbrowns and pancakes, is around pretty much every day with an apron on at some point, doing prep or washing dishes or letting a cook go home early and watching the kitchen. it's great. it's good to have a boss that knows exactly what it's like to be on the line getting your ass whooped. anyhoo, if bossman has to work tonight that's fine, cause we get along great, he laughs at all my dirty jokes, and i can cook circles around him and i like showing off. plus i like letting him get a little behind and then yelling "i need those fucking fries! goddammit, keep up with me here!"
i'd like to address what has become somewhat of a question for some folks i know (mainly mikey and his gf over at http://www.mikewatchestoomuchtv.blogspot.com/). yes. most chefs/cooks/kitchen folk smoke cigarettes. theres's two main reasons, for that, i think...
1. it's hot, hectic, and at times, frustrating and annoying working in restaurants. especially in the kitchen. we stand up all day, and it's at least 90 degrees at eye level in my kitchen with the potential to get much hotter, everything is kind of smoking and steaming and throwing wavy heat lines in the air, it smells of fryer and grilled meat, and smoking a cigarette is a welcome relief to all that, providing an opportunity mostly to sit down and get some fresh air. and the front of the house has it's own frustrations, like screaming children, demanding customers, and in our case, pervy truckers. sometimes a server just HAS TO GET THE FUCK OUT for a second so she doesn't stab somebody. it's funny, in my experience, cooks smoke and make dick jokes and laugh a lot, and servers smoke really quickly and in a tense manner, usually texting somebody. anyway, most of us smoke cause it's an excuse to leave for a second and we don't normally follow any regimented break pattern. i just smoke when there's no tickets and i feel like it.
2. i feel like this is the most important reason. remember when you were in high school, and when you went to lunch at taco bell with your buddies, you drove past all those metal and punker kids across the street smoking? remember those kids? the ones with dyed hair and ramones and slayer t shirts? yeah. we grew up. you went to college, and we took menial jobs right out of high school (if indeed we graduated at all). we smoke so much cause we started early. most of us in the restaurant biz, and in the service industry in general, are those kids. granted, some of us went to college (like me), graduated (like me), and couldn't find a job in their field of study (like me). i just realized i liked cooking more than i liked business management. i don't want to wear a polo shirt with a corporate logo. i don't want to wear khakis. anyway, we in the restaurant business, and cooks especially, are the kids you saw out the window skateboarding while you were actually sitting in history class. we're the ones who smelled like weed after lunch, and who carved metallica and van halen logos into the desks. and we just got older. but we're still the same kids.
hope that helps. anyway, i'll give ya the lazy sunday am post and let ya know how much ass i kicked tonight.
Friday, September 25, 2009
huzzah!
i'm so stoked right now...i just read a comment from somebody i don't know! like, i mean, there's people besides me and grandma that are reading this! whoo-hoo! whoever you are, tell your friends, there's literary lunacy to be found here!
literary lunacy would be a good name for a band
literary lunacy would be a good name for a band
haha i'm dumb
so, er...i guess some of the posts i tried to make actually made it to the blog. sue me. it's not like i read it, i just write it. i look at the posting page mostly. sometimes i look at pictures of ladies with their clothes off.
ok it works
alrighty...well, it's been a long week already and i still got two shifts to go. i've been kind of bumming this week, for reasons unknown. tuesday i had a pretty bad day at work and i came home and rattled off a ton of shit i had on my mind and that's when the website crashed and my post was lost. it's probably better that way. it was a fairly depressing rant that turned into an ugly tirade. i feel better now, i guess, for having written it, even though it didn't get posted. kind of the old "write a letter mad letter to someone but never send it". i dunno. i think i saw it in a movie. anyway. whatever. work is work. it sucks sometimes but it also rules occasionally. i can't complain. i got it a hell of a lot better than a lot of folks. i laugh a lot at work, and i get to smoke all the time, and i cuss and make dick jokes constantly, and sometimes i wear a fake moustache, and i'm always busting people's balls, and i'm comfortable shitting there. it doesn't sound like much, but i know a lot of people who don't feel comfortable pooping at work. actually, i don't, really...i barely know anybody, but i would imagine lots of people hate it. whatever, we got hardcore strength poo spray, and i pick my times wisely. i'm by myself in the afternoon a lot. plus i got a blackberry so i can totally surf the web when i'm in there. it's pretty awesome, actually.
wow. ANYway...
once again it's friday, and i'm stoked cause we're running the gnar halibut and pub chips. we've done it a few times this summer and it's always gone over well. i'd just like to point out that i suggested it well over a year ago as a special, because the boss used to have the best fish n chips in town at the old restaurant. our current fish and chips are mediocre at best. at first when i suggested it he kind of balked cause we already have fish n chips and running a different fish n chips as a special would confuse our customers. and i kind of agree...most of our customers and old and/or truckers. anyway, it was when i suggested doing fresh pub chips with the fish to set it apart from our menu fish n chips that he decided to do it. the pub chips are a huge hit (boss's mom loves them, so that helps considerably) and they're SUPER easy...i just slice russet potatoes on the slicer, not too thin...then i blanch them in water and a bit of lemon juice for a couple hours, and then just chuck them in the fryer and toss them with some seasoning mix (i tend to meddle a bit and make a different one every time i do the chips). they come out somewhere between home fries and lay's chips, and everybody seems to like them. and the halibut, with our kick ass beer batter, is awesome, and the girls usually bug bossman until he tells me to cook one for the crew.
anyway, so that's what's on tap for tonight. i'm listening to ice cream man by van halen right now, and it's near the top of itunes when i sort by times played. it's pretty much the best song ever.
so, yeah...that's it.
wow. ANYway...
once again it's friday, and i'm stoked cause we're running the gnar halibut and pub chips. we've done it a few times this summer and it's always gone over well. i'd just like to point out that i suggested it well over a year ago as a special, because the boss used to have the best fish n chips in town at the old restaurant. our current fish and chips are mediocre at best. at first when i suggested it he kind of balked cause we already have fish n chips and running a different fish n chips as a special would confuse our customers. and i kind of agree...most of our customers and old and/or truckers. anyway, it was when i suggested doing fresh pub chips with the fish to set it apart from our menu fish n chips that he decided to do it. the pub chips are a huge hit (boss's mom loves them, so that helps considerably) and they're SUPER easy...i just slice russet potatoes on the slicer, not too thin...then i blanch them in water and a bit of lemon juice for a couple hours, and then just chuck them in the fryer and toss them with some seasoning mix (i tend to meddle a bit and make a different one every time i do the chips). they come out somewhere between home fries and lay's chips, and everybody seems to like them. and the halibut, with our kick ass beer batter, is awesome, and the girls usually bug bossman until he tells me to cook one for the crew.
anyway, so that's what's on tap for tonight. i'm listening to ice cream man by van halen right now, and it's near the top of itunes when i sort by times played. it's pretty much the best song ever.
so, yeah...that's it.
is this working today?
i had written an epic post...thirty paragraphs, pulitzer-worthy investigatory journalism, the cures for both AIDS and monkeypox, and blogger.com fucking FAILED and lost all of it. i apologize to all one readers who may have been inconvienced by this.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
stupid blogspot!
i just had a huge post and fucking blogspot FAILED and it's gone now. i just want to say that it was pulitzer worthy, sixteen paragraphs long, and contained to answer to world peace. also there were pictures of my junk. too bad, world!
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