Johnny Buco

Several years ago, I worked for a preeminent Toronto Chef. Well, that's not entirely truthful. I worked at one of said chefs restaurants as a line cook. It was a big step up for me at the time. While I had worked in restaurants for years, this was only my second full time cooking position. Additionally, it was a significant step up in food quality. I mean, this was a well known Chef with many top rated restaurants. And while this was not one of his flagship stores, there were still very high expectations from the dinning public.

Working in that kitchen was amazing. Our head Chef was very good, and our Sous Chefs were remarkable. They saw early on, that while I did not have the skills and experience of the other line cooks, my work ethic combined with my willingness to learn was beyond reproach. By the time I left my position there, I was by far a superior line cook. In fact, when I finally moved on, I had three job offers, including an offer to help open the newest store for that company.

I learned so much there and I own a big thank you to the chefs that mentored me while I was there. This is not to say things went smoothly all the time. I had plenty of over and under cooked steaks, I struggled with breakfast service, and more than a few times heard it from the Chefs. We don't need to rehash all the gory details, but there is one story in particular that I would like to tell.

While I was learning and progressing well, there was one thing that early on, gave me a great deal of trouble and many sleepless nights. I started on the Veg station. I suppose this is a good time to explain how most kitchens are set up. The area in a kitchen where the majority of the food is prepared is called the line. Salads and deserts are often prepared at a secondary station. On one side of the line stands the Chef, on the other side are the cooks. When a server places an order, it prints up on the Chefs side of the line and he/she calls out the order to the appropriate station on the other side.

Generally as you walk down a line you will start at the Veg station, and this is pretty much as it sounds. This is the station where plates are prepared with both vegetables and starches. The Veg station is generally next to the Grill. The Grill station is where steaks, burgers, as well as other grilled items such as salmon are cooked. Generally, the Veg and Grill cook work very closely together as the Grill cook, relies on the Veg cook to set up plates for the food being prepared on the Grill. For example, if you order a steak, with seasonal vegetables and roasted potatoes, the Grill cook will prepare your steak and the Veg cook will do the vegetables and potatoes.

Generally there are two more stations, the Sauce and Fish station followed by the Pasta Station. During my time at this restaurant I started on Veg and moved my way down to Pasta, learning how to cook and prepare every item on our menu.

As I mentioned previously the Veg and Grill stations work very closely together often relying on one another to complete plates and orders. There was one glaring exception to this when I started at this particular restaurant ...

OSSO BUCO

Osso Buco consists of a cross cut veal shank, braised with vegetables, white wine and beef broth. When it is done right, it is without a doubt one of the most mouth watering, tender and delicious cuts of meet you will ever experience. Ours was served on creamy polenta, another delectable bit of European cuisine.

If you have never cooked Osso Buco, let me tell you, it is not easy. To get the perfect tenderness requires skills that I did not have at the time of my initial employment there. I struggled to get it just right. Being a shank, Osso Buco is a large round cut of meat with a large round bone in the middle of it. Osso Buco literally means, bone in hole, I kid you not. The idea is that you cook it until the meat separates from the bone and becomes incredibly tender. For the life of me, I could not figure out how to do this. One of the Sous Chefs (who is now my best friend) kept explaining that I would know it was done when it popped. For two weeks, I had no idea what he meant. I also knew that this dish was the hill I would either thrive on, or die on, and I was not ready to die.

I eventually learned that 'pop', is the expression used to describe what happens when meant finally separates from the bone during cooking.

While I worked at this particular restaurant, the menu was changed every season, so every three months we had to learn to cook and plate new dishes. While I absolutely hated this for the first 9 months I worked there, I came to appreciate how valuable this was in my journey to becoming a Chef.

As mentioned previously, for the most part, meat comes from the Grill, and veg and starch come from the Veg station. Because Osso Buco could not be cooked to order (it takes several hours) I was put in charge of preparing it. As a result, the entire Osso Buco dish was prepared and plated on the Veg station. And I was the Veg cook. Leaning to cook Osso Buco, is how I learned to never ask a chef how long it takes to cook something, especially meat, it takes as long as it takes. Every oven is different, every cut of meat and every piece of meat is different.

As it happened, I started right at the beginning of a menu cycle. And keep in mind, when I started, I had no idea the menu changed every three months. I struggled for almost a full month with the preparation of this particular dish. But once I finally got it, I mastered it.

After three months, it was time for a menu change. My Chef wanted to keep the Osso Buco on the menu, the Chef who's name was on the front of the building did not. When it came time for a menu tasting, my Chef served my Osso Buco, to The Chef. The Osso Buco, stayed on the menu.

From that point on, my Chef trusted only me to prepare the Osso Buco and three months later when we changed the menu again, I had gained the nickname ... Johnny Buco

More from My Super Fun Day

This post ended up being much longer than I had anticipated, so I decided to break it into two posts. So without further ado ...

The time is now 10:00 am and I am finally able to sit down and check my email. Nothing pressing so it's time to check and see how things are going out in the cafe. Everything appears to be running smoothly and I have time to chat with some of the students, staff and faculty. I don't want all of you to get the impression that I hate my job and everything about it sucks. That is so far from the truth.

There are a lot of things that I love about this job. I love that I get to interact with my customers. As a chef you don`t often get the opportunity to interact with the people who eat your food because you are in the kitchen. I also have a great schedule for a chef, I work days, get all my weekends and stat holidays off, as well as two weeks at Christmas. I also do not have a boss looking over my shoulder all the time, and seeing as my boss works at another location, I have a lot of latitude in terms of how I structure my day.

Speaking of my day ...

Time to check my email, and this time there is something there. When I was at North Campus earlier in the day, I picked up a couple of cases of bread. Late last week North Campus was low on bread (again) and borrowed a couple of cases from us. Now they have returned what they borrowed.  And guess what? They need more bread because someone left it out. Our bread for our sandwich station comes in frozen and we bake it in house. The bread sticks are supposed to be pulled and trayed the night before and then baked in the morning. Apparently, at North Campus, someone pulled the bread boxes but forgot to tray the sticks and put them in the fridge overnight, so the bread sticks have over proofed and can't be used. This can happen when you have predominantly new staff. But I do have one question.

Anyone who has ever worked in a kitchen knows, that the closing chef/manager should do a unit walk through at the end of the day. You do this to ensure that everything has been turned off (stove tops, ovens, flat tops, warmers, grill), check that the fridges are locked, the dishwasher is off, and that everything is put away.

So ... how ... the ... @#$% ... did ... the ... chef ... manager ... not ... see ... that ... product ... was ... left ... out? Seriously?

Oh and she also needs pizza dough and pizza cheese. I have very little freezer and fridge space, so I order what we need, what I know will get us to the next delivery day ... so, no ... for the third week in a row ... I do not have any extra pizza dough or cheese.

What's worse than working with a bunch of post menopausal women? Thanks for asking. Let me tell you. Working with passive aggressive post menopausal women.

I have one particular staff member who is very passive aggressive. She has some other issues as well, but I'll save those for the appropriate time. Miss passive aggressive is having one of her days. As I am working beside her, getting my prep done, she is mumbling under her breath. I have learned that it is wise to ignore this kind of thing. I am not a micro manager and I find it's best to let staff work out their issues without me getting involved and 95% of the time this works well.

Turns out she is upset that she is always stuck prepping vegetables. She hates cutting onions, and I really don't give a you know what. Again, I do not like to micro manage, and division of labour within each station should be handled by the individuals working that station. Additionally, when one of her coworkers was not in for a few days last week, she could have used that as an opportunity to do some other prep. Instead, she got her you know what in a bunch, because her coworker took a few days off. As a result, Miss passive aggressive, did as little work as possible and pissed everyone off.

I have had a chat with our passive aggressive friend and explained that she needs to be more of a team player. I have also explained that if she can not work well with others, there are other stations (such as pizza) where she can work on her own. She did not like that. Not at all.

My day ended with me emailing my boss to remind him to send my sales reports from the previous day. This is supposed to be done in the morning, but things happen and sometimes he needs a gentle reminder, not a big deal, but it does disrupt the flow of my day.

And that my friends, was my super fun day.

My Super Fun Day

I had such a great day today, that I thought I would share it with all of you. And fair warning, yes, I am being sarcastic.

As usual, I woke up at 6:00 am this morning. My routine is to get the kettle going first thing. This is followed by two scoops of coffee in the French Press (I like to use a mix of dark roast and espresso), and these days some rolled oats in a bowl, with some cinnamon and brown sugar. Turn on the TV in the living room, and start watching SportsCentre with Jay and Dan. A few minutes later when the kettle boils, hot water goes into the French Press and the bowl. Eat breakfast and enjoy my morning coffee, followed by a shower and off to work. I am usually out the door about 7:45 and at work around 8:00 am. I am not a morning person so the slow pace suits me well.

This morning I had to stop by the North Campus to pick up the ready to go items we sell, boxed sandwiches and salads, snack boxes and that kind of thing. From a business standpoint, it makes sense to have these things made at the main campus, it's also on my way to my campus and allows me to combine visits. I do a pick-up twice a week and usually I have to wait for 10 or 15 minutes as they put the finishing touches on the items I have ordered. This works well, as it gives me some face time with my boss and allows me to visit with the staff at the North Campus. They have a great group of people there, and I probably would not be writing this blog if I was the Chef Manager there.

Making the stop at North Campus means that I don't get South Campus until about 8:30 am. I learned a long time ago, that it is very important to say high to everyone you work with as you come into work. This may seam like a waste of time, but trust me, it's super important. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants to be acknowledged, taking a few minutes to greet everyone by name can make a significant difference in the general mood of a workplace. When you do this, you are telling each and every individual that they are important. I do this every day. I also think it is important to say goodnight/goodbye/see you tomorrow to everyone as they leave. I am trying to get my staff to do this and while I have seen great improvement in the morning greetings, the end of day is still an issue.

It apears most everyone is in a good mood and off to a good start this morning. And then I get to the Pizza station. We have had a difficult time finding someone to work this station, there are a number of reasons and I'll save those stories for a page of their own. To make a long story short, we had to move some staff between campuses and I now have a full time pizza person. She has been with us for a few days now and has mentioned a few times that she is very ahppy to be here.

This morning, she is not happy. I have been told that t-shirts are available for the pizza station, but every-time I try to order them, I am informed they are out of stock. I know they have some at North Campus, and my new employee and I agreed that she should grab a shirt from there. Turns out when she dropped by to pick up a shirt, the Chef Manager there was not very nice, and told her she could not have a shirt.

I probably get at least one phone call, or email a day from the North Campus Chef Manager asking me if I can lend her product because she did not order enough. Just the day before she emailed me looking for pizza dough. So, considering how often I bail her ass out, refusing to provide an employee with a t-shirt, and being an ass about it was completely uncalled for.

My pizza girl also informs me that she is not getting enough hours with the schedule I have given her. Not an unreasonable request, just one more thing to add to the growing number of things I need to do.

Fun times my friends, fun times.

As soon as my ass hits my desk chair, I have one of my staff from our sandwich bar calling my name. Turns out, we are completely out of red onions and almost out of green peppers. And somehow, no-one noticed this yesterday. I patiently explain to my staff, that they need to be aware of how much product is on hand at all times. If someone had noticed and mentioned it yesterday, I could have called our produce supplier and had a delivery first thing in the morning. Now, I have to take time out of my day, to go and pick up produce from the local grocery store, time I don't really have. It's now just after 9:00 am, and I have not been able to do any of my normal morning work stuff, and did I mention it's cold and wet outside? 

Oh and one more thing, on my way in yesterday, I got a call that we had no tomatoes. Due to the fact that our pizza and sandwich stations are branded/franchised, we have to order from approved suppliers. Unfortunately, my deliveries are consistently inconsistent with regard to timing.  Normally, our produce order comes in early, unfortunately, everything came in late yesterday. More on that later.

Fortunately, the closest grocery store is a newly renovated store, and it's only about a 5 minute drive away. Unfortunately, when I arrive back to work, my phone is wringing off the hook. I know it's not a delivery, because I park near the loading dock, and I debate letting it go to voicemail. Call display tells me it's North Campus, so I pick up. It turns out it's my boss, they have had a number of people call in sick this week and it looks like they will be short staffed again tomorrow. As a result, they need will need my pizza person tomorrow. That's just fan-freakin-tastic

And the fun just keeps coming.

To be continued ... 

I Can't Believe It Part 2

I would like to take a moment to speak to all my young male friends ... Whatever you do ... Do not ever, and I mean ever, wish to be surrounded by women all day. I know when you're young, that sounds like a great idea, I get it. In fact, I am giving you this advice because I probably did that sometime in my teenage years. But, be careful what you wish for, because ... you just might get it. My staff are all women, sounds great right? Think again, all nine of them are over the age of 50.  Give that some thought.

And now more stories from the geriatric ward.

So, I don't have a single good story that is long enough to warrant it's own post. As a result I have decided to write a post of little vignettes of the fun that is my work life.

Let us pick up where we left off, and talk about the Bookkeeper. This morning I was entering yesterdays sales numbers and I noticed a discrepancy in my deposit. Personally, I blame the calculator, that's my official story, and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, I called over to the North Campus to inform the Bookkeeper of the situation. However, when I called, no one answered the phone. After a few more unanswered phone calls, I sent her an email explaining the situation. About an hour latter, I get a call. Surprise, surprise, it's the Bookkeeper, and she is calling to tell me that I should have called her instead of sending an email. My response, "Yeah, I tried that, several times. No one answered the phone." Can you believe it?

Staying with money and counting ... I have one cashier that takes an unusual amount of time to count her till at the end of the night. I kid you not, it takes her close to 20 minutes. For comparison, my head cashier counts all three in the morning and it takes her ten minutes. It takes me about 30 minutes at the end of the day to count all three and do the deposit. One day last week, her math is wrong, not the end of the world, it happens. I call her into the office, point out the mistake and have her redo the deposit sheet for her till. Problem solved, sort of. The next day, her math is wrong again, so I have her correct it. I come back 10 minutes later (all she had to do was correct the mistake) to verify her count, and it's wrong again, and now it's a different error. Fun times my friends, fun times. 

Another story about this particular cashier. You will no doubt hear many stories about her, so lets call her Patricia. Every now and then, we get auto-shipped product. Sometimes it's promotional, sometimes its a new product and occasionally, it's for a new menu item. Often if it's promotional, we will receive a display case.as well. A few weeks ago, we received two very large boxes from Cadbury, the chocolate company. Turns out, the boxes contain build-able displays and several boxes of chocolate bars to fill the display cases. Seeing as I do not have a lot of free floor space in my cafeteria, it is my habit to build one display case and use the product in the other box to refill that display case. After I build this particular display, I place it in the cafeteria and fill it with product. When Patricia sees it, she freaks out, "Oh my God, this is horrible." I ask her whats wrong, and she tells me, she can't possibly count all of that product for our weekly inventory. She tells me it's just too much to count and that she will need help. I swear every word of this story is true. I know it's hard to believe, but you honestly can not make this stuff up.

Another story about my boss. Last week I needed to have someone come in and take a look at some of our coffee equipment as there were a few issues. When this happens, I get a copy of the work order when the repairman leaves, and the invoice is sent to the North Campus about a week later. While inspecting our equipment, it was noted that we should replace the tank on one of our coffee machines. This particular repairman is very familiar with my store and thought the tank might still be under warranty and said he would look into it for me. So, of course, this is mentioned on the invoice. Upon receipt of said invoice, my boss emailed me a copy as per usual and he has a few questions, again not unusual. Now I think I have mentioned before that some people clearly do not thoroughly read what is put in font of them. I'm fairly confident most of you can guess what came next. Yep that's correct, my boss asks me why they replaced the tank. Now, keep in mind, we just replaced the tank on the other machine, so he should know the process and the cost. Patiently, I explain that the tank was not replaced, rather that he recommended that it be replaced and that he was going to check if it is still under warranty. For some strange reason, I did not get a response to that email. I wonder why?

Believe it.

I'll Hold

I was going to call this post, The Bookkeeper Part II, but there is no Part I, so I decided on a different tittle.

In April there was an event on campus, and participants were given vouchers to redeem in the cafeteria. These vouchers were worth $10, but did not have any cash value. My cashiers were given clear instructions as to how to redeem and enter the vouchers into our POS system. Seeing as they have no cash value, the vouchers were not to be treated as cash. You'll want to remember that.

As often happens, we had a busy lunch rush and I was not able to watch over my cashiers as they took the vouchers in exchange for lunch. Nor should I need to, they have all worked here for several years, and, they were given very clear instructions. Additionally, they all assured me they knew what to do.

They did not.

Whenever we redeem vouchers, they must be kept, ideally the voucher should be stapled to the receipt for which it was redeemed. I understand this is a bit time consuming, and inconvenient especially when we are busy.

I don't care.

This is your job and this is how things are to be done. Do you think it's fun working in a kitchen on Valentines Day? The Chef yelling at you to get a dozen orders started, and while your at it, plate the last call that was for 15 orders? It's you job, get it done.

It's a disaster.

Not only do most of the vouchers get punched in as cash, one of my cashiers did not keep the vouchers, and the cleaning staff had already come and emptied her trash can. She should have been in it ... did I say that out loud?

So at the end of the shift I had to go through all the transactions for the day and try to determine which ones should be closed as vouchers and change them all before I could close the day. After talking with someone at head office and figuring out the best way to do this, I got to work. It was a long and tedious process. The accountant at head office had also instructed me to put all the vouchers and all receipts in the weekly envelope we send to them (this consists of cash out reports and invoices from that week).

Think that's the end of the story? ... not by a long shot friends, not by a long shot. If you recall, I was thinking about calling this post, The Bookkeeper Part II, and I haven't even mentioned her yet.

In order for everyone to be on the same page, when I called head office to find out how to resolve this issue, I included our Bookkeeper on the call. So she was on the call when I was told to send in all the vouchers and receipts. But for some reason, the day after they were sent in, the Bookkeeper called me asking me to bring all the vouchers over to her.

A few weeks later, she asks for them again. I tell her everything was sent to head office. When she asks why, I remind her, that's what head office told us to do.

Fast forward to today and now we are into September. I get another call about the vouchers. I try to always answer my phone because we have a ridiculous shipping and receiving routine at my campus. Basically, delivery drivers must call the department they are delivering to. Someone from that department must walk down to the delivery area, open the bay door and escort the driver to and from the delivery area. I have had a few instances where I was unable to get to the phone and missed a delivery. in both cases, not only did I not get the product, but we were also charged a fee for the fact that the product could not be delivered. So now, I always try to get to the phone.

So, when the Bookkeeper calls asking for the vouchers, I explain that per head office directions everything from that day, were sent to head office months ago. She asks if I have any record of how many vouchers there were and what the total value was. I tell her I will need to look in the file from that week.

The lunch rush is just getting started, and as we are on the phone the repair guy I have been waiting on finally walks in. So I tell the Bookkeeper that I have to go because I need to talk to the repair guy, and she says ... "That's Ok, I'll hold" ...

Are you freaking kidding me? You'll hold? I need to explain to the repair guy what the issues are, and there are more than one, and the cafe is filling up with students. 

But that's Ok, you'll hold? Because apparently you have nothing else to do?

I have no idea how long it will be before I can look for the file, and once I do find it, I don't even know what I'm looking for. I also don't have time to explain all of this to the Bookkeeper, so instead, I say "I'll have to call you back" and hang up.

About 10 minutes later I am back in the office. It does not take long to locate the file, but there is nothing in it to help answer her questions. I call her back and explain this, she thanks me for looking and we both go back to work.

Don't be surprised if there is a revision to this at our year end in a month or so. Some people apparently work in the Redundancy Department of Redundancy.

I Don't Write The Checks

And now a couple of stories I would like to get off my chest with regard to our Bookkeeper.

Our Bookkeeper has a great sense of humour and she has a knack for saying the right thing at the right time to ease tensions. I will often call her to rant and she is always quick with a joke that perfectly puts things in perspective. This is not one of those stories.

Let me preface this by saying ... I hate doing paperwork. I'm not good at it, it's boring and I do not enjoy it. In my current job, I do a lot of paperwork. I saw that eye roll ... lol

We have a system for entering invoices that is somewhat ridiculous. We have two portals, with the first portal, the supplier uploads the invoice and the unit manager goes in on a daily basis, matches the invoice number, confirms the total and submits the invoice for head office to pay. With the second portal the unit manager logs in and manually submits the invoice for head office to pay. In both cases the unit manager does not write a check, that responsibility lies with someone in accounting at head office.

Everyone with me so far? To summarize, the unit manager enters the name of the supplier, the invoice number and date, as well as the dollar amount of said invoice. And at that point, the unit manager has done their job and is no longer responsible for the processing of the invoice.

About 6 months ago, I receive an email from our Bookkeeper. Attached to the email was an invoice that I submitted as well as a letter from the supplier. The letter notes that the invoice has been partially paid and they are asking why. My Bookkeeper would like me to look up the invoice in the appropriate portal, and to call her to let her know why it was not paid in full. When i I look up the invoice, I see that the full amount has been entered. So I call our Bookkeeper and the following conversation takes place:

Me: I have no idea why the invoice was not pad in full. I looked up the submission and it is for the full amount.

Bookkeeper: Well, why was was it not paid in full? Why was only a partial payment made?

Me: I have no idea. I did not write the check. You need to call head office and ask them.

Bookkeeper: Well that makes no sense. Why wasn't it paid in full? You need to go into the portal and find out.

Me: I have no way to find that out. As I mentioned, the invoice was submitted for the full amount.

Bookkeeper: Well then why didn't it get paid in full? It's your responsibility.

Me: Actually, it's not my responsibility. I do not write the checks and I did not write this check.

Bookkeeper: Well the supplier wants to know why it was not paid in full.

Me: I did not write the check. I have no idea who wrote the check. I'm sorry but I can't help you and I have a cafeteria full of customers that need to be looked after. 

At this point I hang up and leave the office to look after customers.

A few weeks later, I receive a similar email about the same invoice, asking the same questions. So I pick up the phone and call the Bookkeeper. I explain that she asked me about this a few weeks ago, and that since I did not write the check, I have no idea why I has not been paid in full. She again asks me, 'Why wasn't it paid in full?' I tell her, I have no idea, the invoice was submitted for the full amount. I ask who signed/wrote the check? She tells me she is not sure. I then suggest she contact someone at head office, find out who wrote the check, and ask that person why it was not paid in full. She then asks me why it was not paid in full. 

I DON'T KNOW. I DID NOT WRITE THE CHECK. CALL HEAD OFFICE. CLICK.

Top Down Leadership

Follow this time line.

Just prior to the start of the school year, I get a call from our bookkeeper. She is asking me to reconcile my cash on hand. This is something we do at the start of each semester, as required by the company. For me this task involves counting the floats that make up our cashiers tills, petty cash in the safe, as well as the vending machine petty cash. Our vending machines are subcontracted to a vending machine supplier. Sometimes vending machines don't work like they should and we need to reimburse people when this happens. The following week, she calls and asks me to bring over the vending machine petty cash box, as the company is changing vending machine suppliers and we will no longer be responsible for reimbursements.

Late last week I get an email from my boss, telling me when the changeover will be taking place.  He has included the email from head office and of course, like a good employee, I read it. This is what it says "Please be advised that as we switch vending machine suppliers, our units will be swapped at all campuses (except for South Campus) and residence next week." Wait back up, South Campus is my Campus.

I call our bookkeeper and ask her about the changing of vending machines. The following conversation ensues:
Bookkeeper, "Yes, we are changing suppliers and will no longer be responsible for reimbursements."
Me, "But the original email clearly says 'Except South Campus."
Bookkeeper, "Are you sure?"
Me, "Yes, It clearly says, "Except South Campus."
Bookkeeper, "Let me pull up the email and see." After about 30 seconds, "Well, yes it does say that. I guess we will need to get you a vending machine float."

I still don't have a vending machine float, but that's not the point. Before that email got to me, my boss read it, and our bookkeeper read it, and neither of them noticed that it said, except South Campus. How does that get missed? Additionally, our bookkeeper tells me she has been on the phone all day with head office regarding this issue. And no one mentioned the fact that South Campus was not part or the swap out? Seriously?

Stay tuned for more stories about our bookkeeper ...

The Schedule

I would like to introduce you to my staff, both those that work for me and those whom I work for. I will do this by telling you about their activities throughout the week. I'm thinking I will do a weekly post, chronicling their shenanigans for that week. I will change the names to protect the guilty and myself from repercussions.

In my current role, I am in charge of food services at the South Campus of a large post secondary educational institution about an hour outside of Toronto.

The ridiculous things that happen are often stranger than fiction and I feel like I need an outlet, otherwise I might go nuts. So, I hope you get some entertainment out of this, and understand that this is my outlet for sanity.

In the middle of the summer, I got a new boss. While I feel I have a much better relationship with my new boss, he does provide me with some entertaining and frustrating moments. Let's call my new boss Bruce. As we are gearing up for the start of the school year, Bruce asks me to email him a copy of my staff schedule. This is a completely normal and expected request, and of course I have said schedule and send it along to Bruce. Fast forward a week, I get a similar email, Bruce explains he has had difficulty accessing his email and needs me to send him the schedule again because the previous email is buried in his inbox. While I think this story sounds a bit flimsy, the guy is new and he is still getting acclimated, so I send along the schedule.

Another week goes buy, and I receive another email "Trying to get a handle on staffing needs, can you send me a copy of your staff schedule for the fall semester." Now my WTF radar is going off. My boss works at the North Campus, the North Campus is the main Campus and there is another food services manager who works there. Anna is my counterpart at the North Campus, and she sent me an email a few days before that read like this, "Bruce is trying to understand our staffing needs, could you send me a copy of your schedule so I can talk to him about our staffing needs." Of course I sent the schedule, and now two days later Bruce is asking me for the same schedule. By this time, I'm getting a bit frustrated and it's also become somewhat amusing, but wait ... there is more to this story ...

The following week, the three of us have a meeting to discuss staffing needs. When I sit down to this meeting, Bruce looks at my and asks if I have a copy of my schedule. It takes a significant amount of effort, but, I keep a straight face, and pull out a copy of the schedule because I actually kind of thought that might happen. As we are talking it becomes clear that Bruce has no idea what my staffing needs are. Fortunately, by the end of the meeting he appears to understand my needs.

We have had some difficulty filing the grill position (that's a story for a later day) and the Pizza position (another story there). The individual we initially hired for Pizza walked out during her first shift. Fast forward to today and I receive the following email: "If you had a full time Pizza person, what would their schedule be?"

To be continued ...

I've Never Done That Before

So this happened the other day.

I was opening a bag of French fries with my Swiss Army Knife. As I was cutting the bag open, my knife snagged and moved in my hand. Before I knew it the knife was out of my hand and into the deep fryer.

As you can imagine, it quickly sunk to the bottom. A few minutes later the casing floated to the surface, with the logo still visible.

This was on Friday and we immediately turned off the fryer. Obviously the pill would need to be changed, but it was way too hot to do this on Friday.

So, I had to wait until Monday to retrieve me knife, and by then it was ruined. Fortunately I have another one to replace the one o dropped in the deep fryer.

I'm Back

It has been years since I posted here. Not that my life has been boring, just felt I did not need to share. In the interim I have been married, divorced, lived in several different cities and became a chef.

It's my experiences as a chef, both for a large international company and as a private caterer that I will be drawing on for these new entries.

I will try to find a balance between the old and the new. My current staff will provide a bulk of the stories but there are a few jems from the past few years.

Some future post titles: Johnny Bucco, Chicken Stock Fiasco, The Wedding, Where the Game At?, Jackie Robinson and many more