I thought it would take longer to sour on this new job I posted about last time but no, it is happening much faster than I thought. There are a few reasons why but at the end of it it boils down to me being able to figure out the things that will frustrate me the most, and then being unable to do anything to resolve them.
And therein lies the problem. I am currently only a junior member of the staff and as such I get no say in anything. I can advise all I want on our current set of recipes given the equipment we have but it doesn’t mean anyone will actually implement them- I am not allowed to just go off and do things.
That is the Kitchen Manager’s job, who just happens to be out in the alley smoking and drinking. He does that at least once an hour, leaving you to run the kitchen by yourself even during weekend rushes.
Look, I get it, running a kitchen is hard work, but you cannot make it any easier on yourself if you’re reeking of cigarettes so you cannot smell or taste anything, and tipsy so you cannot handle using a knife at speed for prep work.
From my angle the best part is the ownership will never let the KM go because “he’s a longtime employee” and “part of the family”. At least for now the kitchen is breaking even. What happens when it isn’t? We are getting more competition every month! We are not getting better equipment (read: a proper kitchen with fire in it and a working smoke extraction system) and ownership still seems uninterested in actually making it happen. This is how the idea of the name of this specific post series as we are an abridged kitchen. Abridged as in “incomplete”.
But for now we are holding steady. For now I will keep my mouth shut about things at work and I’ll post them about here. It’s nice to have an outlet.
For now I can only hope that the next Covid-19 wave is small but I do not think that will be the case.