Since the last time I've written, there have been my ups and downs in the restaurant business. I almost lost my job, I was almost promoted as a manager, now I'm just fighting for more hours, but I am finally working in the kitchen now.
Last night was an incredibly smooth night. Things were working out really well. Servers were running their food, there weren't many mess ups, ticket times were decent. The only issue is that it wasn't as busy as most Saturday nights, but such is life. My manager told me to start getting all of my side work completed so I could head home. Once I started, all hell broke loose. At least that's how I felt about it.
As an expediter, my job is to make sure food goes out hot, correct and in a timely manner. It's a pretty basic job. It gets chaotic on occasion, but I'm practically a pro by now.
Scenario 1:
There is a large party sitting out on the bar patio. They had some strange modifications for their food, but nothing we couldn't handle. The food came out pretty quickly, and I sent it out with the server. A couple of minutes later, the server came out and said one of the customer's wanted his burger toasted more. Not a problem. The cooks toasted it more. A few minutes later the server came back out with the same burger, and he said that the customer said all of this food was cold. Ok, that's obviously an issue. The cooks make him another burger. A few minutes later the server comes back out and says the guy now wants to add more stuff to his burger. By this point, the cooks are getting a little bit irritated. They do what he wants. After about 10 minutes of complaints from the server about how obnoxious this table was being, he comes back to tell us that after the table finished all of their food, they informed the server that all of their food was cold. UGH. This is frustrating because I'm the one that gets into trouble for this. The food wasn't waiting long before I sent it out, so I'm not sure how all of their food was cold, but how are we supposed to fix the problem when they already ate all of the food. UGH. So annoying for me. Not to mention, I don't think it's wise for people to make cooks angry. I can honestly say, I've never seen one spit in any food, but I wouldn't put it past some cooks out there.
Scenario 2:
A guy orders a well-done prime rib, which in my opinion is a total shame. The server comes back and asks the cooks to make it more well-done. They are already annoyed because of scenario 1, but they cook is longer. Once it's done, I send it with the server. She comes back a few more minutes and says he wants it more well done. Now to describe this prime rib already, it's pretty black on the outside, almost the the point where the edges are getting a little scorched. They cook it longer, and I take it to the man. He looks at it and back at me a little annoyed but takes it anyway. Because prime rib is so prime and delicious, the center doesn't really stop being pink the longer it is cooked. That's just how it is, and this guy didn't seem to understand that and he threw a fit. oh people...
Scenario 3:
A burger comes up in the window and I run it to the table. Before I run it, I notice on the ticket it says add cheddar cheese. There was already cheese on the burger, so I was just going to run to the table and ask them what the other cheese was for. Not a big deal in my opinion. I go to the table and give them this burger. There were two of them, and so I asked if they were sharing and if they needed another plate. The girl looks at me with a ridiculous glare and sassily says, no we aren't sharing. I ordered a soup. I tell her I'm sorry, and I ask her what kind of soup she had and that I could run and get it really quick. She looks at me like I'm stupid and says I don't know, something with vegetables in it. I give her our options. She again looks at me like I'm stupid and says its the one with the prime rib in it. I say ok. I'll be right back and grab that for you. I start to walk away, and she says and I got a dinner roll. I apologize again, and go to walk off, and then she says and my boyfriend orders cheese on his fries. I turn back around take his burger and apologize for the third 4th time. I tell them it won't take long, and the girl just looks and me and very loudly says. WOW. oh my gosh, as I'm walking away. Needless to say, I really wanted to spit in her food. Of course I would never do that because I'm a professional, but seriously. All I could say about this was BITCH! seriously. It was horrible.
Now I want you to remember that all of these scenarios happened within about a half hour. I wanted to punch someone. And it took me an extra hour and a half to get out of work. fml.
