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Over the 2 years I worked in convenience and the other years in catering/personal chef/jewelry store worker I've come across some pretty bad eggs, sometimes in co-workers, sometimes in customers. The lack of compassion builds up over time and occasionally deposits a layer of cynicism in your personality core. You lose faith in people. I'm sure everyone can relate to that.
This gem is from my days in the catering business.
First of all, some background info:
The catering business I worked for ran out of a church in a two horse town. The kind that has more churches than public buildings and two last names. Real banjos too. We usually catered to the nearby Canadian legion and their members (All war veterans) but we do occasionally get called for a social occasion. Our dishes can range from simple to 5 course complexity and I was honored after 3 months of service to be promoted to assistant chef. This meant I was in charge of preparations, presentation and in some cases actually cooking the food. (Mostly presentations. Cooking's boring sometimes.)
This story comes in 3 parts.
Episode 1: A New Hope
Business was slow surprisingly. The legion wasn't calling meetings due to massive snowfall and parties were cooking in-house. My boss was thrilled when we were contracted to a church party celebrating easter. (North Canada so snow was everywhere in april.) We packed up our tools, gathered supplies and started preparing the kitchen.
Our church was the biggest in town. Massive basement and kitchen. We had worked there for many months after the rec center closed down for repairs after some teens set a chunk of it on fire. The kitchen wasn't 5 star but was big and spacious enough to do our business without problems. As we were setting up we were called by the client with the menu and allergy substitutions.
Immediately we smelled trouble. The menu was a 4 course gourmet that required many different spices, cooking times and one of the most elaborate desserts I've ever seen. (Two layered cake the size of a flat screen TV with apple caramel icing, ice cream layer, hazelnut butter layer, gram cracker and maple syrup base and frozen chunked maraschino cherries used as garnish. I remember because I had to get the ingredients.)
Suffice to say, main course of 6 breast down turkeys not withstanding this was quite the order. However, seeing as we haven't had a client in weeks and the fact that the order was to be paid in cash with a dollar value in the 4 digits my boss wasn't going to let this one slide.
So we worked. And worked. And worked. Prep work was insane, the grocery bill was over $300. The cake was made a day beforehand, but due to it's size we had to rent a container with a heating unit to keep it from completely freezing up in the -20 Celsius weather.
Then the day arrived. The client(s) were about 40 men and woman from the church in the next town over. Most were older people, a few families here and there, some children.
Then the flak started to fly. Apparently the person who placed the order had sent an e-mail to my boss asking for a change in order. Now, our policy states that if an order is placed, you have 5 days before the day to change the menu. This was last minute. I wasn't able to hear the argument as I was doing prep in the kitchen but my boss came back in a huff and told the staff under no circumstances were we to change the menu.
So guess who tried to circumvent my boss? A few minutes into the prep work a lady comes in and begins to scrutinize our cooking, demanding changes and new items as substitutions. This foghorn of a woman would make an opera singer proud. She shouted in a loud voice about what we were doing wrong, wrong spice this, too much that. We tolerated her for about a minute then kicked her out of the kitchen with as much grace as we could manage.
For the next 30 minutes or so she glared at us from the door windows, moving back and forth and presumably muttering to herself.
At the 45 minute mark the first course was done and our temp staff hauled it out. Foghorn lady stood at the door criticizing us every step of the way and making our temp staff's life hell. One girl actually broke down and started crying in the back of the kitchen.
So I'm guessing you're wondering what my boss was doing all through this? She had the unfortunate job of dealing with the client over final cost. Apparently the client disagreed with the final number and was trying to negotiate it down.
Fun.
Episode 2: The empire strikes back
Things went relatively smoothly from then on. The breast down turkeys came out smoothly and foghorn lady got hungry enough to go sit down with the rest of her children. My boss reappeared and said that despite the client's protestations we were being paid what we said we would. (I think she threatened to cut off the dinner if we weren't paid the full amount. Go boss!)
Then, as we were doing the third course one of our pushers came with a request: someone wanted to see the chef. My boss, who normally took these gave me a smile and motioned for me to go. I was thrilled.
When I reached the table in question, my spirits dropped. They were mad. I made a mental note to chastise pusher man and put on my largest smile.
It turns out that their child was getting a tummyache from our food and they were convinced that we were trying to poison them. As I was the last person to touch the food that passed through the doors, I was at fault.
I apologized and offered some ginger ale or something to help the kid, but upon mentioning help the woman stood up and screamed bloody murder.
Then the kid vomited. Everywhere. You know those sprinklers golf courses use? the ones that go *Tik Tik Tik Tik* and spray water everywhere? As soon as the kid started going, the mother grabbed his throat and tried to stop him, but that just turned his esophagus from a water main into a garden hose attached to that
She got soaked, I got sprayed, the floor was covered. People started shrieking.
Episode 3: Return of the Jedi
The smell was enough to force us to move the rest of the dinner to the upstairs meeting hall. it wasn't as big and it took us about 15 minutes to move all of the chairs and tables upstairs. People weren't pleased, especially the mother and I was still getting flak from her about the supposed poisoning. She just wouldn't shut up about it.
I took about 15 minutes to change and wash the vomitus off my skin, but this left me in my casuals. My boss told me to take the rest of the night off. I gratefully accepted.
So, me thinking that the night was finally over got on the phone and called my mum to pick me up. I wished the rest of my friends/workers a good night and took to the night.
Then the client showed up.
I may be an assistant chef, but I'm in no way up the ladder of command. There are lots of people who worked for my boss longer than me.
The conversation starts with congratulations. Presumably to butter me up for the impending change of amount of payment. She comments on good service, exceptional food, etc etc.
Wait for it... wait for it...
Ahh.... there it is. She asks for %20 off due to circumstance. Like it was our fault the brat took to spewing. I tell her I have no control over that matter.
She asks again.
I say otherwise.
Suffice to say this keeps going on and on and on, the banter going back and forth...
Sheesh. She thinks she can control minds.
Thankfully my mom came to pick me up.
What a bad day. My boss did get paid eventually, but not after a lot of bitching. I'm so thankful we never dealt with her again.
This gem is from my days in the catering business.
First of all, some background info:
The catering business I worked for ran out of a church in a two horse town. The kind that has more churches than public buildings and two last names. Real banjos too. We usually catered to the nearby Canadian legion and their members (All war veterans) but we do occasionally get called for a social occasion. Our dishes can range from simple to 5 course complexity and I was honored after 3 months of service to be promoted to assistant chef. This meant I was in charge of preparations, presentation and in some cases actually cooking the food. (Mostly presentations. Cooking's boring sometimes.)
This story comes in 3 parts.
Episode 1: A New Hope
Business was slow surprisingly. The legion wasn't calling meetings due to massive snowfall and parties were cooking in-house. My boss was thrilled when we were contracted to a church party celebrating easter. (North Canada so snow was everywhere in april.) We packed up our tools, gathered supplies and started preparing the kitchen.
Our church was the biggest in town. Massive basement and kitchen. We had worked there for many months after the rec center closed down for repairs after some teens set a chunk of it on fire. The kitchen wasn't 5 star but was big and spacious enough to do our business without problems. As we were setting up we were called by the client with the menu and allergy substitutions.
Immediately we smelled trouble. The menu was a 4 course gourmet that required many different spices, cooking times and one of the most elaborate desserts I've ever seen. (Two layered cake the size of a flat screen TV with apple caramel icing, ice cream layer, hazelnut butter layer, gram cracker and maple syrup base and frozen chunked maraschino cherries used as garnish. I remember because I had to get the ingredients.)
Suffice to say, main course of 6 breast down turkeys not withstanding this was quite the order. However, seeing as we haven't had a client in weeks and the fact that the order was to be paid in cash with a dollar value in the 4 digits my boss wasn't going to let this one slide.
So we worked. And worked. And worked. Prep work was insane, the grocery bill was over $300. The cake was made a day beforehand, but due to it's size we had to rent a container with a heating unit to keep it from completely freezing up in the -20 Celsius weather.
Then the day arrived. The client(s) were about 40 men and woman from the church in the next town over. Most were older people, a few families here and there, some children.
Then the flak started to fly. Apparently the person who placed the order had sent an e-mail to my boss asking for a change in order. Now, our policy states that if an order is placed, you have 5 days before the day to change the menu. This was last minute. I wasn't able to hear the argument as I was doing prep in the kitchen but my boss came back in a huff and told the staff under no circumstances were we to change the menu.
So guess who tried to circumvent my boss? A few minutes into the prep work a lady comes in and begins to scrutinize our cooking, demanding changes and new items as substitutions. This foghorn of a woman would make an opera singer proud. She shouted in a loud voice about what we were doing wrong, wrong spice this, too much that. We tolerated her for about a minute then kicked her out of the kitchen with as much grace as we could manage.
For the next 30 minutes or so she glared at us from the door windows, moving back and forth and presumably muttering to herself.
At the 45 minute mark the first course was done and our temp staff hauled it out. Foghorn lady stood at the door criticizing us every step of the way and making our temp staff's life hell. One girl actually broke down and started crying in the back of the kitchen.
So I'm guessing you're wondering what my boss was doing all through this? She had the unfortunate job of dealing with the client over final cost. Apparently the client disagreed with the final number and was trying to negotiate it down.
Fun.
Episode 2: The empire strikes back
Things went relatively smoothly from then on. The breast down turkeys came out smoothly and foghorn lady got hungry enough to go sit down with the rest of her children. My boss reappeared and said that despite the client's protestations we were being paid what we said we would. (I think she threatened to cut off the dinner if we weren't paid the full amount. Go boss!)
Then, as we were doing the third course one of our pushers came with a request: someone wanted to see the chef. My boss, who normally took these gave me a smile and motioned for me to go. I was thrilled.
When I reached the table in question, my spirits dropped. They were mad. I made a mental note to chastise pusher man and put on my largest smile.
It turns out that their child was getting a tummyache from our food and they were convinced that we were trying to poison them. As I was the last person to touch the food that passed through the doors, I was at fault.
I apologized and offered some ginger ale or something to help the kid, but upon mentioning help the woman stood up and screamed bloody murder.
Then the kid vomited. Everywhere. You know those sprinklers golf courses use? the ones that go *Tik Tik Tik Tik* and spray water everywhere? As soon as the kid started going, the mother grabbed his throat and tried to stop him, but that just turned his esophagus from a water main into a garden hose attached to that
She got soaked, I got sprayed, the floor was covered. People started shrieking.
Episode 3: Return of the Jedi
The smell was enough to force us to move the rest of the dinner to the upstairs meeting hall. it wasn't as big and it took us about 15 minutes to move all of the chairs and tables upstairs. People weren't pleased, especially the mother and I was still getting flak from her about the supposed poisoning. She just wouldn't shut up about it.
I took about 15 minutes to change and wash the vomitus off my skin, but this left me in my casuals. My boss told me to take the rest of the night off. I gratefully accepted.
So, me thinking that the night was finally over got on the phone and called my mum to pick me up. I wished the rest of my friends/workers a good night and took to the night.
Then the client showed up.
I may be an assistant chef, but I'm in no way up the ladder of command. There are lots of people who worked for my boss longer than me.
The conversation starts with congratulations. Presumably to butter me up for the impending change of amount of payment. She comments on good service, exceptional food, etc etc.
Wait for it... wait for it...
Ahh.... there it is. She asks for %20 off due to circumstance. Like it was our fault the brat took to spewing. I tell her I have no control over that matter.
She asks again.
I say otherwise.
Suffice to say this keeps going on and on and on, the banter going back and forth...
Sheesh. She thinks she can control minds.
Thankfully my mom came to pick me up.
What a bad day. My boss did get paid eventually, but not after a lot of bitching. I'm so thankful we never dealt with her again.
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