PASTRY WARS
By: Gerald A. Polley
The manager at work today was making a special pastry for a
catering, and it reminded me of something that happened years
ago. I was working with a very obnoxious manager. There were
dozens of incidences while we worked together. We just simply
didn't get along! One day the pastry cook quit. The restaurant
served a special pastry it was well known for. The other cooks
tried to make it but it came out terrible. The boss asked me if I
knew what the problem was, and I said yes. "They're just
throwing the filling together, throwing it on the dough, and
baking it. They're not following the proper procedure."
"Well, show them how," the boss insisted. So I showed
one of the cooks how it was supposed to be fixed. The cook simply
ignored me and threw everything together again. Finally the boss
said "Gerald, do you think you can make the pastry?" I
told him I thought so, it probably wouldn't come out absolutely
perfect, but it would come out a lot better than the cooks were
doing. So the boss said "Go ahead, make it."
I went up to the baker's station, and started cooking. The line
cook came up and said "Get to hell out of here! You can't do
this, you're not a cook!"
I told him "I'm following the boss' instructions. If you've
got a problem go talk to him." The cook stormed off. About
an hour later the manager came flying in the door and came right
up into my face.
"Get out of this area right now!" he screamed,
"Who in the hell do you think you are? I've told you before,
when a cook tells you to do something, you do it! You don't argue
with them."
"Go talk to the boss!" I told him.
The manager grabbed ahold of my arm and screamed "Get out!
You're done! Get out!" At that moment the boss came up the
steps into the baker's area. "What in the hell do you think
you're doing?" he screamed.
The manager turned to him. "He's talked back to me again!
He's refused to follow my instructions again! He's out of
here!"
"No, he's not," the boss answered, "he's doing
what I told him to do. Now get out of here, and don't come back
until it's time for your shift! And never interfere with anyone
when I've instructed them to do something again!"
"He's not a cook!" the manager screamed, "He's a
dishwasher, he's a retard! He's got no business cooking! I won't
have it! I won't have it!"
"I've told you," the boss screamed right back,
"never to call Gerald that! Now leave! Remember, I can fire
you for disobedience!"
The manager stormed out. The boss just smiled at me and walked
back into the kitchen. I finished the pastry and went back to the
dishes. That afternoon when the manager came in, a few minutes
later I saw the waitress carrying the trays of pastries back to
the cooler.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"The manager told me not to serve these," she said,
"that they weren't properly produced, that they couldn't be
served."
Just then the boss came into the kitchen. "Put those back
into the display case," he snapped, "and do not take
them out again! If the manager tells you to again, tell him I
told you not to!" "O.k.!" the waitress moaned, and
headed back out front. The boss shook his head, and went back
into the diningroom.
For a week I made the pastries, until a new pastry cook was hired
that knew what he was doing, and they were even better than the
old ones. But let's just say the manager didn't like my baking,
he didn't like it at all! Oh, during that week the line cook
quit. He said he couldn't work in a place where they let non
professionals cook. His replacement was a much nicer person, and
he didn't get along with the manager either!
THE END