"DON'T GET DOWN ON THE
FLOOR!"
By: Gerald A. Polley
People are constantly amazed by some of the stories I tell
about my kitchen work experience, especially the very short times
that some people worked with me, or, didn't work with me,
whatever way you want to look at it! This is one of those
stories.
I had been working for the same restaurant for about three
seasons. As usual, in mid season, we were losing cooks, and they
were coming and going. The boss hired this one guy, I don't even
remember his name, who seemed very personable. I was down on the
floor one afternoon cleaning underneath the counters, reaching
way underneath with a broom when he came in to work for the first
time. He came down behind the line and looked at me, and said
"Get up off the floor, you stupid nit wit! You don't lay
down on the floor to do stuff! What are you, retarded or
something?"
I continued working and told him that this was part of my duties
every day because nobody else would take care of it. "I said
get up!" the cook snapped. "I'm not having anybody
doing something as stupid as that when I'm around! You don't
crawl around on the floor! Just sweep up what you can reach. I
don't work with retards!" The boss came walking down from
his office. "What's with you?" he asked. "The
man's doing what he's supposed to do. Why are you calling him
names?"
"He's a retard!" the cook answered, "Look at him!
He's laying down on the floor! People don't lay down on the
floor. There's something wrong with him. I won't have stuff like
that around me. He can just sweep up!" The boss shook his
head. "I'm sorry," he remarked, "I can't use you.
I can't have somebody working here with an attitude like yours
that attacks people because they are doing a good job. I'll
expect you to bring my uniforms back tomorrow."
"What?" the cook screamed. "Just because I don't
want somebody acting like an idiot around me you can't use me?
What's the matter with you? Can't you understand that's
disgusting?"
"Leave!" the boss snapped, "Now!" The cook
went up back, grabbed his coat, and stormed out the door. The
boss looked down at me on the floor, smiled, and remarked,
"I can't understand where these lunatics are coming from! It
gets worse every year!" I only nodded and continued working.
But the boss was right. It has gotten worse and worse every year.
There are more and more people like that obnoxious cook that
think people that do a good job are retarded, and that lazy
people are the smart ones. What a twisted world!
THE END
First of all, let me
assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear
itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
( Franklin D. Roosevelt )