PROFESSIONAL AND PERFECTIONIST
By; Gerald A. Polley

I've been writing down the stories of the obnoxious manager that I didn't get along with, and the other day I remembered what was the first incident that really made it clear that we weren't going to get along. I'd only been working a couple of days when we had a real heavy rush. I'd been soaking the breakfast dishes because this restaurant didn't have a spray gun, and the buildup on them was terrible! The boss loved it! But it irritated the manager and the cook.
We were having a real heavy rush and I was just scrubbing the stuff off as best I could and putting them through. The manager came in all in a huff and said "This stuff has got to go through faster! Start doubling it up!"
And I said "Nothing will get clean that way!" Then he shoved me out of the way, began putting little stuff in one rack, putting another rack on top of it, putting bigger stuff in it, then shoving them in the dish machine! I just went to the other end of the dish machine, took stuff out, and stacked it up. After a few minutes the manager screamed "Now that's how it's done, idiot! Don't ever talk back to me again! Don't ever argue with me!"
He went off in a huff and I continued to put racks through one at a time. When the boss came in I told him I was done, I'd finish the day and that was it. But I wouldn't do crappy work. He asked me what I meant. I told him and he examined the dishes, carried everything back to the dirty end of the machine and told me to run them again, my way.
The cook said "But I need the dishes right now!" and the boss answered "You'll get them just as soon as they're clean! We won't serve food on dirty dishes no matter how much of a hurry we're in!"
I quickly ran a few racks of everything to give the cook something to work with, then began to work the rest of the stuff. The manager came in and said "I told you not to cause trouble!"
"Talk to the boss!" I told him.
The boss came in and snapped "That's enough! You are never to interfere with Gerald's work again! He knows what he's doing! He knows how to run the dishes so they will be clean, not just pushed through the machine. We do not put two racks in the dish machine at the same time! Nothing gets clean!"
"Huh!" the manager went, "Does for me!"
He went into the office pouting. The boss looked at me and said "From now on he is not to touch the dish machine while you're working! You run the dishes! If he tries do whatever you have to do to remove him from the dish area and I'll take care of it when I get here."
"Got ya!" I told him. Twice after that the manager came in screaming at me to push stuff through, and I told him to talk to the boss. But he never tried to touch the dish machine again because he knew damned well I'd set him on his rear if he tried! But as I keep saying this guy and I didn't get along. I can't stand sloppy work! I'm a professional and, a perfectionist. I wash it once, I wash it right, or I wash it again! Nothing is ever put away dirty while I'm working no matter how rushed we are!

THE END

RAW MEAT, YUCK!

Gerald is always saying there isn't much in a restaurant that he hasn't seen, probably twice. And a coworker asked him "Have you ever had anybody that eats raw meat? I used to have a cook that worked with me that would eat raw hamburger all the time, and it disgusted me." Gerald smiled and answered "I've seen that so many times I couldn't count them! I've seen cooks fired for doing it. In some places it's considered such a health concern that it's simply not allowed. There was one cook that ate raw pork all the time, said he loved the flavor of it. He would chew on the bacon scraps all the time.
Everybody kept telling him how dangerous it was and he said "I'm not worried about it!" When he was diagnosed with tricanosis and could no longer work in restaurants he worried about it!" Eating raw meat is very, very dangerous! Most places Gerald works have looked down on it for a good reason.

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