Looking back at how i did in the kitchen, i realize how overworked i was and how much of a racist my boss was where i would work at my fastest speed doing about 3 different jobs of which have nothing to do with my position in the kitchen.
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Entering work at
9:20am in the morning, i sit down at the table in the staff room and have a coffee to help wake me up and just relax while looking around the room at what needs to gets done before i start working; i realzie the (bémare) isn't turned on, theres a spill on the floor, the bins need emptying and the bread is all stale and needs replacing.
Once it hits
9:30, i put my cup away, i put my aprin on and go into the kitchen.Grabbing some towels and a broom to clean up with, i am greeted by a few of the chefs and have a good little chat before i make a quick little run away to the staffroom.
Turning on the (bémare) i wipe down all the benches, throw away the stale bread, make it all tidy and give the floor a sweep up while checking the salt, tomato sauce and napkin's on each of the tables so i know what i need to fill, sweeping the crumbs into the corner of the staff room i power walk off to the kitchen and put the broom back, grab a key from the front office and go into the staffroom and open up the coffee machine and make sure everything is full and continue cleaning.
It's
10:00am so i drop what I'm doing and go into the kitchen and ask one of the chefs what we are doing for the staff food and he says to come back later. Realizing how screwed i am if i don't get it done right now i tell him i need everything now or I'll be late for getting the food out and he just tells me to come back later. So i decide to do the salad for the staff room which is grabbing some plates and placing salad in them while cutting up ham, cucumber, tomato and anything else i may need to get ready AS soon as i can. Putting everything onto a trolley which i can push around the kitchen, grab a 12 litre bucket and fill it up with ice and take everything to the staffroom and put them out for people to help themselves.
Time passing as it's
10:30am with about 30 minutes to go until lunch needs to be ready for the staff in the staffroom to help themselves to, i go back to the chef and ask what we are doing and he tells me i need to cut up 3 different meats and cook them for 20 minutes in the oven. So i set up my little station with a red chopping board with a towel underneath it so stop it from moving around and grab the chefs knife and carefully cut up all the meat and place them into 3 different trays. While trying to do a decent job i have one of the chefs asking me to clean things and having one of the other kitchen hands nagging me about how long i take and how fast he can do it right next to me in my face.
"Yoo tack too long to do et, gor fars-tar!"
"I carn do et in 20 minute!, just gor farse nor one care!"
Translated
The clock hitting
11:00am and i have everything in the ovens cooking finally and my boss asking me where the food is, i tell him i just put it in the oven and won't be long until it's in the staff room. Not liking this idea he tells me that i take too long and need to be more organized which puts me in a state of defending myself and saying that i have everyone nagging me and the chef wouldn't give me anything to do so i did the salad first.
A whole 30 minutes later at
11:30am everything is in the staffroom and staying warm in the (bémare), i take a look around the staffroom and make sure everything is in the right place such as chairs stacked in the corner, tables wiped down all tidy, there's enough knives and forks, enough paper towels in the dispenser and just anything else that doesn't look right.
Turning the clock
12:00pm hits the clock and i can just do general cleaning around the kitchen if my boss lets me go down to the Sojourn restaurant to do dishes there away from everyone else since it's just one person in the kitchen cooking for that little dining area so it's pretty cruisey and no stress ( i also ACTUALLY get along with people that work there ). If i don't get to go down to Sojourn, i have to stay behind and clean pots which usually consists of putting on pink gloves and scrubbing burnt cookery which steam usually turns my eyeballs to mush and my shoes to something that could set dung on fire. Also i would have to clean baking trays, then mop the buffet which all takes quite a bit of energy to do.
Finally it's
1:30pm and i can have my first break of the day which is a 10 minute break where i sit down in the staffroom and eat the food that i cooked for the staff and help myself to the drink dispenser along with my boss and talk about things to do with my position or just have little jokes and things to keep things from getting awkward as well as txting the only real person i want to be with at the time and keeps me being sane.
One of the most exciting times of the day is
2:00pm which is when my boss goes home, and i can slow down and clean away the staff food as well as the staffroom yet again so it's never really dirty and people can relax in the staffroom. Also if we are busy i can go help the people working at the dishwasher as i know from experience that it's a really stressful job when it gets busy busy.
Slugging at
3:00pm i end up going back down to Sojourn and do more dishes there and have a little chat with the chef there to just chill out for an hour.
Hitting
4:00pm i can finally go for my lunch break which usually consists of Peanut Butter + Jam toast and a glass of coca-cola while txting in the corner of the staffroom like the loner i am until my break is over.
Getting through the day at
4:30pm, all i do for the next 2 hours or so is cleaning the staffroom and doing the few little things around the kitchen that the chefs need a hand with or just deep clean the staffroom which isn't worth blogging about.
Signing my roster sheet at
6:30pm which is when it start getting busy for the night shift staff i quickly run out of the kitchen before anyone can say anything, i get changed and run down the stairs on the terrace and am home free and look forward to yet another day with the only person that hasn't let me down since i met them.
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Thank
GOD i got out of that atmosphere in the morning.
