I bet everyone is wondering where I'm going to take this topic of discussion and tie it into working at the restaurant.... keep reading :)
Earlier in the week, I tended bar. Dealt with plenty of carry-out orders since Princess Serena still needs to brush up on our menu. The whole of it.
Mama hauled out of the kitchen doors bearing two bagged meals. Chicken shawarma with garlic sauce on the right-- chicken pot pie with crushed lentil soup in the other. As I have been chastised before for opening orders at the bar to double check them, I felt the garlic and soup respectively and so I doled them out to their appropriate owners.
No more than five minutes later a call is received-- the woman whom had already hoofed it back to
work, discovered her shawarma looked an awful lot like a pot pie. Honestly, I remember how upset I would get when I used to hit up Taco Bell after the bar only to get home with an incorrect order. This woman had to go back to her job.
Knowing that the last line of defense was actually I to ensure each order's accuracy, I apologized profusely and asked for her to take more time out of her day to head back over and we would replace her meal. Afterall, shawarma is a quick and painless fix.
Here is where the situation gets sketchy;
The first woman brought back the unwanted pot pie.
I made Mama aware of the mix-up and pressed the matter that a new pot pie be made on the fly for the other customer to take home. A few minutes later, I pop my head back into the kitchen to see what looks like the same container sitting out on the counter, cooling off and waiting to be resurrected and re-served.
Assuming the worst, I peered into the trash in hopes of finding the original pot pie dumped and discarded. Nothing.
I asked Mama where the new meal was. In a moment's notice, Mama became nothing short of livid, wishing to spit in my face for insulting her so.
"Why, man? Why you say I use the same pot pie? I make it for you new, old one's gone."
I looked at her cross-eyed. Bullshit. I don't need to be a card shark to know you are full of it, and THAT to me is disgusting. I called her out and ordered another cook to fire a fresh dish, stat.
First of all-- you never know where food has gone or what it has been exposed to once it hits a table, let alone exits the building.
This isn't the White Elephant party where you can re-gift something old and unwanted.
That is just wrong and it crosses so many lines...not to mention health code...ugh.
Mama is the kind of older woman, from Lebanon, who is stuck in the old country "don't be wasteful" mindset. Throwing away good product is considered sinning, more or less.
So it's Malia 1 Mama 0. It just makes me wonder what kind of unpleasantries I miss around there...
Like the food storage for instance-- uncovered raw poultry dripping into raw red meats and open pans of greens, bloody rags left on the floor of the walk-in fridge, containers of vegetables molded over and sliced off to serve what was good, not to mention things that scuttle in the dark...
I bet it makes YOU think twice about your meal before it comes out next.
One Disgruntled Employee,
Malia Etienette
Photo Credit:
Mr. Clean- http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7t9m/mr-clean-magic-eraser-arm-wrestling
Carry-out- http://www.vintagesignshack.com/carry-out-food-service-magnet.html
Kitty- http://funzypics.funnypicturesutopia.com/board/pins/271/11247
Dirty Secrets- http://www.ecokaren.com/13-dirty-secrets-from-restaurant-industry-experts/
Unsanitary Storage- personally taken
