Chef Dave
11-29-2007, 09:43 PM
I couldn't help but borrow the title of one of the most interesting books I recall hearing of while still working as an elementary teacher: "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Even now, after all these years, the title makes me smile.
Yesterday really was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Where to begin?
The water heater that services the culinary arts department is, for reasons unknown, a residential water heater and not a commercial unit. Insofar as my predecessor only went through the motions of teaching culinary arts, this was not a problem in years past. It is a problem this year as it hasn't been able to keep up with our demands. We've burned out four coils and the hot water heater finally gave up the ghost and died. It's hard to wash dishes without hot water.
Of course, it's also hard to wash dishes without having any water at all. It seems that a construction company hit the main water line while excavating to install pipes. We lost all water pressure and were left with piles of pots and pans that we couldn't wash because we had no water.
Without water, we couldn't sell sodas because our soda dispensers mix syrup with carbonated water. Without water, we had no ice ... but no problem because our ice machine also chose that moment to die.
Our operations department has literally replaced most of the internal components of the 500 lb. capacity ice maker ... the switch ... the thermostat ... the control board ... and despite all this, the ice machine went down ... not that it really mattered since we had no water to make ice ...
One of my kids was suspended. The building administrator caught him with a cell phone. School rules say that we hold all cell phones for five days. The father DEMANDED the return of the phone. Our building administrator held firm. So what did the parent do? He pulled his kid from school for five days! Does this make any sense at all?
Not only did he pull his kid from school, but I got a note DEMANDING that I send make up work home. How the heck does a culinary student do make up work for a class that is largely hands-on? I printed out five recipes and sent them home with instructions to cook these dishes and provide me with a sample of each dish. I doubt if the student will do this ... which will force me to give him five zeros.
Before we opened for lunch, the entire soccer team showed up. They wanted to order an early lunch. They wanted lunch 30 minutes before we were scheduled to open. Without having had any advance notice, there was nothing I could do. We simply weren't ready to open. Our food preparation was geared towards opening at 12:10 and not at 11:40.
"But we're on the soccer team," complained the students as though this phrase was a magic talisman that would somehow make everything all right.
"I'm sorry, but we're not open. We're still cooking lunch."
"But we're on the soccer team," they kept repeating.
I became annoyed. "What part of 'we are not open,' are you not understanding?"
The students were bitterly disappointed but what else could I do? We weren't open. Food was still being cooked. I literally had nothing to sell.
During lunch we were short staffed as one of our student helpers went home sick. I wound up having to plate our daily plated meal and was hustling between the stove and a steel table when the fire inspector showed up. What did he want to see? He wanted to examine our vent exhaust system and fire suppression hood, both of which are over the stove. Where did he have to stand? In front of the stove - blocking me from access to our Swedish meatballs, baby carrots, and loaded baked potatoes!
I literally asked the inspector to PLEASE move. One normally doesn't ask inspectors to do anything ... but this person was interrupting our lunch service. He had been at our school since 10 AM and he chose to inspect the restaurant during the middle of our lunch rush? Madness! (GRRRRR) :mad:
When water pressure was finally restored, my managers and I had to stay after school washing dishes. The process took a long time. County health regulations required us to use a three tiered sink since we had no hot water. I literally had to boil huge stock pots of water to use for washing dishes.
I'm glad that tomorrow is the end of the week ...
Has anyone else ever had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? What was it like?
Yesterday really was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Where to begin?
The water heater that services the culinary arts department is, for reasons unknown, a residential water heater and not a commercial unit. Insofar as my predecessor only went through the motions of teaching culinary arts, this was not a problem in years past. It is a problem this year as it hasn't been able to keep up with our demands. We've burned out four coils and the hot water heater finally gave up the ghost and died. It's hard to wash dishes without hot water.
Of course, it's also hard to wash dishes without having any water at all. It seems that a construction company hit the main water line while excavating to install pipes. We lost all water pressure and were left with piles of pots and pans that we couldn't wash because we had no water.
Without water, we couldn't sell sodas because our soda dispensers mix syrup with carbonated water. Without water, we had no ice ... but no problem because our ice machine also chose that moment to die.
Our operations department has literally replaced most of the internal components of the 500 lb. capacity ice maker ... the switch ... the thermostat ... the control board ... and despite all this, the ice machine went down ... not that it really mattered since we had no water to make ice ...
One of my kids was suspended. The building administrator caught him with a cell phone. School rules say that we hold all cell phones for five days. The father DEMANDED the return of the phone. Our building administrator held firm. So what did the parent do? He pulled his kid from school for five days! Does this make any sense at all?
Not only did he pull his kid from school, but I got a note DEMANDING that I send make up work home. How the heck does a culinary student do make up work for a class that is largely hands-on? I printed out five recipes and sent them home with instructions to cook these dishes and provide me with a sample of each dish. I doubt if the student will do this ... which will force me to give him five zeros.
Before we opened for lunch, the entire soccer team showed up. They wanted to order an early lunch. They wanted lunch 30 minutes before we were scheduled to open. Without having had any advance notice, there was nothing I could do. We simply weren't ready to open. Our food preparation was geared towards opening at 12:10 and not at 11:40.
"But we're on the soccer team," complained the students as though this phrase was a magic talisman that would somehow make everything all right.
"I'm sorry, but we're not open. We're still cooking lunch."
"But we're on the soccer team," they kept repeating.
I became annoyed. "What part of 'we are not open,' are you not understanding?"
The students were bitterly disappointed but what else could I do? We weren't open. Food was still being cooked. I literally had nothing to sell.
During lunch we were short staffed as one of our student helpers went home sick. I wound up having to plate our daily plated meal and was hustling between the stove and a steel table when the fire inspector showed up. What did he want to see? He wanted to examine our vent exhaust system and fire suppression hood, both of which are over the stove. Where did he have to stand? In front of the stove - blocking me from access to our Swedish meatballs, baby carrots, and loaded baked potatoes!
I literally asked the inspector to PLEASE move. One normally doesn't ask inspectors to do anything ... but this person was interrupting our lunch service. He had been at our school since 10 AM and he chose to inspect the restaurant during the middle of our lunch rush? Madness! (GRRRRR) :mad:
When water pressure was finally restored, my managers and I had to stay after school washing dishes. The process took a long time. County health regulations required us to use a three tiered sink since we had no hot water. I literally had to boil huge stock pots of water to use for washing dishes.
I'm glad that tomorrow is the end of the week ...
Has anyone else ever had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? What was it like?