Between a Rock and a Hard Place

[Chef Dave]

The health inspector unexpectedly showed up today. We were gigged for not having hot water. The problem as I explained to the health inspector, was that our district operations department was supposed to have installed a new hot water heater three weeks ago. This is not to say that I was blaming operations. They can't install what they don't have. The supplier missed the promised delivery date. Operations told me they were following up on this ... and that was the last I heard from them.

The water heater in question works if you reset it every time the hot water is used up. The problem with this is that after resetting it, it takes about 30 minutes for the water to heat up.

During this time, pots and pans pile up in the sink. County health regulations won't let us wash dishes without hot water ... and of course, when did the health inspector pay us a visit? He came while the water heater was reheating and pots and pans were piled in the sink.

To be fair, he gave me ten days notice to fix the problem. If the problem isn't fixed in ten days, we'll be closed down.

I went to my building administrator with the problem and was told that I should call operations. The problem is that I HAVE been calling operations. I have left voice mail messages. I have sent e-mails. I still don't know why the water heater wasn't delivered on time and I haven't been able to find out when the new water heater is expected.

I have ten days to get a new water heater installed ... and I have no control over the supplier or operations.

I have already told the CTE director that if the water heater isn't installed, our restaurant operation will be closed down. I have also told her that if we continue to have hot water problems next week, I will voluntarily terminate operations.

It's really hard to wash dishes without hot water.

This afternoon my assistant and manager and I spent nearly three hours heating water in large stock pots to wash all of our pots and pans.

I don't think the school administration realizes how inconvenient it is to wash dishes by hand. I don't think they understand how many pots and pans my department has to wash on a daily basis. I'm not sure if operations understands the gravity of the situation.

If the health department closes us, we'll be written up in the local newspaper. We will suffer negative publicity. The reputation of our culinary arts department will be tarnished ... and since I am the chef instructor, I will be held accountable even though I have no control over the situation with the hot water heater.

The only alternative I can think of right now is that if we don't have a water heater in place within ten days, I can possibly avoid being closed by the health department if I can demonstrate that I took the initiative of voluntarily closing our student restaurant prior to the stipulated date.

I'm feeling a bit frustrated right now ...

[Camelle2173]

WOW! I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I tech FCS, and in a previous position, had a restaurant at the school. I can sympathize.

Suggestions:
1. Print out all the emails you've sent to the District operations, your CTE specialist, principal, etc. This way when the inspector comes back, you can show the documentation about the situation.

2. Call the health inspector and ask if you voluntarily close before the 10 days, if you can avoid "being closed".

3. Have all of the "said people" (operations, principal, CTE dept, etc) been to your restaurant, and seen first hand the amount of work that goes into it? If not, I'd certainly invite them. Heck, invite the school board and and supt as well.


4. See if your CTE dept can get Operations to "go around purchasing" and purchase the water heater locally. If that's a possibility (based on size of water heater needed, etc.)

I think that's all I can think of now.... GOOD LUCK to you!

[busbus]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Chef. You are definitely between a rock and a hard place.

The previous poster gave some sound advice and between those and your own ideas, I hope that things turn out okay ... that the restaurant stays open (maybe just closed for a bit with you running interference) and that your name is not "smeared" in the press. Once a reputation is tainted, sometimes it's very hard to get it back.

I hope that there is an angel watching over you and your culinary arts students. Good fortunes to you. :)

[Chef Dave]

WOW! I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I tech FCS, and in a previous position, had a restaurant at the school. I can sympathize.

Suggestions:
1. Print out all the emails you've sent to the District operations, your CTE specialist, principal, etc. This way when the inspector comes back, you can show the documentation about the situation.

Thanks for your advice. Great minds must think alike because I already thought of most of these options. The one option I didn't think of was to ask the inspector what would happen if I voluntarily closed the restaurant until the water heater is installed. I'll check with district operations on Tuesday to see what the time line is on the water heater. If I don't like their answer, I'll call the inspector to see what he says about a voluntary closure.

One reason the health inspector gave me ten days was because I offered to show him a copy of the purchase order for the water heater. He initially told me that he was tired of being snowed by restaurant managers and chefs who promised to fix problems only to ignore them. On follow up visits, some of these people allegedly said, "Problem? What problem? You never told me about a problem ..." and because the inspector kept these problems off the books, he couldn't prove that these people had already been warned.

The inspector now documents all infractions. The only reason he gave me ten days was because I offered to provide documentation showing that we HAVE purchased a water heater.

[Chef Dave]

Today was Dr. Martin Luther King Day, so we had no school. I arrived at work to find that our water heater was again not working. I really don't want to have to boil stock pots of water on the stove simply to wash dishes. The pots are heavy and the water takes a long time to boil.

Even if the health inspector doesn't extend his ten day deadline, I'm going to bite the bullet and suspend all culinary operations until such time as we actually have a working hot water heater.

I hope the building administration won't kick up a fuss about this because I feel very strongly about this and will complain to the district business director and superintendent if I have to. Our current hot water heater is becoming increasingly unreliable and from a food safety viewpoint, I do not believe we should be operational until the hot water heater is replaced.

[Chef Dave]

Our student restaurant was closed for three days.

The supplier was supposed to have delivered the water heater at 3 PM yesterday. I left at 3:15 PM which was just as well because he didn't show up until 5:30 PM.

At 5 AM this morning, I found that the water heater hadn't been installed. It turned out that the men the supplier had sent hadn't known how to install an electric heater even though installation was part of the purchase price.

I closed the restaurant for yet another day and put a call in to district operations. The operations people had us hooked up by 10 AM which was too late for lunch operations since I hadn't defrosted any food products.

We'll resume normal operations tomorrow.

On the menu: pinto bean soup, chicken shawarmas (basically an Arab burrito - grilled chicken with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and hummus in a toasted pita pocket), and bacon cheese burgers with fries.

[busbus]

Our student restaurant was closed for three days.

We'll resume normal operations tomorrow.

On the menu: pinto bean soup, chicken shawarmas (basically an Arab burrito - grilled chicken with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and hummus in a toasted pita pocket), and bacon cheese burgers with fries.

Congrats! :)

Glad this ordeal is over for you, personally, and your students. Hope that everything remains status quo and in constant working order.

Your menu sounds great, especially the soup. I can eat soup everyday!

Keep on creating great daily menus while this recent ordeal becomes just a memory. Congrats, again! :D

[Chef Dave]

Well ... just when I thought everything was over ...

At 6 AM, the fire alarm went off. I turned off the steamer, oven, and one gas range in the kitchen. I called the director of operations to let him know about the fire alarm. I then left the building.

When the alarm was turned off at 6:20 AM, I returned to the kitchen to find the operations director there. He was looking for a fire because the fire alarm master board had indicated a fire in the kitchen. There was no fire in the kitchen.

As per standard practice, all vents were on. All equipment had been in proper use. There was no reason for the fire alarm to go off.

When I tried turning the steam oven and convection oven back on, the fire alarm went off again. A quick look at the breaker box showed that the breakers hadn't been tripped - so I don't know why we're having these problems. I assume we now have some sort of electrical short. Oh joy.

I am now cooking breakfast in the culinary arts lab. I hope no further alarms are tripped ... (sigh)

P.S. I just temped the hot water. It's only 100 degrees. I think it should be at least 110. An operations person lowered the temperature on the water heater yesterday saying that at 150 degrees it was too hot. The water is now too cool.