The night with the supper ended at about 1.30-2 a.m. for most, I said most, cos' another guy and I were the exception, they told us to go home once we fired the last main courses, at about 12.30a.m. They didn't have to tell us twice. But I was sorry for the rest of the folks who had to stay back to finish cleaning up.
This week, we went back to 'normal' routine of 12 noon to 12 midnite. It's a relief, you could say, being able to sleep for about 2 more hrs every day. I took the chance, however, to speak to HR, about our work at G.S, orders still being taken after 10.30pm (last orders), taking in 'supper' in a week which was already jam packed, no encouragement from management. He couldn't comment if it was the G.S. or MBS policy to capitalise on every opportunity. He thinks it's probably the FnB department who gave a sales target to the restaurant. Reportedly, many employees at MBS has complaints of feeling being squeezed, as we're still severely under-staffed, and yet have to keep the show running. He says that at the beginning, a lot of SOP (standard operating procedure) are not set yet, and that things should become more stable once time passes. Hardly any consolation at all! In any case, I think 5 months is a long enough time to met out your SOP! And if this is the way I see them running the restaurant for the long term, then A) it won't be one restaurant I'll work in, B) they won't be running it for long. One staff from pastry has already processed her transfer, another has talked to HR abt it, myself as well. Another guy from the meat station also has it up to here as well, he confided that he might go as long as Christmas only. Since Day One 5 months ago, that would make 11 staff who left or currently making plans to leave due to the working environment , out of a current staff of .... 13 local staff and 5 expat chefs. (2 more staff have left due to other reasons). Wow, the turnover rate!
I think that since G.S took up such a big space for the restaurant (big on the dining area, but not really for the kitchen!) they ought to have paid an obscene rent, and to make the necessary profits to sustain business, they must pander to latecomers and late orders. This week alone, there've been another 2 more late orders, one on Fri, the GM came in at 11.15 to ask which fish dish we can serve most quickly, by the time we served it after 2 first courses, it was almost midnight. Yesterday, on Sat, they fired a meat dish at 11.45 p.m. I kid you not!!!! I looked at the clock, because I wanted to see if the chef will actually take up this order. In the end, the cuisine chef took it and cooked it himself, while we finished the clean up and went home. Maybe that should be the way in future.
Unfortunately too, in the midst of all this, I scalded myself with a hot puree on Saturday. Although the puree I did on Friday was smooth, my chef insisted to spin the puree together on Saturday, so I set up everything, including a cover for the blender jug, which I always use. When he took over the set up, he didn't use the cover, instead, used a small rubber spatula to fold the sides inwards while on high speed, and told me to take over. The minute I did, thick hot puree being unstable in a high speed blender jug it is, the puree shot upwards towards me, in reflex, I shielded my face with my hands, and released the rubber spatula into the jug which then shot the hot puree all over, including my other hand holding on to the jug.
What I have problems with is that instead of recognising it as an accident that could have been prevented, my chef pulled out the rubber spatula and showed to me, saying "You see, when you...", basically blaming me for pushing the spatula into the jug. Who in his right mind would intentionally risk spilling hot puree on oneself?? And if we used the cover in the first place (which I always use, for cold or hot purees), in the event of accidents happening, the results would have been minimised, don't you agree? When I talked to him later, he was silent on the part of his not using the cover, but agreed we could have used other methods.
You know how a scalded hand feels when it goes near heat and while washing, that was how my red and throbbing hand suffered that night continuing the dinner service, even pumping out a good almost 70 covers that night. (Am quite amazed actually.) Not once did they ask me if I think I can continue with service, nor to suggest to send me to home to rest and see a doctor the next day. That is called "not taking care of your employees". Did I hurt, sure I did!
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