Back of House 1

I’ve spent a lot of time in and around restaurants. My first job at 15 was at a party supply store over the Halloween season. My second job was a restaurant. 10 Years later I’ve decided I don’t need to work in a restaurant ever again. I’ve seen it all and I don’t want to see any more of it. I’ve had good times and I’ve had bad times. This is a story from the back of house.

For whatever reason, this particular restaurant thought it would be a good idea to have mini corn dogs available as an option for children. This is not a corn dog restaurant. Not a single person in the kitchen cared about the corn dogs, yet here we were.

Looking at the screen I could see an order for 6 mini corn dogs. Although I’ve worked in kitchens for years at this point, I still have to do the exact same training as someone who has never touched a spatula. Because they treat me like an idiot, I feel as if it is my duty to give them the idiot they want to have. After all, it’s what they’re paying for.

I open the freezer, because no one in the restaurant has time to bread and fry a real corndog. That’s why you get frozen. Frozen burgers, frozen fries, and even some sauces you enjoy come frozen and pre-packaged. Kitchen workers are under-paid and under-trained. Almost all chain franchise restaurants are frozen. Red Robin, frozen. Applebee’s, frozen. Ben and Jerry’s, frozen. So on and so forth. You name it, it’s frozen.

When I open the freezer and see there are only 4 mini corndogs in there. I know I have a few options. I could go to the walk-in freezer in the back and get more. However, that’s a sub-zero freezer. I’m sweaty and in a t-shirt. That could be cold. I decide to do the next best thing. The classic, “Can you show me where x is?” This strategy only works during the training process. Get someone to “show you” how to work, but actually you just get to watch them do what you were supposed to do.

I, with 6 years kitchen experience at this point, drop the few corn dogs we had out there into the fryer and followed the guy training me, 1 year kitchen experience. Surprise, there are no more corn dogs in the restaurant. With experience, or even with just common sense, you know exactly what to do in this situation. You tell the customer, “We only have 4 mini corn dogs, so what do I have to give you to make you shut up and leave me alone?” Of course, not in that exact phrasing. That is the sentiment, though.

The rookie shuts down and runs to the manager to have a quick panic attack. Meanwhile, I head back to the fryer because me, the expert, has already cooked the food for the order. This way the idiot only has to put the 4 corn dogs we have on the plate with some extra fries and he’s the hero. Unfortunately, some people are just born losers.

I just let the corn dogs hang out in the basket until my trainer returns with his head outside of his ass. However, he pulls the basket and throws the corn dogs away. I’m shocked. You never throw away loose fried items. That’s snacks for the whole kitchen. Always offer before you toss. How hard is it to say, “anyone want some corn dogs?”

Someone throwing away corn dogs isn’t a story worth writing and posting to the internet, but someone throwing away corn dogs then pulling them back out and serving them is. That is exactly what happened.

The idiot came back. Threw out the corn dogs and told me the manager said, “oh, just toss them out.” Immediately, I know this is wrong. I’m sure the manager just said whatever it took to get this idiot away from him so he could go to the table and tell them exactly what I told you 4 paragraphs ago.

I take a literal step back when I see the manager coming. I know what’s coming and I have to have the wide angle shot of it for the movie in my mind. It went like this:

Manager came up and said, “the table said 4 corn dogs was fine.” (Like I said it would be).

The idiot says, “Okay, they’ll be up in three minutes.”

Keep in mind, the corn dogs are no longer with us. They’re in the garbage, and have been. We’re far beyond the 5-second rule. It’s on top of the garbage, but it’s still with garbage and waste. Think about what’s in the garbage at the fry station. You have eggs here. You have fish here You have raw vegetables here. This is an e.coli and salmonella hot spot, and the corn dogs are swimming in it.

The manager leaves to tell the table that their corn dogs are on the way. They aren’t. Yet.

The idiot turns to me and asks what he should do. I told him the honest truth. Just tell him you threw them out and drop some chicken tenders or something. It’s that easy. This is a $4 kid’s meal. Literally, send out anything.

It’s moments like this when you realize common sense isn’t that common. Easy for me, is not easy for the idiot. He decides the best way to move forward is to grab the corn dogs out of the garbage and put them in the fryer for a second to “fry off the germs”. I can’t believe what I’m seeing or hearing at this point.

After maybe 30 seconds in the fryer, he pulls them out and plates them. He added extra fries as a distraction. That’s that handled. 

We continue on with the shift like it never happened. The idiot received no consequences and probably still works there to this day. Me, on the other hand, I never showed up there again. I may not have gone out of my way to stop it, but I certainly won’t be part of it after I’ve seen it.

You go out to eat so you don’t have to cook. What you don’t think about is, if you’re not cooking, who is? Are they sweating into your food? Probably. Is your food out of the garbage? Just because I’ve only seen it happen once doesn’t mean this is the only time this has ever happened. These are questions you only have to ask if you can’t cook for yourself.