Well, just thought I would pop by and tell you about the shitty weekend I just had! Truth is, I really need to vent right now and this is the ideal place to do it and get everything all off my chest!
Basically these last two weeks just gone, I have been in charge whilst Head Chef was on his regular two-week holiday that he always takes at this time of year. He came back last Wednesday, my day off, so Friday was the first time I had worked with him for approximately three weeks.(This was because I had taken a week off just before his holiday.)
Anyway, apparently we had a visit from the Environmental Health Officer and they weren't too happy. This was because of a number of issues that included dirty floor space under and around the wheels on benches, cracked floor tiles and poor maintenance issues and some items incorrectly date-labelled in fridge. For those not aware, all items in Commercial fridges have to be labelled with a day date label that signifies the day items must be used by along with a corresponding date referring to the date said item was made. Now bear in mind that I had not been there two days when the inspection took place and you would think I could not be held fully accountable. Oh no.....
H.C told me that when he came in on Wednesday that he was mostly pleased but that a few issues of cleaning (i.e: the floor around wheels under benches) needed to be addressed. BUT HE DIDN'T GET THEM DONE! Also, when I left on Tuesday, to the best of my knowledge all items in fridges were correctly labelled and dated and even if I had missed some of them, then he had two days to pick up on it and relabel or date! Bearing in mind as well that Wednesday/ Thursday were not particularly busy and he only had a wedding for 20 to serve outside of any other restaurant business he did....
And yet, when I came in on Friday, I got a right rollicking! I took the blame for a couple of date-label issues that I realised I had missed but even my fellow Sous-Chef Alan said later that H.C was out of order and normally them two are as thick and thieves and have each others back no matter whether they are in the right OR the wrong!
Anyway, Saturday he kind of apologised for the way he went off on one (quite rightly so) but then I come in Sunday and he has ANOTHER RIGHT GO ~ this time because Saturday night again, some things were not covered, date-labelled properly and the potato rumbler had not been sufficiently cleaned out or indeed cleaned out at all! This, bearing in mind, that he was there Saturday night also so should possibly have taken the responsibility for ensuring food items were put away correctly rather than instantly blaming me who had little to do with it and was busy cleaning work surfaces!?!
I will quite happily take responsibility and take blame when something is my fault but not if it isn't! I have always stated that I don't care what ppl think of me at work personally but I take issue with ppl questioning my professionalism. I have always said that no one should be able to question how well I do my job and this is a creedo I live by. They can think I am a Prick, a c***, a total arse-hole but I never want it said that I cannot do my job and do it well. It is a source of pride to me. This weekend, I feel that this has been continually questioned and has really totally and utterly wound me up, near to the point of me losing my temper and walking out. If I didn't desperately need the money, I would've walked this weekend ~ no word of a lie, believe!
I am still mad about it now especially because I find out that H.C has been saying that whilst he was on holiday, standards dropped. Err... no they didn't; I was just more focused on the food going out properly as I had a couple of important weddings to deal with -Big weddings- whilst he was away. The main issues the EHO had were with maintenance problems that she has brought up time and again on previous visits and we though have brought these issues to Management's attention, nothing has been done! The other issues she had just compounded the whole investigation and made things worse! But while H.C has been away, I have just continued the systems HE has put in place so if cleaning jobs got missed, it is because correct systems were obviously NOT in place and that is his responsibility. Leaving aside the fact that he had two days to address these before she came around and he just didn't!
If this all sounds like I am trying to dodge a bullet, then it is not that at all. Like I say, I quite happily accept responsibility where it is relevant but I WILL NOT be made a scrapegoat. Nor will I have my professionalism questioned so brutally when I work facking hard for the Company who own the Hotel!
Anyway, that is enough about that...time to move on. My spleen has been vented. Time to forget and just try and soldier on. As my old man always says, "Don't let the bastards grind you down" and I won't! Fack the lot of them! I know I did a good job these last couple of weeks in H.C's absence and even had that told to me by a couple of third parties (just so you know it's not just me blowing my own trumpet ~ not that I could reach anyway without having a couple of ribs removed...ewwww) so stuff what H.C says. He is angry and I understand that but don't take it out on the guy who tries fracking hard to keep the ship running straight when you're not there and sheds blood, sweat and tears doing it. Take it out on those who don't pull their weight....Wanker!
Sparky out....until next time, Nannoo ~ Nannooo..........
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