Manuals......Damned Manuals....And Usual Crap

I'd like to start off by saying this: if you ever find yourself in a position where you are the head chef of an upstart restaurant that is looking to expand, (IN ITS FIRST YEAR!!!!) and you are called upon to create manuals for stuff that is actually pretty easy to teach, but somewhat difficult to put into words other than, "Look you fucking idiot, just do exactly what I'm fucking telling you exactly the way I'm fucking telling you to do it and if it looks like shit in the end, start over, until you fucking get it right," I strongly suggest choosing the option of heading for the goddamned hills.

Seriously, having to choose the words to express,"If it looks like a raisin, but is actually a pepper, you probably shouldn't use it, you stupid cunt," in a respectful, professional way is slowly sucking my soul away. Never mind the fact that my deadline is looming ever so near (tomorrow!) and after that I have to review an inventory control and costing program that I haven't had time to look at while a lackey did the data-entry on it, that needs to be functional by sunday before I leave for my holiday. The first holiday I've taken in years, mind you, and one that is so,so,so badly needed right now. God, I just want all this shit to be done and working so I can get the hell out of this town.

So, in order to get all this done in this tiny little time frame, I've distanced myself from the line this past week, handing it over to my sous-chefs (one of whom decided now would be a good time to become debilitatingly sick) and cooks to fend for themselves. This was also sort of a test-run for next week when I'm away.

I'm beginning to really have my doubts about whether or not there'll be a kitchen to come back to. The reasons for this are awholelottafold. For one, my non-sick sous is a goddamned pussy. I blame myself for his continued employment. I've given him so many kicks in the ass and chances to become really good, and just when I think he's finally going to meet or (gasp!) exceed my expectations, he falls on his face and starts crying like a wounded child. I should note at this point that due to problems with our ownership group and myself not exactly seeing eye to eye on some pretty important stuff, I'm currently entertaining a new job prospect. I'm not exactly holding my breath, but if it pans out, it could be pretty good. The point? I don't want to make any big changes to my line up until I know if I'm sticking around or not. Sound bad? not really. I promised myself I'd get all their training, costing, inventory, and labour control programs up and running before I leave. For what they're paying me, they're getting a damned bargain. Anyway, back to my reasons....I've noticed that without me there all the time this week, my staff seem to be turning on each other like feral dogs. And that's with me still on the premises, just not always in the kitchen. As well, because I like to be active in the kitchen all the time, I usually end up picking up a lot of prep. Prep that I thought could be picked up by someone coming in for a few shifts extra that week. Turns out I was wrong. With one extra person on both days and nights today absolutely fuck-all got done and I was forced to put my manuals aside and work part of the night in my jeans. Ever work a hot line in your jeans? Anyway, suffice it to say that next week is going to be a serious test for everyone as a team and as individuals. I can't help but wonder if this is all somehow my fault. But I think the truth is simply that these kids today (okay, so they're in their 20's) just don't care. I've tried to pass on my knowledge, my work ethic, my work style, my time management techniques, but in the end, they're kinda just flakes. It's somewhat heartbraking, because a lot of them have been with us since we opened, and at some point I saw a lot of potential in all of them, but to be honest, there's probably going to be some major turn over after this.