I am beat. and my fingers are still tingly from all the dishes I had to wash. and please excuse my lack of verb tense agreement.
I go into my orientation this morning at 7:50am hoping to get things squared away early (I heard "squared away" a lot today...soo I'm using it now). There were a TON of people already there. They were definitely hiring a lot of people. I filled out some paper work, took a food handler's test (pwned it!), and just waited for like 30-45 minutes so they can talk with people individually. While we were waiting, one of the staff members walked in, "oh Chris, would you like to work today?" I said sure, no problem. He told me to talk to him after I was done. I finish up and go find him.
He said, "There's a chef in downtown that needs some help from 3pm-10pm today at the Bristol Hotel (in my mind, YES a HOTEL, awesome!)" Then he proceeds to give me more directions and also suggests that I take the TROLLEY instead of trying to look for parking and paying for it and all that jazz. I rush home 'cause I've NEVER taken the trolley, or rather even KNEW we had a trolley system. I search online for about an hour trying to plan which stop I'm going to go to and ride into downtown. I leave at 11am to grab a bite at a Chinese restaurant in the Vietnamese supermarket. Delicious whole steamed flounder for 7 bucks + 3 steamed bbq pork buns for 2 bucks, YUM! Got gas then went on my way.
I had no idea where I was going, luckily everything worked out and I found myself at the trolley station on 47th street. I asked a lady there which trolley goes to the Civic center and where to buy my ticket...Got my ticket expecting it to be checked, but when I got on the trolley I just sat down and no one checked it. I anxiously counted the stops and got off at the Civic center. I had NO IDEA which way I was supposed to walk, so I just went right. He said it was just one block away between Broadway and C. I bumped into Broadway, so I knew I was too far, then I had to decided whether to go left or right for decreasing street numbers. I just took a guess, went right and found Second street, YES, so I found Bristol Hotel. Not too bad..
I walk in, ask the lady for Glenn or Tina, she points me to Tina who points me to Chef Glenn. Immediately Chef Glenn tells me to start washing these dishes. I had NO IDEA what I was doing, so I ask one of the sous chefs and he's really nice and teaches me a bit. Just as I was about to get started, Chef tells me to sweep and mop the floors. So you know those rubber mats with holes in them? They are SURPRISINGLY heavy. I had to move those out of the way, sweep, then mop, then scrub, then dry. Thankfully, one of the sous chefs told me I didn't have to mop all of it, I just swept, then off to do dishes. OH MY FREAK! There was an INSANE number of dishes! Two sinks full of dishes, the counter space around it was full of pots and pans, a cart that had stuff that needed to be washed and a steamcart (tray cart? you know, those things with a bunch of racks). I start slowly moving dishes around trying to make some space, had issues with the drain since there wasn't a plug for it, and just washed for like 5-6 hours. My hands were the pruniest I had EVER seen. Skin started peeling off, it looked like my nails were receding, the tips of my fingers were white and my hands were kind of pink and pale. Nuts...
Finally our day ended with more cleaning, sweeping, mopping, and I got to eat their food for dinner! BEST PART EVER! I'm pretty sure it was a white wine garlic pasta drizzled with a bit of olive oil, pine nuts, watercress (or some other microgreen), restaurant made sausages (I heard the meat slicer going on), topped with some parmesan cheese. Then a lovely loaf of bread, super thin crispy dark brown layer on the outside, soft fluffy bread on in the inside. Awesome meal...
I got there around 1:30pm and left around 7:45pm (thank God not 10pm). I took the trolley back to my car. Here is where I fail. I start driving following written directions, then I forget to make a left and for about 5 minutes just drive straight. Uh oh, crap, decided to make a left when I could 'cause for some reason I was just on a long road of nothing. I end up going to a dead end, pull out my OLD GPS, it doesn't talk to me, so I have to keep glancing at it (which is weird 'cause it did before...) I find myself on 805 North finally, in my head "Okay now to the 15 N" just as I'm passing the exit...crap, well I could just stay on the 805 N. But I look at my GPS, it tells me to go to 163 N toward Escondido, okay, so I get off there, keep going, then for some reason decide to go 63 East, oops, bad idea, get off at the next exit following my GPS, it takes me to 63 West, then finally on to 15 N then I get home okay, driving really slowly so I don't miss anything..and 'cause my headlights suck. I got home around 9:30pm.
OMG, did I really just write this much? Congratulations to you if you READ ALL OF IT! I just had to rant about my day today! Overall, a GREAT learning experience for me. And man, kitchen is fun times, but hard times too. No wonder chefs are so stressed and they go out to smoke. And for some reason all the chefs make really vulgar jokes...
Can't wait to chill this weekend!
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