Things have been kinda busy for me this year. Business at Stonebridge is increasing, memberships are up, and we’re working harder than we were last year in terms of food. However, there’s always a wrench someplace just waiting for someone to toss it in.
Chef Pete started out the season hopeful that things would be great. We had a good team and the waitresses knew it. I was constantly being told that the waitstaff loved it when me and Leeann were on the line together. But as time went on, things started to sour – not with our team per se, but just in the way things ran. Upper management was constantly jumping on Pete’s case about food costs and the way we did things. I was getting questions about why I was working open to close every day, 60-70 hours a week, when Nick (our “new” line cook – he worked dish for three years) was allowed to take so much time off and leave early three times a week. There was an overall feeling of favoritism and it made for a lot of late night grumbling. Still, overall, certain shifts went well. Sunday, Monday, and Thursdays became my favorite days to work because I knew we’d have me and Leeann on the line and Tracy working the tables. The three of us have grown very close and are unstoppable when we work together. At first Pete was reluctant to schedule us together so often because Leeann and I are the most expensive in terms of pay, but it’s what worked best so he did it.
Unfortunately over the past few weeks we have heard more and more rumbling that something wasn’t right. Pete was more stressed out than usual, and we saw less and less of him in the kitchen. He was doing prep for functions and inventory, which always put him on edge. He was yelling at us more often, usually for stuff that had nothing to do with us. The general manager was spending more time in the kitchen trying to show us the way HE did things, which put me in an odd position – I need to be a team player, but I have to listen to what my chef tells me. Then Thursday night it all blew up. Men’s League always asks for some kind of interesting dessert, but all we had was a carrot cake that was too heavy, had been sitting around for a week, and in my opinion was not cooked properly to begin with. The dining room manager refused to sell it, and Tracy said she wanted to serve something new, so Leeann came up with a Chocolate Banana pie. Took her maybe 20 min to put it together using maybe $3 worth of ingredients. Pete comes in from doing inventory and just explodes. He was pissed off about wasting food, insisted that the carrot cake was just fine (after cutting maybe 2 inches of dry edge off each side) and then stormed out of the kitchen to yell at Tracy for bringing it up. She was very upset by it, but felt vindicated when she sold the entire pie in one night.
Sunday comes along, and Pete is dragged into a series of meetings, then the general manager comes into the kitchen and tells us what we already knew – Pete was no longer with us. Pete had already come down to say his goodbyes – he knew it was coming. The management and new owners had new ideas and Pete was resistant to change. He thought if he dug in his heels long enough they would just leave him alone, but it didn’t happen that way. He resented the micro-management of HIS kitchen, which I suppose is justified, but ultimately it just worked against him. Leeann is ready for a change. I’m a bit upset by it – Pete brought me back this season because I was loyal. (Although everyone is telling me that it was because he knew I was stupid enough to work my ass off for no real benefit at the end.) Nick is taking it hardest of all though – every year Pete chose a favorite; last year was Gloria, this year was Nick.
We have a new chef starting today. He’s either going to keep the team we have because it works, or replace everyone with people he has worked with before (which is not unusual.) The next few weeks are going to be tough.