10.19.06
Man, and I was only gone a week…
I promised to talk about some of the changes that happened in the restaurant while I was gone, and so even though it is late, and I am tired, here is a bit of what went down:
 “Hey everybody, I’m back! Did I miss anything?…” |
First off, there was a lay-off. One of the employees had to be let go because we are entering the slow time of year for the restaurant. As the weather gets colder, places like ours with primarily outdoor seating tend to get less business. The slackening of traffic at dinnertime has been quite pronounced. Anyway, this fact, combined with the fact that Sarah feels much more comfortable with how she should be running the place (and her skills in doing so have markedly increased as well) means that we just had one person too many in the kitchen. So alas, she had to go. (Name withheld intentionally, though I do wish her a ton of luck in finding new work, as she was very sweet.)
Next, we had another “mutually agreed upon termination”. Hard to call it a “firing” in this case, I think it was more a realization by both parties that the relationship with the new ownership just wasn’t going to work out. And this I think is pretty typical of any restaurant that is in its early stages of development.
Aside: Sure, it may seem that this restaurant is well-established, since we have a rich and loyal clientele and have been in the Washingtonian’s Cheap Eats List for 6 years running now (or is it 7?…). But new management means new faces, new ways of doing things and in general, a whole new feel to how a place is run. When a restaurant is starting out, it is not uncommon for there to be a total turnover of the staff (if not two turnovers) in the first year. And that is what is going on here. It is not that the new people are firing the old staff to bring in just who they like, but it is just that change is not what everyone likes to deal with in the workplace. So the turnover cycles that we are seeing here are, I guess, just part of the territory of new ownership. Hell, if it weren’t for the new ownership, I wouldn’t be there, so it can’t all be bad, huh?
Anyway, the main waitress of Cafe Tirolo was comfortable with how things were before, and was not on the same page when it came to the changes that the new management was making, so while I was gone, she left to find new work. I of course was not able to hear her side of the story in this situation, so I will just approach this as a case of the two sides not agreeing on how the job should be done, so a split had to be made. I can’t pass judgment one way or the other on this one. Though I can say again that I am sorry to see her go as she too was sweet. (Cute too…)
And then there were some cooking style/menu changes that took me by surprise as well. They are for the better though I have to admit. For example, we pre-cook the peppers and onions that go with the Italian Sausage - this is simply because the sausage takes long enough to cook on its own without having to worry about cooking peppers and onions with it as well. The method we used to use was the super-easy short-cut of dunking them in the deep-fryer for about 30 seconds. I was never a fan of this myself as I thought they got way too greasy, but hey, it’s not my restaurant. Well Sarah took the right step that we now cook them in pans with much less oil - it is a much better product as a result.
 Mmmm… the cornerstone of any delicious sandwich. |
The other one took me by surprise as I was preparing the sandwich station on my first day back. I got out the iceberg lettuce to start cutting it, and there was a commotion wherein it seemed everyone was freaking out that I was daring to cut lettuce for the sandwiches - as I have been every day for several months now. Sarah explained that we now use romaine lettuce for the sandwiches now because it looks better (which it does), tastes better (right again) and because we have enough of it leftover from the salad bar with the amount we regularly order (I’ll have to take her word on that one…). Again, a step in the right direction as the sandwiches just look so much better with the better lettuce.
OK, so that last one was not the most ground-breaking change in the history of mankind (you can now return from the edge of your seat), but it is the little things that you notice when you return from being away - even if it was only for a week. Maybe changes like that are happening every day, and I am just not noticing them - it is only when they come to me en masse like this that I actually have the chance to notice how big a change it is from the way it used to be.
I guess its when enough of these little changes happen that make the place into something other than what you were used to that make it time to move on for some people. Oh well, we can’t stay in the same place forever…
Stumble it!
