05.14.07
What I’m Not Going to Miss
Of course I am sad to be leaving Vero (only three days left!) as they have been a great group of people to work with and for. But since we are all human, it can’t possibly be the case that everything there was 100% perfect, right? Some of you have been writing me asking things like “So come on, what is the real reason you are leaving?” So allow me to re-iterate here that it is nothing at Vero that is pushing me away.
That being said though, there is one thing that I noticed the other day that I would not miss as I moved on to my new job. The walk-in.
Some of you may remember my earlier account of how I was tasked with re-organizing the walk-in back in February. It was cold work in the middle of winter - the time you don’t want to spend extra time in the cold. (Unlike these warmer summer days where it hits over 100 degrees in the kitchen, and we look for any excuse possible to visit the walk-in for a cool-down. “Who needs more water? Nobody? Well then…uhhh…I’m gonna go get some more…umm.. celery! See ya in 5 minutes!”)
 I don’t see what was wrong with my organization system… (photo from piotrzurek.net) |
My organization plan made sense as I labeled the shelves with little notes for what foods should go in which spots. It was based mainly on how we had a lot of things in there already, but a few things got moved to new places, since I was trying to give everything a fixed spot.
I even wrote the shelf labels in English AND Spanish (I had to look up most of the translations on the web) so that everyone could use them. The new system I created was going to speed up our ability to find food we needed, and keep us from over-ordering on other items. At least, that was how it was supposed to work…
The problem with my creating this system is that I am not there in the morning when the food orders arrive. If I were there, you can bet I would check in the food and place everything on the shelves in the spots laid out for them. But alas, the morning crew tends to just throw food into the walk-in wherever they feel like it. I spent the first month of the new system re-organizing the walk-in every night to try to make the new system work.
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But it seemed that the harder I tried to make it organized, the more disorganized it would be the next day when I arrived. Since there wasn’t total buy-in to the new system at all levels in the restaurant, there was no point in my trying to keep it together. About a month ago, I stopped even trying anymore. I knew we had hit rock bottom for fridge organization the other day when I was doing an inventory and found grapefruits in no less than four different places in the walk-in.
That fridge is nothing short of a mess. It is like a daily game of hide-and-seek to find produce in there, and I guess it pains me more since I tried to clean it up and failed. When I move on, I am not going to miss this daily reminder of how I tried to make something better in the restaurant, but was ultimately unable to improve it.
By coincidence, when I was touring the kitchen at Rustico, I was taken into their walk-in to see how they had things laid out. The degree of organization and labeling blew my mind. They didn’t just have a section for “herbs” (which is all I tried to do) but rather a series of smaller shelves in the herbs section, each one labeled with a specific herb, so going in and grabbing the oregano would take all of 2 seconds. I was impressed by this and told them how I loved what they had done with the walk-in.
“Well sure. Time is a limited resource in the kitchen,” they replied. “If you don’t organize the walk-in, you’re just wasting time.”
I couldn’t agree more.
So yes, there is one thing I am not going to miss as I head off to the new job. But for all you conspiracy theorists out there, this is hardly the reason why I am leaving. To leave a job because the fridge isn’t organized the way you like is about as smart as using a match to check your gas tank. Then again, as some others of you have pointed out, leaving a great job for the unknown doesn’t seem all that bright either.
I guess we’ll just have to see…
Stumble it!
Chris said,
May 14, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Your not supposed to check your gas tank with a match? I guess that next you’ll be telling me not to sanitize the cutting board with my toungue after making chicken cutlets for piccata?
Eize said,
May 14, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Aren’t the risk-takers who actually move up in the world? At least you have a better reason for moving to another job. I had to make a drastic career change because I realized (right in the middle of the school year) that I won’t make the ideal high school teacher. To make a long story short, I had to leave not just for myself, but for the sake of the students. The fact that the last school I left had lousy management ideas and a high YEARLY turnover rate for teachers was just a fraction of the reason.
Well, I still haven’t left the academic route. I decided to go “behind-the-scenes” (editor). Never regretted it!
Matt said,
May 16, 2007 at 9:33 am
Chris - I tend not to lick my cutting board ever as a way to clean it. I just dip it in bleach, and then go right back to using it knowing it is good and clean and my food is all safe.
Eize - Yes, the risk takers are the ones who move forward, but inherent in “risk” is the chance of being one of the ones who falls back…
I am glad to see you also took a chance to change your career mid-path - and one that didn’t even have to do with cooking. I was always hoping this blog would attract all types of people who were looking to make changes in their lives to do what they liked. At the core of this blog is that message - it’s not about cooking, but rather its about doing what you love, and what you know is right for you.
Peggy said,
May 17, 2007 at 11:39 am
Let me get this right . . . you dip the cutting board or your tongue in bleach?