Kicking Puppies

Goose has been having a bad time with Chef. Not so anybody would notice overly much except her. It's taken me awhile to believe her. She made a mistake a couple of weeks ago I barely remember it but it was something about soup that was 'too thick' that she served to her last few tables. This of course made Chef unhappy that night. I assumed that he would be over it in a day or two. I mean, seriously? Soup? Two weeks later?

Last night there was a problem with an SDR that she either didn't catch or didn't hear about. The man that Javiar knew to be a PIA ordered the Pheasant which has bread crumbs in it. The whole plate can not be executed with any allergies. We all know this. It was in the meeting we had when the menu rolled out. She gets the plate out of the window and comes up to me a few minutes later and asked me about a gluten allergy with the Pheasant... uh... yeah... there is. It can't be done without. I had an 'oh shit' look on her face and debated momentarily on getting involved or letting her take care of it. But, then my table needed more wine so I left it for her and Javiar.

Javiar wasn't pleased. There was also a thing about a fridge being unplugged in the back of the service station. Why Goose unplugged it I didn't want to explore. It wasn't on purpose, of course. But, chef was the one to notice. Sucks for Goose.

I think the stress of knowing that Chef isn't happy is causing Goose to be a bit nervous.. I'd be nervous too. He can be intimidating. So the goof ups are mounting and the little ones that wouldn't necessarily be noticed are under a microscope. The whole damn thing is making me nervous. And feels a bit like kicking a puppy. Part of me wants to say, "hey Chef look how teeny and cute she is. don't forget the accent. The accent is funny.. can't you just laugh a little?" I don't think that would help.

And good-bye Bud. Transferred away somewhere on the mountain this week. I knew it would happen before he was transferred into the Restaurant. But, again. Like kicking a puppy. He sincerely didn't understand that he wasn't keeping up. he was convinced that his smoke breaks through out the night weren't that big of a deal. His lack of teamwork was a 'personal' work style. And the general lazy personality wasn't on the radar. Not going to miss him much. But, if it was up to me Old Dog would be long gone and Bud would still be leaning against the fridges talking to pantry bitch when there was an hour of polishing to get done.

As for last night. I had generally weird tables. A four top that didn't seem to want to order asked a lot of questions about entrees and then shared appetizers for dinner. Asked me to stop pouring their wine and literally shoo'd me away from the table twice. Then thanked me profusely over and over for their wonderful evening... huh?

Then the Australians who wanted Australian wines. This confuses me a little. You come all the way from down under. And then insist upon having the same crap that you can have in your own greasy spoon down the road. Order a Washington wine for fucks sake? Take a shot at Napa or Alexander. Experience something different. They also asked for schnitzel. When I said, no. We don't have it they said. "Can you just ask if the kitchen can make it for us it's her birthday".

"hey Sous can you pull some schnitzel out of your ass for my PIA seven top?"

"Sure, Rose give me a second"... as he laughs and continues to plate up entrees.

"I'm sorry sir we can't make a schnitzel this evening"..

Our second growth forty-eight dollar bottle Bordeaux tastes disgusting and looks 'murky' There just isn't another word for it. I wondered momentarily if decanting would help. But it's really bad.

I learned a new Portuguese word that can't be repeated in polite company and probably shouldn't be repeated in impolite company. Sad that of all the foreign languages around here I only learn how to invite somebody to screw in the bathroom of a bar. But, I can say something similar to that in three languages. Don't suppose I can put that on my resume?