Kitchen War Stories

One thing is for sure if you have worked in the food service industry long enough you have either heard one, seen one or have been apart of one. Kitchen war stories or accidents cost food service businesses large amounts of money every year and can even cause them to go belly up. This is why more and more safety precautions are but in place every year by food service companies. Some companies even go as far as to offer rewards for having no accidents for the year or month. Kitchens are very dangerous and the more fast paced they are the more dangerous they become. This is why there are tons of war stories out there. I will share a couple kitchen war stories with you then please fee free to share your stories in the comment section.

One time in a restaurant where I worked I guy strained the oil out of a fryer while it was hot.  Then he took the oil out back to the to oil dumpster to dump it.  Well the light was out and it was dark.  They just brought a new oil dumpster which had a lid and the old one did not.  The guy went to dump the oil like he did many times before but it was dark and the lid was closed so he poured the hot oil all down the front of him.  It scalded his feet arms and chest.

Once more in the same restaurant a guy was making pizza dough from scratch in a big mixer with a dough hook.  Well the dough stuck to the side a little and it was only on speed one. So he thought he could put his hand in the mixer to scrape the dough off the sides.  Well he wasn't fast enough the dough hook took his arm and snapped it like a twig.

Managers vs Employees

In my food service experience I find that a lot of times establishments can become a battle of managers vs employees.  I believe it usually comes from changes in management.  When you have a management staff who is relaxed on some of the rules, then you change over the management staff and try to lay down the law so to speak the employees tend to rebel.  Sometimes this happens when one manager leaves and a new one is brought in to fill the position.  The battle can also arise when there is an inconsistency in counseling employees. 
     I find that the younger staff members tend to test management more often than older staff members.  The younger employees are there to make a few dollars and don't really have much responsibility.  Where as the older staff members are trying to support families or to make a living.  A lot of the younger staff tend to have the attitude of i don't care I'll just get another job.  These are the staff members that will try to tell you what they will and will not do.  The flip side of this is with the older staff who have been with the company for a long time and think they know better than management because they may have been there longer.
     Some of these types of employees can be counseled and become very productive good employees.  While others are like poison to the rest of the staff and get others to follow them creating a bad environment.  These types of people challenge management at every turn until they quit or get fired.  Some of them will straighten out after counseling just long enough until you have to start the counseling process over again.  This makes them very difficult to get rid off unless they do something that gives you cause for immediate termination.
    The best thing to avoid the managers vs employees situation is that management needs to be consistent  and all on the same page.  Management also has to treat the employees with respect as well