work rant

here it comes again. so because of all the years of frantic note taking at school, i have become quite a quick scribbler. unfortunately for me, louis realized this when i had to do inventory with him a few months ago and i have been stuck doing it ever since.

it's pretty funny actually - it just means coming into the restaurant at ten instead of eleven and sitting down with a notebook getting hand cramps because lou shouts out his stocklists like he's tweeking on speed. the best part is he eats while he goes, so when he gets to the fridge with all the prepped food, he crams carrots into his mouth while he is shouting so you can't understand a bloody thing he is trying to say.

anyway, i guess in a weird way, i feel special because if you are the only person the crazy-chef man doesn't yell at, it probably means you are doing something right. anyway, lou and james are just hilarious and i think they make the best couple ever: regardless of how might they fight at work. it's all fun drama. there is still a hole in the wall by the bar when james threw a highball glass at lou because he (for some strange reason) refused to tell anyone that the broiler was broken.

so, just because i am always too tired to blog about work after work, here are some reasons why i love my job (there has been enough hate):

sasi, tony, mendez, southan, nathan, roger, rajan - ALL the guys in the kitchen are amazing. no matter how hard my job gets sometimes, theirs will always be harder. it's very inspiring and humbling. sasi always has something to tease me about: first, he would call me the new girl and introduce himself and shake hands with me every time i would come in for a shift. he did this for two years! now all he does is speak to me in tamil and i only know what suni means. trust me, i can't really use the word that often. then after i got the note on my time card calling me for inventory sasi was joking that it meant it was my last shift (violently red note, mind you). so every time i went back into the kitchen last night he would pretend to start crying and saying 'why would they fire such a hard worker like you?'

whenever it isn't busy in the kitchen, lou and james give the kitchen guys 'english lessons': last night lou was explaining the different uses of the word 'prick'. james was explaining what a 'gag reflex' was and why it's so good if you don't have one. those two guys say the most dirty things. i'm no prude, but sometimes it just catches me off-guard.

it really gives me the oppertunity to practise tolerance. i have learned that when people are mean and rude to you, it's either totally not personal, or they are emotional vampires. at queen's pasta, it tends to be the latter. they want you to be rude back because they want you to exert that energy. the nicer you are, the more upset they seem to get, so by that point it's funny. but a lot of the time, people just can't stay rude to someone who is being really nice to them. well, at least that's what the dalai lama tells me and i find this to be true in many cases.

most of the friends that i have are people at work (the other friends i have, i just never get to see). and it is also strange, that most of my friends that i knew before i worked at the restaurant, have gotten a job there at one time or another. i tend to be very shy and very introverted, but you have to really push the enthusiasm when you are there. now, i have met hundreds of people from my neighbourhood with wonderful regulars who i totally adore (especially frances, who used to be a nun and an english teacher. she comes in and drinks a lot of white wine. then she'll do the crossword with me and she lends me so many books. she also comes in just to bring people little gifts like flowers and sometimes...french fries?)

ok, just a few more. lou and tony (head chefs) say the sweetest and nicest things to me. tony says that i'm like his daughter and he always tries to get me to eat meat. i don't like the nagging, but it reminds me of what my grandmother does and i know it is out of love. i can't eat really anything at the restaurant because even the pasta has egg, so sometimes he makes me awesome sri lanken food, which i like even more. and lou sings a lot and he sings loudly enough that the whole restaurant can hear. and they both call me lovely jessa - now who wouldn't like that!

now everytime i have to work a brutal function or i get stuck with all the dishes upstairs, i just have to remember this list. okay, i've bored you enough for now; it ended up being a much longer post than intended. i guess, because sometimes the things you think you can't stand, just eventually turn out to be really funny.