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    United States Avalon Member
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    Default Foodservice experiences

    Food is an industry that has night and day differences depending on where you are.

    Restaurant work was the first thing I "stuck to" as a teenager, because of the culture and smoothness of it--those were good experiences because everyone was trained appropriately. I was warned at the time, "you don't want to go away from us into the wilderness", because chances are those jobs won't pay as much and the situation will be significantly worse.

    I did different stuff for around twenty years until that all went to smithereens and I wound up in foodservice again.

    I bailed on my first return because they were somewhat blocking me from building up hours, and, then, get this--we lost a point from the health inspection due to an employee in another area, in fact in a different company--Starbucks--had their drink up too high. I was then told I had to keep my drink in the break room, and, in order to get at it, I would have to ask someone to cover my area. So I basically told them to bite it.

    It is typical that you get feedback and something to do from those points, which is usually ok, and that was not.

    The next two places I went to wound up closing, so, I picked up another one on the spur of the moment. And right now firstly I would like to debunk the following product:


    Vigor pans





    A long gusset-style handle is securely welded to the pan for easy transportation, and minimizes the possibility of bacteria collection.

    To keep your employees' hands cool, this pan has a hollow handle that helps keep heat concentrated at the pan.


    Examine closely:





    That is Webstaurant, which anyone would recognize as a major wholesale supplier.

    Happens to have its own praise in a seeming "independent" website where we may be reading a native Chinese speaker:


    October 15, 2021 by Linda

    Where is vigor cookware made? Vigor cookware is currently manufactured in the United States.


    This cookware is made out of steel that will never break or chip like glass and ceramic products. It’s also has nonstick surfaces, so you don’t need any oils or butter for cooking!


    Vigor Cookware is made with aluminum interiors, stainless steel exterior surfaces...


    The supplier simply calls the item:

    Stainless Steel Fry Pan with Aluminum-Clad Bottom


    As far as I can tell, that is horrid advice, you can't cook it without oil. She is going on about something at Walmart and it is correct the company also markets mixed sets for home use and they do make items of a different construction. I don't care about that.


    What they don't show you anywhere is this aluminum bottom which does not say it was made in the U. S.

    And so I don't know if the photos above are in some way legit. Maybe they really make it that way. Part of it looks right--the edge--except it's not "rolled" even slightly. It sticks straight out to the side like a 360 degree knife. Except you'd rather get cut by a knife. That edge gives you a widely separated gash.

    "Its rolled edges increase its durability and strength while allowing for easy pouring, reducing messes and spills."


    I guess so. Linda tells me:


    The handles on the pots and pans are ergonomic to prevent burns while cooking

    This ergonomic handle never slip to your hand because it is designed very cleverly. This sturdy handle gives you a secure grip on your hand and will not slip, even in wet conditions.


    First of all, the hollow handle will burn you every time.

    Secondly it will easily slip vertically or roll horizontally.

    It is possible that in the pictures above you are seeing the version that is sent out for home use. That is not what you get commercially and what home user orders them by six packs. It is technically "welded" but it is four tiny little tack welds that you could easily see at the handle junction if it were this kind.

    In commercial use, after not that many heating cycles, the junction warps, and the handle will fill with water when being cleaned.

    Not much further along, it just breaks.

    You can't knock stuff out in the garbage can. You will kill it.

    You can't touch them on the shelf. It will hurt you.


    I do not understand these things, I have never seen a set of pans that did not look like it had been dragged through both World Wars. I don't think I've ever even heard of losing one. I had one of these fall off in my hand, in fact I was holding it upright to see how badly damaged the joint was, and it literally fell in the trash.

    They might give you a better product for home use but even at best I would say it is inherently dangerous for commercial use.

    One time a finger simply slipped across an edge and I came back with a hematoma about like a red grape.

    Right now I have two partially healed splits, which are about like decorating yourself with the mouth from a rubber doll of something like It Came from That Lagoon. I got these from what I would describe as minor contact. The injuries I have received from the features of this product are countless.

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    Netherlands Avalon Member ExomatrixTV's Avatar
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    Exclamation Re: Foodservice experiences

    Above 570°F (300°C), Teflon coatings may begin to break down, releasing toxic fumes into the air. These fumes can cause temporary, flu-like symptoms known as polymer fume fever.
    Certain "nonstick cookware" made before a certain year may contain harmful PFOAs (Notorious version of PFAS) . Here's how to tell if your Teflon or nonstick cookware is safe to use.



    The Truth About "Nonstick Cookware": Teflon


    cheers,
    John 🦜🦋🌳
    Last edited by ExomatrixTV; 19th March 2023 at 12:22.
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    Netherlands Avalon Member ExomatrixTV's Avatar
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    Lightbulb Re: Foodservice experiences

    • How to Properly Cook With Stainless Steel Pans

    • 4 Types of Toxic Cookware to Avoid and 4 Safe Alternatives:

    8,375,272+ views

    We all know the importance of eating healthy, but not everyone knows that the cookware you use to prepare your dishes is just as important as the food itself. Even the healthiest diet can result in severe health problems if your pots and pans are toxic. Find out which cookware you should avoid by all means for the sake of your own health and the health of your family.

    The non-stick properties of Teflon cookware are achieved with a coating of PTFE. This is a plastic polymer that, when heated above 572°F (300°C), starts to release toxins. These toxic fumes lead to flu-like symptoms called polymer fume fever, informally known as Teflon flu. Another chemical compound found in Teflon cookware is especially threatening since it tends to stay in the body (as well as in the environment) for long periods of time. Try cast-iron cookware instead. It even comes in non-stick varieties. It doesn't leak anything toxic into your food and is actually a nice natural way to increase your body’s iron levels.

    Though aluminum cookware is usually coated, the coating is prone to chipping, allowing the toxic metal to get right into your food. As for aluminum foil, using it while cooking is even more dangerous. In fact, there’s an established safe amount of aluminum the human body can manage daily, and that’s 20 mg per pound of body weight a day. When you wrap your food in aluminum foil and cook it this way, the amount of this substance that leaks into the food significantly exceeds the permissible level. Consider using glass cookware instead.

    If you’ve just enjoyed some fish in lemon juice or stewed tomatoes cooked in an uncoated copper pot and you find yourself suffering from extremely unpleasant symptoms (such as vomiting blood, light-headedness, yellowy skin, or gastrointestinal distress, among others) call 911 immediately. Try this safe alternative instead: stainless steel. Just make sure you're buying food-grade stainless steel since this is the only type that doesn't contain any nickel or chromium.

    Soft ceramic coating isn't durable enough and starts chipping after a few months of daily use. When this happens, lead and cadmium sometimes found in the coating will end up in your food and, thus, in your body. Lead poisoning is one of the most dangerous types of metal poisoning and can result in abdominal pain, headaches, infertility, and other health complications. Try this safe alternative instead: 100% ceramic cookware.

    SUMMARY:
    • Teflon contains a plastic polymer that, when heated above 572°F (300°C), starts to release toxins. Try this safe alternative instead: real cast-iron. This is a nontoxic cooking option that truly withstands the test of time. It heats well and evenly throughout.
    • Aluminum is a neurotoxic metal. Elevated levels of aluminum in the body have been linked to several central nervous system diseases, including Alzheimer's and ALS. Try this safe alternative instead: glass cookware. It’ll never release anything toxic when heated, it doesn’t hold onto any old flavors or odors, and it's not only durable but also eco-friendly.
    • Copper cookware, especially when it isn’t coated, can easily send you to the ER with a bad case of metal poisoning. And that’s because it can release copper when you cook acidic foods. Stainless steel is a great cookware option: it's relatively lightweight, scratch-resistant, and comes in non-stick varieties.
    • Soft ceramic coating isn't durable enough and starts chipping after a few months of daily use. When this happens, lead and cadmium sometimes found in the coating will end up in your food and, thus, in your body. Try this safe alternative instead: 100% ceramic cookware. This is one of the best and safest options out there since it's made with completely natural materials, it isn't toxic, and it won't chip or peel off.
    --o-O-o--
    • "Fun Factoid":
    "Ceramic nonstick pans" are not even Ceramic!

    They're actually metal pans with a finish that uses silicon to prevent sticking. Like ceramicware, the coating is made of sand and has a slick, glossy surface, which is how it came to be called "ceramic" without being actually ceramic.

    cheers,
    John 🦜🦋🌳
    Last edited by ExomatrixTV; 19th March 2023 at 13:46.
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    Avalon Member palehorse's Avatar
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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I personally stick with the following types of cookware:

    - cast iron
    - stainless steel
    - ceramic (mud pot)

    The cast iron is very heavy if you are not used to it, but is the one the food will taste better, my second option is ceramic pots to make soups or cream (like yummy corn cream).

    Another downside of the cast iron, it will get rust if you do not use it often, since I got about 10 different cast iron pans and I use 2 or 3 more often, the other ones are a bit rust now, but you can fix it yourself in a very easy way, but it will take a few hours, usually I keep the cast iron pan submerged in a solution of hydrochloric acid and water overnight, it will do the trick to remove all the rust, then you can clean up the remaining dirt on it, dry well and apply vegetable oil (I don't know if other types of oil will do better, I used coconut oil last time, but I guess any oil will work), then take it to the oven, heat it up to 250-300 celsius for about an hour and that is it. It will look like new, you can always "cure" your pain when it start to show symptoms of rust. It is my favorite cookware, I don't change it for anything.

    I like the mud pot as well, those home made, the ones you can buy on the road side when traveling haha (they have lots and lots here), you can also cure it with oil, but the good thing is, it won't be rusty of course, and maintenance is almost non-existent, you just need to wash well and be careful because they are a bit fragile, if you drop it, good bye.

    My third option is stainless steel, I use for quick meals, it is more practical no doubt and lightweight.

    I would add a fourth option to the list, copper cookware, but I don't know if it is "health" to use on everyday cooking, probably not, I have a couple here, because we do sweet desserts with that only, I never cooked anything else with those pans, wife would kill me if see me using it to fry bacon! lol
    --
    A chaos to the sense, a Kosmos to the reason.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I've had my old faithful, a cast iron frying pan for many years. It weighs a ton and like a cockroach, It will survive a nuclear war. I've used this pan as a hammer to bash down a nail - it's that tough. I never 'scrub' it, just wipe it over with kitchen towel and a very thin smear of olive oil to prevent rust. The outside of it is completely carbonated (with all that high heat) but the business part, the inside, is smooth and can deal with the softest of omelettes to the searing heat of a well cooked sirloin or a stir fry. I can shove the whole thing in the oven to finish off a dish.
    I also have a cast-iron Dutch oven which makes a fantastic casserole or stew and can be used on the hob as well.
    My other cookware (non-stick) doesn't come anywhere near to performing as well as the cast-iron stuff.
    Last edited by Mari; 19th March 2023 at 18:49.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Cowboy Kent Rollins just put up this vid about different qualities of five currently available made-in-USA brands of cast iron frying pans. His chan has a playlist of previous vids on cast iron, including seasoning them.

    As he says, and Mari says, they will outlast you, so they should be chosen as an investment. These comments, including pricing, 11:50-12:25

    I have pasted the five companies’ links just to show they are available on the YT (as well as to name them), but haven’t fixed them. I have added the prices there.

    Don't Buy a Cast Iron Skillet Without Watching This! Which Cast Iron Brand is Right for You?

    Cowboy Kent Rollins
    2.47M subscribers

    18,794 views Mar 19, 2023 #castironskillet #castironcooking #cowboycooking
    “Are you confused as to what cast iron brand will be right for you? Check out our cast iron skillet review to help you decide.
    #castironskillet #castironcooking #cowboycooking
    Stay in touch with our email newsletter: https://kentrollins.com/email-sign-up/

    Used in this video:
    $145 Field Company: https://bit.ly/2yoUoYh

    $115 Stargazer Cast Iron https://bit.ly/2VOqiZ9

    $250 Marquette Castings: https://www.marquettecastings.com?aff=53
    code “Kent” that takes 5% off at checkout

    $24 Lodge Cast Iron https://amzn.to/3loXtmD

    $200 Finex Cast Iron: https://finexusa.com/”

    Last edited by Johnnycomelately; 20th March 2023 at 01:35. Reason: Add prices.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    One time I was at home and wanted to put some water in the air, it was very dry in the house, filled up a Teflon pan and let it boil, however I was on the couch and then fell asleep. When I woke up the entire house was filled with smoke from that Teflon burning . It was bad. I then had to rent 2 of those oionizer fume extractors to get that out of the house. Never again.

    As for the cast iron Dutch oven, one time at my cabin north I put a pack of ribs in that Dutch oven and placed it on my wood stove that was going, I thought I would marina is them a bit on there, after working 3 hours I came back to check on them and they were fully cooked. I couldn't believe it. But yes made a believer out of me.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I might have been a little mixed up about Linda's remarks on non-stick, nevertheless, it is probably best to avoid any types of coating.


    I suppose manufactures are changing. What I call "pans" has the appearance of this Choice non-stick pan, but minus the coating:





    The handle does not slip, roll, or break. I can easily carry eight of them with just my fingers.

    On the whole website, I can't find much that really resembles pans I am used to, none of which could have come about before around 1990. The place I am now is new, but the previous was from the early 90s and, I think, was mostly running on its original equipment.

    That lady stuffed a sour cream container over the trash can and told me she could not afford to lose a fork. When we closed the place, we outloaded enough boxes of brand-new silverware to at least open a whole restaurant.

    That was nearly thirty years of giving precious storage space to something that was never used, while moronically whining to me about the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You'll drop a fork in the trash. Oh noes!! Pity party for the klutz in progress.

    Whenever she walked away I would remove the container.

    In fact I found she was the biggest interference to anything that could possibly go on in her own business. So daft that I literally erased my name off the schedule from parts I did not want to work. Anyone else ever do this? Negotiation's over. Eat it or fire me, who cares.


    When I started at the current place, before I became aware of the hundreds of injuries I was about to receive from these Vigor pans, I found they had a problem called we knock them over so they fall behind the range and we never pick them up. Can you say deer-in-headlights helplessness? They are like that with everything. I have regionally-influential five star gourmet experience, "you" have a job that you have not been fired from. None of them know how to work. Nothing is right there. It looks like a cartoon right out of Safe Serve with all the predictable common-sense ways not to do things.

    This is the first place I have ever been where I literally grabbed a knife blade buried under a stack of those pans in water.

    Let's review: it goes without saying, usually they say it at any workplace, and it is just common sense. Never happens because ordinary people are just not that dumb.

    I am relatively ancient by now in terms of working class, and, I regularly see examples of the dumbest things for the first time ever. As in this never happens, and now I am in the most dangerous place I have ever been, because these people do not know how to work and no one cares. Of course I have already made verbal remarks, escalated to a written page of these issues, in response to which, nothing happens. I have literally been watching the same marinara sauce scab off a trash can for nearly a year. There are still a few spots left.

    I used to do stuff like that on my day off, as a way to figure out whoever is slacking, and then you can deal with it. These cans are supposed to at least be rinsed every day and if anything is stuck you scrub it. No brainer. Takes a few minutes of your time. Normal.

    Keep that in mind. When it comes to disease outbreaks, such as Hep C, that has no statistical correlation to health ratings. It simply depends on whether an infected person comes in. Less-descript things from bacteria that thrive in unclean conditions are a different story. And you can get a decent health rating while at the same time being fairly unclean in a very simple way.

    That, I guess, is the "wilderness" that civilization warned me about. They also told me that poor work habits increase stress, and that we work a certain way physically in order to retain our sanity. True enough. Here, low quality work has never dawned on anyone's radar, but, it leads to angry outbursts, which so far is what everyone gets fired for. I replaced a guy who got kicked because of "mouth" and I keep seeing it over and over.

    If I applied for something else now, I would not be asking someone to give me a job, rather, I would be interviewing them to see if they had a facility that was acceptable. My guess is that in the right areas they would be 90% ok, and around here they would be 90% not ok. Like it is severed from civilization, trapped in, perhaps, the 1950s or so at best.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Quote Posted by pyrangello (here)
    One time I was at home and wanted to put some water in the air, it was very dry in the house, filled up a Teflon pan and let it boil, however I was on the couch and then fell asleep. When I woke up the entire house was filled with smoke from that Teflon burning . It was bad. I then had to rent 2 of those oionizer fume extractors to get that out of the house. Never again.
    Oooo. I’ve long known that burning plastic produces bad smoke, so I can believe that that pan-liner material is bad.

    At one rental house-share, I had fire trucks there twice from forgetting I had an oiled pan on heating (house system, door alarm too, sent calls automatically, but I was right there in the kitchen, just with my back turned doing adjacent meal-tasks......my other sub-renter housemate had a hilarious story about forgetting the door-pass number, coming in wasted one night). One of the times, I went out to talk to the truck, and my landlord took care of it and told me to go away. Later he told me it could have co$$$t me, and so warn me for future. Sketchy guy, yet with ominous powers.... later, he kicked me out...😎

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I took another look at the idea behind some equipment. And, I am not sure how this would make sense to anyone:


    This sink features a sturdy, 18" drainboard so you can easily wash and dry dishes and utensils in one convenient location.









    I do not understand how that is supposed to work in the most ideal situations. But let's mount it in a corner so the board on the left is flush against that wall, and put another hand sink to the left, and rinse food in it, and put a sign over it saying don't rinse food. At that point, you have made the board on the left mostly inaccessible.

    So if you set this thing up what looks to be backwards, with the soap scrubbing on the right, your work surface is effectively that approximately three inch brace between the sinks.

    And so you do this at a rate of around a hundred pans an hour, and what that means is whenever you have to power into something, it will simply shake anything you are drying back down the board and into the water, as if it were water. Fortunately, those piano legs--which don't appear to involve any bracing--do have the following feature:


    Galvanized steel legs with sockets and adjustable bullet feet provide added stability.


    Oh. Well, if there were any less, I am not sure I could tell a difference. I am just glad they go all the way to the floor.

    Back in human resources, I saw one of the most bizarre things I ever saw, except, there was a re-run and I saw it twice. New person starts a job. Tells me, well, the third week, I have that off. Taking a week off.

    What? I mean, ok. Never heard of that. But ok.

    After, something, I am not sure what, right after this mini-break, and the guy quit I guess. Then next week apparently changed his mind and was told no, not for the week off or quitting, but because some equipment such as those pans were found in the garbage.

    At that point, it sounds to me like you don't work there any more.

    Only a little while ago, I turn around and same person is back. Tells me, oh, the third week, I already have that off.

    Oh. Eh, ok...sounds reliable.

    Vacation's over, and, same person is just gone, blocked the calls.

    During that part, I think I burned out a fourteen year old in about four days. It started to feel a little like we were violating child labor law. Hello? Extremely vacant personality. I mean prize specimen there. No way to tell what happened.

    What is strange is that the first person I worked with there was completely fine and stayed for about six months. By now, that was almost a year ago, and, my findings are that this ability is irreplaceable.

    Tenure of a new employee ranges from a few days to maybe a month. I can't remember them any more. Just a few outrageous incidents. Except for the one person who was valid for about six months, this matches my recollection of the previous year before that. I don't know what that is a sign of, I can only say it is probably at least fifty members of the public who are all hopelessly broken in some way.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Quote Posted by shaberon (here)
    Food is an industry that has night and day differences depending on where you are.

    Restaurant work was the first thing I "stuck to" as a teenager, because of the culture and smoothness of it--those were good experiences because everyone was trained appropriately. I was warned at the time, "you don't want to go away from us into the wilderness", because chances are those jobs won't pay as much and the situation will be significantly worse.
    This may or may not be on topic. But the thread title (if the title's a good description!) suggested this reply from me.

    Some Londoners may have heard this story, which I recall from maybe 10-15 years ago. (If so, do please substantiate it with anecdotes and references.)

    There is or was a restaurant in London's West End (I believe in Soho) that became infamous for its truly terrible service. It was so awful that it became a source of entertainment for young businesspeople who went there after work to enjoy and make jokes about the unplanned chaos.

    Then, the restaurant owners caught on to the fact that their dreadful service was actually boosting business. So they started to ham it up deliberately with the serving staff doing their conscious best to offend and upset the customers. It all became like a kind of slapstick live comedy show.

    Does anyone remember this?

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I think this is the one you're talking about Bill.
    *CAUTION!, Rude and crude language!

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I think the restaurant you're thinking of, Bill, is Wong Kei's in Wardour Street. Memorably abysmal Chinese restaurant, even before they started hamming it up!

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    Then, the restaurant owners caught on to the fact that their dreadful service was actually boosting business. So they started to ham it up deliberately with the serving staff doing their conscious best to offend and upset the customers. It all became like a kind of slapstick live comedy show.

    Does anyone remember this?


    No, but I wish I did.

    By the thread title I just have in mind any memorable experiences from either side of the counter.

    Tomorrow I get to experience someone back to their first job in about three years after a heart surgery. That guy seems a little more serious and stable than most. And then there are two new attendants of some kind. I don't know what to tell them except they will be in my way. The issue already is the furniture vs. the volume. I don't know if there is a name, but there used to be these puzzles made in a square, which had numbered pieces in a grid, except one piece was missing out of the grid, so you could slide the numbers one spot at a time. That describes our traffic flow.

    The end result is a quality product and on that aspect I have hardly ever seen rejects or complaints. That's not an easy spot to get to. If you have ever gone in retail then you find that some members of the public actively look for something to complain about. That is what they are doing. They are looking for something like, to quote Upright Citizens Brigade:


    A tiny little dried-out grain of rice slathered with a half-dollop of mooshoo sauce

    except that was about a fat person crawling up the stairs, but these people would whine about it. You know the type! And so we wait for them, like a vast pool of quicksand and even when there isn't anything wrong, take their chicken talons to our corneas and go above and beyond the threshhold of existence, even if it means free pickles.

    There's no one you can't please unless you change your mind.

    I have practically crushed countless lives, but, I have not thrown out a food customer yet.

    Co-workers, if that is what you can truly call them, have become an entirely different story. The reason I do this is because where I come from, everyone was cool, and this has been living proof of everything they said about "some other places". I have no way to further validate this, I have not been in a Union, but I was brought in by people who had been. And from that view, the Union was not about whining at all, it set a standard which was like "performance expectancy" and all I got from it was ethics. Just seemed normal. I did not know at the time that some of it was health code, but it is. And so by the lack of Unionization, and not being able to find these same ethics for the most part, maybe you do miss something if you do not have this influence.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    The moderate and painadministering overlords holding this forum in a firm chicken talon grip, will read any membership application (if they have absolutely noting else to read) from any stupid ****, except from "flat earthers" and "karen diner personell". So be it, and no prisoners are taken.


    Mod note from Bill:

    I didn't understand any tiny part of that. Could you explain? And why is it posted on this thread?


    Last edited by Bill Ryan; 26th March 2023 at 13:32.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    I have to put this down before the details fade.

    Now this might sound a little strange to foreigners. In America, to be legally "historical", a building has to be, I believe, eighty years old. I looked at the one I go in and it said 1922. This is like a status symbol or something.

    One of the buildings has a manual dumbwaiter that could work, but of course it is not used. That is because part of the downstairs was converted into a bathroom. So you go to the bathroom and there is just a dumbwaiter there and I guess it is oh so quaint. It's authentic, or something, and takes you back to the good old days of Carpetbagging.

    The Plantation consists of a number of these buildings which have been commercialized for various purposes. And so when you go in with food, you are exempted from certain modern requirements, such as a mop sink. At the same time, there are limitations and restrictions, such as for example if you have a slate roof, you can only repair it with exactly-matching slate. So the area I am working in is a newly-renovated interior, which is limited by the situation of it being smaller than anyone would make anymore. For instance I am used to double-door kitchens. Not unusual.

    Not as any surprise, the "new person" wasn't, and I wound up dealing with only two of them, but for the moment I am at least willing to say they are not the worst sort of people. Alleviating enough.

    I show up and the main impeding piece of furniture has been moved.

    So, the building had been recently renovated when I started there. I noticed a low-lying area that would have been ideal for a floor drain. In fact I think this would have been obvious to the contractor and certainly to anyone who has ever been in a kitchen.

    It is a tile floor which was theoretically water-tight, but who cares. The thing is, for anyone who actually does cleaning then the first principle is not to drip water. And so I start noticing that there is a puddle usually waiting for me when I come in. It is larger than a floor mat. Otherwise, it is hidden under the floormat.

    Note that effectively sealing water with a rubber mat is not particularly hygenic.

    I try to start talking about this a few times when I back mop the puddle into a bucket. But this is not feasible when the business is busy. So the effect is practically permanent. Even if I absorb it at the end of the night, you still have something of a rivulet that comes back. Next day it is refilled.

    The point is that this low lying spot is basically where I am standing, and I can easily prove it is not necessary because it is the result of garbage work. Over the course of time, I watch a few of the tiles bend, twist, and crack, and I imagine that the subfloor must be turning into a sponge of a rather septic variety. But who knows.

    My guess was that most of the water source was coming from the individual that I had complained about, then another time I laughed at him in a way that he certainly did not like, until eventually I half snapped at him at which point he definitely backed down. After that, I never really saw him while this water thing was going on, until a couple of months ago, was fired for verbal reasons.

    Accurately enough, most of the Biblical deluge has receded since then, but, may have been a bit late to be an actual cure at this point.

    And so I go in and the furniture has moved and of course I presume someone will say something about logistics with additional staff.

    The furniture has been moved to act as a type of barricade so no one will hit the low spot since it was seen as saggy enough to be hazardous and maybe cave in.

    Now, the plan is...we're getting a floor drain.

    I thought I had made a fair enough offer, I said I would work all the doubles if that is what it takes to eliminate and replace this person, it was not a joke.


    That is what you get when you hire and tolerate sloppy work.

    I wish I was making that up. Brand new floor rotted out over ca. two years.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Quote Posted by silver birch (here)
    The moderate and painadministering overlords holding this forum in a firm chicken talon grip, will read any membership application (if they have absolutely noting else to read) from any stupid ****, except from "flat earthers" and "karen diner personell". So be it, and no prisoners are taken.
    Need a hug? 🥰🥰🥰

    Last night, after a pool game, I hugged my opponent (who had won). It was a guy who had actual goldielocks hair and a dress, and said she preferred to be called the Queen of scratches, when I asked. Just mean to say, nothing personal. Maybe I’m the weirdo here haha.

    Boyz I wish the pic-post thing was working, I had a few salient memes lined up.

    Cheers.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Bill, thank you for your moderate note.
    When I read your post #11, I got interested in what mechanism would be at play for diner customers to appreciate "dumb waiters".

    Next post supplied a videodocumentary from one of these restaurants, so I watched it, and had a strong adverse reaction with great sadness in my heart and impaired digestion for several hours.
    I can not understand how the customers can digest the food and get something positive out of the eggsperience.

    This is serious stuff, as it obviously is a trend involving at least one "chain" if I understand it right.

    As I am usually kind and understandig, even when confronted with stupid people, I thought it would be interesting to make a very rude post (safeguarded against personal harm by using wording from the video and suggesting (between the lines) that the most lovely moderators and forum owner maybe would add "karen diner personell" to the rules based order text in the membership application information.
    Instead of safeguarding myself against criticism like you did in your post #11, I wanted to be rude and eliglible for working in a "karen diner" as part of the concept is NOT being sorry, on topic or generally understandable.
    (from post #11 "This may or may not be on topic. But the thread title (if the title's a good description!) suggested this reply from me.")

    I have many questions about this trend, one is how the dumb waiters can go home after work and be nice to their partner or family. Are they all singles, or have they exhausted their rudeness and foul wording at work, so they can be loving and nice at home?

    To sum it up, my rude post was an attempt to be like a dumb waiter, as an illustration mainly. As the origin and visualisation for this behaviour is playing out in the thread, my innocent thought was that it must be on topic ...

    I am sorry if I have caused any suffering, and promise to never again be rude or difficult to understand.

    Please, delete my post if you think it is too hard to connect it to the reality on this thread, or simply impossible to understand for ordinary diners.
    Last edited by silver birch; 26th March 2023 at 18:33. Reason: spelling error

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Quote Posted by silver birch (here)
    [ ... ]
    To sum it up, my rude post was an attempt to be like a dumb waiter, as an illustration mainly.
    [...]
    Thank you! That was very clever, way too clever for dumb me first thing in the morning over here on US time.

    To your other points, re the entertainment value of someone being compulsively rude to everyone in sight, do watch Fawlty Towers.

    The series (featuring John Cleese at his inspired best) ran for just 12 episodes way back in the 1970s. Every one was a classic, comedy at its cleverest and finest. It's still regarded by many, self included, as the funniest thing that's ever been shown on the BBC. It has its very own Avalon thread:
    Last edited by Bill Ryan; 26th March 2023 at 19:26.

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    Default Re: Foodservice experiences

    Along those lines I have always been a fan of:


    Cheese Shop








    Compared to which, my recent version is "The Cheese Grater(s)".

    There was a cheese grater, it was used to grate cheese. Nothing extraordinary so far. One day the handle broke off. So another grater was ordered and at first it broke. The first broken grater was determined to work fine without a handle, nevertheless, two more were ordered to replace the new broken one, I guess so it could be its own replacement. No one needed to use them, so they were put to the side.

    "Side" in this case means "top", in fact of the objectionable barricade I recently posted, where they have no purpose being. Thinking this was not the best place to keep them, I went to move them, and, not being all that short, but, not being fantastically tall, I grazed the important handle from the side, which caused the stack of graters to tip, and so instead of grabbing the graters, I grated the tips, of two fingers.

    I moved the new graters to a bottom shelf where they have never been touched.

    I compared them all and out of twelve possible kinds of grater faces, I had definitely raked the worst one.

    That was one of those "etiquette" moves. Top shelf storage of a cheese grater is called "poor taste". It's not really a "rule" unless you use "top shelf" and "cheese grater" together in a sentence with every possible individual. I guess. I mean, I think it may be a rule, but that won't help me much.

    It was one of those deeper injuries which felt like it kept happening for months.

    You have to be careful with top shelves. The guy with the two vacations nearly nailed me with my own beverage. It missed, but one time I did get pelted with plastic items when I was lifting several gallons of boiling water. A jumpy person could have gotten a very serious injury out of that. I'm just adding it to my lists of "firsts" on the scale of regression.
    Last edited by shaberon; 27th March 2023 at 07:34.

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