I like working in the kitchen less and less now [UPDATED, POST #17] About This Page:

[Queen of Everything]

In some cases experience will count as education. The son of a friend of mine applied for a job as a cook at the local university. He had no degree but had worked at McDonalds for 14 years and when they hired him they gave him the pay equivalent to a Bachelor's degree. Hope things improve.

A.

[CinderAbby]

Originally Posted by GingerJ

Any updates, Darlene? We're thinking of you and hoping for the best!

Ginger

Things have been going better. I had to re-read what I originally posted though.

So since I started this thread, my "old" full timer went to a different school for more hours and it's really ironic. We went to school together but still get along well so I thought we'd work well together. We did but apparently she stressed me out because since she's been gone, I haven't felt a lot of stress. I still haven't heard from the Food Service Director about that change so I guess I'm not going to. I did actually hear from her though that my part timer was given the full time position. I didn't mention it here but I think I mentioned it somewhere that this person is a 22 YO male. As of now, he's only been in my kitchen about 2 months but we work so well together you would think we've worked together longer. I start things and he can automatically finish them. He takes direction well - when he needs it which isn't much because he also has restaurant experience which does help. Even though he's younger than I, we're similar in things we think and do which is good and he's got a sense of humor.

We've got such a good routine down that even with just the two of us in the kitchen, we've been getting our breaks. Maybe not all at once - we usually end up getting once or twice during it - but we're getting the majority of our 30 minute breaks in the mornings. In the afternoons, depending upon the lunch, we've been finishing early too. This is the teamwork I was hoping I would end up with - and I finally did. None of this was happening consistently when 3 of us were in the kitchen.

As for my third and fourth positions I should have in the kitchen, here's the latest. My FSD actually hired me a third person - also as a full timer at 20 hours instead of the 15 hour part time position it's been for years and years. She came in today and while I hate to say she got in the way, she wasn't sure what to do and I wasn't sure what to have her do for that extra hour. She seems nice and I'm sure next week when she comes back and officially starts, we'll get into some sort of routine as a 3 person kitchen. The 4th person that use to be there though? If my lunch counts continue to go up (they started at 32% participation in September - yes, very low compared to places - and were up to 40% as of November) I will get a 4th person back. This person would only be for lunch time to serve but that would be absolutely fine with me. Of course knowing this town, I highly doubt we'll ever get up to the participation rate the powers that be actually want so I don't think I'll ever see a 4th person again. It would be nice but I'm okay with the fact it probably won't happen. I'm happy with 3 (for now, let's see what next week brings. I'm hoping for the best and have a good feeling about it)

As for the FSD herself, some days she's nice to me, other days she's all over me for stuff. Today - and the 22 YO FT heard her - I was told our kitchen isn't clean enough. One of our racks isn't organized enough, our pans washed in the afternoon need to be put away instead of staying out to air dry, and our sinks need to be cleaned every afternoon. For the racks we can find exactly what we're looking for on it because we know where everything is, my old FSD said nothing was to be put away wet because it promotes mold growth so we put stuff away only when it's completely dry and our sinks do get cleaned but the janitors come in, use them and leave them a mess (and FSD came in early this morning). None of that matters though. It's now December and today was the first day she's been in the kitchen in something like 3 weeks so she still has no clue what and how we do things so we could do things right 99 percent of the time but it's the 1% we don't that she fixates on. So it's days like today that get frustrating. She comes in and just disrupts everything. When she keeps it to phone calls and emails, it's far less disruptive I find.


And going back to one thing I had mentioned - the keeping of the money and denying the snack? I had a little chat with my school principal about that and she was not happy at all and I was informed I was not to do it until I heard otherwise. She did tell me one day that if the FSD and the Director of Finance want to go that direction, she would agree to it when, and only when, the parents were notified of it first. I don't know if that ever happened and I haven't been told to implement the taking of the money/denying of the snack so as of today, we're still letting kids get snacks with cash in their hands but negative balances on their accounts. It's now between my principal and the FSD to figure out.

So like I said, things are going better. I don't totally hate the job anymore and I'm not completely paranoid like I was for a while with the FSD. Do I trust her? Not at all. I really do prefer her to keep away and let me do my job but at least there are days where she treats me like I'm a human and will discuss things instead of dictating and tuning me out.

[manticorjenn]

Glad to hear that some of the things are getting worked out. I hope they continue to get better and the rest of the school year flies by.

[poohmaine]

My Christmas wish for you is a job that makes you happy!

[GingerJ]

Darlene,
So glad things are working out better and you have a co-worker who fits with you like a real team mate! And that your principal is going to bat for you and the kiddos on the snack/money issue.
Thanks for the update.

Ginger

[Teresa]

Glad it is better. Hope it continues to improve. Just one question: The janitors use your sink, in the kitchen? For What? It shouldn't be used for anything like dumping mop water, etc. Especially if you have clean pans setting out to dry! I'd be concerned about that.