I wasn’t fired, but I resigned from a brewery/coffee shop I worked at after only 7 shifts. Context: I’m trans and in the closet still.
Hired as a cook for this brewery, and based on the interview, I’m one of the more “experienced” cooks on the team, and they (owners) were hoping I’d be able to help make the kitchen more professional. It’s a part-time gig, so sure, I’ll do what I can.
Well, the kitchen was too small for the facility. They would have to stop taking orders on busy nights an hour before close because they didn’t have the space to get through the 40+ orders that came in within 5 minutes of each other. Orders from both the bar, the cafe they had, and to go orders.
They’re menu was fine, surprisingly, they didn’t stretch themselves too thin. But the staff were… Rough. The kitchen supervisor couldn’t believe I owned a chef’s coat, nevermind actually showed up to work in one since everyone just wore t-shirts (no aprons, as far as I could find). I told the owners they should have chef coats, it’s a safety thing, etc, idk if that ever happened.
Anyway, the kitchen supe would spend 90% of the shift video chatting with various friends/family/etc during his shift, loudly dropping the n-word every other word while we’re cooking and cleaning and prepping. All on the line, not even in an office or something, in the middle of the kitchen. I’ve had managers who are lazy, that’s fine, but I’ve never had one that unprofessional.
There were like 2-3 shifts though where the bulk of the conversation amongst the kitchen staff were LGBTQ+ focused: I’m not sure I could love my daughter if she was a lesbian, I don’t understand this stuff, it’s a mental illness, trans people, etc. If it had happened once, fine, whatever. But over 2-3 different shifts, and the supervisor is taking part? No, I’m not cool with that.
My last shift, I’m annoyed and pretty over my coworkers based on their views I got to listen to, but trying to just get through it. I’m working the deep fryer, reheating some chicken wings. Pull the basket up and grab the thermometer to temp them when the supervisor calls over, “Oh, no, you don’t need to temp those, they’re already cooked!”
I pulled him aside after and asked him about that, and he goes, “Yeah, we already cooked them to 165°F before we cooled and stored them. You’ve just gotta get em heated up again, you don’t have to temp them.”
I send an almost 2-page long resignation to the owners the next day, explaining that I did not appreciate the conversations taking place in the kitchen and the opinions about people my coworkers had, people who may very well he standing in the room with them.
But I really harped on the fact that the kitchen supervisor, the supervisor, didn’t seem to be familiar with health code policies. Any good that’s already been cooked and then cooled must be brought back to 165°F when being reheated, that’s, like, one of those food safety things every pro cook should know, nevermind a supervisor.
I advised they may want to send their supervisors for food safety retraining before they made a customer sick, and that there were too many issues within the kitchen for me to help them without basically cleaning house and starting over.
I wasn’t fired, but I resigned from a brewery/coffee shop I worked at after only 7 shifts. Context: I’m trans and in the closet still.
Hired as a cook for this brewery, and based on the interview, I’m one of the more “experienced” cooks on the team, and they (owners) were hoping I’d be able to help make the kitchen more professional. It’s a part-time gig, so sure, I’ll do what I can.
Well, the kitchen was too small for the facility. They would have to stop taking orders on busy nights an hour before close because they didn’t have the space to get through the 40+ orders that came in within 5 minutes of each other. Orders from both the bar, the cafe they had, and to go orders.
They’re menu was fine, surprisingly, they didn’t stretch themselves too thin. But the staff were… Rough. The kitchen supervisor couldn’t believe I owned a chef’s coat, nevermind actually showed up to work in one since everyone just wore t-shirts (no aprons, as far as I could find). I told the owners they should have chef coats, it’s a safety thing, etc, idk if that ever happened.
Anyway, the kitchen supe would spend 90% of the shift video chatting with various friends/family/etc during his shift, loudly dropping the n-word every other word while we’re cooking and cleaning and prepping. All on the line, not even in an office or something, in the middle of the kitchen. I’ve had managers who are lazy, that’s fine, but I’ve never had one that unprofessional.
There were like 2-3 shifts though where the bulk of the conversation amongst the kitchen staff were LGBTQ+ focused: I’m not sure I could love my daughter if she was a lesbian, I don’t understand this stuff, it’s a mental illness, trans people, etc. If it had happened once, fine, whatever. But over 2-3 different shifts, and the supervisor is taking part? No, I’m not cool with that.
My last shift, I’m annoyed and pretty over my coworkers based on their views I got to listen to, but trying to just get through it. I’m working the deep fryer, reheating some chicken wings. Pull the basket up and grab the thermometer to temp them when the supervisor calls over, “Oh, no, you don’t need to temp those, they’re already cooked!”
I pulled him aside after and asked him about that, and he goes, “Yeah, we already cooked them to 165°F before we cooled and stored them. You’ve just gotta get em heated up again, you don’t have to temp them.”
I send an almost 2-page long resignation to the owners the next day, explaining that I did not appreciate the conversations taking place in the kitchen and the opinions about people my coworkers had, people who may very well he standing in the room with them.
But I really harped on the fact that the kitchen supervisor, the supervisor, didn’t seem to be familiar with health code policies. Any good that’s already been cooked and then cooled must be brought back to 165°F when being reheated, that’s, like, one of those food safety things every pro cook should know, nevermind a supervisor.
I advised they may want to send their supervisors for food safety retraining before they made a customer sick, and that there were too many issues within the kitchen for me to help them without basically cleaning house and starting over.
Are they still in business?
Yep, and I have friends who have a lot of their social events and stuff there. I usually politely decline if I’m invited.