Drumjockey
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Anybody got some kitchen horror stories to share? Here's one that happened to me recently. Spoiler: at least the end is ok...
Two months ago, on a Sunday when I was off, one of my guys got out one of my knives (Kikuichi Warikomi Elite, a great war-horse kitchen knife and at the time one of the best I had) and was using it. Huge faux-pas in and of itself. He carelessly knocked it to the floor where it landed on the solid (not holey) mat- OK, now I'm really pissed- but this chef admitted he had been using it AND that he had dropped it, so as mad as I was once I found out, he had come clean; and no harm, no foul: no tip or handle damage at all. But then... one of the sushi managers was walking by at the time, and he proceeded to STEP ON THE BLADE WITH ONE FOOT AND BEND THE KNIFE UPWARDS BY THE HANDLE WITH HIS OTHER FOOT. When told it was my knife and asked *** he was doing, he bent it back and forth a few times and said," see its metal, its fine". He cracked the blade right where the tang enters the handle- a fairly thick but relatively flexible section of metal, and one that you would have to put some real effort into cracking. I discovered all this about two hours later when I came in to do inventory. 3 people saw it happen, yet mr. sushi mgr lied to my face about it & said he never touched it. He even went so far as to say that the chef who had been using it had broken it dropping it. Cracks at the base of the blade from a 3-foot fall to a soft mat, highly likely!! This guy is supposed to be accountable, set a good example with the rest of us mgrs for the team! There are only four of us managing in the BOH, and we are all pretty tight and work together well; I just couldn't believe it. The unwritten rule had been broken: Don't mess with other people's sh*t!!! The BOH GM & I confronted him about it again the next day & he still lied. GM asked him if he had something against me; he said no, and I can't imagine anything I could've done to piss him off. GM asked him to pay for it because other employees had seen him do it, and he refused. At the end of that infuriating conversation, GM said we would not be speaking about it again & I figured that was it, he just got away with it & now I have to manage this kitchen with someone who I not only don't trust, but have a huge amount of animosity towards. I was madder than I'd been in a long time, and as it was right before Christmas, I knew I also had to wait & use a bent & broken knife for a couple months. After hammering the blade more-or-less straight again with a rubber mallet it was at least useable. I didn't really know what to do; I'd certainly never encountered a situation like this before! He offered me some hand-me-down crappy K-mart blade from his junk drawer, acting like he was doing me some huge favor and not just basically admitting guilt. The guy's got about $4000 in knives, he could have at least offered me something comparable to the knife he broke. Some nerve! 2weeks of fuming and trying to decide what to do later, the regional GM somehow got wind of it & called me up to ask ***. He and the owner were SUPER pissed, and sushi mgr got fired 2days later... 2days before Christmas. Justice... but WHY would you ever do such a thing??? I am still completely baffled, if I see someone else's knife on the ground I'm going to grab it BEFORE someone else steps on it, right?! If he had just been honest about it, he'd still have a job... but actually, I'm glad he lied now, since I DEFINITELY don't want to work with anybody who would do something like that:bat:
Two months ago, on a Sunday when I was off, one of my guys got out one of my knives (Kikuichi Warikomi Elite, a great war-horse kitchen knife and at the time one of the best I had) and was using it. Huge faux-pas in and of itself. He carelessly knocked it to the floor where it landed on the solid (not holey) mat- OK, now I'm really pissed- but this chef admitted he had been using it AND that he had dropped it, so as mad as I was once I found out, he had come clean; and no harm, no foul: no tip or handle damage at all. But then... one of the sushi managers was walking by at the time, and he proceeded to STEP ON THE BLADE WITH ONE FOOT AND BEND THE KNIFE UPWARDS BY THE HANDLE WITH HIS OTHER FOOT. When told it was my knife and asked *** he was doing, he bent it back and forth a few times and said," see its metal, its fine". He cracked the blade right where the tang enters the handle- a fairly thick but relatively flexible section of metal, and one that you would have to put some real effort into cracking. I discovered all this about two hours later when I came in to do inventory. 3 people saw it happen, yet mr. sushi mgr lied to my face about it & said he never touched it. He even went so far as to say that the chef who had been using it had broken it dropping it. Cracks at the base of the blade from a 3-foot fall to a soft mat, highly likely!! This guy is supposed to be accountable, set a good example with the rest of us mgrs for the team! There are only four of us managing in the BOH, and we are all pretty tight and work together well; I just couldn't believe it. The unwritten rule had been broken: Don't mess with other people's sh*t!!! The BOH GM & I confronted him about it again the next day & he still lied. GM asked him if he had something against me; he said no, and I can't imagine anything I could've done to piss him off. GM asked him to pay for it because other employees had seen him do it, and he refused. At the end of that infuriating conversation, GM said we would not be speaking about it again & I figured that was it, he just got away with it & now I have to manage this kitchen with someone who I not only don't trust, but have a huge amount of animosity towards. I was madder than I'd been in a long time, and as it was right before Christmas, I knew I also had to wait & use a bent & broken knife for a couple months. After hammering the blade more-or-less straight again with a rubber mallet it was at least useable. I didn't really know what to do; I'd certainly never encountered a situation like this before! He offered me some hand-me-down crappy K-mart blade from his junk drawer, acting like he was doing me some huge favor and not just basically admitting guilt. The guy's got about $4000 in knives, he could have at least offered me something comparable to the knife he broke. Some nerve! 2weeks of fuming and trying to decide what to do later, the regional GM somehow got wind of it & called me up to ask ***. He and the owner were SUPER pissed, and sushi mgr got fired 2days later... 2days before Christmas. Justice... but WHY would you ever do such a thing??? I am still completely baffled, if I see someone else's knife on the ground I'm going to grab it BEFORE someone else steps on it, right?! If he had just been honest about it, he'd still have a job... but actually, I'm glad he lied now, since I DEFINITELY don't want to work with anybody who would do something like that:bat: