4 weeks of hell over, out of camp now

Out of camp I am. I have to say that these last 4 weeks in camp had to be one of the most stressful and annoying that I have ever experienced. I dont know if it was just the huge stack of work, the grumbling of the people in the kitchen or the fact that it seems that everytime Radio opened his mouth I, along with a few others, wanted to shut it with a meat tenderizing hammer.

The last week in camp had to be one of the most relaxed and enjoyable times, though a couple things had me looking at the camp managers going "are you serious?" Like, for instance, when I was on 2nd cook duties I was told that the breakfast cook had a lot of things to do so I was responsible for whatever breakfast and sandwich prep I could do. I would come in to work in the morning and have a little list of things like 'roll bacon, slice meat' and that sort of thing. I would do my 2nd cook duties and then do his prep work and all. So when I was on breakfast I had all my breakfast prep done easily enough but I was running low on sliced meat for sandwiches. I asked the camp manager if they would be slicing my sandwich meat during the day (like I did) and was told that he wasnt comfortable with having the day shift people slice the meat and I would be responsible for doing it at night. It seems that out of all the camps in the company that we are in, we are the only camp that has an actual meat slicer and if we have one injury on it either when slicing meat or by cleaning it then we lose the slicer and have to go to pre-sliced/fabricated meat. The pre-sliced meat would be easier to use but not as tasty as fresh sliced meat. As a result of this fear of injury on the slicer there are only two people in camp that are 'adequately trained' meaning 'have used it for over a year with no injury' to operate it. Those two people are the day 1st cook and myself. Since the 1st cook was busy helping the new 1st cook and assisting the cover 2nd cook I got the job at night. Even the baker was shaking his head at that saying that it was unacceptable for that sort of thing since he knows how much work the breakfast cook has to do.

However, it is sooo relaxing working night shift because there is no one around to ask stupid questions and the baker puts his head down and works as hard as I did. Neither of us got breaks so we were both on equal ground. Nothing more annoying than me being 2nd cook and always having something to do (either stuff for my salads or prep work for the 1st cook) and seeing the dishwashers and 1st cook taking hour breaks every day. Also the things that people do during breakfast make me smile and give me some comic relief. For instance, there was one guy that came through the line and asked "can you poach an egg?" which of course when you ask me in that way you are not going to get a simple 'yes'. My response was "we have the technology to do that, yes". He looked at me like I was a nut and said he wanted two poached and to my 'easy, medium or soft' I got "I dont f*&king care". Some have no sense of ha ha in the morning. Though I found out later from the baker that when he was cooking breakfast he had a run in with the guy a week and a half ago. The baker saw the guy standing at the steam line looking sort of down and lost. When asked if he was looking for something specific he answered "what I am looking for you havent got". The baker asked "what is that?" and was told "breakfast sandwiches". Apparently he said it in such a way that it reminded the baker of a 6 year old pouting that he wasnt getting his favorite breakfast meal. The baker laughed and in a loud voice so that people a few tables over could hear he said "awww, that is so cute...can you say that again but with your lip a little lower to the floor". Guess the guy was so embarrassed by the way he was responded to that he didnt come and ask for eggs the entire time the baker was on breakfast. After my response he stuck to scrambled eggs for the entire week as well.

Another time I was standing at the line waiting for an egg order when a guy came up to the french toast tray. He lifted the lid, that had a set of tongs sitting right on the top of the lid, and reached in with his fork from his tray and stabbed two pieces of french toast and put them on his plate. Normally when we have seen this done we lecture them not to do that since they usually use forks that they have already eaten with and they are coming back for seconds but since this was a new fork I decided not to make a big deal out of it. However, I had to smile and nearly laugh when the guy then stuck his fork into a piece of french toast in the line and then left the fork there. It was like those times when you are at the dinner table and you use your spoon to take out some cranberry sauce or something but then forget to take your spoon back and you realize a second later that your spoon has now done the round of the table and you have no spoon. The guy looked over at me and saw me smiling and gave me a half hearted smile back and I said "that is what we have tongs for but thanks for donating your fork". The guy looked at his plate and then at the fork stuck in the french toast on the line and broke into a big smile and started to laugh. He took his fork back and smiled and I gave him a final "since it is the morning I wont bust you for that" and he went to sit down. After that I took the french toast he stabbed plus the other 3 under it (in case there was too much penetration) and threw them out for appearances sake.

After seeing that and knowing peoples habit of using their fork to take stuff from a buffet steam line, dont think I am gonna be eating at a buffet anytime soon, if ever again in my life.

So yeah, was an interesting time in camp and now have 2 weeks out to look forward to before returning to camp. Oh oh oh, one last thing. The day before I left I heard that the 1st cook was talking with a couple other underlings about the possibility that Big D was going to be transferred to the other camp opening soon as the baker. I think it is because she is definitely a more small camp baker/worker than a big camp worker. We need fast, efficient and talented people in the kitchen at the big camp and she lacks in all 3 areas. So with her in the smaller camp it was wondered who was going to be the baker in the big camp. Of course when I heard that I let my fantasies, hopes and dreams go wild. My dream was that I would be breakfast cover for the breakfast cook when he is out for his two weeks and then baker cover for the baker for his two weeks out and then I would get my two weeks out. That would mean that with three people they would have breakfast and baker position covered without worry. Of course, that dream was shattered a second later when reality kicked in. Reality being that in the span of a two months we have had three 2nd cooks quit and the only 2nd cook that has stuck in the position, and seem to be fast and efficient enough to do the job well, is myself. So either that means I am considered a great asset to the company or I just have no real spine to stand up and tell them "screw this job, you cant walk all over me like that, I can find work anywhere in a second and I dont have to put up with your crap" I just take their big bowl of steaming crap and happily ask for seconds. Though, that second of hope and dream was pure heaven.