Saturday, July 22, 2006

How I Feel About Laziness

You know what kind of baffles me? How some people just have no motivation to work, like, whatsoever. I don't get it! I mean, really, how can you just not work and totally, completely expect to to be paid. I mean, seriously, there are some people here that just kind of dally around and wait to be told every little thing they do, and when to do it (step by step) and yet, they seem to think that this is entirely normal. It seems to be especially prevalent among Eastern-European men who are here working for the first time. (None of them return for their second year.) I've seen it in a few Americans and a couple of women, but not quite as much. I just don't get it! There is this one guy that just drives me nuts! He is so lazy and so easily distracted that he just drives me up a wall at work. The supervisor that works on Friday's doesn't care what he does as long as everything gets done. The regular night-time supervisor, Barb, she would've whooped him if she'd seen what he was doing. (Or not doing.) She would've been on his hide faster than a bee to honey! Luckily for him, and me ('cause I'm pretty sure I'd die if I had to work with him on a regular basis) he only works on Friday's, which is Barb's day off.

Okay, well, I just wanted you to know how annoying I find that trait. Laziness I mean. It just baffles me. I don't understand it in the least!

Okay. Bye.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Are You From New England?

I usually find things like this funny, but often not even close to the truth. This one on the other hand kind of startled me as to how close to the truth many of them were. So here it is, 16 Way To Tell If You Live In New England.

1) If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September to May, you live in New England.
2) If someone in a Home Depot offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in New England.
3) If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in New England. (This is really where things start to hit home to me.)
4) If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed the wrong number, you live in New England.
5) If "vacation" means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend, you live in New England.
6) If you measuer distance in hours, you live in New England. (To be honest, I thought everyone did that until I moved away. It's really the only sense of distance I have.)
7) If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in New England. (Can I just add, "and have shot it on the spot to put it out of it's misery." Yeah.)
8) If you have switched from "heat" to "A/C" and back again in the same day, you live in New England.
9) If you drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in New England.
10) If you install security lights on your house and garage but don't lock either, you live in New England. (Yeah, my grandparents did that. I never thought it was weird until I read this and I was like, ya know, that doesn't make too much sense.)
11) If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in New England.
12) If the speed limit on the highway is 55, you're going 80, and everybody is passing you, you live in New England.
13) If driving is better in the winter 'cause the potholes are filled with snow, you live in New England.
14) If you know all four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in New England.
15) If you have more miles on your snowblower than your car, you live in New England.
16) If you find 10 degrees a "little chilly", you live in New England.

Just to set the record straight, the ones about the terrible/terrifying driving (except for the deer) is alluding mostly to Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Sent to me by my cousin, Jeremy. The modifications are by myself.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Can I Just Say...

I love America?! I mean, seriously, it's the coolest place on earth. I was talking to my friend Eric and he's like, "I sometimes feel like I want to travel to foreign countries and see what they're like, but there's just so much to see here in the United States." He drives everywhere he goes and makes sure he has plenty of time to get there so he can get lost and have a good time. For example, he gave himself 5 days to get up here to Maine this summer - he lives in Pennsylvania. I must say, I have to agree. I mean, I would love to travel all over the world and if I have the chance, I will. There is a lot to see however, not only in the United States, but in each individual state, I mean, there's a lot of land out here, and a lot of people, and a lot of things. That's the only thing that kind of makes me wish I had a car.

I was reading today in 1 Nephi 14 about the promise to the gentiles that if they believe in Jesus Christ they will be given the promised land and they will never fall captive to anyone. They will have all their stumblingblocks taken from them. You can see that here in the US; although we are a very young country, we have never been taken captive. (Which is interesting, because we are a very young country.) We really live in the promised land and are a people protected like no other, I'll tell you that much.

I talk to people from Europe (there are a lot of them here) and they say things like, "Well, the food is better in Europe" (which I still find hard to believe, it's just that this food is different; it's really sweet to them, and really only the Polish say that) and I'm just like, "Well, at least you have that much. I mean, your country is being torn apart by war, gas prices are skyrocketing, and, for the most part, you guys spend 60 - 80% of your lives so drunk you aren't entirely sure what's going on, but at least you have excellent food. That's good." The US on the other hand, although it has it's setbacks (name a country that doesn't) is a mighty nation. We are strong, intimidating, and yet charitable. We give aid to places that are in need of it. We accept people from all walks of life. Of course we have the stereotypes and discrimination that are seen in all nations that I know of, but we provide the same priviledges and freedoms to everyone. It's just a great thing.

I'm proud to be from such an awesome country and such a beautiful part of it.

And that I schooled Milan at basketball the other day.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Parenthesis - More Than Usual

Okay, so I guess I totally impressed some people at work. I had no idea how little faith they had in me when I was first hired to work in the kitchen. I mean, I know it's got a reputation for being hard work, but seriously, if a certain friend of mine can do it, I can do it! (It's not that she's bad or anything, but she doesn't handle stress well - at all - and has been known to break down and cry when there's really no excuse for it. Then again, I'm not much of one to tolerate crying over silly things.)

So, I was talking to my friend Chris, who is also one of the kitchen supervisors, at dinner a few nights ago, and he was like, "Well, I start again tomorrow" (he had taken a couple of days off) "which means that Ivo" (this kid I thought I had trained well, until he revealed the ugly truth to me that really, he was never going to survive if he didn't pick it up a notch - or 10) "is not going to get away with crap like that." (Chris later threatened to send him back to the dishpit if he didn't start doing things the way I had taught him. I haven't had a problem with him since.)

I was like, "Well, don't be too hard on us." (Or something like that, I don't remember the exact wording.)
"Oh no Mal, you're fine. In fact, you've really impressed us."
"Uhhhh, I have?"
"Oh yeah, I mean, nobody, nobody, thought you would keep up. No one knew you could work that hard."
(Okay, for the record, just because last summer I was working in information and the parking lot, does not mean that they put me there because I can't work hard. They put me there because - well, actually I don't know, but they needed someone and I was it!)

Really though, it's not that hard. I mean, yeah I have to move fast when I'm making 5 to 6 pans of popovers at a time, and running buckets to the dishpit, and getting more out ahead of time so they can warm up to room temp, and stuff like that, but it's really just a matter of timing. I don't understand how people can burn themselves every time they do popovers. I mean, I've burned myself twice this summer (which I guess is a record) and they've both been minor and on pans. (There was this thing with my supervisor not putting them in the right pile, and then this HOLE IN THE BRAND NEW OVEN MIT WHICH KIND OF TICKED ME OFF! but nothing I can blame on anyone.) The kitchen manager, John, he burns himself every time, and bad too! I don't even see how that's possible unless he's jumping in the ovens after the pans.

So, yeah, moving on. The only person in the kitchen I was worried about impressing was Barb. (Who, for a long time, really intimidated me. She's the kind of woman that doesn't fool around. She's there to work and doesn't put up with stupidity, excessive foolishness, or laziness. A lot of the servers are not on her good side.) I guess what really impressed her was that, instead of just leaving when my replacement got here (there's a 2 hour overlap and really not enough for 2 people to do) I would go where I was needed, usually the dishpit. People consider the dishpit the lowest of the lows. (The popoverpit is only slightly less disgusting.) I'm just like, hey, dishes are dishes, whether you're eating off them, or someone else. Yeah, it gets nasty, but after sweating in the popoverpit all day, it's almost refreshing to move into the dishpit where the constant wetness keeps you relatively cool. I'll even do silverware if I have to. Besides, the guys in the dishpit are really cool. (Not to mention HILARIOUSLY funny.)

Here's the jist of this whole entry, I impress Barb enough so that she decided I would make an excellent expediter. Let me explain, on the line there's hotside and coldside. On hotside there's usually two people. However, when the going gets tough, they need a third person in the middle. The expediter. That person only does some simple things: stew and chowder, veggies, and starches, and putting the order up. The over all job though, is pretty important. The expediter keeps the workspace clear of food that is all prepared and ready to go up, therefore allowing the cooks to keep going. They're in charge of not letting the servers take their food before it's ALL up in the window. They're in charge of knowing who gets what food when. It's a fast job, but a lot of fun. Again, it's boiling hot, but not too bad. Overall, I love it. I also like knowing that Barb feels like she can trust me to keep up with her. (We'll see.) Not to mention I get a TOTALLY AWESOME title: the expediter! I mean, seriously, can anyone compete with that?!