Saturday, September 6, 2008

The Journal Of An Angry Dishwasher

It's been a while since I've been my old cynical self on here, and what better way to be cynical than to talk about some of the really annoying aspects of my job as a dishwasher?

So, without any further ado, here's some of the annoying crap I have to deal with at work!

Oh, and I'm sorry I ripped off your blog title KaTrina :P

Creative Dish Stacking!

4PM is when I'm just about always scheduled to come in. Since I'm the only dishwasher, whatever has piled up since the restaurant opened (or from any banquets) is always waiting there for me. Normally it's nothing that bad and just doing a bit of organizing helps a lot. But lately I've noticed a disturbing trend. There will be a tall stack of mismatched plates just begging to topple over.

I practically have to dismantle it as if it were a nuclear warhead. Not fun. I don't even understand how this happens. Well, I do understand, but I don't like to think about how lazy and stupid people can be. Just as I don't like giving myself an aneurysm. Creative dish stacking isn't limited to plates though. But to go through all the different configurations I've come across could take all day.

They just keep comin'...

Whenever there's a banquet of moderate size, 50 people or more, there's always a very noticeable increase in dishes. If the banquet takes place while I'm working however, it takes a few hours for the increase to happen! It's usually not until after I've already knocked out most all of the dishes that they bring back some of the dishes. It's a little depressing to have somebody carelessly dumping more dirty dishes when you were so close to being done. But you always need to keep in mind, that it was only SOME of the dishes from the banquet.

No, you're not done yet. Once you finish those they come back with even more! Usually smaller plates and the crusty silverware. After that you've got whatever was left that they didn't bring the first couple times, and eventually the glasses. Now it might just be my old paranoid self rearing it's suspicious head, but ever since I started working at Red Lion I've felt that the banquet staff doesn't like me. I feel like they take forever to bring the dishes back just to spite me. And when they do bring them back, they're obnoxious about it. But like I said, I might just be paranoid.

It's called a glass rack for a reason!

What the hell is so damn hard about putting a glass in it's corresponding rack? The glass racks are at eye level! This problem is mostly with housekeeping, but the front desk has also been known to do this as well. It's even lazier than not putting a plate on it's correct pile and it can be more dangerous as well. If I don't know the glass is there, and I need to do some rearranging there's a good chance it could be knocked off and smash to the floor. Then obviously I have to clean up after somebody else's laziness and stupidity.

I say stupidity because while not as often as a glass being perched precariously on the edge, a glass will be in the wrong rack. Now, the racks are never empty so you can not make the mistake of putting the wrong glass in the wrong rack. So I can choose between lazy and intentionally stupid when it comes to this I guess. Can't we just run a green card check?

I know that was in bad taste but let's face it: either consciously or subconsciously, you laughed and/or agreed with that in some way.

Being a dishwasher...

...and NOT a Hydro Ceramic Technician. Laaame.

4 comments:

KaTrina said...

Many many moons ago, when I was a dishwasher...the same things happened to me. Then I realized I had a voice and could yell at those incompetent co-workers of mine, then, they started listening and my problem was solved.

KaTrina said...

i changed my blog.

SuzanSayz said...

Kelly I think you need to speak up more often. If the other people are bring in dishes and not putting them away properly then I think you have a case. Anyway, I am picturing Dr Seuss stacks of all different sorts of dishes(you know plates, saucers, bowls, stemwear)tottering on a tiny little counter just waiting to all topple over. (In a completely Dr Seuss fashion of course.)

Cindy Brinkerhoff said...

Oh Kelly , this is sad and funny! I hate when people bring me a glass after I have just finished everything including the greasy pans! AARRGGGG!!!

I kinda like the more professional sound of the "Hydro Ceramic Technician" job title :)