I'd like to start this off by saying that this is a criticism of one person and their external actions that I observed. There may have been more to it. Feel free to give him the benefit of the doubt that he eyeballed the application and the dude was completely wrong for the job or that the applicant flipped him off or had horrible BO or picked his nose and wiped it on the corner of the application.
-----------------------
Yesterday, my next to last shift, something happened that pissed me off. The restaurant is hiring for several positions as there are several people who have left/are leaving. I observed a guy (hereafter referred to as Dread Guy) stop at the register to hand our front of the house "manager"* (hereafter refered to as Front Guy) a completed application for the kitchen. Front Guy, seconds after Dread Guy walked out the door, turned around and commented**, "well that's two throwaway applications today." When asked to clarify he indicated that the guy didn't bring his own pen to fill out the application and that he didn't like white guys with dreads. He questioned whether I want someone with dreads making my food with all the bacteria clearly growing in their hair. He said we don't want hippies working here.
Let's stop and give an acurate picture of Dread Guy and Front Guy for a moment. Dread Guy had reddish brown, waist length dreads secured with a bandana. From what I could tell his dreads were well maintained. I'm not an expert on the hairstyle but from what I understand dreads can be shampooed when necessary and there is nothing particularly bacteria-laden about even unwashed hair (dreaded or not). He was wearing fairly typical Austin clothing with a T-Shirt and cargo shorts. He didn't look homeless or degenerate. I can see how stereotyping labels such as hippie and stoner could be applied. Front Guy wears cut off jorts (of varying bright shades), ironic T-Shirts, and ugly sweaters (no word on if this is ironically or not). He rides his bike to work. His labels would likely include hipster (though I'm going to throw jerk in there as well).***
With that picture in your head, I hope you can see why it pissed me off when I got the stink face from Front Guy for commenting that everyone at the restaurant is a hipster/hippie and that rejecting someone on that basis is stupid. I also commented that rejecting someone for not bringing a pen is stupid. I'm not saying it isn't a smart idea to bring a pen, what I am saying is this:
Rejecting someone out of hand without considering their actual qualifications for a job is stupid and hurts the restaurant. Allowing someone with those type of prejudices to act as the gatekeeper for jobs is a bad business decision.
What if Dread Guy was perfect for the job? What if he has experience working pizza kitchens? What if he already knows how to work a wood fired oven? What if being a "hippie" is perfect for this restaurant given that the owners are committed to supporting the local food community, conserving resources, and reducing waste which are all values that I would easily attribute to "hippie"s? What if he didn't have experience working a kitchen (which I didn't when I came) but was a fast learner and passionate about it? What if he was so excited about working at this restaurant and just forgot to bring a pen (I believe that I forgot a pen when I applied too)?
Even giving the benefit of the doubt that there was more going on than what was said out loud, shouldn't the gatekeeper have more prudence than to give the impression that he is making prejudicial hiring decisions (even if he isn't making the final decision on who to hire, acting as a filter is making a hiring decision)? If he must say anything at all (and he shouldn't be), shouldn't he be giving the impression that hiring decisions are being made based on merit?
*Manager is used loosely here as I'm not sure what authority he actually has over anyone or anything going on. I do know that he does the books at the end of the night.
**All conversations are not verbatum but are remembered by me. As I am aware that human memory is extremely fallible and quite likely tainted by my distaste for this entire scenario, feel free to take things said with a grain of salt and an awareness that other parties involved may remember this differently.
***I'm not going to take the time here to fully describe the nuances of the Austin brand of "hipster" but I will say that I can't point at a single person in the pizzeria (except perhaps our dishwashers) who don't fall into this category at least a little. We are all a little grungy looking (some choosing the "vintage" brand of that), like good food and tattoos, and cultivate an air of nonconformity.
Friday, August 26
Wednesday, August 10
Notice
Scott,
First, this will act as my notice that I will no longer be working at House Pizzeria effective the schedule week beginning August 30th. I have decided that I would like to take more time for my children and myself.
I don't think I can adequately express how much I have enjoyed working here. Not only have I learned some things about cooking, but I've enjoyed the people that I've worked with. I hope that you continue to be successful. I look forward to dropping in as a customer.
Good wishes,
Karin
And thus ends nearly two years of having a second job. I don't know the fate of this blog. It is already dying. Perhaps I will drop in every once in a while to still be in awe of just how much I love pizza.
First, this will act as my notice that I will no longer be working at House Pizzeria effective the schedule week beginning August 30th. I have decided that I would like to take more time for my children and myself.
I don't think I can adequately express how much I have enjoyed working here. Not only have I learned some things about cooking, but I've enjoyed the people that I've worked with. I hope that you continue to be successful. I look forward to dropping in as a customer.
Good wishes,
Karin
And thus ends nearly two years of having a second job. I don't know the fate of this blog. It is already dying. Perhaps I will drop in every once in a while to still be in awe of just how much I love pizza.
Sunday, July 31
Eggs
You know how when you're PMSing things just get taken the wrong way every single time? (Maybe you don't know because you're a dude, but I'm going to ask you to imagine.) I know that they're probably not being as big of jerks as I'm perceiving, and yet things just stuck in my craw tonight.
Eggs.
That was the biggest one. Eggs. Left out on the rack to "warm up" so they won't be so runny on the pizza. And then me speaking up that I didn't think it was a good idea and getting shut down with a "it's ok. We were told to do this and it takes 4-5 hours for them to go bad."
Well, every single egg left in there has had at least 1 hour of that taken away at this point. Even egg #7 who probably won't get used tonight at all. Heck, egg #3 probably won't get used. Egg #1 and #2 are iffy. Let's hope that they've put them away after I left because otherwise hour 2 and hour 3 might just tick away with no one noticing.
I don't even want to hear anything about a 700 degree oven killing any bacteria. I prefer not to take chances with perishables that cause 11,000 cases of food poisoning a year.
While we're on it... WASH YOUR GOD DAMN FUCKING HANDS EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU HAVE JUST GOTTEN RAW EGG ON YOUR HANDS. With soap. Before you touch something else. Por favor.
Perhaps it's just me being crazy.
Eggs.
That was the biggest one. Eggs. Left out on the rack to "warm up" so they won't be so runny on the pizza. And then me speaking up that I didn't think it was a good idea and getting shut down with a "it's ok. We were told to do this and it takes 4-5 hours for them to go bad."
Well, every single egg left in there has had at least 1 hour of that taken away at this point. Even egg #7 who probably won't get used tonight at all. Heck, egg #3 probably won't get used. Egg #1 and #2 are iffy. Let's hope that they've put them away after I left because otherwise hour 2 and hour 3 might just tick away with no one noticing.
I don't even want to hear anything about a 700 degree oven killing any bacteria. I prefer not to take chances with perishables that cause 11,000 cases of food poisoning a year.
While we're on it... WASH YOUR GOD DAMN FUCKING HANDS EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU HAVE JUST GOTTEN RAW EGG ON YOUR HANDS. With soap. Before you touch something else. Por favor.
Perhaps it's just me being crazy.
Tuesday, July 12
Family Reunion pizza
Over 4th of July I was summoned a family reunion in Oklahoma. To the non-pizza world I recount the success of the family reunion as thus:
When I'm among family I try to instill a little Austin in them and not get chain pizza, so the first night there (after a 2 1/2 hour to the Sams club in "the city"*) on our way home we ordered pizza from Keys Pizza.
It's not bad pizza. In fact, if you were ever stuck in Northeast Oklahoma and your options were Keys Pizza, Pizza Hut, and B&J Restaurant, take the pizza (at least their mushrooms aren't canned!).
*I'm going to call Tulsa "the city" and Tahlequa, Muskogee, Keys, etc "town"
- 5 mosquito bites
- 0 chigger infestations
- 1 wasp chase
- 1 beetle in my hair
- 13 daddy long-legs sighted
- and that (which gives you only a small idea of the number of small moths I encountered and sometimes ran from but never once had a all-out panic attack about like I would have had one of those daddy long-legs touched me) ->
When I'm among family I try to instill a little Austin in them and not get chain pizza, so the first night there (after a 2 1/2 hour to the Sams club in "the city"*) on our way home we ordered pizza from Keys Pizza.
It's not bad pizza. In fact, if you were ever stuck in Northeast Oklahoma and your options were Keys Pizza, Pizza Hut, and B&J Restaurant, take the pizza (at least their mushrooms aren't canned!).
Actually, the sauce wasn't bad, the cheese wasn't bad, the toppings weren't bad, and the crust was a bit chewier than I like but still wasn't bad.
*I'm going to call Tulsa "the city" and Tahlequa, Muskogee, Keys, etc "town"
Tuesday, April 12
An Unofficial Pizza Adventure. Featuring: Beer in a Paper Bag
I often end up getting pizza even when I'm not on an official adventure and last week my beau and I walked down to his local neighborhood take-out pizzeria for some nourishment.
The wonderful thing about being on an unofficial adventure, is that I can drink a Lone Star tall-boy out of a paper bag while we wait for the pizza. Lone Star, if you don't know, is the official beer of Texas (and if it isn't I offically hereby declare it to be so). It's awesome because it's cheaper than PBR, watered down (and therefore highly inefficient at getting the average person drunk), and available everywhere. In fact, the only thing I've ever seen beat it in price is the Miller High Life (which is still better tasting than PBR). This was my only my second foray into the "beer in a bag" way of life, the first time being last summer at the Official Hey Star Trek party at the Star Trek convention (sadly, I think it was the first and last Official Hey Star Trek convention party, but that also means that it was the best parking lot party I've ever been to) and if memory serves me correct, that party was sponsored by the High Life.
Anywho... mildly tipsy we get to the pizza joint and they didn't seem to know their own menu, but the banter around getting our garlic butter sauce changed to garlic bread was amusing. Apparently they didn't know how to make the garlic bread on the menu. Actually, they seemed to not quite comprehend that they had garlic bread on the menu. All that aside, the garlic bread they whipped up was pretty tasty; a sub (they also sell subs) roll cut in half, spread with the garlic butter sauce, and run through the oven (they have one of the conveyor belt types).
The pizza was also pretty tasty. It was run-of-the mill no-surprises delivery style pizza, but they used real garlic and didn't skimp on the onions, so I was happy with it. The sauce wasn't too sweet or over-spiced. The crust wasn't crisp, but it held up well with all the toppings.
*Sounded better than "Baby's first beer in a bag.
The wonderful thing about being on an unofficial adventure, is that I can drink a Lone Star tall-boy out of a paper bag while we wait for the pizza. Lone Star, if you don't know, is the official beer of Texas (and if it isn't I offically hereby declare it to be so). It's awesome because it's cheaper than PBR, watered down (and therefore highly inefficient at getting the average person drunk), and available everywhere. In fact, the only thing I've ever seen beat it in price is the Miller High Life (which is still better tasting than PBR). This was my only my second foray into the "beer in a bag" way of life, the first time being last summer at the Official Hey Star Trek party at the Star Trek convention (sadly, I think it was the first and last Official Hey Star Trek convention party, but that also means that it was the best parking lot party I've ever been to) and if memory serves me correct, that party was sponsored by the High Life.
 | |
| Mama's* first beer in a bag. |
 |
| Mama's second beer in a bag. |
Anywho... mildly tipsy we get to the pizza joint and they didn't seem to know their own menu, but the banter around getting our garlic butter sauce changed to garlic bread was amusing. Apparently they didn't know how to make the garlic bread on the menu. Actually, they seemed to not quite comprehend that they had garlic bread on the menu. All that aside, the garlic bread they whipped up was pretty tasty; a sub (they also sell subs) roll cut in half, spread with the garlic butter sauce, and run through the oven (they have one of the conveyor belt types).
The pizza was also pretty tasty. It was run-of-the mill no-surprises delivery style pizza, but they used real garlic and didn't skimp on the onions, so I was happy with it. The sauce wasn't too sweet or over-spiced. The crust wasn't crisp, but it held up well with all the toppings.
*Sounded better than "Baby's first beer in a bag.
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