Frustrated in Chicken!

My fingers hurt from the cold, but at least they're getting warm again. My back and shoulders hurt from the bending and lifting. My brain hurts from trying to understand what the woman who ran the shop before me was thinking...

I just spent the last four hours in the freezer room. There are three big chest freezers and one half-sized chest freezer to organize and take inventory of. To say that nothing was organized and it was total chaos, would sound mean. Surely she had her own system? Surely even though I can't understand it, she knew what she was doing? No. No no no. Everything was everywhere. There were a few feeble attempts at organization, attempts so depressing they'd make the most chaotic person you know cry.

The worst part, to me, was all the junk that wasn't necessary for menu items last year, let alone that aren't necessary for menu items this year. I was told repeatedly that the biggest problem with her menu is that she wanted to do everything. It was simply too much. That being said, knowing the amount of space in the storage and in the diner, I literally cannot fathom what she used some of this stuff for. And - if she was using this stuff for her menu - why such odd packages? 8 oz bags of pre-shreddd mozzarella? Yes - those ARE the ridiculously small bags you find in the grocery stores that are too small for even your personal use. Those bags. In storage for a diner? Anyone? Yeah - I don't know either.

On top of that there were items everywhere. There is no way even she could have walked in (let alone after a winter of not working here!) and knew what all she had. Under these chicken strip bags, that look like they go to the bottom of the freezer? BREAD! But the frozen bread was over there, on top of all the french fry bags.... But wait - there are more french fry bags over there underneath the hamburgers! It's amazing. Stupefying, truly. And I can say that because I literally lost the ability to think and do my job properly. I became so amazingly frustrated that I had to shove everything back into whatever holes they would go into and leave. I packed up for the day, two hours early. Why? Because I truly couldn't take it any more. It was one of those moments when not even a normal ten minute "smoke break" would have been enough to regain my composure and my wits to continue my job. There were items in there with names written on them - they belonged to othe man I believe was her husband, and they didn't take it with them...

Moreover, the part, I think, that annoys me the most is that she now has her own cart. She should not be running a business. I can tell you plain, if I were my boss, I would never hire her back ever, should the chance arise. The way she treated the storage area, the condition she left the diner in shows her lack of respect for the business, for her boss, for the whole lot of it. If she was a woman of any capability, she would not run her own diner like that, if you know what I mean. Even in all this ranting, I feel I haven't conveyed the fullest extent of her inability.

Truly. I don't want to sound mean toward one person. I would be this mad at, this disapproving of, and this disdainful of anyone who kept their place of business like this. As a carpenter, my boss tells me all the time, it's all about the tools. I figure it's like that. A carpenter or mechanic or any of those kinds - you can tell the mechanic by his shop. His shop is in such utter disarray that even he does now know what he has or where it is, or so dirty that you can tell he only surface cleans and you're afraid to touch much of anything - you know something important about the mechanic. You can CERTAINLY tell a cook by their kitchen - or station if the kitchen is not theirs. The way she left her kitchen, the way she obviously kept it by the state of uncleanliness of some things tells a lot about the woman. If I get the chance, I will not meet her nor will I eat at her shop. I don't care to know the personality that goes with that sort of behavior and I don't want to feel pressured to eat her food when I know what her kitchen is likely to look like.

Rant oer. Thanks for listening.

On the up side, duck randomly appeared in the fridge today. Bronk said to be careful when using, it might still have a few feathers in there. But it was the meat, no carcass and no bones from waht I could tell, so at least the feathers will already be disconnected from the bird. That's to be dinner. Randomly appearing duck. There's enough random shit in the freezer that I hope to use some of it. Maybe a duck shepherd's pie?

I find it hilarious - I cooked and ate moose for the first time yesterday. Tonight I cook duck for the first time (third time eating it - yumm!). What I find so funny is that these things to me are exciting and exotic and to them these things are common place. You can't buy it - you hunt your moose and ta-da moose meat. But still it's so common up here. Everyone here finds moose.... commonplace. Except me. Anyway. Off to cook dinner.

Thanks for listening! :D