I am getting fat.
Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration. Recently, I have been eating a huge meal in the middle of the day with new hires. This is known as the “training meal.” I am not so much getting fat as getting full.
My restaurant designates certain employees as trainers for new staff. Managers interview and hire, and the select worker bees train the new hires on the floor. I am such a bee. And I have been training a lot this past month.
Everyday over a four-day training period, the trainees get a full meal–appetizer, entree, dessert–the idea being they should try out all kinds of menu items. We trainers get to have a meal, too.
Aside from getting full, I have observed much by sharing these training meals.
(Note to those who think I am an outrageous sexist who adheres to carbon-dated stereotypes as a result of the following observations: I am not. Really, I’m not.)
* The girls willingly try something different from their norm. The boys need to be subtly prodded to order something unusual.
* Both boys and girls are happy to have me bring the food to the table. Both boys and girls bring the food to the table when I ask them to help.
* The girls share the appetizers and do the “extend-a-fork” thing and reach over to try whatever entree I am eating. The boys hover over their plates. Sharing is not on their minds.
* The girls talk and ask questions while we eat. The boys look at me like I am crazy for wanting to chat during the meal. But they speak when spoken to.
* The girls eat everything except one or two bites of their entrees. The boys eat everything on their plates.
* The girls are happy to let me bus the tables. Then I ask them to help, which they do. The boys help me bus the tables without being asked to.
* Both boys and girls are happy I am too full to share their desserts. Then they inhale them, leaving not so much as a crumb behind.
When hiring slows down, I am looking forward to resuming my otherwise healthy diet of Sweet Tart breakfasts, Spree snack times, and chocolate-covered Sugar Babies lunches. All chased by gummies, of course.
Comments
6 responses to “Training Meals”
Hi,
Well, the training meals sound more nourishing than your regular lunches. I don’t keep track of studies done on nutrition, etc. but I’m pretty sure, gummy bears are only sugary and chewy. he he! As for me, I love feeling full. 😀
Gummy Bears are fat free! Gotta love that!
Hi restaurant gal! I love the blog and check it daily for new stuff, it helps kill the pain of work 🙂
Have a happy Hump day!
-J
Ha, I’m in the opposite, I’m experimenting with some vegan alternatives for foods, so I’m having weird (to me) things like soy & spirulina shakes for breakfast, TVP and veggies for lunch, and dinner made from Quorn patties, topped with Mozzerella made from rice milk, and sauce from organic fire-roasted tomatoes. It’s good while I’m eating it, but I find that I feel really hungry about 30 minutes after the meal. So I have dessert. and let me tell you, Tofutti Cuties are just not the same as Bryers (the most delicious ice cream ever.)
Restaurant Gal:
Love your blog. I am a bartender and bar manager at a steak house on the West Coast. Been here for 8 years and have seen most of the items you describe, so very well, on your blog.
Yes, you have to wonder about some of todays young people, but a lot of them are great. The ones who are slackers now will either learn to be good workers or have a pretty miserable, unhappy life.
We have a lot of hispanic workers in my area. The vast majority of them work far harder than the non-hispanics. I think they want to get ahead in life and in this country.
I do have an advantage over you. We are a smaller house and are family owned. If we had employees who did some of the things you mentioned (like say no to covering for a break or no to seating someone) we might give them one more chance. If they did it again, we would cut them a check and wish them well at their next job, where they probably will be saying “paper or plastic.”
I’m glad you enjoy your work. Everyone should.
Happy writing!
That’s amusing. Amongst my friends (though we’re kind of a strange group, I guess) it’s definitely the girls who will automatically clean up and the boys who will kick back and relax after the meal. We’re not restaurant-trained or anything, though 😛 And if there are any bites left on the girls’ plates, the boys will happily take them off our hands, heh.
They make chocolate covered sugar babies???? Why have I not seen those? BTW, I am working my way through a movie theater size box of gobstoppers at work and I think I gave myself a cavity=(