Our heroine had a few good days

Yes, more in the continuing saga of the new position.  I ended up going in to talk to my boss this week, stating that I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew.  I'd come in an hour and a half early for two days in a row and I was just barely getting my service stuff out on time.

Again, Monday was a challenge because I hadn't been trained for it.  Chef ended up bringing me out a bunch of stuff and then told me he'd gotten it out in 15 minutes, so there was no reason I couldn't do that too. 

Tuesday I needed to steam shrimp, cook chicken, hand cut veggies and make an apple tart that involved being baked in a waffle iron.  Again, I'm in an hour and a half early.  I got part way through my morning and went in to tell my boss I thought I'd make a mistake. 

We weren't able to talk right that second but we did get together again after service and I was cleaned up.  What I stated, was that I didn't think I had enough experience to complete what was needed.  I explained that the last couple of days should have been easy, but I was needing an extra 90 minutes to get everything done.   Really, I just sort of vented and ended up crying about how frustrated I was. 

Then my boss surprised me.  He said "Whoa.  You are taking this job way too seriously.  We're just cooking food here."  Then we had a good back and forth about the fact that the kitchen staff is really stretched due to being short-handed, how I wasn't comfortable approaching the chef with questions and requests for help and my general lack of confidence. 

He gave me some suggestions and said he'd talk with chef, we'd then go from there.

Wednesday, we serve taco salads.  I got all my prep done with plenty of time but then had a snafu with the deep frying of tortillas.  I know what to do differently next week.  Okay, check.

Thursday, is the biggest day of the week. We serve pizzas.  I arrived half an hour early to make sure I got everything ready on time.  I was able to get it all out and had a small cushion of time to make sure everything was out.

Friday, I serve premade sandwiches and other stuff.  I used some of the stuff from earlier in the week to have premade taco salads, premade pizzas and then some wraps and sandwiches.  I had to run to get it all out, but run I did and my station was totally full and looking good.

I keep telling myself through the morning "If I can get to service then I'm golden.  If I can get into service then I'm golden."   Because once service starts at 11 a.m. I can stay in my serving station and take a breath.  Then it's clean up time and I can prep for the next day if I need.

I'm anxious to see how this next week goes.  Were those good days a fluke?  Or am I getting the hang of it?

Today, I am resting and trying to not think about work.  Tonight, my friend Leashya and I got to see the Psychadelic Furs and have fun.

Here's to small victories.

Amanda's household hint of the day:  Don't buy anything special to clean your garbage disposal.  Just toss some lemon wedges into it while it's running.