That Saturday dinner service where everything fell apart at once

Back in 2019 I was working a Saturday night at a busy spot in Portland and I swear the whole kitchen went sideways by 7pm. The expo line got 86ed on salmon, we had a ticket printer jam, and my prep cook cut his finger bad enough to need stitches. I had to work the grill and the sauté station at the same time for about 90 minutes. That one shift taught me more about staying calm under pressure than any class ever did. Has anyone else had a night where you just had to laugh and push through?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarcooper1mo ago

Man, I used to think people who got all dramatic about a rough shift were just complaining too much. Always told myself it was just food, not that serious. But after a night exactly like that where the fryer died and a server dropped a whole tray of drinks on my station in the same 10 minutes, I totally get it now. Something about watching three things fall apart at once just hits different and you either lose it or find some weird place of calm. Nothing teaches you like a real disaster shift, that's for sure.

the_simon1mo ago

Oh man, a SERVER dropped a whole tray of drinks on your station? That's brutal. I would've lost my mind if that happened right after the fryer died, like that’s just the universe testing you at that point. @oscarcooper you unlocked some hidden survival mode in that moment, and honestly that's kind of impressive. Not sure I'd find the calm, I'd probably just stare at the mess for a solid 30 seconds before doing anything lol.