The Musician(Blowing own’s horn)

I just saw something disturbing and it irritates me alot. This is the kind of moment i would go for a ride in my car with techno in the background and thinking how unfair this society is. But too bad there are alot of speed traps around so i shall not do that. Instead i will put all this energy into achieving my goal.

Back to the topic, i just saw a classmate posting that he has been promoted to a management post. I would congratulate him if i think he deserves it. But anyone that has integrity and eyes to see will agree with me. How can someone who is always late for classes, choose to not turn up for classes and always shun from duties be given that position. The worst is when i think about myself having a bad start in my new career. How unjust is this.

I think he’s a conman using the school’s name to fraud around. I don’t think he deserve to wear the school’s name. The moment he achieved enough grades to pass the course he skipped school, this is what i call crossed river tear bridge. Making use of the school to get employed then using the school’s credibility to progress. If i could i will buy over his uniform n burn it into ashes. One thing i could do for sure, GOD BLESS the employer and whoever whom promoted him.

Another more comforting way to look at it, he’s bragging and boasting his heads off. Whatever the case, i will let the people do the judging. I will concentrate and achieve my task. Sometimes eating sour grapes is good for the body. The sourness keeps you awake and remind you of your goals and tasks. Thanks for the reminder! Classmate! NOT!

Golden Burger

BURGERS AND HOTDOGS FOR SALE!!!!!!EACH PIECE AT ONLY 8SGD!!!!!My goodness…Do not worry, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, neither am i playing tricks on you. Who in the world will buy a normal size burger or a normal size hotdog for 8 Singapore dollar. But miraculously it was SOLD OUT, i did not even have the time to see who are those retards that bought the burgers from me.

Let me give you a better picture of how it looks like, for the burger, it comprises of a normal size burger bun, a beef/chicken patty, 1 slice of tomato, 1 piece of lettuce and a slice of cheese. For the hotdog(this is out to kill your wallets), a hotdog bun, a hotdog and some dice onions. Anyone thinks that 8SGD is a decent price can place order here, i will gladly sell you the burgers.

I WAS very confident that i will be swatting flies in the burger stand, but instead i was so busy frying the burgers and hotdogs that i do not even have the time to look at my crazy customers. The only way u can get your money worth is by soaking the entire burger in the free flow condiments plus filling the burger box to the brim with condiments and asking for extra tomato and lettuce. Even so i don’t think you will feel that your 8SGD is well spent.

I felt bad for those people who bought the burgers and the hotdogs. I felt real bad when a young boy came with 5 dollar and could not get anything from my stand. He was already enjoying the burger in his head, but physically he could only stare at us frying the burger patties. I so wanted to sell him the burger with whatever amount he has, but i am not the boss, i am just an aspiring chef doing my job. But the price is not set by my boss, its set by the management who owns the place.

Anyone that can think of a very good explanation(other then people are getting more affluent although of the economic downturn) to why would people buy the burger, please leave a comment. I am still very puzzled even till this moment. Oh right, for those people who have not  tasted my cooking, SEE!, now you have to spend 8SGD to eat one burger.

A short break before the next journey

Finally i had a short but long deserve break. Went out for lunch with my too long never see Ms piggy and my lobo accomplice. I had been eating staff meal for the past 8 days, n its either fried rice or fried noodle or a upsize version of octopus ball. So that bowl of beef noodle i had for lunch was rather refreshing, a change of taste. Its like having a simple plate of chicken rice after being lock up in prison for ten years.

After a simple meal, it was time to do what i like best which i have not had the time to do since i started work. And thats……GROCERY shopping, did not buy much though, scared got no time to cook. Oh right, before that i went to diaso. Diaso is a really big drug store, because its very addictive when everything is just 2 dollars and you will find alot of weird but innovative stuff. Especially for lazy people, they will definitely find something they can use. There was actually a garlic skin peeler, its a long flexible rubber tube about the diameter of a regular toilet roll. You just have to throw the garlic in and roll it around, then wa lah, you will get a few cloves of naked garlic. Anyone interested can head down to diaso and buy, if it does not work, so what, its just 2 dollars.

Checklist

Simple meal (done)

Shopping therapy(done)

meeting up with friends(not done)

So i got 1 last thing to do before i can call it a day. Its been quite a long time since i meet up with my usual xiao wan mian kakees. Its a time where everyone of us can let out all the grievences piled up since the last time we met. So its a good chance for me to complain about that ex company of mine. Whenever my tail is being step upon, the entire whole will know about that culprit. Though it use to be just my close circle of friends who will know, now with this blog, theres a chance the entire world will know. LOLZ.

The xiao wan mian kakee wasn’t complete today, and plus luis left almost immediatelly the moment i came. NO…its not what you are thinking, not because hes sicked of listening to my complains. He wasn’t feeling well, hopefully hes having a good rest now. Then soon after desmond had to leave because he got alot of reports to churn out, university sure is a busy place, but still second to being in the kitchen.Hahaha…

Fighting strength down to 3 sir!…1 report sick…1 attached out…4 MIA sir!… Though we were left with 3, i had a great talking cock session, or more of a complain session. Its always nice to hang out with friends. Fun facts of the day, one can get drunk by just talking too much. I felt quite light headed today but i did not consume any alcohol at all. So i had a interesting theory, i concluded that its because i talk and complain too much thats why i had that drunk feeling. Its like if you blow too many balloons, you let out too much gas too fast, so you will get abit light headed, so i guess thats what happen to me.Lolz.

End of journey to the kitchen 1(bad ending)

I have finally resign from my current job, and i thought all will end well. But words is a very powerful weapon, it can ruin ur entire life, at least it ruin 1 of my weekends. In my agreement letter it stated i have to give 1 day notice if i wanted to quit, but guess wad, it was my off day today, so i use the time to head down to the office to resign. But to my amazement, they told me that i have to quit on the day i was working, so quitting on my off day is not considered 1 day notice. In fact i have another off day tml, so theoractically it was 2 days notice, but they argued that it did not count. Initially i insisted on my stand, then they say that if i insisted then by company policy they have to deduct my pay by 1 day. Truthfully i do not have a problem with that, i have nothing except money(just kidding, so do not come finding me for loans or donation). So i gladly told them its okie to deduct my pay. I do not need it anyway, i just want to get out of this futureless company. Wah….then they start to question my personailty and principles, “how can you be so irresposible”. If i was ever the HULK, this is the moment i would have turn green.

How in the world can u call someone who stick to the agreement, irresponsible, no one whether dead or alive has ever called me irresponsible in my 22yrs on earth(do not count the days i was still swimming). It stated 1 day notice, not 1 working day notice. Because of this i have 2 work one last day, which is a saturday, the busiest day of the week. As i am typing this, i am turning green again. A word of caution, not only must you look out for fine prints before you sign any agreement, please also question every single word you see in the document. Realli a bad start and a bad ending. Hopefulli when i start afresh, all will be better. And the worst part, i cannot type out the name of the company. Its like this inner hollow just trying to take over this body to type the name out, but i have to control before i get a lawyer letter sueing me for slander.

All thats left is this last stretch of pitch black tunnel(saturday), before i can see the bright light at the end of the tunnel. I still cannot stand them saying i m irresponsible, whoever that type that agreement letter is irresponsible for leaving that certain word out. Time to get some rest and forget the whole matter.

Journey to the kitchen Day 4(Eight tentacles freak)

Today is the busiest dinner service yet,and its freaking friday onli. I do not want to think of tml, imagine a never ending queue and the restaurant is already full. People come and go, orders flying into the kitchen like bees to honey, omg, i just thought of it…damn. Remember in my first post i mention about the kitchen being the war zone, today i had a real good taste of it. The first customer who walked in during dinner time was like a topedo hitting pearl harbour, before you can brace yourself for it…..BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!……and we are in a war liao….For people who is reading this rite now and thinking of making army as a career because you like to chiong mountain and hoping to fight in a real war situation, why not consider joining the K(kitchen) coy. You do not have 2 wear green, do not need to carry heavy fieldpack, best of all do not need to wear helmet, and we are train in tradition sword skills, okie…mb not sword, just a knife.

Three person was at the front line fighting(doing the cooking), and 2 of us were supporting the front line. When the front line ran out of ammo(ingredients to cook), we had to make the ammo from scratch and deliver to the warzone(making batter, chopping cabbage like the cabbage’s dad owe us money, refilling sauces, thawing the seafood that i defeated at eastern dragon palace ytd, weighing the noodles per portion, you name it i did it. Ah xuan is my new kitchen name, all my colleague are malaysians so they dun realli speak english, sometimes i even find it hard to communicate with them. When you are busy and the exhaust is on, you can hardly hear anyone talking. The entire night it was going like this, “ah xuan ah, no more batter. ah xuan ah no more noodle. ah xuan ah no more prawn. ah xuan ah no more cabbage. and it just keep going n going n going n going…nw i understand why my parents gave me such a long name, so that people would not call me so often, but now my name shorten to ah xuan, it becomes so easy for them to call. I should have insisted they call me by my eng name, then they will think twice bout calling me, because they will stone stuck inside mouth(in hokkien). I realli felt like a bloody octopus, okie not bloody but floury, i make so much batter that i got flour all over my uniform.

Lesson 7- do not do things to fast

During cleaning, i finish what i was suppose to do fast, coz that is wad is required in the kitchen. Then the melody starts again, “ah xuan go scrub the griddle. ah xuan wipe the table. n the list never stops.” so lesson learnt, once in while act busy is good for your health, my back now think got six pec….lol…lucky they hire cleaners to wash the dishes on friday and saturday. Today i finally realize something, this restaurant is not suitable for me. What they need are workers, not chefs, what i need is being expose to more ingredients and cooking tecniques out there, and this is what a chain restaurant cnt offer. They cannot afford to have the chefs having a mind of their own because they need to keep a standard, so no freedom to display your creativity. To a chef its all about freedom, creativity, passion for cooking and always curious to try new ingredients. Currently, i feel like cooking has become a chore, its not enjoyable animore, i need to leave this place before i get eaten up by this darkness. Last of all, let ur in to one secret, i got a devious plan before i quit from my current job. But that secret plan is still a secret, at least i tell your i got a secret, so your can try finding out from me, given my character, i may most probably tell you what iszit if you ask. Going to rest now, got a world war 3 to fight tml, need to go polish my safety shoes and prepare my sword.okie knife.

Journey to the kitchen Day 3(Caged phoenix)

It seems like i work in the kitchen for ages, but its actualli my 3rd day only. Just when i thought what else could be worse than a busy dinner service, there pops a busy lunch service. Then it made me remember that we do serve lunch and not just dinner. Past 2 days i have been spending my afternoon doing prep work so it was all peaceful. But today either i forgot to pray in the morning or people have a sudden urge to eat okonoyaki for lunch. I underestimated lunch service, it just short of a few orders to be on par with dinner service…(maybe more than a few more…lol)

Tolerance

lesson 5- choose your work place carefully

lesson 6- tolerate first blog later

I left camp and started my journey for the 3rd day. This time i went to the EASTERN DRAGON PALACE, and they actualli sent their army of prawns and crabs. First were the ferocious tiger prawns, i had to disarm them by cutting their spikes on the head then removing their body armour(prawn shell) then send them into the freezer to freeze them 2 death. After the prawn army was defeated, they sent the weakest and most useless from the crab family, the SOFT SHELL crab. It was a landslide victory, i remove their tail, teeth and air sac till they start gasping for air. To end their agony, i chop them into 4 equal piece. Then again i was back in cabbage land fighting the man eating cabbage and conquering the same dish mountain…..n i live to fight another day( but my back is starting to ache alot…).

Stories aside, i have never expected washing customer’s dishes as part of my job scope. During my interview and before i sign the work agreement, the HR said there are lots of things 2 learn. But so far i only learnt how to wash dishes and prep ingredients at the same time. What i have been using are skills that i acquire from my culinary school, they do not even have to teach mi how 2 hold a knife. They just have 2 tell mi how they want me to cut their cabbage. Most of their menu items and sauces are pre packed and prepared before taking a plane here. All i have 2 do is throw them in2 the deep fryer, even the temp of the fryer is what was taught to me in school. So there is practically nothing new for me to learn except how they want the food 2 b serve and garnished. I have done my part for the company by learning their standards within 3days, but they never keep their end of the bargain. I feel like i m trapped in a cage, i got so much to offer but here i m chopping cabbage, washing customer’s dishes. So lesson 5, choose your work place carefully. Anyone with any offers can leave a comment. Thank you.

The reason i started to blog is because i got no other way of letting of steam, i mean blogging is definitely cheaper than buying a punching bag(like i not tired enough after all the washing). Got to find another job real soon. Lesson 6, tolerate first blog later.

Oh ya, almost forgot, i think i got abit more tender. Freaking exhaust and fan system broke down in the afternoon, whole kitchen like a convection oven. Good thing i thick skin, if not i would have been medium well. Last but not least, i tink i gt 2 start getting use to this UNPAID OT thing….haha

Journey to the Kitchen Day 2(survivor of the laziest)

First challenge of the day, chopping n slicing man eating cabbage infesting the kitchen. I spent the whole afternn cutting up cabbage for later use, realli 3hrs56min  non-stop, 4 mins 2 gulp dwn a cup of ice water. So for those people who hate their cabbage, i can tell u, i hate them more than any of you nw.Maybe i shld be a chef that specialize on cabbage dishes.

Somehow the air-con at my workplace got some slight issues. It was colder in the toilet then the restaurant dining area itself, my goodness, i even tot of having my break sitting in the toilet. But people who work in the kitchen shld avoid such bacteria infesting place, so i spent my break perspiring while having my meal.

Challenges

lesson 3 – beware of tai chi masters n snake eating humanoid

lesson 4 – brain better b updated wif the latest RAM and memory space

Same as day 1, slow start then a sudden dinner rush that is realli overwhelming. 3 kitchen crew that have to prep, cook n wash dishes. I felt like a slave trying 2 build the great wall of china n the pyramids together. First we have to prep the ingredients, then put it over a heat source 2 make it edible, then rush over 2 wash dishes. While the waitering staff just hav 2 take orders n dump the orders on us then serve the customer their food. And the rest of the tym just staring in2 the kitchen 2 admire this loving painting called “buzy people at work”. When u ask them for help wif the dishes, they will ACT buzy n push the task ard till u get so fed up u just go do it urself. lesson 3 learnt and understood.

Next, in order for mi 2 be a more valuable player to the team, i was tasked 2 memorized ingredients used in all 30 plus dishes in the menu. OMG!!! DATA OVERLOAD<press enter to crash and burn>…i was like “plz give mi dis blah blah order”, so 1 hand holding notes then the nxt hand opening fridges, weighing noodles, deep frying tofu. Nw i wish i had 8 tentacles wif suction cups all over. lesson 4 applied,better update RAM and memory space to free up 1 useful hand.

Somehow manage 2 survive day 2 wif juz another UNPAID OT. All these wif courtesy from the waitering staff. THanks alot, u guys rock!!!!! _/_… Just a trivia for the day, Chefs are fat not bcoz they get 2 eat good food everyday, its bcoz of irregular and long working hours. They work so hard in the kitchen till late, so by the time they reach home its already very late and alot of calories are lost in the kitchen so much so that they will want 2 have supper, just like what i have been doing… LOL…

Culinary journey Day 1(Humble start)

New working environment, new people,new workload. First impression, small kitchen, stuff everywhere, closest thing i can associate to let your have a clearer picture, a warzone. The onli difference, the war haven started yet, emphasize YET.

New beginning

lesson 1 – adapt to the environment fast.

lesson 2 – work fast

lesson 3 – (to be continued)wait till i see more of the light, its onli my 1st day.

Everything was still slow paced in the afternn, orientation of the small kitchen(probabli half the size of ani regular hdb room), where most of the things are kept and placed, n i really meant most, its not all. I was also taught some of the basic preparation i had 2 prep b4 service. Things start 2 pick up when customers rush in during dinner time. Thats when i realized the war has started. Even a F1 car dun accelerate so fast. It was realli a rough nite, i was looking high and low for tools n ingredients tt wasn’t mention in the afternn, all were too buzy to even react to my call for help. I felt like robinson crusoe, stranded on an island trying 2 survive the harsh environment. I think they expect mi 2 b prof xavier frm x men, hav 2 read their mind wifout interferring wif their concentration to complete their work.

In the end, i was left in a corner washing dishes. That was like the most efficient help i cld offer. But i din noe kitchen crew hav 2 wash the diners dishes. Tot it was the waitering staff’s job. lesson 1 put in2 play, adapt 2 the environment fast, b4 u get swallowed by it. After the dishes, the ingredients ran out. So here i go again, searching high n low n finalli bareli manage 2 churn out the batter n some other ingredients. lesson 2, work fast or else get crushed by the piling workload.

Finally, dinner service ended, n its nearing my knockoff time.Phew…no…but wait…got 2 clear up n wash the entire kitchen…10mins left…sooo not possible…wash wash wash…when everything was put back in order…crap…already 30mins past my knock off time. 1st day n kena UNPAID OT liao…

This is how my new journey begins, all in a day’s work. Oh ya, a reminder 2 all diners: PLZ DO NOT ORDER ANITING WHEN THEY ASK FOR LAST ORDER…if not we the kitchen crew sure hav 2 go in2 overtime. Thank You.