Last Minute Shift Change

Today I went in for breakfast at 8:00a.m. It wasn’t too bad this morning – I was working with the first cook I worked with last week, and did many of the same tasks – traying scones, pastries, and bacon, sealing sausages, trimming mushrooms, putting away orders, helping plate items, cleaning up, changing labels. Today he showed me how to cook crepes, which I enjoyed doing.

After breakfast service was over, I headed down to the bar and set up the pastry section, put together three welcome baskets, and got the mashed potatoes ready. Then I went to work with helping out the starter section prep list – I decided to make all the sauces. I was just about finished the coriander and lime yogurt sauce, when the head chef approached me. He apologized several times, but informed me they could not get a hold of one of the cooks for the restaurant, who was a no-show today, and needed someone else in the restaurant during service tonight. He asked me if I could do a split shift, and return at 6:00p.m. to do pastry service. I didn’t really have much of a choice, but I didn’t really mind anyway, I like pastry service upstairs. The only downside would be working late tonight and early tomorrow, but at least I could go home to rest for a bit. It was already 12:30p.m., and split shifts end at 12:00p.m., so I cleaned up my station and left.

welcome basket

I got back around 5:00p.m. – early as we were short staffed, so I wanted to make sure everything needed would be ready for service, and see if the bar was really busy and needed any help. The first thing that happened immediately when I walked in was that I got an order. My boyfriend came in and ordered “Something special that Rebecca will make me.” I knew he wanted to try all the different kinds of sorbet we have on hand, so I quickly made him up a special plate of eight different sorbets (lime, raspberry, lemon, green apple, passionfruit, champagne, blackcurrent, blueberry) and some garnishes (heart wafer, chocolate stick, fruit, mint). I sent it with the server I know well, although unfortunately I forgot to snap a quick photo first. My boyfriend really enjoyed the sorbet selection, and later on the server gave him samples of all the beers we have here in the bar for free.

I headed upstairs to set up the pastry section. Service went smoothly – fifty covers tonight. Again, I was not too busy at first, so I helped out with appetizers, starters, vegetables, and fetching items. I handled all the pastry orders by myself, including the special vegan request. The orders came mostly in groups of two, which I find quite convenient, even if you get a few in a row. Again, I had to stay to the end while the others left, and didn’t finish until about 11:00p.m.