After we told the kids about my amusement park job they wanted to know if I'd had any other strange jobs and of course the answer is yes. A few years after the amusement park I went to work at a BBQ restaurant. I loved their food and was actually excited about being able to eat it whenever I wanted LOL The owner was a nice enough guy but he spent a lot of time having sex with one of the waitresses in the cooler. He propositioned me and I turned him down flat. Apparently he didn't get turned down very often and the fact that I said no impressed him and we became friends - still are to this day LOL
This restaurant had an open fire pit in the middle of the kitchen and they put out some of the best BBQ you've ever tasted. Right after I started there I was standing between the kitchen and the door leading out to the dining room when I heard the cook yell "FEET!!" and all of the employees came running. I'm standing there wondering what's happening and then I saw it. Coming at me was a swarm of cockroaches. Big, black, nasty roaches and there were a lot of them. At least a hundred but probably more. Well I DON'T like roaches at all so I jumped up on the counter but everyone else ran around stomping them all dead. The goal seemed to be to stomp them before they got to the door leading to the dining room and the staff were stomping like crazy trying to kill these roaches. When it was over there were dead roaches all over the kitchen floor and everyone went on back to work like nothing had ever happened. One of the dishwashers got a broom, swept them all up and then went back to the dishes. Meanwhile I'm still standing up on the counter and wondering what in the world just happened LOL The owner came in and explained to me that one of the reasons their BBQ is so good is because of the fresh firewood they throw in the pit and that firewood is delivered in big bundles. Whenever the cook opens a new bundle all of the roaches that were living in the wood scatter. The policy was for the cook to yell "FEET" which meant all employees were to come running and stomp the roaches dead before they got to the dining room. I was looking at the owner like he'd lost him mind but I realized that he was dead serious. This happens at least once a day and part of my job description was to come running when I heard "FEET" and to do my part in the stomping of the roaches. No one knew why so many roaches came in each bundle of wood (I might expect to see one or two in a pile of wood but each bundle had HUNDREDS!)and I never saw roaches up on the counters or in the food prep area but geez you know some of them manage to get away from the feet. That was the last time I EVER ate anything from there - which was a real shame because it was SO good. I worked there for a while longer because the atmosphere was good and the money was great but I'm telling you that to this day I've never eaten another bite of food from there. And I can't see a roach without hearing "FEET" in my head LOL I always wondered what would happen if those roaches got out into the dining room. Can you imagine sitting there eating your dinner and having a swarm of cockroaches come running out of the kitchen? LOL
It wasn't too long after that job that I realized that self employment is the path for me. It's a lot harder but I work for myself and I don't have to stomp roaches LOLLabels: Done