Work cafeteria shocked no one wants to pay $7 bucks for lunch

..and I ask why..

While I don't want to give names, places.. faces.. spaces, I want to simply put a quick mention that the cafeteria at my day job is a little surprised that a recent price hike scared people away. $7 for a lunch special consisting of a meat, canned vegetable, and typically instant mashed potatoes.. $2.50 for soup that is nothing tastier than Campbell's.. $5 for a tuna sandwich that tastes like it was sitting outside in the sun for days..

And they are shocked..

I did however achieve a recent victory. I was able to convince a cook that include romaine lettuce with the mounds of watered down iceberg they typically offer. When I go there now, though, I feel that unsaid pressure to pick up the salad and get a little bit just to keep the guy happy. I do, too.. Never mess with a cafeteria cook!

But it just makes me shake my head .. I have so many ideas to make this place run better. But hence, by day I'm an office worker, pushing paper without a cape! On weekends I wait tables and fight with cooks. I may as well leave the fighting with food service professionals to weekends, even if I see their business falling through their fingers like sand on a beach..

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..when the trays go falling down..

A rather sad moment occurred this weekend, when a veteran waitress, carrying a tray of desserts, left the kitchen only to lose her balance and drop the entire tray in front of a large group of people. It was cherry pie, too.. and it was tough to clean, even off of industrial carpeting.

The saddest part was that she cried after it happened. She told me privately, "I never dropped a tray before."

I wonder if, for a server, that is a big instance.. a huge event..?

At least for her, it was. It was her Waterloo..

And I felt legitimately bad for her as she cleaned up the crumb..

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When the food police come knocking..

It's bad timing that a food inspector says you have to clean a kitchen, put new drywall up, and fix chips in a floor or the place gets a violation--within a week--the same week you have 6 different parties booked. This happened.. the kitchen was a mess with food and randomly placed pieces of new drywall and floor covering.. It led to a bad environment in the kitchen.

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Ireland's food..

I'm half Irish, but I wouldn't eat the muttin.

Potatos? A ok.

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I've always hated taxes on food...

...but a ban on salt in New York City being proposed (*and fines for using it*) is desperate and ridiculous.. Common sense MUST prevail! Food freedom in '10!

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FRESH SQUEEZED MILK

Chef in New York City using his wife's breast milk to make cheese.. ..

Chef Daniel Angerer told the New York POST: "It tastes like cow's-milk cheese, kind of sweet"..

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...avoid arena beef sandwiches

Went to a Celtic/Sixers game last night.. my team won. But my stomach didn't. I had a roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce.. Some of the worst, most expensive food I ever ate. The beer was cold but near $10 .. Why did I do it? Why..

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On the menu with the fries and burger: A health charge!?

No joke.. the Chicago TRIBUNE reporting that a new bill is popping up, and is sure to spread throughout the nation. The TRIBUNE reports,

The rationale for this one is to cover the employers' mandatory contribution to the City's "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer's bill to cover this charge.

The restaurants' excuse for assessing this charge separately is to let customers know how much they're paying for employees' health coverage. That's the same excuse hotels use when they add "resort" or "housekeeping" fees to unsuspecting guests' room bills. It's the same excuse airlines would use to exclude fuel surcharges from their advertised fares if the Department of Transportation would allow them. And it's sheer nonsense. Employees' health insurance is no less of a cost of doing business than rent, property taxes, food costs, security services and all the other inputs businesses require to operate. To single out health care for a separate surcharge is unwarranted.

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...the only hitch this weekend..

...was a frozen water line and a coffee machine not working. A trip to the dollar store, and a cheap coffee pot later (and 25 minutes to brew a single pot) and we were in business...

Oh the joys of what the customer does not see.

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Romantic dinners...

Some people think the lights being so low is downright funny.. other tables right next to them are happy and find the romance.. and finally the older couples have a conversation about how many bladder surgeries they made it through in life, making the youngest couple squirm like the shrimp they're eating..

But, ok.. I have to admit it, even with my mocking and scorning attempts to deride mass produced holidays like Mother's Day or Valentine's Day: There is something romantic and special about seeing couples of all ages and creeds come out to dine .. spend a night together and eat lobster and steak.. and look at each other and get a little fire back in their eyes again.

Sure, plenty of men are doing it because they have no other ideas.. they are in a cold panic that they forget flowers, chocolate, and diamonds. Why not, then, take someone for a $100 dinner.

And the server's role is magical in this instance.. the server has to know when too much friendly banter is too much, has to be knowledgeable about the dinner selection.. and then get out of the way of the couple who just seemingly want to share a little time either away from the kids, or just away from life.

Alright, that's the only bit of sentimental thought you're going to get about Valentine's Day. Back to the nonsense: Prime rib and seafood buffet today .. this should be outright painful..

Good luck restaurant world..

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