Got in trouble at work today...Updated with letter to the F&B manager...

WillParkinson

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Thu Jun-03-04 11:42 AM
Original message

Got in trouble at work today...Updated with letter to the F&B manager...

Edited on Thu Jun-03-04 12:04 PM by WillBowden

I work as a room service server at a major hotel in Milwaukee. 2 weeks ago the 3rd shift cook called in sick and the woman from the bakery was supposed to cook. Well, she didn't come in at 11:00 pm. At 11:10 pm the 2nd shift cook left, leaving another server and me to cook 10 orders. We were quoting people 45 minutes to an hour while we prepared and delivered the food.

At each delivery I explained to the guests that our cook had left and we were cooking the orders and that we hoped everything was OK and if there was a problem with the food please let us know.

No one complained.

Until today.

They got a letter from a guest who said we had burned his burger and that the server (me) was a nervous wreck who told them that the cook walked out.

So I get a call from my boss telling me that I should not have shared that information with the guest. I explained to him my reasons for doing it. I told him first, no one cared whether the cook walked off as long as the job got done. Secondly I was hoping that the guests would be a bit more understanding if there was a problem with the food. I said that, yes, I had been nervous. Orders kept coming in and we had no cook. We couldn't reach the Chef. We couldn't reach the Sous Chef. We couldn't find a cook in the other restaurant. Hell yeah I was nervous. Maybe I was wrong for telling the guest what the problem was but is THAT the main problem? No. It's that there was NO ONE COOKING!

So, what happens? *I* get yelled at. The cook who left the station? Nothing happened to him. Life sucks.

ON EDIT: This is the letter that I sent to the Food & Beverage manager regarding the situation:
I just got off the phone with Juan regarding the letter from the guest who had stayed in Room 232.

I was the person who served the burger to the guest. Yes, I did tell the guest that we had no cook and that he had left. I also told him that we were cooking and that I hoped everything was alright with the order and, if not, to please call and let us know and we'd do our best to fix it. I'm sorry if that was too much information. I let my frustration at the situation get the best of me because the 3rd shift cook had called in sick. Tammy was supposed to cover for 3rd shift. The 2nd shift cook had left while I was on an order and when I came back there were 5 orders sitting there waiting to be cooked and the 3rd shift cook had not arrived (in fact, we called and woke her up). Robert Sisk started cooking while I tried to call Chef (who was not in house) and Jovan (who I was not able to get a hold of). I asked Blake, the night manager, to try to catch the 2nd shift cook but the cook had already left. I also asked Blake to check to see if there was still a cook in the Cafe Pfister that could help us but there was none. We were left in a very precarious position. We were telling the guests 45 minutes to an hour for delivery of food because we were cooking it ourselves.

As far as the burger goes I honestly cannot say if the burger was burned. I can say that the guest did not call back. We were more afraid that food was undercooked than overcooked.

I'm terribly sorry if this has put you in an awkward position. That was not my intention. I just wanted to cover myself and my department. If you'd like I would be happy to write a letter of apology to the guest. Please just let me know.