Like I said before, I expected a challenge. I did NOT expect... a WAR... and that has been what it has been at this new shop.
I walked in as the new "manager" but Mr RoadBlock is standing in my way barking orders at me AND my baker (Nerdboy)... I've had to have great confidence to stand up to this and "bark" back louder... at this point it has not been confidence as much as desperation... and the fact that I am at my last... straw... in this stupid little ignorant town...
I know how to make them money.. (make us ALL some money) .. they've put blinders on me and tied my hands behind my back. (Yeah we want to make money but we don't want to CHANGE anything... well, geez, THAT ain't happening folks... changes are coming... IF you want to make money.. )
Gina wants me to give her exact costs on everything we produce. Okay, I can do that.
She will not share with me what she pays for anything.. (areyoufreekingkiddingme???)
Alrighty then... in that case, I CANNOT give you exact costs on everything if I am not allowed to know how much you spend on a 50 pound bag of bread flour...
So there you go.. I am kept in the dark... I have been lied to...
THEN I have ( her x-husband) Mr. RoadBlock to handle. He has no bakery experience at all but of course he insists that he is going to run this... although I am in charge and he knows it... he is not quite ready to accept that... sometimes... other times he caves in... he knows I am right.. but he must retain his manly manhood masculinity thing... ( he is very, VERY insecure)
TWO DAYS after I started, everything changed. A whole new group of bakers were hired in, (on commission basis), a whole bunch of supplies were ordered and I was caught by surprise to be pulled aside and told that the shop was now going under and that they could not afford to pay me as a full time employee.. They would need me only four hours a day.. or maybe six hours... Would I please surrender my recipes?...
WHAT?... ( yeah... I instantly had a heart attack...)
Look... It's like this... I just gave up my health insurance, paid holidays, and paid vacations, because I thought THIS would be better in the long run because YOU SAID IT WAS A FULL-TIME POSITION.
Sure. I'll give you my recipes just as soon as I convert them ( to ounces because all they have is this funky digital scale that only weighs in ounces) ...
(or as soon as hell freezes over... sooo... this might take a while.. Like... I am NEVER handing over my recipes. How's that?)
Every single thing has been a battle as I've been trying to take control of this place.
I can't get inventory price lists.
No one was even told that I was coming in as a manager.
I am not allowed a key.
I am told to do things and then as I try to do them it's made impossible to accomplish because I have no resources...
It's been totally cool with the other bakers and the sales clerks. I've been able to manage them just fine. I know what I'm doing and they can tell. I've been able to solve a lot of problems, offer good solutions, make everyone's job easier and more productive... I think that part is going as well as it can go.
My WAR has been with the owner and her x-husband Mr RoadBlock. ( I have not had enough time to try other Barbari recipes for him by the way..)
My hours have been cut and I'm soooooo not happy... and I'm not getting any days off... and they've been calling me constantly... and I'm not so sure that I'm ever going to get paid ANYTHING... so I am ready to freakin FLIP OUT!
They are insisting on making pita bread... neato... but very time consuming and we're losing a lot of money on it. I have suggested cutting back on that. We can make some, but really it's crazy to kill ourselves to make boatloads of pitas and continue losing more and more money and wasting production time that could be spent making other.. larger.. different flatbreads that we CAN cut a profit on.
They said "Okay,"
Then they continued to panic over keeping their shelves full of pitas.
I gave GeekBoy the weekend off. I was supposed to take Sunday (tomorrow) off too. As we discussed it yesterday Mr RoadBlock puffed up saying NO... "Dis was never talked to wit me!" he ranted. WHOA! I was right back at him. "We talked about this Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and you were right here, and I let Gina know too,"
GeekBoy got the weekend off.
I had to go in by myself today. I was called last night by Mr RoadBlock and told that he didn't want to go in early. He'd open the door for me at 8am... so okay. Then he called again... he couldn't be there at 8... Gina would open for me at 9:30... (lied to me... the shop opens at 8am... they just didn't want me there until 9:30... well shytz.. just SAY so!)
I did not return his call that time.. so he called back and Wally answered. I was in a half-snooze sprawled all over the couch and only dreamily registered my love's voice, "It's that @ss again... What does he want now?" Then he answered the phone, "Hello?... Yes, she's sleeping,.... She's sleeping.... I'm not waking her, she's asleep.... YES, you have the right number. WHAT DO YOU WANT?... Yes 9:30... Yes she knows,"
Even in my grogginess I had to smile sideways... that's my lover *wink wink*...
So I went in today at 9:30am... (gag) Knowing that I'd only have a few hours... (choke) I am wasting my freeking time...
I started in just making up all of the dough that was already mixed. It really could not sit any more. So I had all of the Lavash and white pita cut, weighed, rounded and ready to go, wheat bread in the proof box and a French bread on the mixer by the time Mr RoadBlock got there to "help" me...
He looked in the mixer and asked me what it was. I told him and he bellowed, "That's not enough! Why you do dis?"
I'm already totally OVER this... "It's enough," I told him. I made sure I sounded stern... I had enough dough in there for ten baguettes. It was enough.
Then it was time for the fun to start. I had to roll out the pitas (with a rolling pin) I happen to be pretty good at it but he does not trust me like he trusts NerdBoy.. He barked, "It's TOO big!... It's TOO small!" as I was rolling them, and I was starting to lose it, "They're exactly the SAME size!" He was just barking to hear his own bark.
Taking a pause from rolling pitas I had to go grab my mini wheat breads from the proof box and put them in the oven and hand roll my French baguettes to put in the proof box, back to back... in a small shop it's back to back, back to back to get it done.
Mr RoadBlock had taken to rolling out the pitas. He is not good with a rolling pin at all. As I passed by with my breads I called out, "THAT'S TOO BIG!" and Mr RoadBlock snickered. On my next pass I called out, "That's TOO SMALL!" and then he was laughing out loud...
I never heard another word about the way MY pitas were rolled out... except "GOOD" and "NICE"
Then as I was cleaning up to leave and planning to take tomorrow off... we started running out of their blasted precious pitas... yeah you know.. the ones that we spend more money and time on to make than anything? Yeah, the ones we consistently lose money making...
Mr RoadBlock comes back to tell me that we have to stay and make more white pitas.
"No we're not. The shop is closing in five minutes," I said.
I got my way...
But somehow I agreed to go in tomorrow to make the dammed things.
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