Tsk tsk tsk

This is EXACTLY what you don't wanna be seen doing after a heavy boozy saturday night. Unconscious, ass crack showing, in a foetal position on the street with your girlfriend with her head between her legs. Tsk tsk tsk... If alcohol was discovered in recent years, it would've been deemed an illegal substance. Good thing the streets of KL are warm enough for you to have your slumber! LOL!

Didn't your mother...

Didn't your mother ever tell you NOT to sit on books little girl. Mother : girl, get up! That uncle will take your photo!

JPN Era Baru

"JPN ERA BARU" proclaimed the sign as we walked into the National Registration Department.

After the whole grand saturday night with Marco and Yohji, I found that I was without wallet. Damnit. 5th time according to the lady behind the counter. "Sorry boy, you have to pay RM120.00 to renew your IC, sorry ah."

Joseph and I arrived at about 11.55 .and got our numbers. It won't take long I said, they're pretty fast I said, the numbers climbed fast and steady 3146, our number's almost up (our numbers being 3150 and 3151) and then it's as if Hiro Nakamura froze time without freezing the people. The numbers stopped. The people got restless. Joseph had to make himself unavailable for work and an appointment at 2:30pm... yeah... it had been that long.

"Tuan Tuan dan Puan Puan, di harap anda bersabar kerana sistem komputer kita tergendala sebentar, kakitangan kita di Putrajaya belum lagi boleh menyelesaikan masalah teknikal, jika dalam setengah jam belum ada perkembangan *pause*... *pause*... *pause* .... saya akan membuat pengumuman yang lain, Sekian, Terima Kasih"

Translation :

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we hope that you will be patient as our computer system is down. Our personnel in Putrajaya have not yet solved our technical problems. If in half an hour there aren't any developments *pause* ... *pause* ... *pause*... I will make another announcement, Thank You"


Wha huh??.... so we waited til...3:15pm and then the numbers started pinging again... and in no time our temporary National Registration Identity Card or affectionately known as MyKad was ready. Actual face time was about 45 minutes, real waiting time was letsee... 3 hours and 46 minutes. Phew.... New Era my @$$.... apparently according to a complaint letter in the suggestion box, these things happen rather frequently... but then having said that, how come they know it happens so frequently?.... did they lose their MyKad more than 5 times already that they know the routine of the NRD.

I'm a very patient person... i really am, I can stand what a lot of people can't. And I wasn't too phased out by it but thinking back, this is like hours of my fantastic life I've wasted waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiting... *sighs*





On a brighter note : Picture Of The Day!


POTD : my new favourite drink. Teh-O-Ais Kurang Manis tanbah Redbull. Try it, you might like it ~grin~ it may be the most refreshing and waking up drink you've ever drunk.

Organizational Chaos

What is important in running a pastry production kitchen effectively?

a) working tirelessly day and night to make sure everything is not only in good quantity but also of excellent quality.
b) managing manpower effectively so as not to tire out existing staff members
c) making above mentioned staff feel appreciated at the enormous load of work they need to deal with it daily.
d) giving support to your staff in the form of encouragement and backing them up when shit hits the fan because you KNOW they've poured all their energy to making beautiful desserts.

What creates respect for staff for their pastry chef?
1) Refined pastry skills in chocolate or sugar work
2) The ability to make staff feel appreciated, feel like family
3) Time management and people management skills

Now what happens if the above mentioned pastry chef fails in all three endeavors?


Pastry Kitchen Weekly Briefing

Scene 1

Chef : So, are you happy working here?
Commis 2 : Not really
Chef : Why?
Commis 2 : Because we have so much work to do and not one chef is helping us out, and when something goes wrong, we get all the shit.
Chef : Well if you can't take the work load, just quit, when can i get your letter?


Scene 2

Chef: I have never seen so many people taking medical leave in one year.
Commis 2 : We are all tired chef, some of us work 20 hours a day. so we get sick lo..
Chef: You'll NEVER see me taking a medical leave.

And lo and behold, two days later, our chef was down with food poisoning.... had to take MC..

We call it KETULAHAN...


Scene 3

Staff on MC and called in sick because of high fever

Chef (in an SMS): MC? What sick? and for how long? Or do you just want to spend time with your boyfriend?

****************************************

And so, people quit en masse... our pastry kitchen was once 22 people strong, and within a span of 6 months we've dwindled down to 9 fulltime staff and 4 part timers..

So we pull together, work hard, cover our own assess because goodness knows they won't come through for us.

We've got great cooperation, great teamwork, too bad it's all done against them, if only they knew how much easier it could've been to win us over instead of being all Nazi on us.

We're not cows to be traded like livestock...

We're skilled professionals

We're not uneducated impressionable children...

We're smart cookies

We're not robots, even robots need to get recharged when batteries are low...

We're people with emotions and feelings

***********************************

red tape makes me see red...

New year, time for new rules at work.

1) Everytime you step out of the hotel premises, you need to have a signed letter from your superior.

So, I've got to track down my ever absent Exec Chef to ask him for a signature everytime I need to step of the hotel for a smoke break because they moved the smoking zone outside before because it was disrespecting the non smokers for us to smoke inside the premises of the hotel.


2) Three days prior notice for big cake orders.

Yeah like that's going to change anything. At the hotel where I work it is imperative that we strive to be market leaders and go beyond excellence for the revered guest. This by all means making a 10kg fondant covered cake for the Queen if and when she pleases within half an hour replete with sugar flowers and gold ribbons.


3) Reminder: No handphones to be used while at work

I agree to the rule but then again there is this other rule that you are not allowed to have personal calls whilst on duty at work. I totally understand that rule as well but here's the catch: If you're working in the pastry kitchen or the cold kitchen and need to service ALL the F&B outlets (count em 10: in-house dining, french fine dining, japanese superdining, in-roon dining, poolside, lobby lounge, chinese fine dining, exclusive club floor dining, delicatessen and also the take-away cafe) then 8 hours isn't sufficient to finish up all the required responsibilities of the day let alone running new productions for the coming days ahead. So we work for up to 12 hours a day and sometimes 16 hours. And we're NOT allowed phone calls OR even have our own phones to make calls?

I believe that rules are good for structuring and regulating staff but over excessive red tape is ruinious for people who don't have the constitution for it.

There's always a way for to bend the rules if you're resourceful enough. If you can blitz curdled vanilla sauce in a blender and still make it smooth and velvety and no one notices it then you can bet that I'm going to find a way around the so called "rules".

Just don't tell my chef about the vanilla sauce bit.

what the?

What's the deal with the plastic packaging for McDonald's Big Mac these days?

Didn't they ban it in the beginning because it was a threat to the environment? Or will they become artificial floating reefs this time round when they dump it into the ocean?

~tsk tsk tsk~