June 12th, 2007 by Lou

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Life just came at me so fast, I didn’t have time to do much.

Like I said, I was waiting for a call from a bakery concerning a Telephone Orders Clerk. I was hired days later but was told that I would not be starting this position for another two weeks. Instead I would be down in the kitchen as a Production Assistant (Pastries). He asked if I have experience in culinary arts or anything. I told him that I’ve never worked in a kitchen, commercially at least. Sure, I can cook a few things, like chicken and corned beef, I can make rice and pasta dishes, once I have a recipe in front of me. The most I can bake is macaroni pie and those cake mixes that come in a box. The bakery I work at makes almost everything from scratch.

Now my first week went by okay, even if there were some bumps along the way. For one, commercial food production is nothing like my trial and error sessions in my own kitchen. There are many things about baking and pastries I don’t know. But every day I pick up something new. Everyone there seems really nice. However there is this one individual who last week seemed very impatient with my inexperience and sometimes doesn’t take the time to explain things to me. When giving instructions to me they are very vague, and when I ask (for clarity’s sake) this person sometimes gets upset at my asking for it.

Yesterday marked the beginning of my second week there. Now last week the boss told me that I might not be starting my position for another three weeks. Here’s how it went.

When I showed up last Monday for my first day we had a chat in his office. He told me that the girl in the position before had been suspended before she went on vacation and wasn’t expected to come back. Much to his surprise SHE CAME BACK AFTER HER VACATION WAS UP. I think the boss genuinely believed she wasn’t coming back. Before her suspension she was given three warning letters about her punctuality and attendance. After our last conversation he told me he doesn’t feel she will make a complete turnaround in her ways, so that eventually he’ll want me working in that position. I hope he’s right, because I’m not enjoying working in production that much. It’s way outside of my comfort zone, because I have never considered cooking to be one of my strong points. Sure, I can cook, but I can only cook certain things. When it comes to baking I think I kind of suck.

Yesterday I started coming down with a cold. Today I felt worse but still went to work because I don’t want to miss any days. (Trying to make a good impression.) What makes it worse is that I have to be in for 7 AM and getting to work takes 45 minutes to an hour. I have to take a 15 minute walk to my taxi stand and then wait on a taxi that’s going as far as I’m going.

But I’ve promised myself over and over again that I’m going to stick it out. I need the money and I need to learn to keep a job. Sometimes I think I suck at that too.