Food Relevance from a Drunken Cook

Lethal quality’s of a 10lb turkey.

So I was working in Lloydminster for my dad. The restaurant was a small franchise name but the owner was a real stickler for quality and fresh ingredients so most of the menu was all his own recipes. It was well run with a lot of tried and true practices that were efficient and easily followed.
         When I arrived in Lloyd I started working right away and didn’t mind the job. In that kitchen there were a few people that had been there for a long time and I can only imagine that they are still there. One guy in particular who I’ll call Donnie was one of the biggest dorks I have ever met but showed a lot of heart and desire to learn so we got along quite well. He was a nice guy as well but had absolutely no clue how to mise en place a line. When a bill came in with let’s say one appetizer and fore dinners on it the call would go out and everyone would scatter all running to the back fridge to get what they needed. The cold table and stand up freezer on the line remained basically empty. I couldn’t believe this was how they lived, so I found myself attempting to show these guys how to work and set up there stations.
         One service in particular I called out a bill and Donnie was missing something so he left his dank little corner to get what ever it was and I didn’t let him go easily but he left regardless. We kept on cooking with me filling his space until he returned; witch was strangely taking longer than needed. Being busy I didn’t really notice but it was really taking a long time and he was beginning to fill up with things to do. I decided to go look for him after probably ten minutes or so.
         I quickly left the line and looked in the back hall way where most of the prep took place and he wasn’t there. I checked the freezer and nothing. Only one place left, as I opened the cooler I saw Donnie hunched over on his knees with his head and more apparently his face resting in the coleslaw. “What the fuck, DONNIE!” as I shook him awake I noticed a ten pound turkey on the floor beside him. As he began to wake up I asked, “You alright man? What happened?” as he confusingly looked around and began to remember where he was and the situation he was in he looked at me and said I was tugging at this what ever it was here and that was it…
         I looked up to see a half dozen frozen turkeys on the top shelf and knew exactly what had transpired. He was tugging at what he needed and in wiggling the shelf a frozen turkey had came down on the back of his head leaving him looking deeply into the coleslaw. “Oh fuck.” He said rubbing the back of his head with a creamy cheek covered with bits of cabbage and carrot. “I don’t think I’ll put turkeys on the top shelf again man!” he went on. “Are you ok man?” I asked and he assured he was so we went back to the line to dig out of the back up we had acquired from our moment in the fridge.
         So instead of forgetting all about Donnie in the years that passed after my time in Lloyd I get a little chuckle every once in a wile thinking about that moment I learned of the lethal quality’s of a frozen ten pound turkey and comically think if what a way to go, drowning in coleslaw. I sure hope he learned something that day. Good luck out there Donnie, keep on keeping on buddy.
         Ten points for hanging in there.