I am claiming expertise by dint of experience. A quarter century of working in and around professional kitchens. I know the answer to this question, but I am wondering what you might think.
Who is the most important member of a professional kitchen's staff? The head chef, the sous, the line cook, the kitchen manager? The head chef figures out the menu, teaches the cooks. The sous runs the kitchen and prepares difficult items from the menu. The line cook actually prepares the food, etc, etc.
All important. But not the most important member.
That, my friends. is the dishwasher. The least respected, lowest paid member of the team.
The plates that carry the food, the pans and pots in which it is cooked. The flatware that the diners use to eat it- all go through the dishwasher. On a slow night, they get assigned make work- usually cleaning or repairs. Busy night and they never stop washing.
Cooks hurl dirty pots and want them spotless and back in place instantly. The front of the house brings back stacks of dirty plates, which the cooks need cleaned and stocked on the line immediately. The bar needs glassware, the wait staff forks and knives, Now, now, now. Plates crack, glass shatters, pots literally explode.
The dishwashers end up dirty and wet and bruised, with sliced up fingers and arms. The work is hot and physically exhausting. And gets- as I mentioned- no respect.
No one much thinks about them until they call out sick or quit.
More. the people who do the work are often challenging. People with mental issues- possibly not bright, more likely just assholes who cannot hold on to other types of work.Who appreciate a job where no one asks questions and that frequently pays in cash.
A good dishwasher - one that doesn't grope the wait staff or hurl garbage at line cooks or sell meth out of the back alley- is worth their odd issues. Worth their weight in the pints of alcohol they either drink or walk off with. That pan I hurled at their head, snarling? Spotless and dry and back in my hand minutes later. Stack of salad plates the prep cook needs- spotless and dry and shelved. That secret and questionably ethical thing that I need done on the sly? The dishwasher vanishes into the night for a few minutes and reappears. Thing done, no questions asked.
All they ask in return is a little decency. Not respect, certainly not affection- just decency. If they are swamped. jump in and help. Don't blame them for shit that they did not do- a shortage of clean dishware? Front of the house bringing back the bus tubs so that the stuff can be washed? Don't treat them like they're not human. Buy them the occasional drink or on break together, shake out a cigarette for them. They all smoke and they are always down to their last straggly saved for later smokes.
Do that, and you will have a willing henchman for all your kitchen needs- legitimate or perhaps not.
