The last place I worked as an employed staff was in a restaurant, a very big and standard one and we never allowed anyone to refer to it as a restaurant, we preferred the most fitting name, 'Eatery'.
I was the only guy among 10 ladies and half of them were older than me and with such, I learnt up to 70% of women's behaviour when they're living together.
One of the biggest troubles we had was staff food, oh yeah, the company took care of our lunch and this staff food was cooked differently from the ones on sales and this was done rotationally by the kitchen staff until a time when all of the ladies began to blow hot and cold whenever it's meal time.
One particular day, I was seated on my spot, glued to my phone because customers weren't around and I had a tap on my shoulder from my back. I turned up to meet Gift, one of the kitchen staff, holding a big spoon that's oily in her hand.
"Why are you looking at me like that? hehehe!" She burst into laughter at the way I was looking at her and for me, I was imagining what she was up to.
"Why won't I look at you like that? You're holding a big spoon like you want to cook me" I replied and turned my chair fully to face her.
She stretched up her neck like a zebra to look around and saw that the other staff in the hall were not focused on us, she bent down to my ears, "I'm cooking staff food and I want you to come and add pe....."
"Hahahaha!"
My loud laughter interrupted her from concluding the 'pepper' and she joined me in the loud laughter as well. This got the attention of other staff but they didn't know what we were discussing until Gift blew out.
"You're laughing eeeh? As it is now, you're the only person in this place that will cook food and no one will complain that the pepper is too much or the food is not peppered enough" Gift added and dragged me with her other hand to the kitchen.
I followed her to the kitchen, she brought out the cup containing powdered pepper and handed me a spoon, " Bros Kingsley, the ball is in your court, add pepper to the food. I will be okay with any quantity you're going to put"
I stood very close to the big pot of boiling okra soup, I held the spoon, opened the cup and smiled first. I began to imagine the faces of the ladies, how they used to blow hot and cold whenever they tasted staff food.
"Should I add it excess?"
"Should I drop a just a little?"
These thoughts were clashing in my brain and at that spot, I wished cooking in African homes goes with the measurement of ingredients.
"Adddddd!" Gift who was tired of watching my standstill drama, screamed at me and jokingly moved the big spoon in her hand like she wanted to hit me.
"Wait, are you not among those that complain of food not being pepperish enough?" I asked while adding pepper to the food with a sustainable eye gauge and to my standard because I don't like too much pepper in food.
"Heheheheheh! I don't like food that's not peppered but I haven't needed to complain about it until people started complaining. So I can't be the only one left out and trust me..." she paused, walked back and stayed at the kitchen's exit door and continued, "...when they start bashing you, I'm going to join them too" she ran off immediately she landed that.
"You're a foolish girl!" I wish my words could physically hit her there.
Within some minutes, the food was ready and we were all called to come and get our food. We all collected and my eyes were turned to a CCTV, looking at everyone's face to see if they would have the audacity to complain because they knew that I was the one who did the pepper part.
For the first time after a long period of complaints of pepper in food, they ate the food without anyone uttering a word.
Gift saw how calm everyone was and came to me that whenever it's her turn to cook staff food she's going to drag me again to perform my magic because it's obvious I have a cure to their problems.
Thanks for reading.
| Photos are mine |