Relatively quiet at the leaf. We got a little bit busy, but strangely very little tension in the kitchen. It’s obvious that our Health inspection is coming up very soon since we’re suddenly following every part of the code to a T. Disclaimer: I’ve worked in some restaurants with naaaaastyass kitchens. The Grape Leaf, although definitely not usually fully in step with the code is way better than some I’ve seen. *COUGH*granville*COUGH*carlyrae’s*COUGH* Last May, Metro Health Dept. updated the codes to the point where it’s almost asinine. I’m not saying that food sanitation isn’t important, because it is, but it’s going to a level where if people can’t handle the level of sanitation we’re using to prepare their food, they shouldn’t be going out to eat in the first place. Whatevs. Sure. I’ll use fucking tongs to put a lemon on your water glass. Whatever helps the germaphobes sleep at night.
Anyway, yesterday I worked a double, but got to leave between shifts. In the hour and a half that I was gone, the server station was completely rearranged from the way it was when I left. It has it’s pros and cons, but really these are the only things that change at the Leaf - configurations. I guess Nabil decided it was finally time to get rid of/fix the espresso machine. It has been sitting around inoperable since I started working there. As the two handy-guys were carrying it out to Nabil’s station wagon, he was heard saying, “Don’t drop it, or I will have to murder you.”
Right now I have a song from the Grape Leaf stuck in my head. There are 2 cds of music in Arabic that play on loop in the restaurant. At least, I think it’s Arabic. It is definitely I language that I don’t know, but that Aziz does. He’s from Morocco. I know he definitely speaks English, French and Arabic, so…. it ain’t French. Not knowing the language, and being terrible with lyrics anyway, I’m left humming the tunes of the melody lines. It’s fun for awhile, but I think I really need to blast something else. Some of the other servers and I thought it would be fun to re-create the songs ourselves without actually knowing what they’re saying. Fun, but pointless. That’s how I roll.
