Rewind to 1987......
I made the mistake of telling my father that I wanted a car when I turned 16. Two weeks later, Im standing in the lobby of a nearby chicken shack telling some paper-hat wearing, french-fry smelling lady why I would be a good chicken fryer/biscuit maker.
14yrs old...freshman in high school.
To give you an idea of how long ago it was, my pay... $3.85/hour. And thats when the big bucks start coming in!!!
Because I had no car, my father took me to work. Mom wouldnt let me work during the week, so I worked EVERY Saturday and Sunday. 5am - 1pm.
5am
In case you missed it the first 2 times....5 A M....thats in the morning yall
My first day on the job, I was introduced to other minimum wage employees and given my own paper hat which I had the toughest time keeping on my head. My manager tells me that because all the other 'stations' were filled, she would be finding different small tasks for me to do throughout the day.
I was shown into the freezer where I was presented with a huge box of eggs. I was given a bucket and was told to start crackin'. I must have cracked 6,218 eggs that morning. By the time my manager found something else for me to do, my hands looked like chewed bubblegum.
And there was at least a whole egg shell in that bucket. Its hard to separate yolk from shell when your digits look like pig knuckles.
They put me on the drink line where I served their 'Legendary' Sweet Tea to the patrons. Not real hard to mess that up. I made it a point to try to get the drink station err'day.
The following weekend, I find that I had been "re-assigned" to the "dining room". I asked my manager what that meant. I was instructed to wipe off the tables and empty the trays after the customer's left. This was kinda cool, because occasionally folks would leave tips.
After the breakfast rush, there was no one in the dining room and I wiped off every table at least twice. I didnt see any one in line ordering any more chicken. The place was basically empty (except for us chicken makers), so I sat down and stared out the window. Watching teenage life passing by....all of a sudden, I hear,
Manager: HEY!!! YOU!!!!
(this mofo dont even know my name!?!?! wtf?)
(this mofo dont even know my name!?!?! wtf?)
HAB: Yeah?
Manager: COME HERE...NOW!!!
I look to make sure he wasnt my mama, cause no body talks to me like that. I bite my tongue and santer my ass to the back where I get a 5min lecture about how Im not supposed to sit down in the dining room unless im on break and how the customer, blah blah blah....
As my punishment, I was told to go in the parking lot and pick up cigarette butts and other miscellaneous garbage. I turned a 15 min task into a 2hr assingment...And i dont think i actually picked anything up.
Damn Bastard
As time went on (2 weeks later) I learned the other functions of the rapidly prepared poultry industry. Some things I learned at this job:
1.When people get out of church, they want chicken
2.A drumstick and thigh is known as "Quarter Dark"
3.People get upset if they ask for white meat and you give them dark meat
4.1 Chicken contains 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 wings, and 2 legs (no, i didnt know that!!)
5.If you fill up 27 cups of tea with ice and sit them on the counter for future orders, 20min later you will pour out 18 cups of watered down tea
6.Any sausage patties not used during breakfast gets placed in a brown box in the fridge.
7.Dirty Rice contains 5day old left over sausage.
2.A drumstick and thigh is known as "Quarter Dark"
3.People get upset if they ask for white meat and you give them dark meat
4.1 Chicken contains 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 wings, and 2 legs (no, i didnt know that!!)
5.If you fill up 27 cups of tea with ice and sit them on the counter for future orders, 20min later you will pour out 18 cups of watered down tea
6.Any sausage patties not used during breakfast gets placed in a brown box in the fridge.
7.Dirty Rice contains 5day old left over sausage.
Believe it or not, I managed to stay there for 2months. When my manager asked me why I was quitting, I told her that I wasnt making $4/hr.
Did I go to a higher paying job? Nope. I was burned out. Getting up at 4am every Saturday and Sunday sucked. I had shit to do on my weekends. And frying chicken wasnt going to be how i spent it.
I didnt get another job for 2more years.
Did my father get me a car when I turned 16?
I guess you could call that a car.
*Title translation: Will work for Chicken!!!
*Greetings to any first time visitors. Be sure to check out my other articles, too. Best place to start is over there on the right under "My Favorite Posts". Thats the best of the best
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