# Sabotage in the Kitchen



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So has anyone ever been sabotaged in the kitchen , where another co-worker sabotages a meal , sauce , etc...

This week , for some odd reason i was sabotaged ( no i am not a hated person , im friends with everyone in the kitchen minus the dishwasher )

Anyway we were in 3 cooks and 2 of the cooks not counting me were in the pantry , while i had fresh pasta cooking. 

When i get back , i taste my pasta ( it was perfect ). When i finalize the dish and send it out , it is sent back saying it is uneatable because of the amount of salt in the dish. 

My heart dropped , especially since my pasta dishes are a house special , chances i would over-salt are minimum to none , especially when i tasted the dish before sending it out ( granted I  tasted the noodles , but the sauce is unsalted and i make it fresh weekly ).

Anyway when the dish gets back , i taste it and i taste the grains of salt running through my tongue , someone had to have thrown it there because the salt crystals were visibal on the plate ...

Then i remember that when the plate had finished i needed to get something , and left it exposed for about 1 minute , which to me is enough time for anyone ( including the dishwasher that hates me guts ) to get the salt and just through a dash without anyone noticing ,

Regardless i sent out a new pasta dish , that was great, and well no consequences were suffered other then the bad impression left on the client...

So , anyway has anyone here ever suffered some sort of sabotage , just out of curiosity to say it isnt just me XD


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## raibeaux (Dec 21, 2012)

Yep.

Also, I've had several employees in the past sabotage other cooks.  Sometime they're mad at them, sometimes they're mad at me.

Doesn't seem to matter with these type people, sometimes they will screw up dishes just to get out of being told to make them.

Favorite methods seem to be salt, vinegar and pepper (or hot sauce).  An arrest warrant for assault can be issued if it is bad enough.

For your information, and for what it's worth, "the boss" usually knows who is doing it.  And biding his time.

Be sure, if you can, to apologize to the customer if it's permitted.  Not necessary to say someone else did it, they may not believe you anyway.  Just let them know whatever the problem was, it is now fixed, and thank them for their understanding.


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## soesje (Dec 6, 2012)

oh yes..... and this learned me not to trust anyone, even not when you think you're friends with everyone.

you having ideas/ suggestions and others take a run with it (as if its their idea) to the boss.

always keep your eyes and ears open, and preferably your mouth shut, and brains working.

good thing that you managed to solve the problem and that it was easily fixed.

could have been worse...


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Unfortunately the only ones who suffer from this kind of immature behavior is the customer.


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## rat (Mar 2, 2006)

Chefross said:


> Unfortunately the only ones who suffer from this kind of immature behavior is the customer.


I agree one thousand percent. Ive been burned before. After I find the person and make it perfectly clear I will not tolerate that. That is something no chef should tolerate ever!! I told one cook (who turned up all the ovens to 500 during a big cake bake) that you cannot watch your back forever. I caught up to him eventually in a parking lot at his new job and gave him a memory he wont forget.


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## left4bread (May 8, 2009)

How naive am I that my first thought would be,

"The customer dumped too much salt on his plate and wanted to blame the restaurant"?
wait... wut?


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## chefwilsonuk (Jul 2, 2013)

Always seems to be in the bains marie for me.  Questioned myself, possible chemical residue.....


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

left4bread said:


> How naive am I that my first thought would be,
> 
> "The customer dumped too much salt on his plate and wanted to blame the restaurant"?
> 
> wait... wut?


That is exactly my thought, the customer.

@KK : You make pasta way to often and I truly doubt it was the dishwasher. Would he actually risk his job and get fired ?

@ ChefW : sorry to hear about that.


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## left4bread (May 8, 2009)

...was the part I was trying to emphasize.

Maybe just a bad translation.


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## stevenmundial (Aug 7, 2013)

I was working at a fine dining place in SF in 92 called Lascaux a beautiful place modeled after the Lascaux caves in France huge open kitchen right in the middle… Anyway I am working the grill and totally in the weeds… But this is how it went down… Sautee girl (all tatted and pierced) gets in to small argument with Chef it builds over the next few minutes she plates her next dish spins it with some English on it and over the pass it goes… Chef goes ape… make a comment to her about her preference in sexual orientation… Ole girl looses starts screaming FU FU FU ......I QUIT!!!!!!!!! all to the horror of the diners then..... and here we go…. She pulls the Ansul system on her way out….Not only did she quit but we all did for the night… Kitchen was white as snow… I wonder where ole girl is at today… I kinda had a thing for her LOL


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## raibeaux (Dec 21, 2012)

Once upon a time, on a slammed, completely full (we seated around 150) Friday night many years ago, around 7:30 p.m. it happened.  I was working for a chain at the time.  Didn't know who or what she was mad at, (the hostess I think) but a waitress did the same thing.  Except first, she screamed at and ran off some customers sitting at a round six-top.  She then climbed on top of the table.  She then performed as yours did with a few unique twists.  I was night manager, and really thought I was going to faint.  Later, I simply went catatonic.

I've always figured she probably ended up as a head guard at a maximum security prison.  Either that, or was there as an inmate.


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## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

I knew someone who sometimes sabotaged his own dishes with hot spice because he hated the guts of the rich people he had to serve. He once told me he was aware the dish was too hot, so I told him, "Take it off the line then!"and his response was "no, F them!".


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## rdm magic (Apr 16, 2012)

I would flip out if someone did that to my food..


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Lol , i actually enjoy making pasta XD 

The fact i make it weekly is just so i dont run out , since well i have 2 pasta entrees on my menu.  

Also the dishwasher wouldnt have anything to lose , because well , she put up her notice an will be gone thursday XD .


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Also i doubt it was the customer , because not only is he trustworthy , but he is also one of the owners family members bringing in some friends to try the special  (i doubt they would pay regardless). 

But then again i cant prove it was anyone , best is that i fixed it and now i learned a valuable lesson.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

as the song goes," you don't tug on superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the old lone ranger, and you don't mess around with Jim". AND you don't touch another chef's food! I thought there has always been an unspoken rule/law that you don't ever touch another chef's pan,food or plated dish unless specifically asked or given permission to by the person cooking the food.....not even to turn down the stove temp( unless it is on it's way to burning down the kitchen).It doesn't matter what you think it could use or how it should be cooked...it's not your food! That has just always been the way in the kitchens i have worked in..
I have zero, zip, zilch tolerance for any kind of food sabotage, whether joking or not. It is so unprofessional and juvenile. The only sabotage that happens is to yourself, your reputation and your restaurant.
joey


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## chefboimifat (Jun 21, 2017)

KaiqueKuisine said:


> So has anyone ever been sabotaged in the kitchen , where another co-worker sabotages a meal , sauce , etc...
> 
> This week , for some odd reason i was sabotaged ( no i am not a hated person , im friends with everyone in the kitchen minus the dishwasher )
> 
> ...


Happens to me all the time. Especially when other cooks find out that I have my Inter-Provincial Red Seal Certificate of Qualification. I've caught one cook trying to send out undercooked proteins (in one instance, CHICKEN) that I was preparing when I'd went to [emoji]10004[/emoji] on something else. I caught him at least 3 times that I can remember. So no. It's not just you.


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