- 191
- 10
- Joined Feb 11, 2002
So yesterday I worked as a hired hand for a friend whose company has been catering the Microsoft X Box event this past week. Kitchen staff was great - passed appetisers and buffet for 1500, ready to rock at 6 pm sharp. The catering company did not hire the waitstaff, they were contracted from an outside source . As we gathered them together to give a breakdown of the items being served, where they were passing, etc. it became apparent that these people had possibly never served before. The staff was predominately Hispanic, Armenian, and Phillipino, and just getting through the language barrier of trying to describe the food to be passed ("This is beef tenderloin on croustade, with a horseradish cream and beet and fennel slaw"????) would have been comic (we laugh now) if the stress wasn't so high in trying to pull off this event.
Highlights?
-Waitstaff arguing with you over what trays they would take
-The guy wearing black wraparound sunglasses while he served, who ignored all requests to remove them until my friend removed them for him
-The food descriptions that became a game of 'telephone'- by the time the servers got to the floor the blueberry profiteroles had become cheese puffs!(and other various interpretations of god knows what)
The guy coordinating the waitstaff was so overwhelmed that finally my friend
stood in middle of the party, in chef coat with radio headset, and directed like a traffic cop at a busy intersection!
The main push for the food was the first hour, when all the big wigs and press came through, after things tapered off and the Microsoft swag came out (a niftly napsack with an XBox game controller inside). The waitstaff were picking up the napsacks and carrying them while they were serving food!
Some had two or three on their back, AND eating the food off the tray, while
they were passing!!
It was @#*%*# unbelievable!!!
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
We can laugh now...
Just another amusing little story from the glamorous world of catering.
Highlights?
-Waitstaff arguing with you over what trays they would take
-The guy wearing black wraparound sunglasses while he served, who ignored all requests to remove them until my friend removed them for him
-The food descriptions that became a game of 'telephone'- by the time the servers got to the floor the blueberry profiteroles had become cheese puffs!(and other various interpretations of god knows what)
The guy coordinating the waitstaff was so overwhelmed that finally my friend
stood in middle of the party, in chef coat with radio headset, and directed like a traffic cop at a busy intersection!
The main push for the food was the first hour, when all the big wigs and press came through, after things tapered off and the Microsoft swag came out (a niftly napsack with an XBox game controller inside). The waitstaff were picking up the napsacks and carrying them while they were serving food!
Some had two or three on their back, AND eating the food off the tray, while
they were passing!!
It was @#*%*# unbelievable!!!
We can laugh now...
Just another amusing little story from the glamorous world of catering.