The Daily Grind

     Worked a full day at the Doctor's office yesterday, what a difference from kitchen work. I think paperwork satisfies my need for order. I also love the smell of freshly copied paper. Remember mimeographed paper, I am speaking to the 40 to 50 yr olds. The ink was purple on the paper, and you turned the crank, which fed the papers through the ink. God, what a smell, I loved it.

     Speaking of office product smells, remember those permanent markers you shook to get the ink flowing, the bottoms were metal and there was a little ball that agitated the ink. I LOVED that smell. Don't even get me started on rubber cement!

     Looking back, I should probably have been the manager of Staples, because I have had unnatural addiction to office products. In fact, when it is time for the annual pilgrimage to Staples, for school supplies, I am thrilled because, I can peruse the aisles and look at all the cool stuff they have created. I know I am pathetic sad. But hey, you never know when you will be in a pinch with no white out. By the way, they have graduated from the little white out bottles(that could have easily been mistaken for liquid eyeliner, on a bad day) to a wicked cool little pen type thingy that I got to put away on Tuesday. Such fun!!

     The whole point of me being at the Doc's office, was because I needed to fine tune myself. The medical world is a much different world. Precision is much more paramount than shucking a oyster in my world. If you bumble a phone number(which I did on numerous occasions, wow did I mention they are patient) you could inadvertently bill the wrong person, which opens up a whole new monstrous can of worms, do I need to mention insurance companies?

     The best part of my whole experience was Linda (bless her heart) she for some reason, felt that she was being "hard" on me, and would explain that it was communicating. I am surprised, that at the first sign of my ineptitude, she did not drive down and smack me up aside the head. Because in my world (the chef world) he/she would strip me of all my dignity in front of my peers, and snicker on the way out. I have been there a time or two.

     Gerry, what can I say about her. She speaks my language and I speak hers. She is a natural born teacher. But, I think she is unaware of her talent. She gives me the valuable nuggets of information that speak volumes at the end of the day. Example: date and time of message: important, clean exam rooms, charts to dictation. Linda, I will always remember, make a copy of everything. When you are at the office, on a Monday (when technically the office is closed, however emergencies can happen whenever) you can panic, and I have. Because the Doc (love you for nudging me in the right direction)will fire jobs at me, unaware that I am medically developmentally delayed.

     The best part of the whole week, is that I felt useful. I connected faces, to people I spoke to over the phone. I did things that I would never otherwise do, if I had not took that leap of faith. But beyond my leap, these people took a leap of faith of their own (a gamble, if you will). They believed in me, they were patient, understanding and considerate. Wow, that is best part of my whole year, they allowed me into their world.

     I am no stranger to work, work in my opinion is all relative, it is what it is. Whether you are a surgeon or a chef, at the end of the day it is work, and it still tires you the same. You still can't wait to get home and put on yourself, that you left at the door when you went to work. The person that is you, that no one else sees but your family. Naked and you. Been there a time or two too.

     When I first started out in the food service world, in Ketchikan Alaska.  I worked for Charley's Restaurant, which was a sister company of Waterfall Resort Ltd. I was such a fry in a big pond. I met Johnathan Winters, Bruce Jenner and Steve Garvey, these folks were on vacation, hardly an impact on them, but for me: I am still telling the story.

The one person that had an impact on me was Wilhelm Herff, I was so afraid of him, he slipped in like the night. I appreciated his presence, and I would to this day. Thank you, Bob Koenitzer, Ken Dole and Willy Herff for taking a chance on me, I would not be where I am, if it were not for you guys.

What follows is what I remember as "Joe's Special", not sure why it was called Joe's Special? But we served a lot of them.
 
1 medium sweet onion diced
1 pound ground beef
2 ozs butter
4ozs Parmesan
6 eggs scrambled
1 pound of spinach
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan melt butter and saute onions until translucent and sweet smelling, add ground beef and cook until beef is cooked, drain fat add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Add eggs and cook until eggs are cooked, season with Parmesan, salt and pepper. Did I mention, that I met the Seattle Sea hawks, in 1989. There thighs were massive. And they ate twice the breakfasts as the normal person. I had to get up at the CRACK of dawn, so much of it was a blur.

Restore a man to his health, his purse lies open to thee. ~Robert Burton