to work or not to work
for me to take time off from work is difficult. even if i succeed in not going in to work, i usually think about work, call work, and wind up working somehow, whether it be responding to work emails, buying work related things on the internet, or sometimes researching pizza online, its history and attributes. hard as i try i cannot get away from work but since i love what i do it doesn’t feel like work. however, some parts of it are more work like than others. for instance, standing at the ovens cooking is pleasure, worrying about how someone else cooks my pies is work. drawing a new t-shirt is fun, driving to the screen printer for the fifteenth time is work.
i always imagined i would simply cook every pizza that was ordered at satchel’s and after several months of being open, had to come to terms with the fact that i would have to train others to cook and make pies. there have been pizza makers who over cheese a pie, therby making it heavy and sit like a brick in one’s stomach. there have been pizza makers who stretch some pies too thin, making them floppy and soggy. there have been pizza makers who have a tendency to undercook pies and a couple who tend to overcook pies… and as much as i can try to teach how i believe a pie should be cooked, every person will bring something of their own personality and ability to the job.
nowadays i am trying desperately to learn to let my machine work… i have built something interesting and good and i want to try and stand back and watch it a little, enjoy it more and quit picking it back up and tinkering with it again. like one of the wind up robots in lightnin’ salvage, you wind it up and then set it down and see what it does… i could keep picking it up and winding it more, or adjusting the arms and legs, or shining the metal… or just set the damn thing down for a minute and see what happens. it is difficult for me to sit back and watch.
i am hoping that part of being a good boss is trusting the people i have working. i am hoping that when i take entire days off (so to speak) that the place still functions above average. i hope that all the cooks learn to cook the pies like i would… not golden brown, not black, but dark brown on the bottom, crispy, but with a fluffy flaky outer crust and slight carmelization of the cheese (but not too much cheese.)
i tried to take the day off today. i went all day without going in, until now when the call comes in that an employee is locked out with his keys locked in… oh well, it’s not really like work just to go unlock the place….
now back home, almost 1 am…my mailbox was full, one of the sinks was running a bit, 10 of the 14 holes in the dish machine’s washer arms were clogged, there was an area not cleaned sufficiently, and 3 employees messed up in clocking in and/or out. besides that, it looked okay up there.
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