I could never be a short-order cook

November 25, 2006

So on Black Friday, I decided I’d try to pick up on of the bargain LCD TV’s at Best Buy. I was actually after the little 15-inch model, to put in my spare bedroom. When friends or family stay over they’d have a TV they can use if they don’t want to watch in the living room.

I got up early, had breakfast at Waffle House, and drove over to the Best Buy. Even at 3 a.m. the line already wrapped around the building. It was unbelievable how many people were braving the cold to stand outside the Best Buy, I’d say at least 500. I knew there was no way I’d be able to get what I wanted so I turned around and went home.

But at least I had that breakfast at the Waffle House. While I was at the Waffle House I watched the guy who was the short-order cook. He was so amazing–no wasted motion, he just whipped up breakfasts with cool efficiency. The waitress would read him orders, he would set up the plates with little reminders (like a small cube of ham on one plate to signify a ham-and-egg sandwich), then he’d hit the fridge to grab supplies and start cooking.

I had two eggs, well done, with buttered toast. And hash browns with chilli on top, I think that’s called “smothered” in the Waffle House lingo. The cook had it done in just minutes it seemed. Took me longer to peruse the menu and pick out what I wanted than it took him to cook it.

I could never have been a short-order cook. My biggest problem is I can’t juggle that many items concurrently. In college I worked part-time at a fast-food joint called Grandy’s (they don’t list a College Station, TX location any more, must be closed). Front counter I could do, but the one time they put me on drive thru proved that I could not juggle all those orders. You had people ordering on the drive thru, you had finished orders coming off the kitchen line, then you had to make sure the bag the orders and make sure they went to the right people at the drive thru. It was way more than I could handle, they never let me do drive thru ever again.

It would have been the same but worse if I’d ever tried to be a short-order cook. I could never have done the job this guy at Waffle House was doing so effortlessly early yesterday morning when I dropped by. I’m grateful he was there, it was a darned good breakfast.

So even though my shopping trip was an abject failure I’m glad I did it anyway. I know where to go for a good breakfast the next time I get hungry and need to grab something at 2 in the morning.