I know now that I have passed a major threshold in my residency at the Gr1lle: I no longer ask questions; I merely demand keys. Since I know where everything is stocked now, I only need to defeat the security lasers and autocannons that safeguard the ice cream bunker.
Of all the bright-eyed young freshmen that trained at the Grille last summer, only Alex and I remain. All the rest have moved on to the next phase of their lives. (Unemployment probably.)
So far this year, I’ve been working register a disproportional amount. I don’t know why it gets a bad rap. It’s out in the fresh air. There’s no getting squirted in the face with ice cream. And there’s no risk of emo burns. (So called because the angle that some people reach into the impinger causes the edge of the oven to touch their wrists.)
Things aren’t terribly boring like others say. Sometimes people have palindromic balances. For example, someone’s account had $197.91 left. I always make sure to point this out to them to liven up their night.
Of course, there’s the dealing with freshmen. But I’m a TA after all. I’ve had training. When describing the menu to freshmen, I divide it up into fresh, fried, cheesy/toasted and sweet.
| Fresh | Fried |
| Chicken Bacon Ranch Wrap Chicken Caeser Wrap Garden Veggie Wrap Side Salad Chicken Snack Wraps |
Shoestring Fries Crinkle-cut fries Mini Corndogs Shrimp Po’ Boy Popcorn Chicken Spicy Chicken Sandwich Inferno Chicken Sandwich |
| Cheesy/toasted | Sweet |
| Jake’s BBQ Toasted Sub Buffalo Chicken Toasted Sub Stromboli Toasted Sub Cavalier Club Tuscan Chicken Flatbread Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizza Zammich™ Tank’s Club Zammich™ Garlic Cheese Toast Bosco Sticks Nachos Overloaded Nachos Chili-cheese Fries |
Shakes Ice cream scoops Cake slices |
Of course, the one item that doesn’t belong is the baked potato, but who orders those anyway?
Fryers was easy to pick up again. It’s like riding a 375° bicycle. Only now there’s no more crowding around the central Subs touchscreen like the monkeys from 2001. Now, there’s a second black monolith that the person on fryers has to themselves.
We of course have a new flagship song. The one from last year, that played over and over on the kitchen radio so much that I have become classically conditioned to start whistling it whenever I smell Canola oil was Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold”. The song to be playing incessantly over the radio this year looks to be Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”.
I’ve also almost fully developed a preparation technique. I use Ataru with elements of Makashi technique. I was of course influenced by Master Luke’s Soresu, and ended up mixing that with Djem So, which is where I started my training.
The Makashi influence is from Hope and Audrey although Hope deviates noticeably close to Juyo/Vaapad. I fear she treads dangerously close to the Dark Side.
