Posted on

The Tale of the Krobar

[NOTE: Kroger gave up on their “bars”, probably due to the exact things I bitch about here. The one in Decatur closed in late 2019. Which is why I leave this post up. Guess I had the last laugh, eh?]

Today’s Daily Zen seems oddly appropriate:

Years of digging in the earth
searching for the blue sky,
piling up layer upon layer
of mediocrity.
Then one dark night
the ceiling blew off,
and the whole structure
disappeared into emptiness.
– Muso

The experiment at Kroger is going to end either this week or next. My standards are WAY WAY too high for this corporate culture of passing the buck, indecision, disorganization and sloppiness. The department head can’t handle my high expectations. None of them can. This is not a shock, mind you, but disappointing nonetheless. The suits LOVE me, but suits don’t work in the store that is jam packed with slackers.

I think fast, I walk fast, I get shit done. This is incongruous with the slovenly approach that Kroger has in general. I’ve never met such a bunch of unmotivated, lazy people in my life. They do the absolute minimum required. The culture of Kroger is to understaff chronically and have no oversight of anything. I could go in there and do nothing all day and no one would notice – or if they did notice, they’d not do anything about it. The schedule is just a suggestion. People come and go as they please. The department head is the worst of the bunch. It’s not unusual for me to be there an hour after my shift is supposed to end, between waiting for the next shift (chronically late) and then waiting (up to 20 minutes) for someone to take the fucking till. This is typical. I’ll bet Kroger’s payroll would reduce a good 10% if people were where they are supposed to be and things GOT DONE rather than employees riding the clock waiting for other employees. It’s stupid.

The level of disorganization is stunning. These people have no idea how to run a bar, nor do they UNDERSTAND that they have no idea. Nor do they care. They have no training in place for the bar and no manuals or anything to keep things consistent. The first thing I did when I came on was to ask the department head if he’d like to have me write up some basic documents (employee manual light) for new hires so that things will be consistent. He grudgingly said yes, but then when I did, he got butthurt about it and whined to HR that I was “too much”.

Um. HAVE YOU MET ME? Yes, yes he DID meet me, several times, in the THREE MONTHS it took for Kroger to get off its ass and hire me. THREE MONTHS.

I’m literally working 6.5 days a week between TEV and Krobar. FUCK THAT. The department head knows that I can’t work this much, yet, he does nothing to fix it. When I complain, as I have for the last 6 weeks, he says he can’t do anything about it. Yet, YET, when I speak to HR, they’ve got “people lined up” to work at Kroger. ORLY? Well, that is called passing the buck and that is bullshit.

What is happening is that the department head is not telling HR that he needs to get someone in ASAP. Therefore, HR does nothing. Even when I tell HR directly that we need another person. Why? Oh, because HR won’t listen to anything an employee has to say, it has to come from the department head. Again, ORLY? So you fuckheads sit around blaming each other while your fucking bar is run like shit and you’re about to have only TWO employees rather than the FOUR it takes to staff it? Good luck with that.

Whatever, Kroger. I’m OUT. We’ve signed the paperwork to get our project going and I do NOT have time to deal with this stupidity. I like the money, and I even like the job itself, but I will not sacrifice my dreams for a bunch of assholes who will not do their jobs.

I am on time, get ALL the work done and I’m great bartender – so the customers and my tips tell me. Oh and that pooling of tips is bullshit, too. The two other bar employees are sloppy and inconsistent. One of them – the BFF of the department head, whose only training is fucking Burger King – flat out said that it’s not her problem if the glassware is not cleaned and table cleaning protocols are not used. They use handy wipes rather than real bar towels (because that’s what BK does!), they do not dispose of them, either, they are reused until they fall apart. NASTY. They use the sanitizer that is supposed to be for glasses for the table wiping water. YUM! They haven’t been properly washing the glassware since the damn place opened. Glasses have been rinsed in hot water ONLY, no detergent or sanitizer. And every one of them from department head down, has argued with me that this is fine. NOPE. I bitched about that enough to get them to use the Hobart as it’s intended, as a dishwasher – WITH CHEMICALS – not just a rinser, since the girls that work there are afraid to put their hands in water and properly wash the glasses. But it’ll probably take them a month or two to figure out how to drill a hole in the cabinet to attach the chemicals. Because that’s how Kroger works. They are slow, inefficient, ineffective and no one there EVER feels an sense of urgency. They are all secure in their belief that Kroger is right and the rest of the world is wrong about the standards of running a service bar. Alrighty, then. Everyone who drinks there should know that Burger King protocols (aka, NONE) are in place. Good thing alcohol will kill some of the germs…

I have no idea how they passed the health department. I think it’s because the inspector didn’t see them actually in action. They have the correct washing sinks and all that, but the procedure is not followed, which tells me that the health inspector was probably there before they opened. The only ding they got dinged for was fruit flies, which are everywhere. That would certainly not be the case if an inspector watched a typical shift. No way they’d pass. But Kroger is always right and they don’t want to hear anything different.

My standards are way too high and my sense of urgency to do things right is incompatible with a place like Kroger. I can’t wait to be rid of this job. This week or next and I’m done. Nick and I will need to start spending a LOT of time on our project and I need my weekdays back. Buhbye Krobar assholes!! Good luck with your shitty bar. You’ll need it. :D

Posted on

Angela’s Chicken Tinga w/ Green Chile Grits

Print

Angela's Chicken Tinga w/ Green Chile Grits

This is an easy tinga recipe that takes about 45 minutes to cook. I like it with my green chile grits, but it would be fine with rice or in a tortilla. Yes, that is fish sauce you see in the recipe. Trust me, it works!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Author misangela

Equipment

  • Heavy bottom pot, such as a dutch oven.

Ingredients

  • 4 Bone in, Skin on Chicken Thighs Sub boneless/skinless, but use dark meat.
  • EVOO as needed
  • S/P as needed
  • 1/2 pint Grape tomatoes, halved Sub 2 romas, diced
  • 4 cloves Garlic, minced about a Tbl
  • 1 small White Onion, diced about 2/3 cup
  • 2 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 1 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 2 Bay leaves, whole optional but recommended
  • 2 Tbl Apple Cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup Salsa Verde I use Herdez
  • 3 chipotles, minced, with 1 Tbl adobo sauce about half a small can; cut back if you don't like much spice
  • Zest of one lime
  • Juice of one lime about 1 Tbl, could take 2 limes
  • 1 - 1 1/2 cups chicken stock as needed
  • 1 Tbl Fish sauce Yes, fish sauce. Trust me.

Green Chile Grits

  • 2 cups prepared grits stone ground, cooked with lots of butter and seasoned with salt
  • 1 small can Green Chiles, diced
  • 1 tsp ground cumin

Instructions

  • Season chicken thighs generously on both sides with S/P. Heat a heavy pot over med hi heat and add a couple tablespoons of EVOO. Add in thighs, skin side down and leave them alone until skin is brown and crispy; about 6 mins. Turn down heat if chicken starts to burn. Flip thighs and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside. 
  • Turn heat down to medium and add tomatoes, onions and garlic. Sauté for 3-4 minutes on med heat until the tomatoes are broken down and the onion is translucent. Add oregano, cumin and bay leaves and stir. Add vinegar, salsa verde, chipotles and the lime zest and stir for a minute. Add half the stock and stir everything together for a couple more minutes.
  • Add the chicken thighs back in, with the skin up. You can leave the skin on, or you can pull off the crispy bits and have it for a snack. The stock should be up to about 2/3 on the chicken. The chicken will cook 20 minutes or so at a good simmer on medium heat. Cover the pot but leave ajar so the sauce will reduce by 1/3.
  • While the chicken is cooking, prepare the grits. Set aside.
  • When the sauce is reduced by about 1/3, remove the chicken to a large bowl to cool and turn off heat to sauce. Once chicken is cool, shred it up with your fingers and a fork.
  • Remove the bay leaves, and blend the sauce with an immersion blender or move to a countertop blender. Blend until mostly smooth, but still has some body. Add back in the shredded chicken, juice of the lime and the fish sauce. Stir and bring to a simmer. Simmer until you have a fairly tight sauce – it should be more of a coating than a saucy sauce. You may skip this step if the sauce is the consistency you prefer.
  • Serve on green chile grits, in a taco or enchilada or with rice and beans.

Notes

Tinga can be frozen. 
Chicken tinga makes a great taco! 
You can make this in a slow cooker if you prefer. Remove skin first, then just put all ingredients except lime juice into the cooker, layering veg then chicken then herbs. Cut the chicken stock by about half, you want the liquid to just come to the bottom of the chicken in a crock pot. The final product will have a thinner sauce than stovetop, but will still taste great.  Cook on high for 4-5 hrs. 
Posted on

2018 Reading List

I managed to read 40 books this year!! I’m so proud of myself! Gods know this will NOT happen in 2019, but I am pleased to have read the bulk of what I laid out for myself and even to reread a couple. :)

There won’t be a list for 2019 for obvious reasons, but I hope you’ve enjoyed my short reviews. Thanks for following along!
____________________________________________________________
I’m moving over the few books I didn’t get to or finish from 2017. And it looks like I need to go to the used bookstore!! I read almost everything I bought last year! 27 books!

As it was last year, the books I have started are in bold. I’ll give my opinion and a short description of the books I read. Anything not bold is in queue. So far, I’ve got about 43 books lined up!

Close Range, Annie Proulx – Started this book Dec 2017. It’s a collection of short stories all having to do with cowboys on the range. Many are set in the early 1900s. Not what I usually read, but so far, they are so well written that I’m really enjoying the book! ** OMG! I just finished this book [Jan 24 18] and guess what the last story is?? BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN! Yep, this is the short story that the movie was based on. I love finding gems like this from a random book! I highly recommend this book. Really great characters and stories.

Ready Player One – Didn’t re-read before the movie, but the movie was great, will re-read Ready Player One this year. BTW, this audiobook is read by Wil Wheaton, who KILLS. If you like audiobooks, DO THIS ONE.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by ND Tyson

I picked up Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson at Costco and LOVED IT! It’s a slim book (cuz you’re in a HURRY, get it?) and you will read it in his voice. It’s great, you should read it for SCIENCE.

Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake. It’s the out of print version, the new version is called Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. It’s just OK so far. Very English and very dry. This is my treadmill book. Abandoned. Too dry. Who cares where these people went to primary school? Not me. HARD PASS.

We hit Goodwill yesterday! I got 21 books for the queue!! I’ve included the books I’ve already read for this year in the stacks. As always, I count cookbooks and restaurant books, since they are relevant reading for me.

My Stroke of Insight, Jill Bolte Taylor – It’s the book that the TED talk is about. The TED talk is here. MEH. Just do the TED talk. The book devolves into some sort of lecture on how everyone should try to control their brain parts and feel the love. I stopped reading it.

The Nasty Bits, Anthony Bourdain – Started this one! I love Tony’s sarcastic wit! Finished 4/23/18. Pretty good, but not as good as Kitchen Confidential, IMO. [RIP Chef Bourdain 6/8/2018]

Continue reading “2018 Reading List”

Posted on

Hello 2018!

Our NYE celebration was curtailed last night due to my stupid stomach deciding that everything was going to burn like lava: wine, water, prosecco, any and all foods. BAH. So I was already cranky as shit, THEN, THEN fucking Apple ID pitched a fit and demanded a reset…Which it did not like and it got its panties in a wad. Typical.

Fucking hell.

So, this morning I got Apple beaten into submission and did the billing and my idiot stomach seems fine. ?? Whatever, dude, I plan to get my drink on later, to make up for last night. ;)

2017 was a bastard for pretty much everyone I know. It sucked, it was expensive and it was stressful. I lost my Honda Civic, Rhonda, and we had to buy Romeo. I’m VERY happy with the car, but the doubled insurance and car payment suck. Can’t wait to get it paid off. The loan rate was 2.8%, so it’s almost free and I’m in no hurry to pay that off, but the insurance is HELL. Well, honestly, it’s not that bad since I’m old. It’s about $100/month for BOTH vehicles, but Romeo is the bulk of that cuz he’s fancy. While the loan is fine to carry, the full insurance is what’s costing us.

Let’s see, what other big things happened in 2017… I think Romeo is the biggest trauma besides NuVision Graphics closing. Of course both Nick and I have posted extensively about this process, so I don’t feel the need to go into deep detail, but I will say that it’s finally done for the most part and we are glad. Nick has worked his fucking ass off to get that place liquidated. His coworkers did little until the last few weeks – they were in serious denial. But now it’s 99% done and we are ready to move on. We got a nice little nest egg from the owners (which we appreciate GREATLY) and they also topped off our 401k with the maximum they could, which is also VERY NICE.

As for immediate goals, I really want to lose my last 10#. I think the new Kroger job will help with that simply by upping my activity. Oh, did I mention the Kroger job? I was hired around Thanksgiving, but Kroger moves at glacial speed, so I’m not actually getting started until this Friday. Which is fine. I wanted to wrap up 2017 and kick it out the door before starting anything new anyway. I was told I’d probably make $9.75/hr, but they offered me $11/hr – and I’m more than happy to take it. It’s just a p/t job at the new wine and beer bar at the N Decatur Rd Kroger. It’s very p/t and I don’t plan to put much effort into it. But I’ll happily putter around for $11/hr. Every little bit helps! I’m also doing this because Kroger is union and even p/t employees can get insurance after 8-9 months. IN CASE our pub doesn’t get going, I’d like to have this job in my back pocket. If needed, I can pursue it and go f/t. I like having that option. It’s especially great since I’ve not had a “real” on the books job in 15 years.

As for Nick’s immediate plans, well, he’s going to get unemployment – which should be FAT since he’s paid into it for 20+ years. We figure it’ll be the only money we ever get out of all he’s paid in, so we’re taking it. With that little cushion in place, he’s going to begin sorting out all the fucking TRUCKLOADS of crap we got from NuVision. OMG. SO. MUCH. STUFF. We have TWO storage units, folks, TWO. ARGH! However, the madness has a reason and the reason is our pub concept. We are going to try the SBA for funding. Why the fuck not? If I had a dollar for every asshole who’s opened a business with SBA funding and NO background and NO clue, I’d not need the goddam loan. So that’s the working plan: Nick is organising all the piles of crap from NVG and then getting to work building games. Just getting all the stuff organised will be a large job. We have piles of computers, printers, desks, shelves, office supplies for a lifetime, chairs, TVs, OMG EVERYTHING! Hell, we even have floor signs and a mop bucket! LOL We scarfed all this stuff because everything we can get for free is one less expense for our startup. If we can’t get traction, then we’ll sell or donate it all.

BUT. We WILL get traction. We’ve had Player One Arcade Services up and running for over two years. We’ve got more than $25k in inventory with POAS. We’ve got brand recognition, too. I think we have a real shot at getting our SBA startup money. We are excited about going forward with Player One Arcade Pub. It’s our goal and we’re putting everything we have into it. Feel free to send us any and all good energy (or even tots and pears – we like those, too!).

So I guess that’s my main desire for 2018: get the pub going. Succeed or fail, we’ll never know if we don’t try. And try we shall! Life is about TRYING. If you never try, you’ll never move forward. We hope all our friends have much success and happiness in 2018. No matter what you do, BE HAPPY!