When I was 15 I worked at a very popular pizza place in Canada rhymes with nut. It was run and managed by a couple college kids that thought they were big stuff running a pizza joint. Congratulations. I was in-between work and didn’t want to work a fast food place but my first choice at the local arena fell through because I had to be 16 to work with certain chemicals and stuff they had for the pool. Months away but it was a no go.
So I bit the bullet and applied. I got the job and was hired for working in the kitchen. Within a month they wanted me to learn how to make dough. I wasn’t for it because that meant I had to come in every weekend at 6am to have dough ready for when they opened at noon. I said fine I’d learn but I don’t want to do it every weekend.
I was a kid. I enjoyed my weekend time and was much happier working weeknights. They assured me I would only have to work 1 weekend dough shift a month. I said ok great. They got my partner in crime we’ll call Scott to agree to the same thing. We both learned and nailed it. Within 2 weeks of learning we were back to back weekend shifts I worked every Saturday Scott every Sunday going forward. I went to my boss told her and she laughed. Said too bad. They all thought it was hilarious the group of them.
All servers in their 20’s, we were the joke of the pizza joint. They knew we needed jobs and wouldn’t quit. Then I went home one Saturday and my parents said the arena had called and wanted me to come in for another interview. I went and was told I would be offered the job in 2 weeks the day after my birthday. I asked if they needed anyone else and they said yes and I told them about my friend Scott and how he worked. He said to hand in his resume and he’d get it set up.
Time for petty revenge. The next Saturday I went into work and sat around and did absolutely nothing. I drank chocolate milk and hung out in the boths of the restaurant twirling my thumbs. They showed up for open and I was standing there apron and name tag in hand.
I quit I said. My boss laughed and said whatever we were going to fire you anyways. Then commented that if it were her she wouldn’t have showed up at all and screwed her over not making any dough. Idiot. I laughed and said nah I hung out all morning and made no dough so you still need to pay me for my shift. Later.
The look on her face was gold. She ended up having to close the store for the day because they had no dough made. Then to top it off Scott repeated my quitting method the following day. We worked together at the arena for the rest of highschool and told that story fondly.
Edit: Wow so this blew up overnight I was not expecting it. Yeah so the process of making dough or at least when I worked there was a non stop grind mix dough pull out start next batch, while it’s mixing oil pans, portion out dough, put in pans, fill rack, and put in speed proofer for an hour then cold storage and repeat nonstop for 6 hours.
On occasion you could use day old dough in a pinch but it did not hold up and the pizza typically came out very flat. That being said the boss there always kept the staff as thin as possible and would not have been able to run front of house and back of house at the same time to have made the dough on the spot. We were a small town at what was the busiest pizza place there. Friday evening Saturdays and Sunday with the cheap buffet we’re crazy. Thanks for the love glad people are enjoying the story!
