-Laelth

It was famous for it's "Mmm, mmm, toasty" subs. One summer day, our A/C died.

The next two days, it was in the 90's outside. Combined with the toaster oven that took up a good chunk of the kitchen, it was easily 100F in there. Customers would walk in expecting a nicely cooled restaurant, get hit by the hot air, and walk right back out. It was almost comical watching their reactions, if not for the fact we had to stay there all fucking day in that shit.

By the 2nd day, the 20-yr old PREGNANT woman on our staff was on the verge of passing out. The assistant manager sent her home early, and finally called the manager. We were all yelling at him at once when he showed up, threatening to walk out and call OSHA if he didn't get off his cheap ass and fix the A/C.

It was fixed by the end of the day.

Most of the year, not a problem. Convection oven, large grill, two stoves/ovens, dishwasher, and just a couple of windows and a vent over the grill.

The dining area had AC. Not needed most of the time. The kitchen? No AC.

One summer was nasty. Outside it was upper 90s, pushing 100. Those two windows brought all the nice steam from the dishwasher into the kitchen. I was under the vent, which drew air out. I was the afternoon cook some of those days, dishwasher other days.

I thought we would all die. So did the manager, who was suffering right along with us.

course I drank probably 3+ liters of water in the 3-4 hours of work. Lost 35 pounds in 3 months while eating the worst junk food in the world.

The managers are morons for not recognizing the physical requirements of a person in extreme heat. The employees needed to be drinking lots of water.

And before anybody accuses me of being unsympathetic, I've worked fast food and the AC just can't keep up and I'm sure that applies to most kitchens in restaurants around the country.

or thereabouts, and haven't stepped foot in one since.
I was not quiet about it either. Fuckers.

Ironically, my first job was at one of the first McDonalds
to open in Portland Oregon, in about 1960.

On edit, ^^ this ^^ was actually the very first McDonalds
IN THE ENTIRE NORTHWEST USA. I didn't know that,
until just now, looking it up.

it's hot as hattes in those restaurant kitchens and you're cooking food with more heat! It will make you pass out if you aren't careful and then you fall into a fryer or oven door. It's dangerous.

Safety first.

That just makes me want to cry, Steve.

Then it makes me want to go out and fight for a living wage.

"I Am A Man"? They were used in the first protest marches in the south back in the 50s-60s. I recently seen a doc about those days and that just tore my heart out... the men wore those signs hanging from their shoulders, covering most of their bodies (front and back of body.) I thought of them today, while PO was making his speech to the press corps.

And yes it does tear our hearts out to see them again.

Organize
Unionize
Solidarity

Human Rights

I can't say any more. To me, "I am a Man" is such an eloquent statement.

When they finally manage to kill an employee with heat exhaustion, they're going to see not only a lawsuit, but their insurance rates are going to go through the roof.

Edited to add: They'll have killed someone too, of course, but they won't care about that. Just the money and PR it costs them.

We did it before and now we have to do it all. over. again.

And there were times when it was so hot that even the AC in the dining rooms had trouble keeping up. But there was no AC in the non-public (kitchen, locker rooms, dishwashing area, etc) areas and it would easily get over 100 degrees back there.

I'd like to see the executives of these chains try working any amount of time in such conditions. I'd bet these idiots couldn't last five minutes before running back to their air conditioned offices.

Imagine if the workers quit mowing the lawns of the rich nation wide on the same day

I worked at a small steak/sub shop in the 90s, and in the summer it would routinely top 116 degrees in the kitchen. Pizza shops have it even worse.

That's not to diminish the experiences of the workers in the current article, though; if anything, I mean it as a declaration of sympathy and understanding!

I am a worker. I am a human being. I have a beating heart. I have a brain. I have a skeleton and muscles to move it. I have a wife. I have children. I have to earn a living for my family/myself. I pass out in 100 degree heat. I am just like you. I AM YOU. Think!

Thanks OS, for letting us know about the plight of our brothers ans sisters in these inner-city blistering hot kitchens.

Conditions like this have to be illegal.

has been working in a factory with their machines running doing construction-- it is a metal plant. The heat is easily 110 or more. Next door the crew has been putting up a roof for the last 2 days, the temps have been in high 90's. Those workers in the fields picking have the sun beating on them all day.

This is seasonal heat, heat that one must become conditioned to-- many work in this kind of condition. It is really important to drink lots of fluids and there should be at least a fan and water available. Many people are accustomed to air conditioning (I know I am) and thus cannot tolerate the heat when they are exposed for longer than it takes to wait for a bus or get in a car.

I hardly know of a kitchen that is actually airconditioned in the food industry..

Interestingly, we dropped my dh's car off at the dealership; the service desk guys had a portable air conditioner in the office blowing cool air and it was vented to the garage where the technicians fix the cars. I asked about that and they told me the hot air just rises up-- I bit my tongue when I started to ask-- up to the ceiling fans that are blowing the air down?

Just home from work. I hope these strikers get the respect, and money, they have earned.

Last edited Sat Jul 20, 2013, 11:31 PM - Edit history (1)

A little history on "I am a Man". Black men got tired of being called "boy", and treated as boys. Also, in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers strike - which was brought about by two black sanitation workers being crushed in a mechancial malfunction while sitting in the back of the truck with the garbage -- because city rules forbade black employees to seek shelter from rain anywhere but in the back of their compressor trucks, with the garbage. Anyway, "I am a Man" was part of a statement, "I am a Man, not a piece of garbage".

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis while there to support this strike.

Per: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Sanitation_Strike

He works in the baggage dept at an airport and there is no AC in those huge rooms. He's been doing it for 30 years and I'm sure has been through summers this bad, but he isn't a spring chicken anymore. He said it gets over 120 degrees.

But I have to say that as long as water is provided, these guys have to suck it up. It's summertime, it's hot, that's the way it is. I've been working out in the heat and cold my entire career. It's been hot as hell and super humid here in Philly all week, heat index of 110, sun blazing down on us and you do what you have to do. There's no shanty, no relief, it's just a big hole in the ground right now. Couple that with laying pipe that weighs 110 lbs per piece and you're going to be doing some sweating. We have water and we get two breaks, that's the job. Kitchen work is hot work, that's the job. I'll bet no one there complains in the winter.

I'm all on their side when it comes to wages and benefits but this? This is part of the gig. Stay hydrated and you'll be fine.

There is something many people don't consider, In my youth i worked in many a fast food place in the summer and i can tell you sweat is dripping from the food preparers and getting into the food, It is unavoidable unless the place is well air conditioned and few are in the back. In order to save energy cost many only focus on cooling the front and leaving the back smoldering hot.

Don't eat fast food in the summer unless you want to eat sweat.

Organize organize organize!

K & R

Build this momentum. It's picking up all over the world.

If they aren't being provided and encouraged to drink as much water as they can hold (which given the idiotic rules of fast food, is quite possible) then I just plain can't feel bad, I've worked in a Michelin-starred joint where the thermometer in my pocket stood at 120; been in a cramped little country inn, in front of a grill, even hotter! Now I'm in a kitchen in a major Midtown building (for a very good dining group - full benefits, paid time off, sick leave, the works) so we do have AC but in this heat, even that only holds it to 100 or so.

Yes, if you drop a rookie off the street into that environment it can be a problem but the body is adaptable - once you get acclimated it's a minor annoyance at best as long as you keep up the hydration. And yes, it can be unreal...at the inn I would drink seven, eight, nine PITCHERS of water during the 5.5 hour dinner service and not pee once. You actually feel really good once you get home and clean up, your body can't hold on to many toxins sweating that much.

The fact that you are able to do it does not make it safe for everyone. Besides if someone is fainting and vomiting in a food prep area it is not only unsafe for the workers, it is a violation of Health Department Regulations and unsafe for the diners as well. And if managers require ill employees to go back to work under those conditions that is exactly what is going to happen.

Always hate it when some jackass thinks a bunch of minimum wage workers should simply deal with their unsafe, unhealthy, inhumane working conditions because they think they were able to survive the same conditions themselves. Someone was taken to the hospital here and ordered back to work while vomiting. How much of a cowardly piece of shit do you have to be to tell someone to just suck it up in that kind of situation? These are even the kind of conditions elite athletes making millions aren't expected to endure anymore after people started dying. Numerous less famous low wage workers are killed yearly under similar conditions.

I know you probably won't believe me, but a "real" kitchen is far worse than most fast-food places.

We have far more heat-generating appliances (twelve-burner stoves, open-flame grills, flattops, convection ovens, broilers) and are exposed to far more dangerous situations like knives, spattering/flaming saute pans, pots just out of a 500 degree oven, manhandling 20 gallons of boiling stock, meat grinders, industrial mixers, slicers...right this second I'm wearing two bandages, I have two more freshly-healed slashes, and my arms look like I have a cutting problem plus a habit of putting cigarettes out on them, burns on top of burns on top of burns..

I will say that in a heatwave with broken AC, management sure as hell better be making the staff drink up and not working them to death - but the situation itself isn't inherently intolerable, it's just the job. If you really feel differently, I can give you a long list of restaurants you can feel free to direct NYC/OSHA to for "unsafe conditions"

You certainly do complain a lot about the effects of working conditions on your body for someone who denies others sympathy.

I revel in thriving in literal hell, pushing to 125% and in keeping my body in fine shape throughout.

I am a bit annoyed that the fast-food workers (who are getting a shit deal, but not for working conditions) get sympathy for "inhumae" working conditions when mine, and many others in other fields (eg construction) have it even worse.

extreme heat....and not urinating for 5.5 hours? Unhealthy. Not sure about your story at all.

I've heard even worse horror stories like the time the AC went out at Noodle Bar, with a six-bay pasta cooker full of boiling water in a three-man kitchen..

Electrolytes indeed, after my first hard night at the inn I had a splitting headache so I drank even more water at home, only made it worse...dragged myself into work the next day clearly in bad shape, saying "I don't get this, I've had like four gallons of water" at which point the chef told me to "not be dumb, wash a spoon of salt down anytime you start a new pitcher". It's quite gross, but lifesaving. Next kitchen I was in actually had electrolyte tablets for the cooks. Between that and glucose from the pastry department, it's not uncommon to go nine or ten hours. It's not a healthy industry to be in, this isn't some new surprise.

I don't see the problem with not going to the bathroom for six hours though, I can go that long on a normal day..

The asshole managers.

The woman is throwing up and this asshole yells at her to get back to work. Where do these people come from?

fast food joints. I suspect owners of the franchises often specifically look for that quality.

Yu work in your circumstance by YOUR choice, most fast food workers don't have it very good. I also bet you make way way more than minimum wage in your full benefits air conditioned kitchen.


Where I work the pavement was 143 degrees yesterday. And the shop was 115. EVERYBODY was given Gatorade and encourage to take breaks when necessary. And some of our people are minimum wage employees, but we treat them the same.


Shame on you for your condescending attitude towards those of lesser employment stature than you, shame on you.

If you were to visit a nephrologist, he/she would find you have at least some kidney damage stemming from that. It just isn't healthy.

I know there was some kidney function stuff in the bloodwork - I suspect they're milking my insurance (I don't really need six tubes and $1800 of labwork with four pages of results, but if Anthem wants to pay out, my cost is $75), but everything's come back A-OK. Granted I also run, a lot, in all weather conditions including the heat this last few weeks; that probably helps with the acclimatization as well as the acute attention to hydration and nutrition. Of course I can't say for sure that it's not going to eventually catch up with me, but after 10 years it hasn't.

THESE workers have guts to make changes. To bad you didn't/don't!

I know people who've worked at Unite Here joints (The 21 Club, La Grenouille, the restaurants at Rockefeller) and their conditions aren't any better. It's a fact of life in a kitchen, it's going to be hot and fraught with danger from knives to hot oil to wet floors. The union joints tend to pay obscenely well and have pretty cushy benefits, but as far as "safe working conditions"...

You don't want the better pay and benefits? NO GUTS!!!

I know what comes with the territory and I'm perfectly OK with it. Actually, I revel in it.

And like I said...even if we did join Unite Here, there wouldn't be much benefit. Our parent corp. runs some union shops and for internal consistency every restaurant in the Group gets the same pay and benefits - I can't be forced to work OT, have six sick days, two weeks' paid, a very good plan and very good pay for the industry (although it's only about 60% living wage here). But the "conditions" are endemic - the union places are just as hot, loud, busy and dangerous as the others and nothing short of a massive crackdown on the entire foodservice industry will change that...if they aren't exempt.

They are working to improve their conditions and more. Have some respect. Keep them off public assistance, food pantry's, etc.

NON union 21 workers lawsuit: http://www.employmentclassactionreport.com/Alderman%20v.%2021%20Club.pdf


Here is the list of NY unionized places to eat or drink. Note they get health care, pension, etc... That is much more than squat!

http://www.unitehere100.org/eat-union/

Want to know where you can enjoy good food served and prepared by workers who have a union contract? Below is a list of restaurants, bars, and other places where Local 100 members work. Enjoy.
New York Restaurants

’21? Club, Continental


21 West 52nd Street


212-582-7200

Angelo’s of Mulberry, Italian


146 Mulberry Street


212-966-1277

Bice, Italian/Bar


7 E. 54th Street


212-688-1999

Café Isle of Capri, Italian


1028 3rd Avenue


212-758-1828

Captain’s Ketch, Sea Food


70 Pine Street


212-422-1965

Cucina, Café


Rockefeller Center


212-332-7630

Four Seasons, International


99 E. 52nd Street


212-754-9494

Gallaghers, Steak House


228 W.52nd Street


212-245-5336

La Grenouille, French


3 E. 52nd Street


212-752-1495

Le Perigord, French


405 E. 52nd Street


212-755-6244

Nanni’s, Italian


146 E. 46th Street


212-697-4161

Old Homestead, Steak House


56 9th Avenue


212-242-9040

Oyster Bar, Seafood


Grand Central Station


212-490-6650

Panevino, Italian


Avery Fisher Hall
(Lincoln Center)


212-874-7000

Patsy’s, Southern Italian


236 W. 56th Street


212-247-3491

Post House, Steak & Lobster/Bar


28 E. 63rd Street


212-935-2888

Rock Center Cafe, American Family


Rockefeller Center


212-332-7620

Sea Grill, Sea Food


Rockefeller Center


212-332-7611

Shun Lee Palace, Chinese


155 E. 55th Street


212-371-8844

Smith & Wollensky, Steak House


797 3rd Ave. 50th St.


212-753-1530

Catering


Berkely Caterers


25 W. 44th Street


212-840-1836

Flik Catering


1095 Ave of the Americas


212-395-2781

Aramark


CBS – 52nd Street


212-975-2560

Genadeen Caterers (Glatt Kosher)


775 Branch Blvd., Cedarhurst


516-295-5554

Sodexo


300 Park Avenue


212-310-2263

Deli


Carnegie Deli


854 7th Ave.


212-757-2245

National Restaurants


Tad’s Steak House


W. 50th Street


Lindy’s


401 7th Ave. & 33 St.


212-767-8344

Lindy’s


825 7th Ave.(53rd St.)


212-630-0325

Outside of Manhattan


IHOP, Pancakes


73-01 Northern Blvd


718-429-5452

Peter Luger, Steaks


Great Neck, NY


516-487-8800

Victor Koening’s, German


Floral Park


516-354-2300

Bars


Blarney Rock Pub


137 West 33rd Street


212-947-0826

Desmond Tavern


433 Park Avenue S.
(28th Street)


212-684-9472

Roseland


239 W. 52nd Street
(concert hall, bar)


212-247-0200
Stadiums, Arenas and Recreation

Barclay’s Center

Madison Square Garden

Yankee Stadium

Javits Center

Citifield

Nassau Coliseum

Prudential Center

MetLife Stadium (Meadowlands Racetrack/ IZOD Center)

Empire City Casino/Yonkers Raceway

But I haven't heard of any of the above places (some of which are in my group and I know staff at) being any less of a steaming hellish pit than any other kitchen. Yes, the compensation is much better and I'm not actually arguing against unionization or the packages, just saying that the environment is more or less non-negotiable.

A new beginning.

Compared to McDonald's workers, the union workers at least get much better pay and benefits.

Of course I think everybody, not just foodservice, should get at the very least a living wage and benefits (though that should really be single-payer), and if management is negligent there should be charges ranging from assault to manslaughter, and possibly legal action against the parent corporation if they have guidelines for these sorts of things.

All I'm saying, from years of direct expericence, is that the work conditions themselves aren't "inhumane" or even especially unsafe. They suck, but I'm sure the crew ripping up the street outside last week, wearing long pants and sleeves in 109˚ heat, would envy a stuffy kitchen. (Yes, I'm sure they're very well compensated).

When my daughter was a senior in high school, she worked at a McDonald's that was discovered to have years of mold when the building began to literally fall apart. It had to be razed.

This is an issue of health and safety that all workers, low paid or not, deserve.

indicates heat stroke from which she could have died.

Great response by the DU to this post. I'd like to thank Josh for several great stories of his about workers that have been posted in LBN!!!

:kick:

do not make it their business to offer a/c in the kitchens. There are no laws state wide nor
on the federal level that I'm aware of..it is incredible what they put up with.

Most, yes, most excellent dining establishments are no better. A chain like this, no surprise.
There are more than a few restaurants in NYC that are unionized, a/c is not a requirement,
sadly. The size of some kitchens would shock the hell out of many people too, some are quite
small, which is an advantage to the cooks/chef on one level. When it is this hot out, it can
be only more miserable a condition.

Best of luck to the workers!

Fortunately, we have a decent manager who brought in a cooler of ice water for us, which made it considerably more bearable.