Notes that came up in the elevator

Yesterday was my third day at work.


The restaurant has two floors, an alfresco area on the ground, and an air-con set up on the second. The kitchen's on the second, and there're two food "elevators" which can send the dishes down to the first and vice versa.


Sometimes, service crew downstairs will pop notes into the elevator, e.g.


Please pack, thanks! (If customer wants to take away the leftovers)

More brown please! (If customer finds the brezn [german for pretzel] too pale. the german chef rolled his eyes at this request.)



Last night, after I sent a seafood platter down, it came back up a few minutes later, with this note attached:



Please grill/boil. The stupid bitch can't eat raw food.



Now, the seafood platter consists of smoked salmon, marinated tuna, marinated prawns, etc. and this is all clearly indicated in English in the menu.



A few of the chefs crowded around the platter and stared at the note.



The Filipina waitress tried to explain the meaning of the note. The chefs are mostly from China, Nepal and the Philippines.



They are all incredulous by this request. And indignant that they have to boil or grill the smoked and marinated food.



The final decision was to grill. As the Nepali chef turned away to work on the grill, he spat: "chao chee bye" (hokkien swear word for 'smelly cunt')



I was taken aback. Not by the swear words, but by the fact that he actually swears in hokkien! And doing it rather ah beng-ish.