Anybody who has worked in a restaurant understands the biggest bane if a food-service employee's life: the folks that come in to get food in the last few minutes of the kitchen being open. Picture the scene: the kitchen closes at 11pm, and it is 10:55. Lo and behold, the ticket printer goes off, spitting out that order for a well-done KC strip, loaded baked potato, and dinner salad caesar (out first), among whatever other things that folks wanted at the last minute. This drives the cooks nuts.
Invariably, kitchens tend to get busy in the last hour or so that they are open. Quite often, we have already started cleaning things, at least as much as we can without shutting things off. Murphy's Law pretty much dictates that if you just cleaned the flat-top, you will get an order that requires you to clean it again five minutes later. Shut off the grill, and someone will want a burger or steak or something.
Some people thrive on living at the last minute. The procrastinators (guilty as charged) of the world will unite when they feel like it. This includes getting dinner. "Hey, I got two minutes left before they close!"
If anything, this has really made me think about how and when I go to look for food. I don't want to be "that guy" that shows up five minutes before the restaurant closes, expecting perfect service. There is a good chance that the person cooking for you has been there since before the restaurant opened, and the only thing they want is to go home after twelve hours of catering to people's whims. Oh yeah, did I mention that quite often those whims might be bordering on crazy and even psychotic?
If anything, the next time you go to order food a few minutes before close, think about what you are ordering. Make it simple, make it quick, and appreciate what the service folks do for you.
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