Radio Wars in the Kitchen

It was just a year ago that Hennessy came aboard at the bakery.

I remember on the first day that she entered the plant....a befuddling look seemed to overwhelm her before asking....

"Where's the radio?"

Klecko smiled, and chuckled on the inside.....and responded...

"What radio? We don't need no stinking radio!"

This particular stance of mine has been one of the more controversial in my tenure as "Boss Man."

When Klecko became in charge, he remained chill for a bit, but pulling radio's out of the production area was one of the first things he did.

I enjoy music, and I enjoy sporting events and talk radio, but what I don't enjoy is one radio.....shared between a crew.

You'd think it would be simple, you would think people would perceive the benefit that a radio can bring as a privilege.....but it almost never happens.

Heavy Metal dude will want his sounds, where Cowboy baker will want her twang.....and thus the battle begins.

Then-then-then.....there is the whole Latino element that now has entered the kitchen radio arena.....your Hispanic bakers (and rightfully so) prefer to listen to the music from their homeland.

I have watched ownership(s) offer radio slots, and set volume levels, but the second the charge person steps into the office, or leaves the building, the war will begin to wage.

For whatever reason, the Cowboy baker might forfeit her radio slot because she is busy on a project in the cooler for most of the day.

Like scraps tossed to the impoverished........the music heads will scramble for the abandoned radio time.

Sometimes the person who doesn't care to use their allotted music time will simply give it away to one of the other music camps, or other times.....I've witnessed people selling their music slots.

Sometimes for the price of a Tombstone Pizza, a few hits of speed and a Dr Pepper.......a guy can listen to to Iron Maiden for his entire shift.

Saint's of Warsaw....save us from ourselves.

Then, there is always that industrious person who will arbitrarily bring in their own radio, and now you'll have 2 radios book ending the bakery/kitchen.

Just yesterday Klecko was at a monster account, in a kitchen the size of Jonah's whale.

As I walked through looking for the Sous Chef, I heard the.......

"BOOM-BOOMP BOOM-BOOMP, BOOM-BOOMP BOOM-BOOMP"  of a tuba keeping beat for a mariachi band on the local Mexican radio station.

Before I got out of ear shot, I hear then crooning from radio #2.........

"YOU KNOW YOU MAKE ME FEEL, YOU KNOCK ME OFF OF MY FEET."

Yep, Micheal Jackson seems to live on, even in the underbelly of American kitchens.

But if there is just one thing that gets under my skin, its trying to focus on my task at hand, while I am standing on a space that is immune to overlapping radio's.......Christ take me home.

Radio's in the work place have caused more problems than almost anything you can think of.

Is there a compromise?

I'm not opposed to somebody bringing in an I-Pod, but if you are going to go that route, a little discretion needs to be observed as well.

Only one ear should be allowed to be serviced.

The second you cover both, the employee often times fills fades away, becomes isolated, and can be at risk from not being able to hear what's taking place in their surrounding area.

Working in a bakery or kitchen might not be as dangerous as building skyscrapers or underwater welding, but just talking to any bloke that's been in the show for an extended period of time and they'll be able to rattle off countless situations where people got damaged from lack of focus.

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OMG, I'm starting to sound like my father....LOL

L.A.B. Rat's stay safe, and ROCK ON!