The Confusing Battle Between Light And Dark

(I am pre-opening for the first time by myself, not because I’m ready, but because the coworker who was supposed to do it didn’t show up, without any warning or explanation. So, when I arrive for the beginning of my shift, five minutes before we open, I’m struggling to get the over half-an-hour’s worth of work that I am still unfamiliar with finished a quickly as possible. One of the jobs is filtering the oil in the fryers, which I’m actually fairly confident I know how to do. However, I still haven’t been able to figure out how to tell which ones need to be filtered. But I remember one piece of advice my manager told me previously.)

Manager: *previously* “The lighter color in the oil means more sugar. More sugar means it’s older.”

(My manager eventually shows up and we can open.)

Manager: “[My Name], why did you filter this oil?”

Me: “Well, I wasn’t really sure which one to do until I remembered you saying that the lighter color means there’s lot of sugar in it.”

Manager: “WHAT?! Who told you that?! The lighter color means it’s new. Filtering the new oil makes it dirtier.”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. So, the darker oil is the old oil?”

Manager: “What?! No! You see this color here?” *she directs me over to the fryers* “See, the lighter color means there’s lots of sugar in it, and that means it’s older.”

Me: “But I filtered the lightest one, and you just said that was the new oil.”

Manager: “No. Look. You see how the color is darker now than before you filtered it?”

Me: “Yes.”

Manager: “When it’s that light color, it means it’s new.”

Me: “So… New oil is light, and then it gets dark with use, and then it gets lighter from sugar?”

Manager: “What?”

Me: “So, I should filter the lightest one that’s not almost clear? So, the second lightest one?”

Manager: “What?! No! You filter the lightest one.”

Me: “I did filter the lightest one. You said that was the wrong one.”

Manager: “Because it was new oil. You can tell it’s new because of the lighter color.”

Me: “Okay, [Manager].”

(I spoke to my supervisor later, as well as a coworker more familiar with the kitchen. They both assured me that older oil is darker oil and I could just ignore anything my manager said to the contrary. And the coworker that skipped off work on a whim? He went on to do it repeatedly, at least once every week. For this behavior, he was – no, not fired – promoted.)