Disordering System

(I have a part-time job next to a college as head of the kitchen in a cafe. One of my classmates is general manager of the cafe. The boss has no idea how the kitchen or cafe really works, but she keeps bringing in ‘ideas‘ or orders to change things up, which the manager and I then work into the regular schedules with a lot of planning. Sometimes we’re able to convince her to trust our judgement, but most of the time she argues that we’re just “students who don’t know better.” We also do at least five-ten hours additional office work and other things each week that are barely ever accounted for in our paychecks.)

Manager: “I spent two hours yesterday trying to make the order system work the way the boss wants it. It’s halfway there. All the waitresses have trouble with it, though.”

Me: “You’re gonna love it once we change from the popular muffin versions we have to the basic ones we sold two years ago. Boss wants to keep it simple‘.”

Manager: “Oh, god.”

(In that moment, the boss visits for the first time in a week.)

Boss: “Oh, by the way, I decided the order system doesn’t work that way. Change it to [even more complicated plan] by next week, okay?”

(She leaves before we can even discuss it. After a quick moan the manager turns to me with a huge grin on his face.)

Manager: “I cannot wait for the day you graduate college and quit to look for an apprenticeship. I’m gonna start taking bets on how long until the kitchen explodes. And that’s precisely when I’ll quit as well.”