In the weeds

In the weeds. It is an expression kitchens use when they fall behind the orders to the point that if something drastic doesn't happen quickly, the potential for a total kitchen implosion exists.

I was in the weeds. A pastry kitchen may be a little different than in a regular kitchen with cooks on the line, but none the less, implosion was likely.

To be honest, I am not the fastest dough cutter and roller, and with 200 loaves to portion and 100 of those to roll, I had fallen behind. A lot.

I had ignored everything else because the kitchen was hot and my dough was on the rise. Ballooning, actually. I was ready just to attach a basket to make a hot air balloon with the hopes it would fly me out of there.

The only thing happening was that I just fell further and further behind. It was 3:00 in the morning. Who was I going call? The ghostbusters? No, I should have called Chef.

Because when he did come in at 5:00, and then another coworker at 6:00, we made it. Barely. We didn't get everything done on time, but nothing was late (ie, banquet runners were waiting, but none of our guests knew). 

It had been a night of calamities. It wasn't just the broken roller, the hot kitchen, the bread over proofing, the rolls not baking correctly, the restaurant not only forgetting to order pastries for a weekday brunch, but they forgot to tell anyone they even had the brunch, or the coffee shop was opening at hour earlier now, therefore needing everything at 5:00 instead of 6:00. The biggest calamity was that I had been in the weeds, knew it, but hadn't called anyone for help.

I wasn't yelled at. I wasn't made to feel embarrassed (I did that all on my own). 

If you need help, ask for it, even at 3:00 in the morning.

Lesson learned.