Is this also a 'cultural difference'!? The pitfall of the 'marking strategy' that happened in an overseas kitchen @ Middle East

● Bustling work in the kitchen

Although our shop is a bookstore, it is also a cafe. Orders for food come in from morning until night, and the kitchen is quite busy.I came to Jordan to work at a bookstore, so honestly, I was often confused because for some reason I was working in the kitchen every day.

When an order for six people would suddenly come in all at once, Laura and I, who had been chatting in the kitchen, would be in a panic. While we were scrambling to prepare, saying 'What should we do first?!', the manager would come into the kitchen and scold us, saying 'You guys! Move faster!', and the three of us would be cooking in a fluster.

There were various causes intertwined in why we would 'get into a fluster'.

For example, even if the manager told me to 'sprinkle some za'atar!', I would be like, 'Huh? Za'atar? What's that?'. I knew nothing about Arab herbs.

Furthermore, even when told to 'fry the vegetables', the Japanese word for the English word 'fry' can mean many things, such as 'deep-fry, grill, or stir-fry'. When I would timidly confirm, 'What kind of fry do you mean?', I was often asked back, 'Huh?'.

I also had trouble with 'eggplant'. The manager called eggplant 'aubergine' instead of 'eggplant'. It turned out later that it was the difference between British English and American English, but until I understood that, I was confused, thinking, 'What are you saying? It's hard to understand...'.

I was also at the mercy of 'group reservations'. A tour group would just say, 'We might go there with a large group on this day,' but they wouldn't tell us the time, and at other times they wouldn't even show up, or a large group would suddenly arrive without notice. Does a reservation even mean anything?

Anyway, it was chaos.

The biggest stress was the manager's way of working. The moment he used a 'knife that had just cut a tomato' or a 'frying pan that had just cooked an egg', he would put them into the dirty water in the sink and say, 'Whew, all done'.What exactly was all done?

Naturally, a few minutes later, an order would come in from a customer. At that point, he would say, 'Damn it, again!', and start by re-washing the knife that should have been ready to use. He should have just left it as it was...

Our shop had no concept of 'thinking ahead'.

● The enviable last order

To make matters worse, the closing time of our shop was beyond 'vague'. Sadly, there was no avoiding it;unfortunately, there was also no concept of a 'last order'.

At night, when Laura and I would go back to our room and relax, thinking, 'Let's call it a day,' the manager would suddenly call and summon us, saying, 'An order has come in! Gather in the kitchen immediately!'.

Thinking we had already finished work long ago, we would look at each other in shock, still in our respective poses of 'relaxation' on the bed, thinking, 'What... at this time?',and we would spend our days trudging back to the kitchen, complaining, 'What is this? We (thought we) were already closed,' and 'Why doesn't our place have a last order time?'.

● To work efficiently

To keep the daily kitchen operations running smoothly, we discussed at least doing a thorough inventory check in the morning.Everyone wanted to avoid discovering that 'we're out of mint!' or 'we're out of milk!' while cooking in the middle of a busy rush.

I thought, 'It would be easier to understand if there were an inventory checklist,' so I immediately made one.

Every morning, I would take this sheet around the kitchen and write '◯' if there were enough of each ingredient, '△' if it seemed like we were running low, and '×' if we were out. It was a system where I could just take the checklist to the supermarket and go shopping.

I thought this sheet was quite revolutionary, and when I showed it to the manager, he was overjoyed, saying, 'Whoa! This is amazing!'He happily took it to the print shop, made a large number of copies, and said, 'Let's all use this starting today!'

● The 'pitfall' of the inventory checklist

However, an unexpected problem occurred. When the European members from the UK, France, Italy, and other countries saw this inventory checklist, they said, 'We don't really understand how to use this.'It's so easy to understand, so what could they mean!?

It turns out they didn't share the nuance of the symbols where '◯ = enough,' '△ = so-so,' and '× = insufficient.'

What!? I thought this 'symbol sense' was universal!

Come to think of it, I remembered hearing that in some countries, the meanings of '◯' and '×' are the opposite of those in Japan. I suddenly recalled stories about someone taking a test while studying abroad and getting it covered in '◯'s, only to find out it meant every answer was wrong, and how companies that make game consoles reverse the '◯' and '×' buttons for export.

But in this case, since it wasn't that 'the meanings were reversed' but rather that 'they didn't make sense,' it didn't end up being too complicated.

I hurriedly made an 'instruction manual for the symbols' and posted it near the checklist. Everyone looked at it with a 'hmm, I see' expression, as if they were looking at a new mathematical formula.

But with this, members who aren't familiar with the symbols have to check not only the inventory but also the meaning of the symbols... somehow, this doesn't seem like a smart way to check at all, does it!?

For me, the '◯×△ strategy' ended in failure. Ah, tomorrow, too, the tumultuous kitchen life will surely begin...

Kitchen work edition: fin

● Next time: There is also the job of making cookies

●Episode 1: 'I tried living in a bookstore in Jordan'
●Bookstore room tour
●Article list (site map)