I think most people will agree that kitchen employees are no angels. In fact, the most common image is of a group of employees most closely resembling swashbuckling privateers and hot tempered, chemically dependent degenerates. But sometimes, s o m e t i m e s truth is stranger than stereotypes, and you do end up with varying degrees of the criminal element working for you, (not counting the dishwasher that had a pager when only Dr.s/lawyers and drug dealers had pagers...), including the most extreme.
One day I was sitting at home, drinking coffee and watching the morning news. The anchor came on talking about how a couple of brothers had been arrested for the attempted murder of their father after getting into a fight. For no reason, I immediately felt my stomach knot itself, and as I raised my eyes to the screen I was staring at my PM Chef de Cuisine. A seemingly good kid, and truly great cook destined for bigger and better things. His undoing was the belief that his father was indeed dead when he dumped his body, (only for his barely alive father to make his way to help which alerted the authorities of the attempt on his life).
Seemingly against all odds, the same kitchen employed another person accused of a capital crime. The outcome of this story is at the same time heartbreaking, and inspiring--and defines the whole notion of "manning up." Not to go too deep into details, the situation resolved itself with an innocent person taking the rap for the alleged perpetrator so that her children would not have to grow up without their mom.
It was tearful day on the loading dock when they committed to turning themselves in, and I think about them often, hoping that the situation worked out as best it could. I cannot fathom, or even pretend to know the kind of sacrifice made for the sake of the family
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