Hit my 10,000th ticket in the pass tonight, never saw that number coming

I was just cleaning up after service a few hours ago and my expo board had a number on it I didn't expect. I've been a line cook for about 8 years now, mostly in Austin at this one Italian joint. I started keeping track of how many tickets I personally expedited back when I was a sous at a smaller place, just for fun in my notebook. Tonight I ticked over 10,000 exactly. That's like 10,000 plates of pasta and fish and veal that I had to shout out and check on before they hit the dining room. It's wild to think about all the rush nights and the fires I had to dig out of to get to that number. Has anyone else ever tracked something like that and had it sneak up on them? What number did you hit?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_angela16d ago

Ngl, I gotta push back a little here. 10,000 tickets is a lot but who's really counting? I mean you're a line cook not an accountant. The number that matters is how many times you burned your arm or cussed out a server, not a tally in a notebook. Honestly it feels like you're romanticizing something that's mostly just stress and sweat. If I tracked every ticket I ever ran I'd probably hit 10,000 in like two years at a busy spot and that doesn't mean anything special. It's just a number from a job that already takes enough out of you without making it a diary entry.

oscarb7716d ago

So what number would actually mean something to you then?

zarab2415d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of the time I tried counting how many times I refilled the salt shakers at my old spot. I got to 847 before I realized I had no idea what that number even meant in the big picture but I still felt weirdly proud of it. I guess some numbers just sneak up on you whether they matter or not.