Hopin' Mad

Submitted Oct. 3, 1996
Anna I.
From San Francisco, California

• I work in a restaurant that uses kale as a garnish for it's plate presentations. To set the story up properly, I have to tell you how the kale is prepared. First, the kale comes to us in big boxes. We take the kale out of the boxes and into a sink full of running water and salt. The kale will soak for thirty minutes to an hour. Then the kale is divided into small quart containers and stored in a very cold walk-in refrigerator. When the kale is needed, it's brought to the front line and stored on ice.

  One night I had brought a new quart of kale to the front line for use. About half-way through the quart, as I was reaching my hand into it, a huge bullfrog comes leaping out of the container. It makes two giant leaps and lands in an industrial size container of butter. Several servers try to grab the frog, but it was too slippery, and too fast. It headed for the salad bar and landed in serveral dressings, including 1000 island, ranch, and blue cheese. Now the frog, who is buttered and covered in salad dressing leaps out the kitchen door and into the dinning room, where a guest accidently steps on it. The bad news is that the frog did not make it...the good news is that the guest got a free meal.