Drugs in the kitchen

Hi, Chef,

To get things started, what should I do about a co-worker who uses drugs and comes to work stoned? It's a problem because we have to cover for this person a lot and it causes extra work, not to mention safety problems.

D

Drugs in the kitchen is a hard topic. If the coworker's habit is affecting his ability to work then he/she's certainly not doing you any favors by making you pick up his slack. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a friend is to be honest and tell them what they're actions are costing the rest of the staff. I've been in this situation several times, most of them ended with the termination of the employee. The kitchen is a different world, I've actually worked in a kitchen were EVERYONE was blazed for the better part of each day. The problem comes when some dumbass can't hold his sh*t and makes his coworkers scrub down his station while he goes and hits his bat in the walk in.
Anyway, the bottom line is this: The employee is creating an hostile and unsafe working environment. This is unacceptable. The employee needs to be disciplined, possibly terminated. if you don't feel comfortable approaching the coworker yourself, an anonymous tip to the GM or Sous will notify and involve someone who has a little more weight behind them.

Hope this was helpful.

~Chef