

Friday, January 15, 2010

A rite of passage...

Day 73:

They often say that when you wield a knife in a kitchen long enough, you'll eventually get cut. It's just a matter of how bad you do. Well I guess tonight was one of those nights. It even prompted my boss, Ivan, to say "welcome to the club!" It happened during work about an hour and a half from closing. I was cutting chashu and when I got down to the very last piece...the knife somehow slipped and I ended up slicing off the tip of my pinkie. I didn't think it was that bad, but the darn thing wouldn't stop bleeding. So that's when Ivan found the piece of my pinky, wrapped it in saran wrap, and threw me in a cab to get it stitched up. When I got to the hospital, it was closed and dark inside but the night watchman let me in after he heard me trying to open the door. He called the doctor on duty and they agreed to let me obtain treatment. Ironically, the doctor on duty was also a hand specialist. Three Novocain shots and ten stitches later, my pinkie was whole again.

Now I just gotta let it heal. I feel bad for my coworkers cuz now they'll have to pick up my slack. Sorry guys. Work will be a bitch for the next ten days, but we'll somehow get through it.

And it could have been a lot worse. Oh well, it's all just part of the training and the price I pay for living my dream. The doctor thought I was crazy too for watching my finger while he stitched it up. It was actually quite interesting. Btw, typing without a pinky sucks! Oww...the Novacain is starting to wear off...haha.


  1. (insert Yakuza joke here)

    Heal up dude.

  2. doh! you should have asked for some Vicodin for the road! feel better!

  3. They won't let you into the country clubs now.

  4. Bleakk...but everyone get's nicked. It happens, whether you're on the line or not. Case in point, at a former place of work, the proprietors bought new steak-ish knives (not terribly sharp but serrated-esq with a pointy tip). Totally un-needed at a meze bar but whatever. Dishwasher goes to sanitize them and as he goes to pull them out, the flatware rack, well it's jammed, so he hunkers down over it, to get the momentum to rip it out...which he does eventually, except 10 seconds later he drops the whole rack all over the cramped kitchen and blood is everywhere. One of the new knives is still stuck in him and I can see that by his feet, there's another particularly bloody steak knife. Then the idiot just yanks out the second one in panic...then there was some vomit, some people acting like unprofessional wankers and a disrupted service with emts rushing through our posh bar/dining area & into our kitchen. Oh and one passed out dishwasher in the middle of said kitchen. Nightmare...

    [EDIT: I have no idea if you understood "how" he stuck himself BTW. If you've handled a industrial dishwasher you'd understand but...for clarifications sake: Some flatware racks do not have a solid piece of plastic on the sides, rather a empty honeycomb pattern or a inch gap to allow water/steam to pass along the sides. As he tried to get it to come unloose, his stomach was pretty much almost flush with one of the sides. The momentum of ripping it from the clutches of the evil machine to it being cradling against his front to stop the movement, caused the steak knives to jar about and stick him in the process of him getting the damn thing unstuck. I tell this as a warning to all those who dwell in industrial kitchens, do not let this freak accident ever happen again...it sucks]

    I mean, my arm was "grazed" (stuck) by a noob going around a blind corner with a knife...and I'm FOH. I mean it happens, but seriously rip off all that toilet paper asap, put a jimmy on it, wrap that up in some duck tape and put another latex glove on and get back in.

    Till then, watch this; specifically at 0.43.


    Hehe but BTW wrapped it in saran wrap. Seriously? I don't know if it was your wording, but it seemed so nonchalant in which you described it (or I read it). Made it sound like it was a leftover cookie...either way it made me chuckle.

    In short get better asap, ramen nirvana waits for no one.


  5. At least Ivan found your pinky tip before someone ordered the 特別替え玉.

  6. Good grief!! I've had my share of good hackings at my fingers thanks to cheap mandoline slicers in my day, but chopping off your pinky??? YEEOWCH!...Oh man must that be a pain to have to deal with back at work! Take it easy and I hope you'll heal up and be at full speed again in no time! :)

  7. Yeah dude, sh*t happens! Can't do anything about that...
    Recently I was cutting a bagel - and I have a bad habit of gripping bagels and cutting towards my palm - well this knife was kinda sharp and the bagel proved to be kinda soft... see where I'm going with this..

    Take'r easy Dude.

  8. @Ryan: thanks dude! it's pretty much healed now but i did get some weird looks on the train.

    @jeesung: ha that would have been nice.

    @Chris: It's cool. They sewed it back on. haha.

    @LG: thanks for sharing. love that scene!

    @Brian: dude my pinky chashu would have tasted delish! haha.

    @Nandakke: Thank you! I should be fine.

    @Jay2Dee2: Wow how's the palm? Must have been tough on the beer grip. We need to meet up soon yo!

    @edjusted: Thanks ed!

  9. Hi Keizo,

    Sorry for the late reply. Ouch! :( I was cringing when I read that you cut off your pinkie! :( I hope you're doing better. Sorry to hear about that (and thank goodness you got it stitched up the same night).

    You gotta play through that pain. Kobe plays ball w/ 2 broken fingers! ;) (j/k)