Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 21
1 A. Yes. The platen on top would only come over a certain
2 section, and the meat you laid on the grill underneath was
3 just a wide grill, so you had to know the correct spot.
4 There were no markings on it telling you where to lay it;
5 you just had to learn it over time and experience where to
6 lay the first two bits of meat and then lay the next ones.
7 But it was very easy to get wrong.
8
9 Q. So, it was where the clam which came down did not cover the
10 whole of the one of the patties towards the edge; is that
11 right?
12 A. Yes.
13
14 Q. Just pause a moment.
15 A. Or if there were -- if you had laid two patties and
16 they had overlapped, the clam would come down and those two
17 patties overlapping would cause the platen to not cook the
18 stuff at the right pressure; so that whole run would be
19 affected then.
20
21 Q. What, because the clam did not come down far enough?
22 A. Yes -- because it is not only cooked by heat, it is
23 cooked under pressure; and if the pressure is not correct,
24 then those 40 seconds -- you know, you have not got a lot
25 of leeway.
26
27 Q. Pause a moment.
28 A. Can I say something else?
29
30 Q. Just pause a moment.
31 A. Right. (Pause)
32
33 Q. Yes, you were going to say something else?
34 A. Yes. I wanted to point out that the whole point of
35 this was, there was a big pressure on us to improve beef
36 integrity in the store; we had to make sure stuff was --
37 the spatulas were wiped, the cloths were clean, et cetera.
38 But the most important thing about it was, we were never
39 allowed to lay more than nine pieces of meat; and it was,
40 you know -- because it could not fit in with our store, it
41 was just ignored most of the time.
42
43 Sometimes, if there were was someone important in -- that
44 is why I talked about this incident of the Supervisor
45 running into the kitchen to sort out the food -- when he
46 was in the store, they tried to do an 8/4, which is eight
47 pieces of meat on the grill and you do eight regulars,
48 eight regular hamburgers, and four Big Macs in a run; and
49 they were trying to do that on what is called a "fast",
50 which is a run every minute, but it still was not enough
51 food; and I remember that Supervisor running into the
52 kitchen, shouting there was no food, and immediately
53 himself laying 12 pieces of meat on the grill. I think his
54 name was either Frank or Pat McIlroy, but I am not sure of
55 their position; but they are regional Managers or
56 something. They are very similar looking, so I cannot be
57 sure which one it was.
58
59 Q. If you were doing eight regular and four quarterpounders,,
60 that is on the same -----
