Bad managers don’t always realize when they’ve picked the wrong person to mess with.

What would you do if your boss tried to make your job harder on purpose, just because he didn’t like the look of you? Would you keep your head down and power through the punishment? Or would you follow directions a little too well?

In the following story, one kitchen worker finds themselves in this very situation. Here’s what happened.

A dish pig’s tale

For anyone wondering, dish pig is the British slang for Kitchen Porter or “KP”. Essentially, it’s carrying out the worst jobs in the kitchen, washing up mainly, but then also peeling vegetables, mopping up, etc.

I was studying at a university, but I would spend each summer (about three months) in a coastal town.

The two friends I shared a flat with had secured jobs in a posh hotel, one waiting on and the other being a sort of driver/concierge, and they were on relatively decent money.

I had a sort of skater/surfer/homeless look going on at the time, so when I enquired about work at the same hotel, all they could give me was KP.

It was easy to see why the chef had a bad reputation.

I was warned that the head chef was a monster, and he was, an absolute turd of a man, who no doubt had some sort of inner game of torture going on where he’d do all he could to get the dish pig to quit.

For example, after finding out I was a vegetarian, he made me remove the skin from 10 chickens.

I was bloody good at washing up.

It is customary to simply leave soapy water on dishes and trays in the UK before stacking them to dry, which I find bizarre, so I used to rinse things. I also used to follow the directions on the commercial dish soap, diluting it to the recommended ratio.

People kept sending their food back.

But chef was not happy with this, he took me to one side and in his deep mumbled West Country grunt said “******’ hurry up, don’t rinse and get more washing up liquid in there, these ******* trays are greasy” So, I increased the dish soap dosage by about 1000%, and I didn’t rinse a thing.

That morning, all but one of the cooked breakfasts were sent back as the food, unsurprisingly, “tasted like washing up liquid.”

One couple left two days early, and the hotel manager summoned the chef to his office.

The chef was furious but didn’t say a thing to me; he just threw things around and swore more than usual.

After that day, he took it easy on me and even offered me a job the following year.

Wow! Those poor customers!

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit have to say about this stunt.

Interesting way to look at it.

Never knew people did this.

Here’s someone who had basically the same job.

According to this comment, they’re familiar with the concept of a Dish Pig.

Good for him!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.