[Sca-cooks] Safety in the Kitchen

[Barbara Benson]

> Adamantius
> You might need to teach people how to walk with knives in their
> hands. Professional cooks usually walk with their arms hanging
> straight down, with the knife blade held firmly, but not stiffly,
> against the thigh, point down, edge back.

I was unaware that this is the "official"way to carry knives. I frequently
carry them that way. One Friday evening I left the feast kitchen and went
out into the main hall in search of someone. I stopped everyone I knew (and
many I didn't) and asked if they had seen the desired person. No-one I spoke
to had, but they were all polite to the extreme of being nervous. I thought
it strange until I returned to the kitchen to what I had been doing and
realized I had been carrying my large Cleaver alongside my right leg the
entire time. Inspires helpfulness.

Several people have mentioned shoes already and I would like to second (or
third) the importance of them. It may just be a problem inherent to the
Southern Reaches but we seem to have a fairly large minority that
categorically refuses to wear shoes. When these good gentles come to my
kitchen to volunteer and I ask them to put on shoes they frequently refuse.
My response is thank you but no thank you.

I have recently had a particulary ugly problem with a lady in a puddle hem
dress. It was at an outdoor cooking site and it did not occur to me to
request that she lift her skirts to confirm the prescence of shoes - after
all she had volunteered to run a grill. I did not find out that she was
shoeless until I had to pack her off to the chiurgen because she had stepped
on a full sized, red hot coal.

It may be tacky, but from now on I will insist on a visual confirmation of
shoes. I am considering something along the lines of the typical Marshal's
inquiry "Are you properly Armed and Armored?". I was unable to track her
down later, so I found the chiurgen and she only managed 2nd degree burns.
Luckily her frequent non-wearing of shoes had produced quite a callous layer
on her feet, but the chiurgen said that as the burn healed she would lose
that callous and reaquiring it would take some time.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva