Worst Saturday rush I've had in 3 years at the shop in Boise

I run the meat counter at a small shop, and this past Saturday was brutal. We had 14 special orders for rib roasts, plus the usual walk-ins. By 11am I was already behind, and then a guy comes up asking for a 2 inch thick tomahawk, but he wanted it cut from a chuck roll. I tried to explain that's not a thing, he argued for five minutes. Then my band saw blade snapped on a frozen pork belly. Took me 45 minutes to swap it out because the spare was in the back room under a pile of boxes. By 2pm I had three people waiting at the counter and two phone lines ringing. I forgot to trim a brisket for a regular who picks it up every Sunday, he was not happy when he showed at 3. Has anyone else had a day where everything snowballs like that, or is it just my luck?

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susansingh12d ago

Saturday rush is exactly when you earn your pay, so honestly that sounds like a normal day where you just got caught off guard. The tomahawk guy was right to push back, most counter guys can cut a thick steak from a chuck roll if they actually know how to work a knife, it just takes a little extra effort. The band saw snapping is a maintenance thing, you should have checked the blade tension before the rush started, that's on you, not bad luck. Forgetting the brisket is the real problem here, your regulars are your bread and butter and you know their orders by heart, so missing one means you weren't paying attention, not that the day was cursed. Snowball days happen because people make small mistakes early and then let them pile up instead of stopping to fix the root cause. You had three hours to prep for the rush, a pro would have had the spare blade ready and the brisket trimmed before the doors even opened.

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