It served American food - pizza, burgers, Pittsburgh salads (iceberg lettuce and vegetables with meat and french fries), hoagies, and such - and it was a small chain owned by a White American a little younger than I. There were 3 locations and originally the owner fanchised one from the owner of the chain - a takeout only outlet near a college campus on the edge of the county - then he co-owned the secondary location near the busway near the suburbs, and then just bought the entire chain.
The previous owner was muslim and every employee at the downtown location besides the black delivery driver and me were muslims from various countries, including the Balkans.
The middle eastern dishwasher would ovten wash his feet in the slop sink during work hours even though there were ablution stations in the restrooms. The female restroom even had communal showers. There were even lotas and a prayer room.
No matter how many times I complained he still would do it, and the White American male owner was too afraid to offend to stand up to them.
There were so many things wrong with this place.
We were supposed to serve breakfast but the manager often would not show up to unlock the restaraunt until after 10AM when we started serving. Not only could I not perform prep but the oil fryer was obviously not heated. Stock would be left out because it was delivered in the morning, so it would spoil causing stock loss - that is if it was even known when it had delivered or prepared because nothing got dated or rotated unless I did it. Further, even if the chicken does not spoil from being left out it will still remain pink even when cooked properly because of it thawing then being frozen again causing myoglobin to redistribute from the liquid back into the muscle tissue.
But often his tardiness would not be an issue because the night crew would not lock the back door at closing, so anyone off the street could have come right in and ransacked the place, which often had not just stock and equipment, but also cash and transaction records of customers.
Then there was the fact that every day after sundown they turned the place into their own personal feast. They ate so much profits that I am surprised the owner didn't file theft charges. It was all on camera.
And, of course, they almost never cleaned up poperly prior to leaving. I would find half eaten food int the preparation area - even though eating in food preparation areas is against health codes - in the morning. Entire toss bols of fries, half eaten sandwiches, and deli meats and pizza toppings just littering the prep tables and packaging stations.
And, then there were Fridays. They closed the restaraunt every Friday at 4 or so in order to go pray at the mosque, then reopened afterward. I would simply work a double - 14 hours - that day doing prep work after my daytime cook shift. I actually didn't mind because I could actually listen to my headphones while I worked then, since I was not allowed to listen to my music because sometimes it was loud enough that the other employees could hear it and that is haram!
Also, the manager would often leave to do deliveries in the middle of the day even though he did not have any other employees to cover front of house, so I had to take it upon myself to learn their POS system since he would often be gone for more than an hour and we were located right on a main road in the middle of downtown near the federal building, so we would get large orders all day long. I was never trained for this. Nor was I trained on the recipes for the hand mixed milkshakes, so I had to use my best judgement when that was ordered. Luckily this was during the winter and I quir before summer, so I didn't have to make many of those.
Oh, and speaking of winter - when the manager didn't show up on time in the morning I was often left sitting for 2 hours or moreby a dumpter in a back alley in February in Pittsburgh right by the Allegheny river, so you can imagine how cold that was.
It's the topography. We are encircled by mountains. It traps the humidity. We can have all 4 seasons in a single day, even in the summer. It even snowed during May in 2020.
I USED TO WORK IN A HALAL RESTAURANT!
During the lockdowns, around 2021, in Pittsburgh.
It served American food - pizza, burgers, Pittsburgh salads (iceberg lettuce and vegetables with meat and french fries), hoagies, and such - and it was a small chain owned by a White American a little younger than I. There were 3 locations and originally the owner fanchised one from the owner of the chain - a takeout only outlet near a college campus on the edge of the county - then he co-owned the secondary location near the busway near the suburbs, and then just bought the entire chain.
The previous owner was muslim and every employee at the downtown location besides the black delivery driver and me were muslims from various countries, including the Balkans.
The middle eastern dishwasher would ovten wash his feet in the slop sink during work hours even though there were ablution stations in the restrooms. The female restroom even had communal showers. There were even lotas and a prayer room.
No matter how many times I complained he still would do it, and the White American male owner was too afraid to offend to stand up to them.
There were so many things wrong with this place.
We were supposed to serve breakfast but the manager often would not show up to unlock the restaraunt until after 10AM when we started serving. Not only could I not perform prep but the oil fryer was obviously not heated. Stock would be left out because it was delivered in the morning, so it would spoil causing stock loss - that is if it was even known when it had delivered or prepared because nothing got dated or rotated unless I did it. Further, even if the chicken does not spoil from being left out it will still remain pink even when cooked properly because of it thawing then being frozen again causing myoglobin to redistribute from the liquid back into the muscle tissue.
But often his tardiness would not be an issue because the night crew would not lock the back door at closing, so anyone off the street could have come right in and ransacked the place, which often had not just stock and equipment, but also cash and transaction records of customers.
Then there was the fact that every day after sundown they turned the place into their own personal feast. They ate so much profits that I am surprised the owner didn't file theft charges. It was all on camera.
And, of course, they almost never cleaned up poperly prior to leaving. I would find half eaten food int the preparation area - even though eating in food preparation areas is against health codes - in the morning. Entire toss bols of fries, half eaten sandwiches, and deli meats and pizza toppings just littering the prep tables and packaging stations.
And, then there were Fridays. They closed the restaraunt every Friday at 4 or so in order to go pray at the mosque, then reopened afterward. I would simply work a double - 14 hours - that day doing prep work after my daytime cook shift. I actually didn't mind because I could actually listen to my headphones while I worked then, since I was not allowed to listen to my music because sometimes it was loud enough that the other employees could hear it and that is haram!
Also, the manager would often leave to do deliveries in the middle of the day even though he did not have any other employees to cover front of house, so I had to take it upon myself to learn their POS system since he would often be gone for more than an hour and we were located right on a main road in the middle of downtown near the federal building, so we would get large orders all day long. I was never trained for this. Nor was I trained on the recipes for the hand mixed milkshakes, so I had to use my best judgement when that was ordered. Luckily this was during the winter and I quir before summer, so I didn't have to make many of those.
Oh, and speaking of winter - when the manager didn't show up on time in the morning I was often left sitting for 2 hours or moreby a dumpter in a back alley in February in Pittsburgh right by the Allegheny river, so you can imagine how cold that was.
It's the topography. We are encircled by mountains. It traps the humidity. We can have all 4 seasons in a single day, even in the summer. It even snowed during May in 2020.