It’s no secret that I completely enjoy and embrace Earth’s entertainment industry, particularly your television programs and motion pictures. We can learn so much from these productions while being entertained at the same time. My only issue is the number of streaming services available. I believe some major consolidation is in order – there are more streaming options than stars in the Andromeda Galaxy.
But I digress and want to focus on one of the latest shows that caught my eye – The Bear. If you are unfamiliar with this series, it’s about Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a renowned chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to take over his late brother’s struggling sandwich shop, “The Original Beef.” Carmy attempts to transform it into a high-end establishment while grappling with grief, family dysfunction and the intense pressures of a restaurant kitchen. A drama with some comedy thrown in, it’s said to be truly representative of restaurant life.
An episode that really caught my attention was “Forks,” which focuses on Carmy sending one of the longtime sandwich shop workers, Richard “Richie” Jerimovich, to an upscale restaurant for a week. Richie isn’t quite sure why Carmy’s doing this but suspects it’s some type of punishment for the friction he’s been causing at the shop.
As Richie walks through the posh restaurant early one morning well before opening, one of the restaurant workers pops in, looks at Richie and says, “Forks.” Richie clarifies what his name is but is told he’s on “forks” that day. Richie proceeds to the kitchen and finds washing bins full of forks that need hand polished. Hundreds – maybe thousands – of forks are tended to under the watchful eye of his supervisor, Garrett. Richie complains, is bitter, asks to do some other jobs; but the answer consistently is for him to stay on forks.
We watch the progression of Richie over the next few days as he starts taking more pride in the polishing of the forks, but he still complains. He can’t understand why this perfection with the forks is so important until Garrett explains to him that the restaurant is not only elite but has a waiting list of 5,000 people. Going there for dinner is an “event” for most and realizing “how stoked they are to see us and how stoked we are to serve them” makes it like the Super Bowl every night.
Taking all this into account, Garrett gets through to Richie, helping him realize and respect the amount of work and time that goes into the restaurant, including his own. Then, the next morning, he comes in to find a folded suit at his fork station. He’s informed that he’ll be trailing tonight, following others around the restaurant and taking in their jobs and the mechanics of the entire operation. This is when Richie has his breakthrough moment.
During his trailing, he overhears a family say that it’s a shame to be visiting Chicago but not getting any deep-dish pizza. Richie relays this to the team in the back and they decide to solve the deep-dish disappointment being experienced by the family. Next thing you see is Richie sprinting down the street to pick up a traditional Chicago deep dish pizza from Pequod’s. He returns to the restaurant where the team replates the pizza, giving it a special presentation and personal touch. He then asks if he can be the one to deliver it to the table.
The family was so surprised and happy to see the deep-dish pizza, even commenting that they were “just talking about that” and how amazing the service was. Good job, Richie!
As the rest of his week progresses, so does Richie’s passion to learn all he can from the restaurant and the many “chefs” who work there (as a sign of respect, no matter your job in the back of the house, you are addressed as Chef). He gets more and more happy because he’s making everyone around him – coworkers and customers – more and more happy. As he talks to Garrett at the end of his week, he makes the realization that his happiness is rooted in his acts of service, his hospitality.
As credit union mortgage lenders, isn’t this what we do every day, serving our members the very best we can to bring them the happiness that only homeownership can deliver? Making members happy is what makes us happy. We respect the amount of work that goes into the home loan process and take pride in knowing that these homeowners are as stoked to see us as we are to see them!
While Richie’s journey at the posh upscale restaurant comes to an end, his journey in delivering customer satisfaction at the highest level has just started. As the episode wraps up, we see Richie conversing with the head chef as he assists her in peeling mushrooms, something I had no idea that they even did. He learns from the chef that Carmy didn’t send him there as a punishment but rather because he knew Richie was good with people and that this journey would help him realize that.
Richie then looks up and sees a sign by the clock that says, “Every Second Counts.” When we’re working with members and potential borrowers, it is important that we make every second count as we work with them to deliver the dream of homeownership. Members come to you and your credit union because they’re looking for that next level of hospitality. It’s our job to make sure every fork is polished and every deep-dish pizza is delivered.
Let’s all get stoked and make some homeownership dreams come true. Order up!