Desserts & Dramas

Chapter 36

"Sofia, there are two men out front who want to talk to you." Yasmin went to call her from the kitchen.

She was adorning some desserts with Gisele on the central countertop, left her utensils and went to the front of the shop. The two men introduced themselves as health surveillance inspectors and were there to investigate an anonymous tip.

Sofia had no choice and showed them the whole space. From the tables in the front of the bakery, the counter where the desserts are presented, the kitchen, countertops, refrigerators and, finally, the storage room and stocks. They didn't comment on anything, just looked from one to the other and nodded at some moments.

She was not totally surprised by the visit, but knowing that it was a tip"off was a fact that bothered her. It had been months since they had shown up, and just a few days after the accident on the mosquito net, they decided to pay a visit. It was too much of a coincidence even for Sofia. The chef was sure that they would not find anything inappropriate besides the net, but until then they had made no comment about this item.

"Where are the opening dates for these boxes of milk?" one of the inspectors asked after opening the refrigerator.

"We wrote down near the date of manufacture and expiration," Sofia answered.

"I can't find it."

"Let me see." Sofia couldn't find the note either and tried to fix the situation. "But they were opened today, so maybe there wasn't time to write it down yet. We are working with them right now."

"It doesn't matter, if it is open and not date stamped, it is not possible to confirm if it was stored correctly. It is irregular. You can throw it away."

"Yes, sir." Sofia nodded. She said she would not argue with them over a few boxes of milk.

They continued their meticulous search for problems and soon found another irregular item. While his partner was dealing with the milk cartons, the other inspector had already been in the warehouse for some time. He came out with two cans in his hand.

"These cans of peaches are expired."

Sofia looked at him confused.

"We don't use canned peaches in our recipes. I don't know what they are doing in the storage."

"I can't tell you that," the inspector replied rudely. "That's out too. There are five more cans in that corner, all for the trash."

Sofia nodded to Mrs. Maria and she picked up the last cans from the storage area.

"Anything else, gentlemen?" Sofia questioned them.

"Don't think that we didn't see the tear in your window mosquito net."

The public official went straight to the main problem, looking at Sofia from the window with a displeased look on his face. His colleague removed the adhesive tape and with his hands opened an even bigger tear.

"This is unacceptable." The inspector spoke and damaged the fabric more and more.

"We are still waiting for the material to arrive from the factory." Gisele answered, trying to help.

"It doesn't matter, either you fix it or we'll have to close your kitchen." The same rude inspector showed all his politeness again. In fact, politeness was not a skill of that public function. Or common sense, for he left the net in a much worse state than it was before.

At least his colleague who had found the milk boxes was trying to fix the situation.

"Mrs. MacLean, you can't function like this, it's dangerous for the population. Since the other irregularities are minor infractions, we can let them go. However, you will have seventy"two hours to fix this net or you will not be allowed to operate again until you fix it. Is that understood?"

"Yes."

He handed out a notification with all the inadequacies described and his contact information.

"We'll be back in three days."

" Yes, sir."

Sofia walked them to the door and then got back to the kitchen. Her only question was:

"Where did those peach cans come from?"

But no one could answer. Mrs. Maria shrugged, Yasmin shook her head, and Gisele simply looked away and changed the subject:

"I can't believe how rude they are, as if we were criminals."

"They should be on the streets arresting criminals," Mrs. Maria agreed.

"People, the health surveillance inspectors have no relation with the police. But that doesn't matter, at least they didn't find so many irregularities. And they weren't supposed to find any beyond the torn net. Who opened the milk boxes today?"

"I think it was me, Sofia." Yasmin stepped forward with her head down.

"Yasmin, you must not forget to write these things down, this is very important."

"I know. It's just that mom asked me to open them, and then I went to the counter and, I don't know what happened, I got distracted. I'm sorry."

"Well, that's over now, don't let it happen again. And you two," Sofia looked at Gisele and Mrs. Maria, "can also help her remember this or even make a note of it when she opens a product. That's what teamwork is all about."

The employees were not very happy with Sofia's scolding, but she could not let it go without saying something. Irregularities in health surveillance were too serious to be taken lightly. This could not happen again, it was a waste of resources, and it put Siùcar in the eye of the inspectors. They would come back to check the net and, no doubt, to find other infractions. She had to solve this quickly, even if it was with other fabric manufacturers. The seventy"two hours were already ticking away.

"While I solve the net issue, check all the supplies, verify all the expiration dates, and remove the products that we don't use on the menu. Yasmin, you look in the refrigerator to see if everything that is open has the annotation. When in doubt, it is better to throw it away. We can't make the same mistakes and run the risk of closing it."

"This won't happen, I'll look at everything." Yasmin tried to sound positive, but the atmosphere in the kitchen was no longer the same.

And Sofia didn't care. As long as they worked as a team and did everything right, the bakery would stay open and they would keep their jobs. What more could they want?