Gawker has decided, in its INFINITE wisdom, to remove some of its subdomains and focus on the shitshow megacarnival that is the American political machine. Not that they could have just kept Wonkette and done that, but whatever. The real losers in this deal are the men and women losing their jobs as writers on the site. While there are some people who hate Gawker, I do wander there, mostly for Deadspin and io9, but I was in love with one of their future former sites, kitchenette.
I actually had a letter posted there (I was Cameron Reading), which was awesome. Kitchenette, you see, had a weekly feature called Behind Closed Ovens. They published stories from servers, cooks, delivery guys, hosts/hostesses, and everyone in the food service industry. It was a terrific place to vent about the total fuckwaddery of the general public, and it was GLORIOUS. C.A. Pinkham ran a terrific site that will be missed. Follow him on Twitter @EyePatchGuy and try to refrain from sending him poop/vomit stories.
Sooo, does everybody that’s ever worked in the service industry love the movie “Waiting”?
I’ll confess I read far too much Gawker even though I think most of the writers are too far up their own asses. They seemed to think they were more than garden-variety muckrakers when they clearly weren’t.
I guess Gawker is #UpForWhomeverIsRunning.
Shocking.
http://www.drodd.com/images8/funny-gif/funny-gif19.gif
Well, for me the policy on random gifage was remarkably stifling.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ir03QDP245U/UaCNtWA4CUI/AAAAAAAACtA/yJo6JHEdcqE/s320/funny-gif-DJ-girl-pancakes.gif
In the spirit of BCO I give you this-
I bartended during university and afterwards for a total of about 7/8 years. One slow night a sketchy looking guy came in and announced that he was buying his dad his “birthday supper”. The dad was a small, quiet guy who looked to be beaten down by life and as the evening went on I felt increasingly sorry for him. Why? His son was a loudmouth, aggressive sort that liked confrontation. He got into the beers and wine before the mains arrived and would yell across the dining room to get his server’s attention (a buddy of mine). I don’t think he’d ever been made aware of dining room etiquette. He ordered the smoked salmon at one point and after one bite waved his server over and said “Take this back, I don’t want it”. When asked why he didn’t like it he responded with “it’s not fucking smoky enough”
Soooooo. It’s finally time to pay up-he’s presented with the bill and produces his “old ladies” welfare cheque and instructs my friend to cash it, take what is needed to pay the bill and give him the remainder. We obviously weren’t going to do any of that and called the police. He went ballistic. Every epithet in English and French was hurled at us, physical threats were made and his poor old dad tried to make himself invisible. On his birthday. The police arrived and eventually the guy was cuffed, swearing the entire time at any- and everyone, including the cops. The dining room had different levels so this one law enforcement official who had his fill of this constant verbal abuse asked the guy to go ahead of him and as he approached four descending steps (he was cuffed behind his back) tripped him. Of course our least favourite diner crashed to the floor. The cop who did the deed said sweetly, “oh, did you fall? You should be more careful-you don’t want that to happen again”.
Of course, from then on whenever a drink or dessert or anything else was returned to the bar or kitchen the serving staff would say, “It wasn’t smoky enough”.
Bravo sir!
I love how an idiot’s reason for returning something was turned into a running joke.
Boo. BCO was so funny because there’s no way any of that was made up.
I gather from this that most of the “umbrella” sites that catered to varied interests are starting to decide that said interests are simply not worth the time and effort, particularly if it allows your readers room to vent.
Man am I glad I don’t go to many websites any more.
We’re glad you come here.
Shit, me too. As I’ve said before, this place is more fun than I’ve had online in ages.
It’s almost as if you’re referencing another site that made a similar decision…almost.
That’s the nice thing about not being compensated for dick jokery; DTZM cannot take away my livelihood when he shuts this mutha down for, I don’t know, because he’s a closet Cowboys fan who gets fed up with the Cassel-bashing. #IAmAnArtist
Unluckily for me, I’m currently an out of the closet Rams fan. Although, I will have to pick a new team when they move, and I’m open to bribes/coercion.
Join the San Diego Raiders bandwagon now, and avoid the rush!
You could join the [4 and]Twelves.
Bills! St. Louis Chapter! Every success is a pleasant surprise, every failure is par for the course, and we’ve got Rex!
BCO is tremendous, and may it never die. I’m reasonably certain it will live on. I’ve saved a number of cocktail recipes from kitchenette, as they were quite often very good ones.
I’m really not sure about this angle that Gawker is going for. I don’t think it really has the chops to compete with Vice or Vox or whatever site Denton is so jelly of. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Agreed. I think they’re going to be a mediocre political site at a time when everyone is covering it.
*BTO
The theory I heard is that he’s slimming down the site with the intent of selling it.
I completely agree with you about Kitchenette, I was a full time service industry worker for 15 years, and now still bartend 1 night a week as the industry is addictive (as is the money). I am sad to see behind kitchen doors to go.
Yeah I worked for a few restaurants and really appreciated the ventspace. I invited Pinkham here and he said that he’s got some things brewing.
As much as I loved BCO, I never liked Pinkham much. He came across as a lot of snark but little self-awareness or cleverness.