A black mark (?)

As most should know, I spend my time cooking at a nursing home. Approximately five weeks ago, a complaint was filed to whoever-takes-nursing-home-complaints regarding activities in the kitchen while I was working. MY kitchen. I am no chef, I can really only be called a professional by definition. But I still have a sense of pride about what I do and how I run the kitchen. If a complaint comes in, I absolutely want to know so that I can do everything in my power to fix it.

Apparently a complaint was not enough. Now the hammer is coming down. The state of Nebraska and my employer are both conducting investigations. At least one job is on the line. Not mine, thankfully.

So far as I understand the nature of the complaint, which I admit is not very, it is not justified. Based solely on the events which transpired that night, nothing went wrong in the kitchen. Even had the event taken place as reported, common sense would say that it was not a problem. But the laws governing a facility like this are very strict and leave no room for common sense. All I can hope for is that the investigation reveals the truth and minimal to nil punishment occur for the accused party.

All the same, this feels like a black mark. Even though my name is barely likely to come up, even though this will not have any direct affect on myself or how I do my job, it hurts. This happened in my kitchen. Or at least a kitchen I was put in charge of. I take pride in what I do and feel shame when a scandal like this happens.