Turkey’s off: Sacked chef airs grievances on Twitter

A HEAD chef who was fired a week before Christmas has become an online sensation when a series of tweets he published from his pub’s account went viral.
The tweets which have become an online sensationThe tweets which have become an online sensation
The tweets which have become an online sensation

Jim Knight, 28, took to Twitter to air his grievances - and was even offered a new job as a result, he said.

In a sequence of messages, posted from the Twitter account he created for The Plough, a pub in Oxfordshire where he had been the head chef, Mr Knight said he had been sacked because he wanted Christmas Day and a weekend off with his family.

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But Steve Potts, landlord of the pub in Great Haseley, said he had been clear about the need to work Sundays when Mr Knight started work in October and was left with little choice to part company with his chef when he could not work those days.

Mr Knight began by writing: “Happy Christmas everyone”.

He continued: “We’d like to inform you that we’ve just fired our head chef. Unfortunately he wanted to have a weekend off this month and Christmas Day this year for family commitments so we thought we’d sack him.”

His next messages read: “Yeah a week before Christmas!

“We don’t care that he has a 7 1/2 month old baby daughter.”

The former head chef from High Wycombe’s final message from The Plough’s account was: “Happy Christmas everyone!!!!!!”

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Mr Potts responded: “When Jim, as head chef, informed me that he would not be working on Christmas Day, and other Sundays in the near future, I was left with little choice but to end our arrangement.

“I had been quite clear with him when he started here in October 2013 that Sundays are our busiest days of the week, and that all our chefs have to work that day.”

Mr Knight used his personal account, to say: “I would like to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR I have not ‘hacked’ any account. I created the account with permission of my ex-employers.”

His response to the Twitter storm caused by his messages, which were retweeted thousands of times, was “Blimey”. And this morning he wrote: “I have very kindly been offered a serious job offer directly off the back of this twitter storm.”

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Earlier this year, employees at HMV used the company’s Twitter account to give a blow-by-blow report of the sackings at head office.

The Plough say on their website that their mission is: “To serve great food, beer and wine in an enjoyable friendly atmosphere.” It is now recruiting a head chef.

Mr Potts added: “I’ve been in this business 30 years and have a lot of contacts who have been asking me on an ongoing basis if there is a position available, as this is a fantastic pub to work for.

“Since the villagers bought it out two years ago, it’s been renovated to a wonderful standard, the kitchen facilities are second to none and it must be one of the most beautiful villages in the country.”