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Welcome to the industry. I mean, of course nobody on an internet comedy forum would do drugs, but it's been known to happen in the business (I'm one of the crazy ones who didn't even smoke cigarettes, though).
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Aug 23, 2013 15:21
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Turkeybone posted:Welcome to the industry. I mean, of course nobody on an internet comedy forum would do drugs, but it's been known to happen in the business (I'm one of the crazy ones who didn't even smoke cigarettes, though). As was I. Never smoked, never did drugs, barely abused redbull (Only one can a night). Somehow, I'm the one guy in the kitchen to get the horrible stuff.
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Aug 23, 2013 15:40
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I haven't ever done any drugs harder than weed and some hallucinogens (not at work, that'd be loving terrible) and don't even do those anymore. I've never smoked. I've never had redbull outside of jagerbombs (or occasional 30-hour-roadtrips). I don't drink coffee. I don't drink soda at work. I don't even drink heavily outside of work anymore. Do I still get to be in the club?
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Aug 23, 2013 17:34
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Naelyan posted:I don't drink coffee. Unforgivable, locate your nearest quality hipster coffee place and go until you realize you're wearing a flat cap and sharing an opinion on everything anyone in the place mentions.
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Aug 23, 2013 18:26
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So I had a dream last night that I was in a kitchen telling the head chef that if they needed help, I had some prep cook experience. Only this kitchen was some sort of strange fairy tale nightmare of dirt floors, steaming equipment, and hundreds of grim cooks moving constantly in a labyrinth. Also the head chef was literally 10 feet tall and androgynous and terrifying as they judged me. Is that the secret? Are all head chefs actually giants of power and wrath? Was I simply seeing what was real with all the glamours of Nod stripped away?
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Aug 23, 2013 19:44
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No there are plenty who are loving losers that get shitfaced drunk while running a beer dinner, and then somehow three months later the GM starts dating this rear end in a top hat and you get to live with all the PBR and used condoms in my house.
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Aug 23, 2013 20:10
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I want some outside perspective about my last job, which I quit. The job was to cook breakfast and lunch (as well as any special requests on demand) for ~40 people (maximum 80) with specific dietary needs in a health care facility. In addition to cooking, I had to do all food prep work for my meals, all dishwashing, some of the prep work for dinner, and of course keeping the kitchen clean. Some one else handled drinks, and sometimes they'd help put away dishes. I don't object to washing dishes or doing prep work in addition to cooking, but In my past jobs I'd usually not be the only one in the kitchen so we could juggle tasks. While I was alone in the kitchen in the job prior to this, I also wasn't dealing with nearly everyone having highly specific individual dietary requirements that could result in serious injury if I gently caress up. The only way I could actually get meals out on time was to work through my breaks and lunch. To make matters worse it was summer (temps were reaching 100) and the AC was broken, and a week into the job they fired my boss and didn't hire a replacement until the day I quit. Its the only job I've ever quit without giving 2 weeks notice. I know kitchen jobs suck, but was this an unreasonable level of suck? OtherworldlyInvader fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 24, 2013 00:33
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BlueGrot posted:Are people seriously doing coke to cope with work? I like my single large redbull per day, it keeps me going.
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Aug 24, 2013 01:33
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OtherworldlyInvader posted:I want some outside perspective about my last job, which I quit. The job was to cook breakfast and lunch (as well as any special requests on demand) for ~40 people (maximum 80) with specific dietary needs in a health care facility. In addition to cooking, I had to do all food prep work for my meals, all dishwashing, some of the prep work for dinner, and of course keeping the kitchen clean. Some one else handled drinks, and sometimes they'd help put away dishes. Same here, I am also washing the pots and the occasional set of dishes. But talking to you guys about it is a lot more relaxing than talking to my boss about it. Felt like for a while I had no to express my problems with who understands the industry. bunnyofdoom posted:One can of redbull a week? drat son, that's such an addiction. On top several cans of coke, of course.
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Aug 24, 2013 01:51
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BlueGrot posted:Are people seriously doing coke to cope with work? I was doing amphetamines just to get through the day. I'd have to be in at 5:00 a.m., get changed, get to the keys (about a half-mile total walk through the corridors) open the whole hotel kitchen, unlock all of the walk-ins, turn on all of the machines (all pilot lights out, even though I begged every day for them to not turn them off), get all of my buffet mis in the ovens (for up to 800 people by myself), assemble conference room party stuff, and get all of my rounds/hotels/chafers ready. Meanwhile, I needed to get my sauces (hollandaise, etc.) ready and heated, and cook of grits/oatmeal/whatever else was needed for the dining room and conference rooms. I had a poo poo flat top on which to do buffet pans full of eggs, one at a time. Needed to get all of these eggs, bacon, sausage (the fat little Hatfield ones), specials, hash browns, oatmeal/grits, etc. meals together, and assembled into hot boxes for wherever they were needed by 6:45 (the dining room/room service opening times). Starting at 6:45, I started getting room service and dining a la carte meals, while refilling the buffet when needed. I'd have a line of tickets, with a window full of food (servers whining that the over-easy eggs that they left in the window for 15 minutes are too dry and it's my fault) until about 11::00. Somewhere in all of this, I had to figure out two lunch specials for that inevitable rush, meanwhile breaking down all of my buffets and parties into lunch-room gruel and setting up all of the mis and sauces for the lunch line. The sous chef was supposed to handle all of the lunch stuff, but he loving didn't want to do anything but yoga and read naturalnews horseshit in his office. If he came out, and I was getting pounded, he'd stand there passive-aggressively, not doing any of the lunch prep that he was supposed to be doing. Oh hey, and the night guys didn't refill any of the loving god-damned lunch mis they were supposed to have done. Have I mentioned it's around noon, I've been here 7 hours, and haven't started my prep for the massive breakfasts and brunch and parties the next day? Good, cause the lunch rush has started, I'm working that alone, and the sous chef has gone back to his office to read dailykos articles out loud to the receiving manager. Lunch rush is over, the night guys have showed up at 2am, yelling at me for not having the line in perfect order (all 3 of them to handle about 80 a la carte meals), and no back-ups (but full pans). By that time, I'd been there for about 9 hours, and haven't started my prep for the next day at all, nor picked my specials for it. I usually didn't get to leave until 5 or 6 at night. I got paid $8/hr. for that, until I asked for a raise, and they gave me $9.75, which made me realize I was getting shafted hard. I was being led to believe that I would be getting a full-time opening into a cush job elsewhere in the kitchen, but they ended up giving it to some union dishwasher with no experience, who quit over "job description" bullshit later after I quit. TL;DR: I haven't vented honestly about this job, and my subsequent withdrawal-fueled rage quit about it anywhere. Whatever you want to make of it, go ahead. Plan Z fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 24, 2013 03:00
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"Sous chef's office" is a strange and novel word salad that makes me vaguely unhappy.
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Aug 24, 2013 03:36
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Splizwarf posted:"Sous chef's office" is a strange and novel word salad that makes me vaguely unhappy. You passed the test. It was basically a closet in which he could do dishwasher scheduling and presumably whack off to internet articles about vaccines. Have I painted a complete character picture yet? Plan Z fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 24, 2013 03:44
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Plan Z posted:I was doing amphetamines just to get through the day. I'd have to be in at 5:00 a.m., get changed, get to the keys (about a half-mile total walk through the corridors) open the whole hotel kitchen, unlock all of the walk-ins, turn on all of the machines (all pilot lights out, even though I begged every day for them to not turn them off), get all of my buffet mis in the ovens (for up to 800 people by myself), assemble conference room party stuff, and get all of my rounds/hotels/chafers ready. Meanwhile, I needed to get my sauces (hollandaise, etc.) ready and heated, and cook of grits/oatmeal/whatever else was needed for the dining room and conference rooms. I had a poo poo flat top on which to do buffet pans full of eggs, one at a time. Needed to get all of these eggs, bacon, sausage (the fat little Hatfield ones), specials, hash browns, oatmeal/grits, etc. meals together, and assembled into hot boxes for wherever they were needed by 6:45 (the dining room/room service opening times). Starting at 6:45, I started getting room service and dining a la carte meals, while refilling the buffet when needed. I'd have a line of tickets, with a window full of food (servers whining that the over-easy eggs that they left in the window for 15 minutes are too dry and it's my fault) until about 11::00. Ah, glad I am not alone in this as you had me on the whole amphetamine part. And here I thought my morning shift energy drink was bad. The last thing i want to see happen is drink biweekly. Having people who actually sympathize or at least relate without making you feel angry is a good thing since I usually go by "Majority opinion" in which I have both sides verify what is good/bad for me.
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Aug 24, 2013 03:48
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BlueGrot posted:Are people seriously doing coke to cope with work? No, probably just methamphetamine and weed. 8^{
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Aug 24, 2013 04:10
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gyrobot posted:And here I thought my morning shift energy drink was bad. The last thing i want to see happen is drink biweekly. You are adorable. 
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Aug 24, 2013 04:12
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Black August posted:Wrought, you sound like a threshing machine, and I applaud your iron guts to be able to not take poo poo and just weed people out. You sound like you'd be fun and terrifying to work under. Honestly, I'm a wreck. I'm a severely underqualified GM and my job is mostly customer service damage control. Luckily, I am very good at that. This is my first serious management gig and I've been given little guidance and a lot of responsibility, but nobody (upper management and my servers and cooks) expects me to do much except burn out in two months or less like their last dozen GMs. Last year, one GM made to his 90 day review. Shortly before he was fired for drinking on the job. I'll keep my standards when it comes to guest service, but beyond that, I'm treating this gig as "graduate school." The only servers that get along with me are the hardcore mercenaries who will do anything for a tip/do anything to please a guest. The rest think I'm a raging thundercunt, despite my attempts to give them the schedules they want, etc. All in all, it's just a restaurant. Nobody lives or dies by me.
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Aug 24, 2013 05:14
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Wroughtirony posted:Honestly, I'm a wreck. I'm a severely underqualified GM and my job is mostly customer service damage control. Luckily, I am very good at that. This is my first serious management gig and I've been given little guidance and a lot of responsibility, but nobody (upper management and my servers and cooks) expects me to do much except burn out in two months or less like their last dozen GMs. Last year, one GM made to his 90 day review. Shortly before he was fired for drinking on the job. Wrought, you're doing just fine. Servers are going to hate you unless you are literally waiting on their tables for them. Even then they may bitch because the tips weren't good enough (I have had this happen to me). GMing a restaurant is more about damage control and checking the numbers at the end of the night than anything else. Pitch in and help out where you can, but other than that, get out of the way and let people work.
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Aug 24, 2013 05:23
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You guys are seriously underdrugged and underdrunk. My generation would have kicked your asses. The kitchen could never afford coke, but the KM would give the broiler a line if he got behind and the first waitstation to phase had to buy beer for the kitchen at 7-11 so we could drink on the loading dock.
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Aug 24, 2013 05:28
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So yeah, the general manager loving the executive chef while the EC is going through a divorce, how bad is that going to be?
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Aug 24, 2013 06:02
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Turkeybone posted:So yeah, the general manager loving the executive chef while the EC is going through a divorce, how bad is that going to be? Air raid sirens are going off as we speak. Roll a blunt, pop the top on something malty, and settle in to watch the fireworks. BlueGrot posted:Are people seriously doing coke to cope with work? Welcome to the industry. Drugs are poo poo common. 90% of the cooks I've worked with are on something, be it speed, pot, or just a terrible drinking habit like mine. I try to keep it professional and only drink outside of work, though. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Aug 24, 2013 |
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Aug 24, 2013 06:38
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I smoke way too much weed . But the last month I've been totally clean and work is a bit different.
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Aug 24, 2013 07:04
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pr0k posted:You guys are seriously underdrugged and underdrunk. My generation would have kicked your asses. The kitchen could never afford coke, but the KM would give the broiler a line if he got behind and the first waitstation to phase had to buy beer for the kitchen at 7-11 so we could drink on the loading dock. gently caress you, your generation, and (of course) your mom, pr0k. Do you have any idea how drunk I was when I wrote that? Now if you'll excuse me, my hangover and I are going to go find reasons to yell at people. :-D
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Aug 24, 2013 13:45
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I would smoke weed before work but I can't afford it. (But living at home 17 year old kitchen hands can arrrrgh gently caress them)
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Aug 24, 2013 13:57
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I don't do drugs, except for all these painkillers I have prescriptions for!  Also, I am currently top contender for restaurant sous 
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Aug 24, 2013 14:18
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Liquid Communism posted:I try to keep it professional and only drink outside of work, though. Yeah it's nice to have a covered loading dock. 
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Aug 24, 2013 17:28
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I remember one of my early line jobs in a "southern comfort food modernized/improved" the chef left 2 weeks after I started and took the sous with him to open a food truck in some other city. The new chef they brought in introduced himself by handing out shots of rum to the line just before our first dinner turn. He handed out shots of vodka after the end of the first rush and bourbon after the second. He then proceeded to do this every big dinner night.
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Aug 24, 2013 17:39
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BlueGrot posted:Are people seriously doing coke to cope with work? Are you not?
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Aug 24, 2013 21:34
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Also, I am currently top contender for restaurant sous There is absolutely no way you're not going to get the bump to sous. Sorry, I realize life is very boring without drama, but you're two shoes-in. ------ Bad things about today: -Went outside with friends yesterday to be social and poo poo. Got sunburned everywhere. Except my face didn't even get a tan so with a shirt on I still look like a slightly less healthy Iggy Pop. You know you hosed up when prepping other stations' poo poo means your focus on knifework means that for a few minutes you can think about something other than how Every Moment You Live Is Agony. -Got three hours of sleep on account of each toss and turn in bed feeling like my skin was suppurating. -WHY WOULD YOU CLOSE SOUTH CONGRESS. WHY CLOSE THE BUSIEST THOROUGHFARE IN AUSTIN AT QUARTER OF FIVE IN THE MORNING YOU FUCKS, BAT NIGHT ISN'T UNTIL *THE NIGHT*. Holy poo poo on top of everything else getting most of the way to work then having to drive a meandering semicircle in the opposite direction when you already left late, oh god oh god so angry. -Checking the schedule, instead of being fifteen minutes late, was forty-five minutes early. On a morning where I really, really could've used an extra hour of sleep. But I wasn't late on account of the City of Twee Dumbfuck Austin. Got even madder for being made to feel mad. This makes perfect sense on three hours of sleep two hours into a service. Good things about today: -Multitasked like a motherfucker. -Got concrete proof that my knife skills are like, 50x better than they were a month ago. Growing as a professional and person owns, imo. -Got my poo poo done and then some, making tomorrow real easy. -Helped out other stations during a psycho service, currently look like a boss. The kind of boss with little responsibility and is merely a reasonably helpful coworker, but a boss. Was in such a toxic mood at the start of the day but by the end everything felt... good! I'm no longer getting bitched out for slowness and even getting occasional attaboys, so either I've been written off as a lost cause and people are fluffing me up until I'm let go at my 90 day review or I'm being seen to be stepping up. There's really only one thing to do:
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Aug 24, 2013 22:27
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Every Moment We Live is Agony would be the best name for a breakout post-punk band. I can play one bass chord every four seconds, lets get two other food service goons who can do the same and we'll leave this life of luxury, cut a record, become the darlings of Pitchfork Media and go on tour.
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Aug 24, 2013 22:29
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All of this drug talk makes me happy that I cook in a restaurant where people just smoke a lot of pot because the diner is one of the most laid back, stress free jobs I've ever had with the strongest line I've ever worked with, so that even on move in weekend when I'm getting slammed on eggs I'm just dancing and singing along to the music we play in the kitchen like it's karaoke night. Having said that, the GM/head cook will probably go a bender/all night yak session and be in a pissy mood tomorrow.
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Aug 24, 2013 22:52
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Willie Tomg posted:Every Moment We Live is Agony would be the best name for a breakout post-punk band. I can play one bass chord every four seconds, lets get two other food service goons who can do the same and we'll leave this life of luxury, cut a record, become the darlings of Pitchfork Media and go on tour. I'll do one trumpet note per song, spending the rest of the time loudly emptying my spit valve into the microphone. On topic: Week of consistently well-handled busy nights, ended last night spending four hours at the bar with a coworker discussing the industry, food, art, big cities, etc. Then called off today because we weren't picking up. Good times, expecting next week to suck rear end to compensate.
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Aug 25, 2013 00:38
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Willie Tomg posted:Every Moment We Live is Agony would be the best name for a breakout post-punk band. I can play one bass chord every four seconds, lets get two other food service goons who can do the same and we'll leave this life of luxury, cut a record, become the darlings of Pitchfork Media and go on tour. Ugggggggh, reminding me of the times we trusted college freshmen/sophomores with the radios at work ("You like punk? Ever heard of a band called Sublime?"). I like how we got 16 seconds into one guy's Dark Side of the Moon before another cook ripped it out of the player. Sorry, no mood music at work. Also, I will play back-up bass where I just play one harmonic note in the beginning, then spend the rest of the song pressing my strings against the pickups.
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Aug 25, 2013 02:30
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Before corporate made changes, each of our stores was tasked to play radio for customers benefit (and our sanity). The problem with this is that it was playing music in a public venue, or some other legal copyright stuff. Basically, because tons of people including some of my less clever staff used Pandora for this, corporate stepped in and homogenized the whole system, purchasing an internet radio station that every store must use. I can only imagine who thought it would be a good idea to seed these with AC/DC, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Pink Floyd.  There are some solid hits, and a lot of spectacular misses. No one likes it at the lower levels of operations (store and regional managers), but no one has enough political leeway right now to duke it out with upper management over a not-bargain-basement music solution.So we're stuck racing each other to the 'skip' button when "Baby" queues up, and no longer have the ability to put on electronic when poo poo gets serious, which was our standby for 'get poo poo done music.' Oh hey, it's Brittany Spears.  tl;dr, if you have to purchase music to play, don't scattershot pop, rock, and country for the past 5 decades or so. Pick something and stick to it, gently caress. And not Justin loving Bieber. edit: I'll play a single trombone glissando at the beginning or end of the song, but not both. The rest of the time I'll spend frowning and moving the slide back and forth before applying grease and water, then repeating.
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Aug 25, 2013 21:25
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Let us take a moment to reflect upon marriage, and irony. Before I took my current job, I was out of town on a leave of absence from work helping a friend get her catering business off the ground. When I got back, for various reasons, Mr W. and I decided to take the US Military up on their generous offer of free marriage counseling. We found someone very well qualified who could see us on my set day off, Wednesday. He saw her a couple of times before I got back. Two days before our first session together with her, I was offered my current job. My current job came with Mondays and some Tuesdays as my set days off. I saw the counselor once and then we had to find a new one who could see us on Mondays because the one we had didn't see patients that day. It took awhile, but we finally found someone who could see us during the tiny slice of time on Monday when we can both be in the same place at the same time during business hours. My main assistant manager has a custody hearing tomorrow morning, so I'm covering for her. My other two assistant managers both have day jobs, and the regional manager told me that he can't cover even part of my shift because he needs to spend time with his family because his 20 year marriage is on the brink of collapse because he works too much. Mr. W will be going to our first marriage counseling appointment alone. At least I know what the topic of discussion will be next week... In other news, I kicked rear end today. I ran with a short staff and managed to fill in the blanks so that every customer left happy. One lady who was out with her (very picky) friends made me write down the owner's email address so that she could send him a compliment about me, and made me stand there while she emailed him from her phone. One of my regulars summed it up for me when I was explaining why someone with my background was working at this particular restaurant. (We have a reputation as "well, the service sucks and sometimes the food is bad, but they're open 24 hours!") For me, this is graduate school. I won't be here forever, it's a very difficult position and there's lots of bullshit to deal with that has little to do with how things are done in the "real world" of finer dining, but going through the process will make me a better manager and the "GM" position on my resume will open doors that were previously closed to me.
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Aug 26, 2013 03:14
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Warmachine posted:
It's Britney, bitch!
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Aug 26, 2013 03:54
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Dear Boss: When you ask me if I am working six days, and I say I should probably do five this week since I am sick and worked through the day while sick and whacked out of my rear end on cold meds and don't want to risk MORE sick, it is not clever to sign me down to work a double on Saturday. I noticed. I can do it and will for fat loving tip stacks, but I noticed. ps stop hitting on barely legal patrons and anything in a nice dress and spending hours giving them free drinks, you're married you creep. Not that it ever stops your type. pps giant Bulgarian waiter who I can barely understand orders from, I know you hate me but I am going to win you over anyways (for the $$$)
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Aug 26, 2013 04:56
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So.....I may end up rejoining your ranks. I lost my job this morning
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Aug 26, 2013 13:54
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That sucks  .Anyone have any thoughts on Chef hiring in people from outside who he knows to replace people leaving? He's done it twice where I'm at, one's doing well. The newer lady is just...loving awful though. Meddling, thinks she knows how to do everything, a pain in the rear end, just awful really.
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Aug 26, 2013 14:13
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Manuel Calavera posted:That sucks Anecdotal, but I have had nothing but absolutely terrible experiences with chefs bringing in their friends and family as workers. The last place I worked, I was sous of a catering company for about 4 weeks, a new chef had started a week after I did. When I was hired I told them about a trip I was taking, so I went and did that, came back to being told that I was demoted while I was gone, one of the other staff was let go and one quit, the replacements were chef's bff from culinary school (which I knew about before I left, she was to be the other sous), another culinary school friend to replace me as sous, her son, her son's friend, and one of her culinary school instructors to consult. Massive clusterfuck. My girlfriend's (also a chef) worst cook right now is the one being paid the most (and while she's on salary, this cook is making more than her per hour, even if she only works her designated 50 hours/week) out of any cook in the restaurant, and was brought in by the current head chef because he worked with her a couple jobs ago and they're all buddy buddy. Whether or not the friend is a good cook or not, I've found that they almost always tend to get away with poo poo that other people wouldn't because of their outside relationship with the chef. poo poo is no good.
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Aug 26, 2013 16:04
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That's what happened with one guy that got promoted over me, sort of. Well, the two of em that got promoted because they played basketball with the former boss(es). One got fired *finally* for being a slackass. The other left. He was something special. First and foremost, he went into rehab on the company dime for like, 3 months. He was a slackass too, complained about poo poo, didn't clean up, etc. He would come in late and call off *all the time* and never get in trouble for it. Favoritism loving sucks.
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Aug 27, 2013 03:51
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