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Shooting Blanks posted:Agreed. That manager should be written up, potentially suspended or fired himself. I agree with this entirely. I'm pretty pissed about the whole thing and am in talks with head office. The Dept. of Labor will undoubtedly be involved in this mess. Turns out he had called them out on the other crap and she used the profanity as an excuse to fire him as retaliation.
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Sep 12, 2013 16:09
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I mean.. he can try and claim like some whistleblower protection for reporting to OSHA or something, but sadly despite the bullshit I'm not sure what he can do besides sue for those hours that got changed.
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Sep 12, 2013 17:34
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I've suggested a week severance and a change of dismissal reason for something other than misconduct. Hopefully that will settle things a bit, but I dunno. I want to keep my hands clean of the whole mess as much as possible while trying to do the right thing here, but it's one or the other. Best to just keep clear of it and let the person responsible take the heat I guess. Also, we are out of shrimp and last week's order was screwed up by the bar manager who doesn't know what is going on. I hate taking vacation.
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Sep 12, 2013 19:56
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Ok, that's it. Looking for a new job while still at this one, I am not going to be jerked around by some borderline pedophilic failing businessman. Am I wrong? To feel insulted and skeeved out that I get told by him "you can become a waiter when you find a busser to replace you" -- not him, not a manager, not a hiring posting, but ME. I have to find someone to replace me if I want to be allowed to upgrade to waiter. I thought he was joking but he's serious. I don't have the loving TIME or know anyone here yet to do that. And I'm not making any loving money, boss -- I get $5 each from three waiters most nights because nobody is coming to eat. And why the hell did he hire a 19 year old bartender girl, and a 19 year old busser, have them work one week, then not assign them hours the next week, prompting them to quit and find other work? Was it a passive-aggressive way of firing them? Did they not suck his cock when told? I'm already tired of seeing pretty women walk in every day and get free drink after free drink as he chats them up. I just feel frustrated as hell, and I dislike being as overworked as I am. I'm used to 6 hour hard working days, not 9 hour dragging ones with little to do but try to appear busy. It's also hard with the staff speaking so many different languages, it makes communication in the heat of the moment very hard, which seems way too important to muck up in this business.
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Sep 12, 2013 23:08
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Do you work for my old boss? This sounds like exactly the crap he would pull. He lost his old place in the divorce (screwing the waitresses) and just opened a new place to really terrible reviews. He also was famous for trying to make servers rent sections from him like hairdressers do chairs at salons. Telling someone they need to do his hiring for him sounds right up his alley.
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Sep 12, 2013 23:25
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Ben Soosneb posted:I just realised that I hand roll 250 * 48 = 12000 meatballs a year. At one of my old jobs I turned 1,000 lbs of cow into 1/3 lb hamburger patties with a pyrex pie plate in a few hours. 
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Sep 13, 2013 00:55
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I made just over 30,000 muffins last year. God, I'm glad I'm not on breakfast shift anymore, but I will forever be able to throw muffin batter across the room into a pan in my sleep.
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Sep 13, 2013 01:49
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Black August posted:And why the hell did he hire a 19 year old bartender girl, and a 19 year old busser, have them work one week, then not assign them hours the next week, prompting them to quit and find other work? Was it a passive-aggressive way of firing them? Yeah, this is pretty standard practice by any given scummy rear end in a top hat manager. Cut hours to the point of making people quit if they don't do what you want to or you don't like them or they ask off on a day you don't want to let them have off or you think their shirt is ugly. But yes, go find yourself a new job, that one sounds like poo poo and it's not like bussing tables is a great job to begin with.
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Sep 13, 2013 11:49
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I haven't read the entire thread so I'm not sure if it was covered, but what do you guys do for shoes in the kitchen? I started working in a catering kitchen this week and I need a good work-shoe that is less than like, $100. Also do I just assume all my coworkers smoke pot or should I ask them first? Also also I figured all the talk about animosity between front/back of house was hyperbolic but the front of house people totally went and ate lunch away from the BoH people after an event the other day. 
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Sep 14, 2013 01:55
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I wear Crocs. Used to wear Red Wings, but they kept splitting, and at $120/pair and only a transferable 1yr warranty, it wasn't worth it. Crocs do look a little goofy, but my feet don't hurt after a 12hr day, so who cares.
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Sep 14, 2013 02:12
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Crawford posted:I haven't read the entire thread so I'm not sure if it was covered, but what do you guys do for shoes in the kitchen? I started working in a catering kitchen this week and I need a good work-shoe that is less than like, $100. I was going to reccomend these or something like them, but I just noticed they are now made in China. I can't in good conscience recommend a non-American shoe at that price. I used to get my shoes from them for about $79.95, nd I thought they were American made. Most likely all of your co-workers get high, but one might not and more still, they might be a snitch. Try some probing questions first. If they aren't, "cool" lock 'em in the walk-in.
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Sep 14, 2013 02:12
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Here's something we can talk about. Our most unconventional kitchen wound. Like, not talking knife wounds or burns, but something unusual. Me? Worst wound I ever got in the kitchen, from a bucket. I was doing some emergency prep (we ran out of portioned fries) in the middle of service. Next to me was a stack of buckets. Now these buckets had raise bumps around teh handles, about a couple cm tall. I managed to hit the pile causing the buckets to fall. Did a stupid, and tried to catch one from the top. The bump went deep into the palm of my hand. What did I do? Wrapped it in gauze, finished my shift, then went to the Dr. Still have the scar. There was also the time I had pneumonia, and my co-worker found me passed out in the walk-in. Still finished my shift before going to the ER. ....You know, me getting cancer is becoming less of a mystery here.
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Sep 14, 2013 02:49
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I have a scar that covers my right ring finger from the first to second joint... from the sprayer on our dish sink. It has a lovely handle, so I got in the habit of using that finger to hold it locked in place... and wore the skin off of my finger last Christmas season in the unending mountains of dishes. The skin that grew back over it is thinner, and dries out and cracks easily.
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Sep 14, 2013 05:13
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Had a co-worker at my old Cheesesteak place who had a permanent red ring around a finger from when a slice of onion got wrapped around it, and wouldn't come off.
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Sep 14, 2013 07:35
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I managed to slice a good bit off the top of my thumb on nothing else but the lip of a saucepan while scrapping the burnt on demi glaze off the bottom of the pot. There was also a patch of time where I'd end up with bits of chestnut shell under my fingernails which isn't ever really fun
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Sep 14, 2013 08:08
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A couple jobs ago, I was helping to open a new restaurant, and at the end of our first day of training (before open) we broke down and did a scrub of all the new equipment in the kitchen. I took the brand new, shiny Alto Sham drawer thing. I took out the top drawer, grabbed it by the back with one hand to place it on a counter, and slit my palm open. Apparently they don't bother sanding down any edges before they send that poo poo out. Lesson learned.
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Sep 14, 2013 12:57
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I hit a button on an electronic pad to put in an order, and the plastic covering the button was really worn from constant use. The sensor underneath punched a hole in my finger that I still have a scar from.
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Sep 14, 2013 13:53
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I got a shard of crisped duck skin we were using to make canapés lodged inbetween my fingernail and nailbed. Surprsingly painful.
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Sep 14, 2013 16:29
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Just got to work. Two out of three fryers are out of commission. 
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Sep 14, 2013 21:58
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zerocrash posted:Just got to work. Two out of three fryers are out of commission. Grab a candytherm, throw a stock pot of oil on the range and solider on.
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Sep 14, 2013 22:39
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Crawford posted:I haven't read the entire thread so I'm not sure if it was covered, but what do you guys do for shoes in the kitchen? I started working in a catering kitchen this week and I need a good work-shoe that is less than like, $100. I slipped in some lovely "non-slip" shoes and got a pair of shoes for crews afterwards. they aren't the most comfortable things but I definitely wear them anytime I'm going to be walking around with heavy stockpots or in a slippery environment (I haven't worked in a kitchen for a while, so this isn't *that* frequent these days...)
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Sep 15, 2013 00:07
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I got a pretty bad scrape across the knuckles from the edge of some diamond-print steel on the door to dry storage as I was carrying a big box in.
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Sep 15, 2013 00:43
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Reached over a boiling tea kettle on the stove to grab a pot handle. My forearm went right over the spout. What's worse than a steam burn? An infected steam burn. Also, aluminium foil cuts. Like paper cuts only more horrible.
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Sep 15, 2013 03:43
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My best wound so far was at the place I was working at now. Upstairs on the patio there's a shelf we have to stock with upstairs stuff; plates, silverware, kitchen goods, etc. So of course the shelf was old and small and nobody ever moves when you need to bend down 20 times to get stuff. Especially not when you reach to pick up a bucket under it, and pull your hand up to find the back of it torn wide open by a rusty screw poking out. 4 rusty screws, actually, there used to be a shelf and it was torn out without the screws being filed down or caulked over or nothing. Shoulda been my first sign this place was up its own rear end. Healed well enough at least, despite massive blood gouting.
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Sep 15, 2013 04:11
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Restaurant people are weird. The past week or two tiny doodles of cats saying either "Meow" or "Bark" have been popping up in the oddest places. On the backs of equipment, insides of boxes of produce, inside of paper towel dispensers, and pretty much everywhere else you'd normally not look. And now this afternoon a bunch of the night/evening crew decided to go in together on a rice cooker, a 20lb bag of rice and an assortment of soy sauces so they can have rice to eat. I don't even know if I should have a problems with this stuff  pre-edit: They get free meals/drinks each shift already.
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Sep 15, 2013 04:17
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Wroughtirony posted:Reached over a boiling tea kettle on the stove to grab a pot handle. My forearm went right over the spout. What's worse than a steam burn? An infected steam burn. Sliced my finger counting aluminium pie tins for inventory.  
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Sep 15, 2013 09:35
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Wroughtirony posted:Reached over a boiling tea kettle on the stove to grab a pot handle. My forearm went right over the spout. What's worse than a steam burn? An infected steam burn. Oh, god. I get those all the time from foiling dessert rings for cheesecakes. 
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Sep 15, 2013 14:56
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Job application question--for two years I've been front/middle of house at the same joint. I'd like to get into baking/pastry somewhere else (not specific, just somewhere else). First, are there any smart things to do resume-wise, particularly in terms of spinning what I've done? Secondly, would bringing in samples of my own recipes to interviews be a bad idea? I've got a couple I'm proud of and I think it'd illustrate my capabilities better than any paper could, but I'd hate to be seen as attempting bribery.
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Sep 15, 2013 16:55
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Stage at a bakery or two. Do bring sugary bribes.
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Sep 15, 2013 18:40
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Alright--what kind of kit would I need for pastry staging? I'm assuming I won't need knives, but I've never seen the pastry folks at my present workplace bring anything besides their uniforms, and I lack the context to know if that's normal. I do have BoH pants and a coat with the logo of the school I did my one semester of culinary arts at--is that enough to start? And good to know re: sugary bribes, that alone makes me waaaaay more confident. Now I just need to find blackcurrants. Worse comes to worse, though, I'll just throw together my cashew/caramel cookies. Keep y'all's fingers crossed for me as I ask around my social networks, please~ Hopefully I can get some stages set up over the course of the week.
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Sep 15, 2013 23:38
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Trebuchet King posted:Now I just need to find blackcurrants. Good loving luck, if you're in the US. Barely anyone grows them here because until 2003 it was illegal; heirloom blackcurrant bushes carry a blight that rips through pine with a vengeance. Apparently the relaxation of the laws is specifically for new cultivars that don't harbor the blight. I grew up in a community that included a lot of expat Brits and Germans, and was later surprised to find out that barely anyone outside my childhood town had any idea what they were. 
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Sep 15, 2013 23:50
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Aw, hell. I can try infusing some honey with blackcurrant tea, then, but I wanted the blackcurrants themselves for appearance's sake, too.
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Sep 15, 2013 23:59
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I don't have any problem getting dried black currants. Never bothered trying to get fresh though.
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Sep 16, 2013 00:22
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Splizwarf posted:Good loving luck, if you're in the US. Barely anyone grows them here because until 2003 it was illegal; heirloom blackcurrant bushes carry a blight that rips through pine with a vengeance. Apparently the relaxation of the laws is specifically for new cultivars that don't harbor the blight.
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Sep 16, 2013 00:48
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Trebuchet King posted:Alright--what kind of kit would I need for pastry staging? I'm assuming I won't need knives, but I've never seen the pastry folks at my present workplace bring anything besides their uniforms, and I lack the context to know if that's normal. I do have BoH pants and a coat with the logo of the school I did my one semester of culinary arts at--is that enough to start? Bowl scrapers, spatulas(both rubber and various sized offsetns), a bench scraper, measuring spoons, cups, pastry brushes, peeler, scissors is most of what's in my roll at any given time. I honestly wouldn't bother bringing in any thing you made at home. Every try out for a job I've ever done you shadow somebody for a bit then they tell you to make them something you like to make. Bring a notebook a pen a sharpie and take constant notes. Ask questions actually act like you're excited to be there.
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Sep 16, 2013 01:39
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I wasn't recommending you stage at a place in an attempt to get a job (though there is absolutely no reason you could not do that). I was suggesting you do it to pad your resume, then maybe ask them if they know anyone in need of people. I also have no clue if sugary treats will either help or hurt your job chances. I just know cooks like free food.
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Sep 16, 2013 03:40
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Cooks do in fact love free food. I'm pretty sure it's half the reason we do it.
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Sep 16, 2013 04:04
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Trebuchet King posted:Job application question--for two years I've been front/middle of house at the same joint. I'd like to get into baking/pastry somewhere else (not specific, just somewhere else). First, are there any smart things to do resume-wise, particularly in terms of spinning what I've done? Secondly, would bringing in samples of my own recipes to interviews be a bad idea? I've got a couple I'm proud of and I think it'd illustrate my capabilities better than any paper could, but I'd hate to be seen as attempting bribery. For most of the bakers I know, they're less interested in what you can do at home, and more interested in knowing if you're trainable. The biggest thing the pastry chef I work for says he looks for when hiring is someone he's not going to have to train bad habits out of in order to get them to cook his recipes the way he wants them done. If you've got decorating samples, bring a portfolio, but as far as actual baked goods go I know we're a lot more concerned if you can follow instruction. I got into the bakery business by responding to a Craigslist ad and being a trainable monkey.
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Sep 16, 2013 04:42
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Yeah, it doesn't matter how much poo poo you know, every bake shop wants poo poo done THEIR way, because customers expect consistency and if you're just starting out your recipes are not going to be better than theirs. Like Liquid said, a decorating portfolio is a pretty common thing (because you can be good at baking all you want, but some people just can't decorate for poo poo (me)) if you're good at it, but your best chances are showing a willingness to learn and keep asking "How do YOU want this done?", even if it's something you've done 1000 times before.
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Sep 16, 2013 07:13
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Yikes. The only knife I have of my own is a bread knife, so it looks like I'll have to do some scrounging/borrowing. It'll take a few days for my coat to get up here from my ma's so I've got some time to put everything together. I think the main reason I wanted to bring something in was more to show it's something I care a lot about--one of my biggest motivations in pursuing this is just learning more stuff to improve my craft. Thanks again for the advice, dudes and dudettes. It's nice feeling optimistic again.
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Sep 16, 2013 14:24
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