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tomkash posted:Man we got annihilated with the four day weekend followed by a three day weekend. Jesus Christ so much overloading and emptying of the coolrooms. Wish I was on casual rates for the two weeks.. It was fun in a crazy stressful way for me personally, as the head chef went on holiday for those two weeks and left me with the ordering. He has stocked up but that Anzac Friday left me ragged because of supplier issues and a few close calls on missing things I should have ordered. It was a relief when it got so busy that I didn't need to think about it and just knuckle down. But I apparently didn't screw up too badly and get to keep my job :v Also I have a few grey hairs more now. Not even 30 and they're showing up. Bring on mothers day (Oh please no) Sir Spaniard fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Apr 29, 2014 |
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Apr 29, 2014 08:15
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gently caress. Prom.
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Apr 29, 2014 09:48
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On break. A ten minute break. Because they hosed up scheduling and kept me hours after I was supposed to leave before second shift. Three people have put in their two weeks already in this week alone. At least the three head chefs like me -- I turned down an offer to work on the line real fast though. Never again, especially at this pit.
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Apr 29, 2014 22:19
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So it turns out the wine biz does have its busy days after all -- end of the month crunch to hit goals turns the conference room, kitchen, heck every open space into "the boiler room." Where it's all Glengarry Glen Ross poo poo up in there, trying to hustle cases at the last minute for extra cash.
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Apr 30, 2014 00:47
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I know the place that I'm working at the moment is a total hellhole and that I struggle with the level of (lack of) cleanliness they find acceptable every day, but this just seems super bizarre to me: they have a cleaning service that cleans the floors and pulls the mats behind the two bars every night. However, they just dump the mats in front of the bar each night for the day bartender to pull back behind, they never wash or spray down the mats themselves. To open, one drags three filthy mats (which are the cheap, thin kind with no fasteners or any thing to keep them from sliding around and not heavy enough to stay in place of their own volition) across and into place on (supposedly) clean and STILL WET tile floor. It makes the slipping worse, I feel like my hands are never clean afterwards and there's a hue sticky spot in front of the bar where the dirty mats sat for hours. What. The. gently caress. This job will be the death of me. Four more months.
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Apr 30, 2014 22:16
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:I know the place that I'm working at the moment is a total hellhole and that I struggle with the level of (lack of) cleanliness they find acceptable every day, but this just seems super bizarre to me: they have a cleaning service that cleans the floors and pulls the mats behind the two bars every night. However, they just dump the mats in front of the bar each night for the day bartender to pull back behind, they never wash or spray down the mats themselves. To open, one drags three filthy mats (which are the cheap, thin kind with no fasteners or any thing to keep them from sliding around and not heavy enough to stay in place of their own volition) across and into place on (supposedly) clean and STILL WET tile floor. It makes the slipping worse, I feel like my hands are never clean afterwards and there's a hue sticky spot in front of the bar where the dirty mats sat for hours. What. The. gently caress. This job will be the death of me. Four more months.
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Apr 30, 2014 22:37
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Have you considered murder?
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Apr 30, 2014 22:47
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You mean from still being wet from the cleaning crew? Yeah, I run bar towels over it with my feet before I drop the mats. I'm more just remarking/venting about how stupid and lazy the management there is. I only open two days a week, and from coming in for shift change I can tell you other bartenders don't dry the floor. The mats still slide all over the place (because they're caked in grime and too light) and my clogs still stick to the tops from old spills. E: Yes, murder is for sure #1 on my list. I had to move back to my hometown to care for my mom (breast cancer) from SF/Oakland, where I was a very successful high-volume craft bartender. I was really happy, won awards, worked hard, had great opportunities and completed a new certification or two every year. I was taking a three month working vacation in ATX & NOLA when my mom was diagnosed and had to drop everything and fly home.It took me nearly nine months to find a job here, the first was at a craft cocktail bar that was a total disaster and I declined the offer before I was even done training. Now I work in a pub that's filthy, constantly out of stock of everything, insanely inefficient for less than half my hourly in SF. Moms now cancer free but my savings are shot and I'm battling depression. I make good money working in the attached venue two nights a week due to the volume, but working in the pub portion 2-3 shifts a week is the most depressing, soul killing thing I've ever done, and I used to bartend day shift in a strip club :/. Four more months. MAKE NO BABBYS fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Apr 30, 2014 |
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Apr 30, 2014 22:49
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Take a vacation from your downtime. Speed rack is next week.
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May 1, 2014 06:44
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I should be competing in those Speedrack finals. It's really sad. My life is mostly a mockery at this point.
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May 1, 2014 07:56
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:I should be competing in those Speedrack finals. It's really sad. My life is mostly a mockery at this point. Dude, you loving cared for your mom who had CANCER. It sucks balls that you had to put your cool rear end life on hold for a while but it's not the end of your world- you did the most important thing you could have done for someone who is very near and dear to you and no one, NO ONE is going to poo poo on you for that. You're not speedracking now, but you can totally go back to that life and that world. Just because you don't see how to right this very second doesn't mean it's not going to happen.
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May 1, 2014 16:38
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Forums Poster 30 Goddamn Dicks is right. Dust yourself off and get back in it. Maybe dip down to LA, go see Honeycut and Central Market and the other new shops and say "I'm excited to get back into it". e: or seriously come for Speed Rack. I'm sure we could get you put up in someone's apartment if you want to impulsively drop $ on tickets. bloody ghost titty fucked around with this message at 17:24 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 17:21
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Re: hands never feel clean again. Latex gloves by the $10 100-count box will empower you to do a million things that previously made you unhappy or were obviously impossible. With gloves on, I don't give any kind of a drat how nasty something is. e: get the good mechanic's/dental kind like Diamond Grip or something, not the awful ones that you only see in foodservice or home cleaning supplies. Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 23:23 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 22:56
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I've been working for my boss for the better part of three years and tonight was the first time I ever hung up on him out of frustration. He's always been weirdly temperamental but in recent months he's driven away so much of the wait staff I don't even know any of the names of the current crop. I don't think we have a single server on staff who's been with us longer than a month and a half. This necessitates him working the floor every night trying to train them but that's just burning him out even faster and making him more irritable. It's also making it hard to maintain a well-trained kitchen staff since most cooks don't stick around very long after they inevitably catch undeserved poo poo from him or he plays too many games with their hours. Today I had a nice talk with a lady he sent my way looking for someone to host a dinner for a girl's high school softball team on the cheap. We recently converted part of the floor to banquet seating so I thought we could feed them some nice cheap-and-easy stuff buffet style and charge them for the food cost since they had a very limited budget and I'd be happy to provide all of the labor for free. I can feed a self-service party of 40 standing on my head and we would generate some very welcome goodwill and positive word-of-mouth in the community. My boss happens to come in as we were ready to discuss cost and he insisted on no less than 15% off of menu pricing, which would swallow the entire budget for the event and completely deflated her of enthusiasm. I'm gonna have to have a long talk with him tomorrow about what we can do about all this, because I don't see myself working for him for much longer if this keeps up.
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May 2, 2014 07:42
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Republicans posted:I'm gonna have to have a long talk with him tomorrow about what we can do about all this, because I don't see myself working for him for much longer if this keeps up. Sympathy. The new manager at our place is being a little TOO much of a hot young poo poo with an overzealous attitude. No diplomacy in his tone, just accusation, and he tries to have it both ways by being a slickster kidder at the same time, which creates unease and suspicion. Three times already he's gotten very snappy at me over a perceived mistake, only to be proven it was not a mistake, just him getting way the gently caress ahead of himself, resulting in an apology and me mostly scowling. He's REALLY pissed off one of the head chefs; I've never seen her so angry, and she's pretty pro-company but admitting she's ready to walk if this keeps up. I hate hotshot managers who act like their balls are bigger than their too-tight pants.
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May 2, 2014 08:11
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At least you have management around. I hardly ever see my department lead. Plus when she is around, she just walks around. Doesn't actually know a drat thing about cooking or cleaning it seems. I miss my old bosses here. They would at least actually pitch in and cook or clean if need be. It was always fun to see the two of them back in the dish room with aprons on over their button up shirts. But at least there are more openings posted for the new store. 
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May 2, 2014 13:36
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Republicans posted:happy to provide all of the labor for free
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May 2, 2014 15:53
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Vegetable Melange posted:See, I found your problem. We've done small parties at cost for local organizations before where I volunteer to handle all the labor myself, including clean up and dishes. That's why I felt so blindsided when he came in with the pricing, especially after asking me to arrange it.
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May 2, 2014 18:19
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Republicans posted:We've done small parties at cost for local organizations before where I volunteer to handle all the labor myself, including clean up and dishes. That's why I felt so blindsided when he came in with the pricing, especially after asking me to arrange it. No Wave fucked around with this message at 19:01 on May 2, 2014 |
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May 2, 2014 18:58
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Republicans posted:We've done small parties at cost for local organizations before where I volunteer to handle all the labor myself, including clean up and dishes. That's why I felt so blindsided when he came in with the pricing, especially after asking me to arrange it. He was right. You're losing your rear end at just food cost on a party that size, even with free labor.
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May 4, 2014 06:25
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No Wave posted:Holding a food event at cost at a restaurant is insanity. I would never think to ask that of a restaurant, and the fact that she would at all expect you to host, work for, and clean up after a bunch of high schoolers for free indicates that this is now a normal expectation in your community. Your chef is right to shut it down. The loving audacity of someone asking a restaurant to host and clean up for free, wtf. So what should we call this overreaction? Charity-shaming? Or am I missing a sarcastic/joking tone? 
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May 4, 2014 19:56
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Splizwarf posted:So what should we call this overreaction? Charity-shaming? It would be "charity" if the company were donating its time and money to a group that needed the reduced cost / free service while still paying its employees, perhaps. As it stands, it's just bowing to the demands of an already-paying customer while simultaneously violating the FLSA (legally, an employee's not allowed to waive their right to be paid for hours worked). I worked in an entirely different "service" industry (outsourced IT helpdesk for law firms) and during the aftermath of Katrina, we donated our services to firms that had lost, in a lot of cases, nearly everything. The employees still got paid for their time worked, and some of us made a few extra bucks by working extra shifts or longer days. But the company never told a potential actual client that we were willing to lower our rates because they wanted to get the same service everyone else did for less money. On the other hand, once one person accepted a reduced wage for the same job in the company, the company hired everyone after him at that reduced rate (meaning that everyone after he was hired made $10K a year less than everyone before him, for doing the exact same job even with the exact same qualifications). Guess which guy got hated by everyone on the floor until the day he quit? I don't think it's an overreaction at all - the moment you let one paying group know that they can expect to set their own price for service, they're going to start spreading your name and everyone else is going to expect the same. I get the whole idea of supporting local organizations and all, but I've seen (both first-hand and from friends in various service fields) the aftermath of doing so. "Why are you charging me full price for (product/service) when Mr. Blah at XYZ company told me you let him have the same thing at cost?", at which point your company gets accused of being ripoff artists.
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May 4, 2014 20:21
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Splizwarf posted:So what should we call this overreaction? Charity-shaming? Unless Republicans works for the Highest Margin Food Service Operation In America, which as such can casually afford to comp parties of 30-40+, like, totes NBD, then yeah its earnest and incidentally factually correct as well. Its glibly mercenary at best, but that's working class America for ya. quote:I can feed a self-service party of 40 standing on my head and we would generate some very welcome goodwill and positive word-of-mouth in the community. Okay keeping in mind that your boss sounds like a total rear end in other circumstances and stipulating my ignorance of your situation, the size of your locality, the (poor?) regard your restaurant is held in, etc, That you can do it and that it would be well received isn't the issue, really. There is a big difference between "hey, boss, can we serve entree items but buffet-style at cost?" and "hey boss, I really wanna make it work with this client, maybe I could crank out a couple composed salads, braise a pork shoulder, grill some tortillas and maybe we get out from under this for no more than 125, ask for 400 settle for 350 if they press?" If a catered party isn't willing to make it work for $10 USD per individual, human person, then there's another option that will likely be in their price range, its called a picnic and it just so happens we're in the right time of year for one. IMPORTANT SEPARATION FROM MAIN TEXT And, homie. I'm gonna talk at you for real for a second here. I'm saying this as a freelancer who was driven into culinary at the bottom motherfucking rung by this nonsense, but: Get Paid For Working, Please. You literally, not figuratively or metaphorically but literally and in a measurably concrete sense devalue everyone in your community who does what you do by working for free. If you are posting in this thread and you do not have your Michelin stars in your eyesight right now as you read this, you are in a tax bracket where you and the people like you really cannot afford those monkeyshines. Exchange your labor creating a given product for stated wages metered as a function of time, IMHO. Don't be part of the problem of lovely late-period capitalism, be part of the other problem, which is normally functioning idealized capitalism. Kugyou no Tenshi posted:On the other hand, once one person accepted a reduced wage for the same job in the company, the company hired everyone after him at that reduced rate (meaning that everyone after he was hired made $10K a year less than everyone before him, for doing the exact same job even with the exact same qualifications). Guess which guy got hated by everyone on the floor until the day he quit? So true it hurts and so transferable over so many experiences as well. Good post, poster! 
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May 4, 2014 20:49
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Willie Tomg posted:IMPORTANT SEPARATION FROM MAIN TEXT To extend this, I am out of the culinary industry now, because there are only so many years of alcoholism and poverty one man can take. But think about it like any other sane industry. You are a cook, with a set of skills uncommon enough to merit being paid to exercise them at someone else's behest. The deal is that you cook for people who are willing to part with money in order to not cook for themselves. Full stop, end of story. Working for free is about as sensible as nailing your dick to the table, and just as likely to become that party trick that everyone hounds you to do every time they get together. Don't do it. Period. It can only lead to woe, suffering, and genital mutilation.
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May 4, 2014 22:52
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I am having a minor crisis. Tomorrow i am getting another act of murphy by the fact our early pot has to do inventory as well as wash dishes for one particular cook who's performance leaves much to be desired as he is slow and a dish spinner so we get a constant deluge of dirty pots even after the time he is supposed to be done. I was contemplating on a deadline schedule where i would leave any unfinished pots for the early pot the day after this guy is done just to show how fed up i am of his sher incompetence. Also my working ability has reached the point i now finish early.
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May 4, 2014 23:08
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30 Goddamn Dicks & Veggie Melange - thanks y'all. Last week was extra soul crushing and I was throwing myself a bit of a pity party. Working on snapping out of it. In a funny side note, the awful place I'm working got a call to be on bar rescue. One of the girls I work with was like "oh HA HA HA yeah right!!! Why would we go on there?! Were good!" And all I could think was "holy gently caress why wouldn't you this place is TERRIBLE." She wasn't amused when I told her that I know and have worked with a handful of the "experts" that appear on it and though the show can be really cheesy/over dramatized, they have really good insight and advice. Needless to say, she's never worked anywhere else and has been there like four years; she thinks that the fact that lots of people come through and never come back due to bad pricing, lovely cocktails, filthy glassware, poo poo tons of fruit flies/bugs/BIRDS NESTING IN THE CEILING, zero panache/presentation/accommodating service and mediocre food ( I will say that the kitchen seems clean and efforts are made to keep everything to temp, it's just lovely SYSCO poo poo cobbled together... Premade Won Ton wrapper + corn & sauce + deep fry to brown and disintegrating = TAVERN SAMOSAS!!) is fine because WELL WERE ALWAYS BUSY!
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May 4, 2014 23:25
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Yeah, I understand where you're all coming from. My boss said as much later and that's why he haven't done anything like it since we moved locations. We did end up giving them a good offer we can make some money on and if that was too much for them we could at least give them a real good deal on some take-out if they wanna do the event at school or someone's house. I just really, really wish he had told me how he wanted these kinds of clients handled before he sent her my way and I got her hopes up. In fact he didn't even tell me she was coming, he just told her to come to the restaurant and ask for me if he wasn't there himself.
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May 5, 2014 06:13
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I am the main cook of a bar kitchen now. They only see a full crowd from Thursday to Saturday night, and only a select few will order food. This is an important factor in regards to everything else. So far, I can't really gauge my weekly grocery list, and I am not fully in charge of getting the groceries yet. There seems to be some major separation there. But, since I'm working for very cheap, I am quicker to be honest with the owners and explain things accurately and quickly before they can say anything or make bad decisions. There are things I will be slowly working on to bring the kitchen up to standard, but I really need to find my target audience and get them to drive or hopefully bike out to us. We are just on the edge of an urban area with college educated late 20s musicians, artists, and friends type people. Then we have daytime drunks and quiet. I need to make changes under the surface, so that the menu seems basically the same, but everything will be better and more efficient. I will be talking to the owners about the currently small portion sizes(to keep prices down?). I feel very weird selling 1 small taco on a plate. How do you tell the owners, non-industry cooks that will nuke veggies, that the things they choose to not budge on are nonsensical? I'm constantly like, yes you prefer it this way because you don't know any other way. I feel like I could be "grounded" for cutting something on a bias to make it look like it didn't come from them. I am doing this job to help out some friends of the owners, but I would rather have more autonomy. Luckily, its usually just me and the bartender of the night, and the menu is like 5 items with maybe 3 parts each to be heated up and arranged. Isaac Asimov fucked around with this message at 09:08 on May 6, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 08:58
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It'll probably just take time to build up their trust and confidence in you to let you make the changes you need to make. Do the owners eat there at all? Maybe you could cooking making them meals off menu, or something on the menu made a better way, to show them the kind of changes you want to make and why it'd be a good idea. I mean, you could also try mocking their limited palette and poor cooking skills like I did with the owners where I work, but we were already friends and they have a good sense of humor, and they knew I was a lot more knowledgeable about the industry then they were so that might not be a great idea.
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May 6, 2014 16:13
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In my experience the best thing to do is make something and have them taste it. If they like it show them exactly how you made it and give them a written recipe for future cooks to follow. If it isn't too complicated or expensive they'll probably go for it. That's how I got us to stop using straight-up canned marinara sauce for pastas.
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May 6, 2014 17:10
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Edit: Wroooonnng thread. Meant to post in the general questions thread. Doom Rooster fucked around with this message at 17:47 on May 6, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 17:40
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Republicans posted:In my experience the best thing to do is make something and have them taste it. If they like it show them exactly how you made it and give them a written recipe for future cooks to follow. If it isn't too complicated or expensive they'll probably go for it. That's how I got us to stop using straight-up canned marinara sauce for pastas. I'm currently going with this method, but I will have to wait for grocery rights before I can do anything really noticeable. I have been showing how I can prepare every ingredient they use in a better way(roasted veggies instead of microwave, fixing their dry and tasteless meat), so that is slowly getting through to them. The owner didn't want to give up the restaurant depot card(yet), but mentioned he would reimburse out-of-pocket groceries... (me being broke, this smells scammy, and again lowest pay ever). They have had bad experience with cooks, so they say ok to me fairly often, but its usually a "conceptual" ok. Being patient is grating, especially because the kitchen needs to be turned around today, not next month. The owners like me, but I think they are still surprised by my dynamic personality when it comes up. I got a good stare from the owner the other day, after being annoyed with the way he just stands there talking to me while I'm cooking. "-oh, hey we usually just heat the sauce in the microwave, the guy who cooks breakfast on one day of the week is real particular about 'his' nonstick pans" to which I replied without looking up, "well I guess if he says anything to me I'll just slap him across the face." This Thursday, I am considering asking for grocery cash so I can run a sandwich special. Mostly as an interest assessment, and to check on my autonomy level this week.
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May 6, 2014 20:06
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Republicans posted:using straight-up canned marinara sauce for pastas. Somewhere in a black corner of my soul, something screamed and will not stop screaming for a long time. In other news, I have 6 doubles this week and one day off. When I said I could work every day but Thursday night, that didn't I WANTED to work every single day but that night. We'll see if money is good and then tell them to tone it down a little, failing location or no. I don't want to burn out. Plus last night was dead as hell, because who wants Chinese food on Cinco de freakin' Mayo?
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May 6, 2014 21:04
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Unforeseen perk of waiting patio: getting to watch the cops apprehend a bank robber who didn't appropriately plan his escape beyond going out the bank's front door.
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May 6, 2014 22:17
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Just put my two weeks in at my current job. Interviwed at a 1200+ room hotel for an overnight gig, should get it and looking forward to it.
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May 7, 2014 00:12
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Speaking of hotels, how many of us work in one? Any experience with union contracts?
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May 7, 2014 01:46
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I work in a hotel. I like it, I get overtime if/when I want it, I always get my 40. We're not unionized, but some of our properties are. I think unions are great, but they can affect kitchens negatively just from a management perspective. Someone calls out, I have to get a temp, I can't just take a bqt cook and stick him on the line, or work the station myself.
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May 7, 2014 01:51
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That's no good. I know enough to count on the random days people will quit.
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May 7, 2014 08:02
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Sneiority has its ups and downs, but depending on the people it's generally pretty cool. Working in a union hotel, the benefits far out weigh the negative though. Paid sick/holiday days, vacation time, loving awesome healthcare/dental care/vision care, pension plan, so on and so forth. I've worked in both non-union and union hotels, and it really depends on the people you work with that makes it good or bad. I've sat in on contract negotiations before, pretty much just the lawyers and union president talk. They're pretty good in protecting workers. Last contract negotiation, they added stuff like if you work 7 days straight the 7th day is considered double time. So, all in all pretty good for us workers, the lowest position as a cook 5 makes just a little over $17 an hour and a cook 1 makes a little over $18. Here in Chicago we've been without a contract since last sept, but last I heard negotiations were getting close to ending and we were getting a $1 raise a year for the next 3 years or something to that effect. rayray00 fucked around with this message at 22:06 on May 7, 2014 |
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May 7, 2014 21:57
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| # ? May 9, 2024 22:36 |
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:I work in a hotel. I like it, I get overtime if/when I want it, I always get my 40. We're not unionized, but some of our properties are. I think unions are great, but they can affect kitchens negatively just from a management perspective. Someone calls out, I have to get a temp, I can't just take a bqt cook and stick him on the line, or work the station myself. For us, you have to find a cook from the property first. And sous's can work the line, only the executive chef can't.
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May 7, 2014 22:09
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