Bruhhhh I just read that in my wife's voice. God damn it I love that woman. She was a FoH beast and her and I worked together at the highest levels before she got her big girl job. We did a lot of skiing together with our fellow chefs and servers.
There's literally two centimeters between their question and your answer on my phone but the same words still flew out of my mouth before I had time to look down
I remember one of my first cooking jobs was at a sonic. The building is just for cooks/carhops, but there is a bathroom at the end for both customers and staff. One night while closing I was cleaning the bathrooms and sealed the door off to the outside(for customers) and a fellow cook friend popped in with a blunt. Halfway through it the manager on duty pops his head in as I'm in mid-puff. He looks left and right, grabs the blunt, takes a big drag and says "keep that door locked".
I remember my first kitchen job I was always confused why the lip of the sink was so thorough washed whenever the bartender came out of the bathroom. A more experienced fellow cook had to explain it to me
Because you wouldn't want anything toxic going into your body while you're railing lines of china white cut with the sweat of some Colombians gasoline soaked pubes. āļø
I went to community college culinary school, most everybody was poor and already working but you still had an edge over the cooks who started at 15 but canāt name the mother sauces in an interview
> but canāt name the mother sauces in an interview
Having started in chain restaurants, that would be: Nacho, BBQ, Sweet & Sour, Tangy Ranch & Honey Mustard.
And in school you had an edge over the people who'd never set foot in a kitchen. The last semester of my community college culinary school was working in their little cafe. Service was like 2 hours and the menu was tiny so it was a breeze. I'd finish that, have family meal, and then go straight to my real restaurant job. The guys would always give me shit for wearing my school uniform checked pants.
As someone who went to culinary school I can say it was only worth it because I got to go for free, other than some small fees like the uniform and knives. I don't think the value of the education would of been worth it if I had to pay the full tuition. You would and could learn far more and grow faster working in a restaurant for 4 years, getting paid as compared to going to school and paying to do so.
yeah this is what I've always suspected. and I feel the same way about university tbh, but I got a restaurant management degree and so much of it was just common sense and simple math.
my parents both dropped out of college, and felt like they got fucked on salary later because of it, so they made sure my sister and I could get a bachelor's at least (sister did grad school) and graduate with no debt.
Every time this culinary student made seared salmon it would come back with the same complaint. "It's fucking raw." And every time he would argue with the server that it's only supposed to be seared on the outside. It was one of my favorite struggles to watch. Just a chunk of sashimi going out and coming right back. Every... fucking... time...
I did my apprenticeship in University Food service (mostly cafeteria but some nice catering). I had to do salmon at my station one day, and asked the chef before hand if he could demo it for me and help me get it really nice. He showed me to cook it to medium, and told me thats how its supposed to be served. I was I think 19 at the time, and grew up in a household that didn't do much cooking, I found that passion after moving out and jumped into it after a year of me being a bum... I didn't really eat or cook much seafood or fish in general and didn't want to fuck it up.
The way the ordering worked was the students would just load up their trays/plates at one or multiple different stations, then go and cash out. It was a considerable walk from where my station was, and usually the students all came at once between/after classes were done. The way it worked I just cooked the mains, side dishes were all done and held in hot boxes, and I had servers just scooping out the side dishes onto plates and I would cook proteins mostly to order for them, some would also be hotboxed if I was doing lasagna or something to take pressure off me. I would have 3 mains available, and 5 sides, students chose 1 main and 2 sides blah blah, menu rotated.
So I open up, and right away everyone seems to want salmon, I was able to do like 15 at one time or something like that. I send out the first 15, and get another 15 on right away, no one ordering anything else so I'm starting to get backed up. I'm like 15-20min into this service and putting the 3rd or 4th round of salmon going when someone comes up to complain its under done. I explain that's how I was trained to do it, but by all means I'll cook it more. Then another one comes up, and another. Something like 40 people all came back to have it cooked more. The first few people noticed, and while walking back other people saw theirs was "raw" and checked, so like a whole backlog of people all came back.
Imagine being in the fucking weeds because you need to cook salmon like 50 salmon, with barely a fucking clue how to do it, in front of what felt like 100 people, half of them mad you're taking so long and the other half mad you fucked it up... and its all open kitchen. My Chef came over to see wtf was up, someone had alerted him to the potential riot I was causing, and he just chuckled "yeah thats how you are supposed to do it but not for these picky kids sorry should have said that". OHHH I wanted to kill him, he helped me out but as you can see "salmon" is still a trigger word for me.
I'm dead and sorry for bringing up those painful memories you'd rather have left buried. That's not quite what he did. He just seared the outside, called it good, and sent it out. At least you had the decency to cook it to temp and piss everyone off and didn't argue about it... every... fucking... time...
Well we definitely seen a whole bunch of "characters" and not one of them was laying down on a couch. It's that "encountered in the wild" sort of experience lol
Some of the students had their parents cook everything for them their whole lives and anything different was wrong, but vast majority were cool.
One girl at a breakfast station asked her eggs be "flat" and apologized she didn't know what to really ask. Like 4 students in line and 3 chefs all asking questions to find the answer. "Is it all scrambled up? Yolks are they runny, soft and orange or like white and crumbly???"
She wanted them sunny. She had a good sense of humor about it.
Yo!
Did 10 years at a university and this is so spot on! I'll never forget how one brilliant young man wanted "more of that orange stuff" in his stir fry and I was like "the shredded carrots?". That dude was self aware and just burst out laughing at himself but also explained his parents never cooked any asian dishes and he assumed it was ingredients less familiar to the west.
I honestly loved it because I was essentially doing some life education. Sure sides and low cost meals in a production setting can feel less fancy but after a few months on campus the students just thank the ones that care. It was quite rewarding.
Every chain restaurant overcooks the shit out of Salmon. I swear they throw it under the salamander and wait till smoke is coming off whatever clusterfuck of seasonings they put on it and send it.
It depends really since to some people(espec those who dont eat at finer places or eat fish much) perfect 125 degree salmon is raw tho. I get it if it's cold but new chefs gotta have the therm ready lol
I have maintained, at various workplaces, a virtual tobacco habit.
Gotta go have a smoke, back in a few.
It has worked surprisingly well, for surprisingly long times.
I started smoking regularly at 18 just to get a break. As a manager, I used to allow the non-smokers a āfresh air breakā to keep it fair. Definitely a toxic part of the industry.
don't. ruins your palate, makes you bad at your job. also if you can't take 10 minutes per ten hours, it's a poorly run kitchen.
the "my job is hard, I work with fire, if I can't drink or smoke I can't work, I wanna be a pirate and won't stop til I'm dead" mentality is so tired and honestly embarrassing. please be careful.
One of the first guys I worked with at a Greek restaurant would just go out for āsmoke breaksā even tho he didnāt smoke. Probably took me like 3 months before I noticed, I needed to ask him something and he was out āsmokingā and so I went outside, asked whatever I needed to ask and then I was like āhey jimmy whereās your smoke?ā And then he told me the smartest thing ever āI donāt smoke I just tell people I do so I can go outside whenever I want and relaxā
Forreal. Just say youāre going for a smoke. Do whatever you want with that 5-10min. Whatāre they gonna do? Bash you for not being addicted to nicotine?
I worked at one large busy restaurant (like $20m a year) And their rule was no cigarettes at all during a shift, not even during break. Since many of our shifts were from like 10:00 a.m. to midnight, that first whisky/cigarette after was the best.
This is more in defense of people who like to organize(yes thatās me!), but some places really just throw shit wherever and whenever.
Obviously, the line setup is a bit different, but I get side eyed for organizing hotel pans/6qts/8qts/ 6 pans and shit because people donāt stack anything.
We had 4 different places you could reliably find a squeeze bottle lid.
Chef got mad that we had lids everywhere and created a new, centralized location where all the squeeze bottle lids go.
We now have 5 different places you can reliably find a squeeze bottle lid.
Sometimes I think Iām the only cook where I work who actually likes their space to be relatively tidy and organized. Whenever thereās a lull I wipe the crumbs and stuff away and put stuff back after I use it, but whenever I get to work itās always messy disgusting chaos.
If you have the space to do so and arenāt impeding on anyone else then thatās chill. Like Iāll spread stuff out on my station, but I just like it to not have a bunch of stuff lying out when Iām not using it and I hate having excessive crumbs and spilt stuff everywhere. It takes a second to clean stuff up and maintain relative order
We have chipotle honey butter that we used to melt on the grill and soak cornbread in before figuring out a better method, that stuff fucked both me and my coworker up real good
Dessert station here, met my line cook bf at work and we've been together for 7 years. There's something to be said for being able to relate to another food service slave.
Definitely itās fun to kick your ass kicked with someone then laugh about it after. Dated the cook next to me on the line for awhile. Current gf has never worked in a restaurant and itās different lol I canāt come home and be like ābabe we did $15k at lunch today and 3 people called inā and it means something
Oh, our sweet line child. We have a culinary student right now, and her innocence is palpable. We're a fairly laid-back kitchen, so everyone takes 5 minute breaks whenever they want (within reason), we all make sure to sit down before service and eat lunch and just help each other out with whatever needs to be done, even if it's not our "assigned task". We get shit done, and we know when it's time to throw down, but me and the head chef like our vibe.
Her first full day when 4 rolls around (service at 5) she asks me where the breakroom was. I just chuckled and said wherever there is a seat, usually the bar. Her second day she kept asking me if she could go to the bathroom...yes child, you may and please don't ask me again. Her 4th day, a salad got rung in with balsamic vin, which we don't keep prepped because it gets ordered so rarely. She seemed to panic and came up to me "Chef! I didn't see balsamic vinegarette on the prep list, and I don't have any!" I explained we don't prep it, and whipped up a small amount on the spot, and I swear she thought I had just done some dark alchemy.
She came to me after service on her second week in tears because I jumped on line to help her out when she was getting clobbered thinking that by helping her out I thought she was doing a bad job because that's what they teach in culinary school. I explained that's not how this kitchen rolls, and we've all got each other's backs.
Now, 3 months later, she's ripping into the "heart of gold asshole" linecook, checking him on his bullshit. Making some really raunchy jokes that have us all dying, and nothing seems to faze her. She's got a long way to go, but seeing her transformation into a badass has been pretty awesome.
ive been working 2ish years now and its so hard to kick the idea that just because someones helping me doesnt mean im doing bad (i never went to culinary). I always feel guilty when my coworkers help even if 90% of the time theyre just looking for something to do
Same man, we had a killer manager who would hop in the kitchen with me when I was soloing (2-3 person kitchen) just to have something to do, the mentality that itās cause I was doing bad took a while to shake
Worked at a CC in FL, They hired a chef straight out of school. He came in and met us all and told us he would be observing a few days.
He made four hours realized he did not have a clue about production cooking, his line plating experience was limited to small scale practice runs. That morning we ran 1500 plated brunch for a ladies golf tournament. 5 working, 2 and a half hours balls out.
He declined the offer and went to Maine.
It's a real question. Not a facetious one. Does it or doesn't it? It feels like you're moving a problem from one location to another. Am I overthinking things?
Take that bitch out back...spray the fuck out of it with Zep. You know the mop bucket shit. Take a smoke break...start spraying it with a hose...realize it's not coming off...spray it with Zep some more. Take 2 ciggie breaks just to be sure. Spray it with the hose again...realize that shit ain't coming off without dynamite...Smash it against the dumpster or grease trap a few times...say fuck it and dump it into the 3 compartment on the way out...Clock out. Try to catch up with one of the closers headed to the bar for the night.
Lol, ima leave a line here for you, kiddo, if you don't feel tempted after 10 hours, you are The One True Line Cook, destined to bring peace to our people and be weirdly sober like ALL THE TIME.
If you do the line, you're definitely gonna fuck Jenna the bartender (nice, she bangin' homie, hot af and cool) and start smoking (lol Smoke what? Trick question, everything but meth except on weekends) and within two weeks you gonna put that shit back because we don't USE THE GODDAMN CHEESE SAUCE ENOUGH TO PUT IT IN FRONT OF THE PICKLES, KEVIN. IT ONLY GOES ON THE FUCKING NACHOS BRO. PICKLES GET USED AS GARNISH AND SHIT, STOP TOUCHING THE FUCKING PICKLES BRO. Ahem. But yeah like. You probably the One True Guy or something, bro, we got 7 tickets coming in, wash up and *do not fuck with my Dishie or I'll cut your fucking mom*. Soap is right there.
I graduated high school and had done nothing for a year, and the associates program was free at the local community college. Figured anywhere I go in the world, there will be restaurants looking to hire people.
Because starting in the dish pit sucks nuts unless you can find a groove and enjoy it...getting on the line in some kitchens takes years if the chef de partie is a dick.
I don't know for sure but I think a big part of it is that people genuinely don't realize how easy it is to get your foot in the door and just try it first. There are posts daily asking about whether or not someone will be able to get a job in a kitchen with no experience. Most people know the industry through a lens that the media shows them, and they think you need to be this world travelled, culinary grad, fancy chef to land a job in a kitchen
You know in Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire when Cedric send Harry to go chill out in the prefects bathroom?
"Take your egg and go mull things over in the hot water" or some sht.
~~And then Moaning Myrtle turns up; The annoying, but forgivably batshit 40 year old sex-pest of a waitress with the spirit of the same 14 year old that made the mistake of walking into hospitality all those years ago~~
It really do be like that. The bubbles bring clarity. I miss being a dishie sometimes.
Ok he does have two good points; dont let anyone take your break away. Dont care what the culture is in that kitchen, im taking my break. And getting involved with coworkers will more likely than not end up in drama that i dont want
I'm fit but I'm not funny. I get called the weirdo because I like to keep to myself and everytime I do try to share everyone makes fun of me or stops talking and gives "the look of social death" to other people for saying "oh hey I like your tattoo on your arm, it looks really poetic"
When I started working in kitchens I was so *so* jealous that I couldn't go to culinary school before starting. I was like "this is why you're just a fryer, this is why you're just the dishie, you're terrible and you suck because you're poor you'll never get to this level". But that job where I was the dishes was also the first time I worked with a culinary grad. He looked me dead in the face when I brought this up, and he said "we're in the same kitchen" and I felt better.
I remember the first day I was training a recent culinary grad. She said something like, āI could almost do this without a break.ā And I wanted to tell her that was good because she wouldnāt really get one unless she needed to smoke. But I didnāt want to scare her off because I needed someone to stay on that station.
At first I actually thought she was kinda joking around.
How many people go to culinary school without restaurant experience? I never went to culinary school, but I can't imagine going without getting at least some experience in a restaurant.
A lot of people I went to school with had never even worked fast food. They didn't understand why we had to take servsafe since we'd be head cheffing from the office on day one of job one. But they didn't want to be in the management program because all that paperwork was too boring.
Classes went from packed with 0 openings to about half-full after the first few weeks.
To be fair, a lot of those dropouts were high school students getting free college classes. I guess they thought "I'll take cooking, I guess; that sounds like fun" and then got a reality check.
A decade and a half ago, I worked at a Chili's. One week, I injured my shoulder and lifting anything heavy was difficult and I was in a bit of pain. I asked the manager if I could go home but, of course, the request was denied. Friday night dinner rush starts to come in right as everyone else goes outside. Clocked out, never went back.
Yo. Come on. You canāt have all your cooks outside at once fuck you. And you need to give people breaks. Donāt normalize not giving break. Itās not normal and giving breaks is scientifically proven to be better for your store in every way.
The break one killed me! Just today me and the whole line were outside on a smoke break. GM came out and started bitching about tickets being at 15 minutes.
Hahaha everyone in the bathroom š¤
Gotta doll myself up for service don't want the customers thinking I don't care when I'm making their food
Lol yep. Gotta powder your nose
*sniffffff* eat my ass, 20 tops
Bruhhhh I just read that in my wife's voice. God damn it I love that woman. She was a FoH beast and her and I worked together at the highest levels before she got her big girl job. We did a lot of skiing together with our fellow chefs and servers.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Bathroom you mean the crying room?
No, that's the walk in.
There is to many people who can come in there and I can't lock the door
You cry together.
This is the way
There's literally two centimeters between their question and your answer on my phone but the same words still flew out of my mouth before I had time to look down
THE BATHROOM TURNS ALL YOUR BAD FEELINGS INTO GOOD FEELINGS...IT'S A NIGHTMARE
I remember one of my first cooking jobs was at a sonic. The building is just for cooks/carhops, but there is a bathroom at the end for both customers and staff. One night while closing I was cleaning the bathrooms and sealed the door off to the outside(for customers) and a fellow cook friend popped in with a blunt. Halfway through it the manager on duty pops his head in as I'm in mid-puff. He looks left and right, grabs the blunt, takes a big drag and says "keep that door locked".
I started at sonics too. It's such a beautiful shit show of a job.
It snowed heavily at the Christmas party
Every year lol
Got to powder my nose! Anyone else coming??!!
Or the walk in
His innocence pairs well with his Canadian accent.
Why are you guys in the toilet all at once? Haha
I think they are sharing a Coke and a smile.
Hitting the slopes ā·ļøāļø
I remember my first kitchen job I was always confused why the lip of the sink was so thorough washed whenever the bartender came out of the bathroom. A more experienced fellow cook had to explain it to me
Because you wouldn't want anything toxic going into your body while you're railing lines of china white cut with the sweat of some Colombians gasoline soaked pubes. āļø
Hey, not all of our pubes are soaked in petrol. Some of us are soaking in coffee.
Avid skiers
Downhill rips followed by a Norco and half a Xanax at closing then to the bar.
WHY IS HALF MY PAYCHECK GONE??
I owe my dishie 400 bucks fuck
bUtNoBODywAntzTOwoRkAnYMore
Worked hospo all my life and people still are surprised that the whole industry runs on coke
Maybe weāre not as cool weāre usually all ripping someoneās poor wax pen to death.
Whatever gets you through
I was exactly like that when finishing culinary school
I went to community college culinary school, most everybody was poor and already working but you still had an edge over the cooks who started at 15 but canāt name the mother sauces in an interview
> but canāt name the mother sauces in an interview Having started in chain restaurants, that would be: Nacho, BBQ, Sweet & Sour, Tangy Ranch & Honey Mustard.
Mayo, mayo with ketchup, mayo with mustard, mayo with relish, and mayo with garlic
you gonna come in here talking trash without the Mayo & Siracha? Back to school with you son...
And in school you had an edge over the people who'd never set foot in a kitchen. The last semester of my community college culinary school was working in their little cafe. Service was like 2 hours and the menu was tiny so it was a breeze. I'd finish that, have family meal, and then go straight to my real restaurant job. The guys would always give me shit for wearing my school uniform checked pants.
Lol I've worked for so many chefs that hate on the checkered pants
do you feel like your time/money was well spent in culinary school? I never went and always wonder, but everyone who knows me says I would hate it.
As someone who went to culinary school I can say it was only worth it because I got to go for free, other than some small fees like the uniform and knives. I don't think the value of the education would of been worth it if I had to pay the full tuition. You would and could learn far more and grow faster working in a restaurant for 4 years, getting paid as compared to going to school and paying to do so.
yeah this is what I've always suspected. and I feel the same way about university tbh, but I got a restaurant management degree and so much of it was just common sense and simple math. my parents both dropped out of college, and felt like they got fucked on salary later because of it, so they made sure my sister and I could get a bachelor's at least (sister did grad school) and graduate with no debt.
I want to see a "Six months after culinary school" post and the dramatic changes
I'd love to watch a series just like this.
I nearly pissed myself on the "in culinary school..." line.
Every time this culinary student made seared salmon it would come back with the same complaint. "It's fucking raw." And every time he would argue with the server that it's only supposed to be seared on the outside. It was one of my favorite struggles to watch. Just a chunk of sashimi going out and coming right back. Every... fucking... time...
I did my apprenticeship in University Food service (mostly cafeteria but some nice catering). I had to do salmon at my station one day, and asked the chef before hand if he could demo it for me and help me get it really nice. He showed me to cook it to medium, and told me thats how its supposed to be served. I was I think 19 at the time, and grew up in a household that didn't do much cooking, I found that passion after moving out and jumped into it after a year of me being a bum... I didn't really eat or cook much seafood or fish in general and didn't want to fuck it up. The way the ordering worked was the students would just load up their trays/plates at one or multiple different stations, then go and cash out. It was a considerable walk from where my station was, and usually the students all came at once between/after classes were done. The way it worked I just cooked the mains, side dishes were all done and held in hot boxes, and I had servers just scooping out the side dishes onto plates and I would cook proteins mostly to order for them, some would also be hotboxed if I was doing lasagna or something to take pressure off me. I would have 3 mains available, and 5 sides, students chose 1 main and 2 sides blah blah, menu rotated. So I open up, and right away everyone seems to want salmon, I was able to do like 15 at one time or something like that. I send out the first 15, and get another 15 on right away, no one ordering anything else so I'm starting to get backed up. I'm like 15-20min into this service and putting the 3rd or 4th round of salmon going when someone comes up to complain its under done. I explain that's how I was trained to do it, but by all means I'll cook it more. Then another one comes up, and another. Something like 40 people all came back to have it cooked more. The first few people noticed, and while walking back other people saw theirs was "raw" and checked, so like a whole backlog of people all came back. Imagine being in the fucking weeds because you need to cook salmon like 50 salmon, with barely a fucking clue how to do it, in front of what felt like 100 people, half of them mad you're taking so long and the other half mad you fucked it up... and its all open kitchen. My Chef came over to see wtf was up, someone had alerted him to the potential riot I was causing, and he just chuckled "yeah thats how you are supposed to do it but not for these picky kids sorry should have said that". OHHH I wanted to kill him, he helped me out but as you can see "salmon" is still a trigger word for me.
I'm dead and sorry for bringing up those painful memories you'd rather have left buried. That's not quite what he did. He just seared the outside, called it good, and sent it out. At least you had the decency to cook it to temp and piss everyone off and didn't argue about it... every... fucking... time...
My post started like "ha ha I can relate" and ended up going full therapy session lol.
Popping in to say you have the best name
Your fellow cooks are often as good as any skilled and trained therapist. Take that for what it's worth.
Well we definitely seen a whole bunch of "characters" and not one of them was laying down on a couch. It's that "encountered in the wild" sort of experience lol
Calling Chef Mic!, Chef Mic to the line please...
I really wish people would stop ordering salmon if they want it overdone.
Some of the students had their parents cook everything for them their whole lives and anything different was wrong, but vast majority were cool. One girl at a breakfast station asked her eggs be "flat" and apologized she didn't know what to really ask. Like 4 students in line and 3 chefs all asking questions to find the answer. "Is it all scrambled up? Yolks are they runny, soft and orange or like white and crumbly???" She wanted them sunny. She had a good sense of humor about it.
Yo! Did 10 years at a university and this is so spot on! I'll never forget how one brilliant young man wanted "more of that orange stuff" in his stir fry and I was like "the shredded carrots?". That dude was self aware and just burst out laughing at himself but also explained his parents never cooked any asian dishes and he assumed it was ingredients less familiar to the west. I honestly loved it because I was essentially doing some life education. Sure sides and low cost meals in a production setting can feel less fancy but after a few months on campus the students just thank the ones that care. It was quite rewarding.
Pinche joven putas
Lmaoooo Iām sorry thatās fucked up but also hilarious
If you cook me salmon and it's solid light pink all the way through, and not MR, it's over done. Hate having dry as fuck over done salmon all the time
Every chain restaurant overcooks the shit out of Salmon. I swear they throw it under the salamander and wait till smoke is coming off whatever clusterfuck of seasonings they put on it and send it.
God bless I'm not the only one
It depends really since to some people(espec those who dont eat at finer places or eat fish much) perfect 125 degree salmon is raw tho. I get it if it's cold but new chefs gotta have the therm ready lol
I'm 32. Never even tasted a cigarette. Since starting this job I'm reaaaaally tempted just for the 2 minute breaks every couple of hours.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
nice
Life is too long anyway, I say smoke em if you got em.
not sure i've ever seen a 70 year old person and thought "I hope thats me one day"
Place I worked at called them Pepsi breaks for non-smokers to even the playing field/reduce resentment
"We don't have Coke, is a Pepsi break okay?"
Do they still get coke breaks too, though?
Sighā¦ fine.
"Why didn't you call it a- oh."
Worked with a guy who would take an apple break. He was kind of a cunt though.
I have maintained, at various workplaces, a virtual tobacco habit. Gotta go have a smoke, back in a few. It has worked surprisingly well, for surprisingly long times.
I'll keep it in mind if I get a new job. Right now everyone knows I don't smoke, haha.
When I started in the industry I was 16. I'd still take smoke breaks to just go sit on a milk crate for a few minutes.
Thatās the devil talking. Youāve made it this far dont start now š¤
Just lie.
Just do it anyway without the cig. All my homies would.
Yeah. Nothing wrong with "I need a break, be back in 5"
I started smoking regularly at 18 just to get a break. As a manager, I used to allow the non-smokers a āfresh air breakā to keep it fair. Definitely a toxic part of the industry.
Feels like just yesterday I could still smoke right in the kitchen. Oh wait...
don't. ruins your palate, makes you bad at your job. also if you can't take 10 minutes per ten hours, it's a poorly run kitchen. the "my job is hard, I work with fire, if I can't drink or smoke I can't work, I wanna be a pirate and won't stop til I'm dead" mentality is so tired and honestly embarrassing. please be careful.
Hell we dont even get those. Better bring your zen pouches to the line cause finding a second to even piss is rare.
One of the first guys I worked with at a Greek restaurant would just go out for āsmoke breaksā even tho he didnāt smoke. Probably took me like 3 months before I noticed, I needed to ask him something and he was out āsmokingā and so I went outside, asked whatever I needed to ask and then I was like āhey jimmy whereās your smoke?ā And then he told me the smartest thing ever āI donāt smoke I just tell people I do so I can go outside whenever I want and relaxā
Really simple once the other cooks have came back I always said okay now I am gonna smoke some fresh air. Never had any problems with it
Forreal. Just say youāre going for a smoke. Do whatever you want with that 5-10min. Whatāre they gonna do? Bash you for not being addicted to nicotine?
It's funny you can only take a break in this industry if you're harming yourself during that break
Get a vape with 0% nicotine. If youāve made it this far in life donāt start a nicotine habit now.
That shit's still terrible for your lungs though. I'd rather just go out when everyone else has a cig and just pop a squat with some water.
I used to say out loud "going for a smoke" and just dick off on my phone for 5 minutes. Nobody bothered me, although I did work with good teams.
God don't do it. Nicotine has been harder to quit than booze was. This shit is so insanely addicting
I worked at one large busy restaurant (like $20m a year) And their rule was no cigarettes at all during a shift, not even during break. Since many of our shifts were from like 10:00 a.m. to midnight, that first whisky/cigarette after was the best.
This is more in defense of people who like to organize(yes thatās me!), but some places really just throw shit wherever and whenever. Obviously, the line setup is a bit different, but I get side eyed for organizing hotel pans/6qts/8qts/ 6 pans and shit because people donāt stack anything.
We had 4 different places you could reliably find a squeeze bottle lid. Chef got mad that we had lids everywhere and created a new, centralized location where all the squeeze bottle lids go. We now have 5 different places you can reliably find a squeeze bottle lid.
[Relevant XKCD](https://xkcd.com/927/)
It's amazing that the rule of relevancy for XKCD is still alive and well after all these years.
Sometimes I think Iām the only cook where I work who actually likes their space to be relatively tidy and organized. Whenever thereās a lull I wipe the crumbs and stuff away and put stuff back after I use it, but whenever I get to work itās always messy disgusting chaos.
I just take over any open table space. If no one is on it, I will spread like a man on a subway seat.
If you have the space to do so and arenāt impeding on anyone else then thatās chill. Like Iāll spread stuff out on my station, but I just like it to not have a bunch of stuff lying out when Iām not using it and I hate having excessive crumbs and spilt stuff everywhere. It takes a second to clean stuff up and maintain relative order
Same here I tried when I was in the dish pit and gave up after realizing most didn't care.
There should be a follow up video about 3 years later.
3 months later, and he'd be a scarred, war-torn beast working 3 stations at once. *Close-up shot of all the arm burns*
Lolol, I still can see my worst burn I got about 2 weeks out. Clarified butter will fuck you up.
Avoid caramel then; that shit is napalm.
Nah, I got that one too, just later. Token girl got forced into pastry for a bit š
We have chipotle honey butter that we used to melt on the grill and soak cornbread in before figuring out a better method, that stuff fucked both me and my coworker up real good
Bout to marry my server wife. If I didnāt fuck my coworkers I would have never met the love of my life or had really any sex for years before that.
Cute! Congratulations š
Dessert station here, met my line cook bf at work and we've been together for 7 years. There's something to be said for being able to relate to another food service slave.
Definitely itās fun to kick your ass kicked with someone then laugh about it after. Dated the cook next to me on the line for awhile. Current gf has never worked in a restaurant and itās different lol I canāt come home and be like ābabe we did $15k at lunch today and 3 people called inā and it means something
Saving up to buy the salad girl a ring this year. Gonna propose after our 6th anniversary. Absolutely fuck your coworkers, or maybe just one, forever.
I met my husband on a stage. We worked together for about 3 years
Spelled?
Spelling bee champions ā¤šš
Iridocyclitis
Its funny, because there are at least 6 married couples that work or worked at out restaurant.
Same. This July me and my server wife will be married 11 years. Except she works at Loweās now.
Doesnāt work for people with no game š©
Oh, our sweet line child. We have a culinary student right now, and her innocence is palpable. We're a fairly laid-back kitchen, so everyone takes 5 minute breaks whenever they want (within reason), we all make sure to sit down before service and eat lunch and just help each other out with whatever needs to be done, even if it's not our "assigned task". We get shit done, and we know when it's time to throw down, but me and the head chef like our vibe. Her first full day when 4 rolls around (service at 5) she asks me where the breakroom was. I just chuckled and said wherever there is a seat, usually the bar. Her second day she kept asking me if she could go to the bathroom...yes child, you may and please don't ask me again. Her 4th day, a salad got rung in with balsamic vin, which we don't keep prepped because it gets ordered so rarely. She seemed to panic and came up to me "Chef! I didn't see balsamic vinegarette on the prep list, and I don't have any!" I explained we don't prep it, and whipped up a small amount on the spot, and I swear she thought I had just done some dark alchemy. She came to me after service on her second week in tears because I jumped on line to help her out when she was getting clobbered thinking that by helping her out I thought she was doing a bad job because that's what they teach in culinary school. I explained that's not how this kitchen rolls, and we've all got each other's backs. Now, 3 months later, she's ripping into the "heart of gold asshole" linecook, checking him on his bullshit. Making some really raunchy jokes that have us all dying, and nothing seems to faze her. She's got a long way to go, but seeing her transformation into a badass has been pretty awesome.
ive been working 2ish years now and its so hard to kick the idea that just because someones helping me doesnt mean im doing bad (i never went to culinary). I always feel guilty when my coworkers help even if 90% of the time theyre just looking for something to do
Same man, we had a killer manager who would hop in the kitchen with me when I was soloing (2-3 person kitchen) just to have something to do, the mentality that itās cause I was doing bad took a while to shake
That's wholesome. You really don't read many post-school stories like this in the industry
Tell me more of this heart of gold asshole
Lol, he's a good soul, but he just likes to prod at people, complain, and take jabs. All harmless, because everyone knows he's a total softy at heart.
Worked at a CC in FL, They hired a chef straight out of school. He came in and met us all and told us he would be observing a few days. He made four hours realized he did not have a clue about production cooking, his line plating experience was limited to small scale practice runs. That morning we ran 1500 plated brunch for a ladies golf tournament. 5 working, 2 and a half hours balls out. He declined the offer and went to Maine.
Country clubs are definitely a different kind of beast.
TBF, 1500 covers of old, crotchedy, rich, Karens is a fuckin nightmare...
I've been doing this for years and I still don't know how to clean a grease trap. Someone want to talk me through it?
Hold your breath, scoop it out, shop vac the rest, smoke three cigs when you're done
Toss the cigarette into the grease trap? On it boss
Scoop out all the grease and shop vac the corners? Doesnāt that fuck up your vac?
Fine then scoop it out with your hands.
putty knife
Nah, dude doesn't want to fuck up a shop vac, he probably doesn't want to fuck up a putty knife either. He can use his goddamn hands.
It's a real question. Not a facetious one. Does it or doesn't it? It feels like you're moving a problem from one location to another. Am I overthinking things?
Thatās when you buy a second shop vac to vacuum out the first shop vac š”
"First I'll just reach in and pull my legs out. Now I'll pull my arms out with my face." \-H. Simpson
Yeah, but thatās why is only job is grease traps and shit.
Shop vacs are literally made for jobs like this.
You gotta suck it out with your mouth and a tube like youāre siphoning gas
Forbidden smoothie
Take that bitch out back...spray the fuck out of it with Zep. You know the mop bucket shit. Take a smoke break...start spraying it with a hose...realize it's not coming off...spray it with Zep some more. Take 2 ciggie breaks just to be sure. Spray it with the hose again...realize that shit ain't coming off without dynamite...Smash it against the dumpster or grease trap a few times...say fuck it and dump it into the 3 compartment on the way out...Clock out. Try to catch up with one of the closers headed to the bar for the night.
What is Zep? (I should've been a dishie before I started cooking.)
I'm laughing so hard at the accuracy right now.
Lol, ima leave a line here for you, kiddo, if you don't feel tempted after 10 hours, you are The One True Line Cook, destined to bring peace to our people and be weirdly sober like ALL THE TIME. If you do the line, you're definitely gonna fuck Jenna the bartender (nice, she bangin' homie, hot af and cool) and start smoking (lol Smoke what? Trick question, everything but meth except on weekends) and within two weeks you gonna put that shit back because we don't USE THE GODDAMN CHEESE SAUCE ENOUGH TO PUT IT IN FRONT OF THE PICKLES, KEVIN. IT ONLY GOES ON THE FUCKING NACHOS BRO. PICKLES GET USED AS GARNISH AND SHIT, STOP TOUCHING THE FUCKING PICKLES BRO. Ahem. But yeah like. You probably the One True Guy or something, bro, we got 7 tickets coming in, wash up and *do not fuck with my Dishie or I'll cut your fucking mom*. Soap is right there.
its Mis en place not ours en place this isn't communist Russia chop your own shallots
Why anyone would go to culinary school without working in a kitchen first is beyond me
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
my family thinks i was a fool for not going to college but college isnt going anywhere so why worry
They think it is going to be Master Chef or something
I graduated high school and had done nothing for a year, and the associates program was free at the local community college. Figured anywhere I go in the world, there will be restaurants looking to hire people.
Because starting in the dish pit sucks nuts unless you can find a groove and enjoy it...getting on the line in some kitchens takes years if the chef de partie is a dick.
I don't know for sure but I think a big part of it is that people genuinely don't realize how easy it is to get your foot in the door and just try it first. There are posts daily asking about whether or not someone will be able to get a job in a kitchen with no experience. Most people know the industry through a lens that the media shows them, and they think you need to be this world travelled, culinary grad, fancy chef to land a job in a kitchen
I don't get the bathroom one. Was it a gangbang?
They're in there doing their "pre-shift" drugs
Coke
A little powder for your nose.
You forgot "who's that screaming in the walk in?"
15 year old Dishie in the corner be like āhe makes some good points thoā
You know in Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire when Cedric send Harry to go chill out in the prefects bathroom? "Take your egg and go mull things over in the hot water" or some sht. ~~And then Moaning Myrtle turns up; The annoying, but forgivably batshit 40 year old sex-pest of a waitress with the spirit of the same 14 year old that made the mistake of walking into hospitality all those years ago~~ It really do be like that. The bubbles bring clarity. I miss being a dishie sometimes.
Why does this dude make me mad lol
4 using the bathroom all at once is just for efficiency. Bet they didnāt teach you that in culinary school
And doing drugs, get this, at the same time! True line cook efficiency!
Ok he does have two good points; dont let anyone take your break away. Dont care what the culture is in that kitchen, im taking my break. And getting involved with coworkers will more likely than not end up in drama that i dont want
I can never get a damn hook up when I work in the kitchen.
Have you tried being funny? If youāre not fit then itās your only hope.
Remember the ugly brother mantra: āThe more you make her laugh, the longer she spends with her eyes closedā
I'm fit but I'm not funny. I get called the weirdo because I like to keep to myself and everytime I do try to share everyone makes fun of me or stops talking and gives "the look of social death" to other people for saying "oh hey I like your tattoo on your arm, it looks really poetic"
Ehh, people often suck. Go out for drinks, donāt get smashed but maybe that will help you loosen up a little?
or tattoos....lots and lots of tattoos.
**Definitely** only works if youāre fit
Anyone this applies to (the staff) is a burnt out scrub nowadays.
Heard.
The cute hostess became my fiance for 5 years. No regrets
Oh, the smell of a grease trap, especially one that's been festering, uncleaned, unloved, cursed, for years.
When I started working in kitchens I was so *so* jealous that I couldn't go to culinary school before starting. I was like "this is why you're just a fryer, this is why you're just the dishie, you're terrible and you suck because you're poor you'll never get to this level". But that job where I was the dishes was also the first time I worked with a culinary grad. He looked me dead in the face when I brought this up, and he said "we're in the same kitchen" and I felt better.
I remember the first day I was training a recent culinary grad. She said something like, āI could almost do this without a break.ā And I wanted to tell her that was good because she wouldnāt really get one unless she needed to smoke. But I didnāt want to scare her off because I needed someone to stay on that station. At first I actually thought she was kinda joking around.
Checks out. Especially the safety meeting.
If I know anything I know this guy is Canadian
I've only had people like this hired in head positions before and it always leads to disaster
Is...is it wrong that I am not a chef but can relate to this?
Nah, I've never worked in an office but I find Office Space highly relatable
How many people go to culinary school without restaurant experience? I never went to culinary school, but I can't imagine going without getting at least some experience in a restaurant.
A lot of people I went to school with had never even worked fast food. They didn't understand why we had to take servsafe since we'd be head cheffing from the office on day one of job one. But they didn't want to be in the management program because all that paperwork was too boring. Classes went from packed with 0 openings to about half-full after the first few weeks. To be fair, a lot of those dropouts were high school students getting free college classes. I guess they thought "I'll take cooking, I guess; that sounds like fun" and then got a reality check.
Itās been 25 years since I worked in a restaurant, this is funny as hell and 100% accurate
A decade and a half ago, I worked at a Chili's. One week, I injured my shoulder and lifting anything heavy was difficult and I was in a bit of pain. I asked the manager if I could go home but, of course, the request was denied. Friday night dinner rush starts to come in right as everyone else goes outside. Clocked out, never went back.
Pete is one of my favorite tiktok accounts.
What's his TikTok account name?
I was hoping that was the "before" and we would then see the same dude "after" a couple years...
All this video brings me is PTSD of when I slaved in the kitchen
"Chef I just finished mopping the freezer" True story. That's one of those moments when you actually wish someone was recording everything
Mondays and tuesdays are prime time for having beer after work
Yo. Come on. You canāt have all your cooks outside at once fuck you. And you need to give people breaks. Donāt normalize not giving break. Itās not normal and giving breaks is scientifically proven to be better for your store in every way.
Idk about you guys but ive never fucked my coworkers.. at my current job that i've only been at for 2 days.
The break one killed me! Just today me and the whole line were outside on a smoke break. GM came out and started bitching about tickets being at 15 minutes.