The manuals that have been making me lose sleep are completed, my inventory system is nearly done, just waiting on some things from a technical guy to get it going, and I'm on "vacation". I say that with quotes because I should be out of town right now, but the address on my license isn't up to date so the car I was supposed to rent to get out of here with is a no go. And no way in hell I'm taking the bus. But screw it, I'm making the best of it, catching up on sleep, being generally lazy.
I keep trying to think of interesting stories and anecdotes from cooking school, but I can't seem to recall anything that was THAT interesting. I was actually kind of a bad student, come to think of it. I mean, I was good when I was there, and the marks on all my tests were good, and all my cooking was good and I was faster than most of the chumps there. Thing was, I didn't really go as much as I was supposed to, so I was usually in trouble with the program head. It wasn't all my fault, really, I mean, I had bills to pay. I'd be up around 6 am for school, get out around 3 or 4, be at work for five, get off around 2, and then do it all over again the next day. Eventually it caught up with me, and I'd end up missing some school, resulting in a talk from the head. I will refer to him as Pino. Pino was a short little Indian guy that, in reflection, reminds me a lot of the chef from ratatouille, except he didn't really have the balls or the wherewithal to be a bully to anybody. Not that being a bully just because you're a chef is necessarily a good thing, but sometimes you gotta kick a little ass. Anyway, he'd never really kick my ass, which might have got me to do something about my situation and change my work schedule or something, he'd just sit me down and say, "Teeem, dyou are not leeving up to dyour potential, you know?" The talk never really changed, and never did anything to make me to want to change. So eventually, even though I was a good student and a good cook, and was capable of getting good marks, they chopped my marks down for missing classes here and there and I failed out. It didn't matter that I'd stay up all night making puff pastry that the rest of the students had been making for the past two days and that mine turned out better, it didn't matter that I could beat second year students and third year apprentices in cooking competitions, that I had more practical knowledge and knife skills, or that cooking was an all-consuming passion that ate up my entire life. No, to them, all that mattered was that I put an ass in a chair when and where they wanted me to. Bullshit.
So after failing out, I kind of never looked back. I've thought about doing my apprenticeship and maybe starting out as a third year and getting it all finished, but that's bunk. I've always paid a high respect to the older ways of learning in this trade. Nobody should have to be sat down and taught, it's not fucking rocket science. If you can't pick up on a few essential skills that will open doors for you and make you able to work successfully in any kitchen all over the world, you shouldn't be in this business. It's that simple.
As for me and getting my papers? I think I'm going to wait a year or so, and see what kind of credentials I can get by challenging their ridiculously easy standardized tests. If I don't end up getting a red seal in the end, I don't think it's any big loss. I never really gave much credit to papers, anyway.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Manuals......Damned Manuals....And Usual Crap
I'd like to start off by saying this: if you ever find yourself in a position where you are the head chef of an upstart restaurant that is looking to expand, (IN ITS FIRST YEAR!!!!) and you are called upon to create manuals for stuff that is actually pretty easy to teach, but somewhat difficult to put into words other than, "Look you fucking idiot, just do exactly what I'm fucking telling you exactly the way I'm fucking telling you to do it and if it looks like shit in the end, start over, until you fucking get it right," I strongly suggest choosing the option of heading for the goddamned hills.
Seriously, having to choose the words to express,"If it looks like a raisin, but is actually a pepper, you probably shouldn't use it, you stupid cunt," in a respectful, professional way is slowly sucking my soul away. Never mind the fact that my deadline is looming ever so near (tomorrow!) and after that I have to review an inventory control and costing program that I haven't had time to look at while a lackey did the data-entry on it, that needs to be functional by sunday before I leave for my holiday. The first holiday I've taken in years, mind you, and one that is so,so,so badly needed right now. God, I just want all this shit to be done and working so I can get the hell out of this town.
So, in order to get all this done in this tiny little time frame, I've distanced myself from the line this past week, handing it over to my sous-chefs (one of whom decided now would be a good time to become debilitatingly sick) and cooks to fend for themselves. This was also sort of a test-run for next week when I'm away.
I'm beginning to really have my doubts about whether or not there'll be a kitchen to come back to. The reasons for this are awholelottafold. For one, my non-sick sous is a goddamned pussy. I blame myself for his continued employment. I've given him so many kicks in the ass and chances to become really good, and just when I think he's finally going to meet or (gasp!) exceed my expectations, he falls on his face and starts crying like a wounded child. I should note at this point that due to problems with our ownership group and myself not exactly seeing eye to eye on some pretty important stuff, I'm currently entertaining a new job prospect. I'm not exactly holding my breath, but if it pans out, it could be pretty good. The point? I don't want to make any big changes to my line up until I know if I'm sticking around or not. Sound bad? not really. I promised myself I'd get all their training, costing, inventory, and labour control programs up and running before I leave. For what they're paying me, they're getting a damned bargain. Anyway, back to my reasons....I've noticed that without me there all the time this week, my staff seem to be turning on each other like feral dogs. And that's with me still on the premises, just not always in the kitchen. As well, because I like to be active in the kitchen all the time, I usually end up picking up a lot of prep. Prep that I thought could be picked up by someone coming in for a few shifts extra that week. Turns out I was wrong. With one extra person on both days and nights today absolutely fuck-all got done and I was forced to put my manuals aside and work part of the night in my jeans. Ever work a hot line in your jeans? Anyway, suffice it to say that next week is going to be a serious test for everyone as a team and as individuals. I can't help but wonder if this is all somehow my fault. But I think the truth is simply that these kids today (okay, so they're in their 20's) just don't care. I've tried to pass on my knowledge, my work ethic, my work style, my time management techniques, but in the end, they're kinda just flakes. It's somewhat heartbraking, because a lot of them have been with us since we opened, and at some point I saw a lot of potential in all of them, but to be honest, there's probably going to be some major turn over after this.
Seriously, having to choose the words to express,"If it looks like a raisin, but is actually a pepper, you probably shouldn't use it, you stupid cunt," in a respectful, professional way is slowly sucking my soul away. Never mind the fact that my deadline is looming ever so near (tomorrow!) and after that I have to review an inventory control and costing program that I haven't had time to look at while a lackey did the data-entry on it, that needs to be functional by sunday before I leave for my holiday. The first holiday I've taken in years, mind you, and one that is so,so,so badly needed right now. God, I just want all this shit to be done and working so I can get the hell out of this town.
So, in order to get all this done in this tiny little time frame, I've distanced myself from the line this past week, handing it over to my sous-chefs (one of whom decided now would be a good time to become debilitatingly sick) and cooks to fend for themselves. This was also sort of a test-run for next week when I'm away.
I'm beginning to really have my doubts about whether or not there'll be a kitchen to come back to. The reasons for this are awholelottafold. For one, my non-sick sous is a goddamned pussy. I blame myself for his continued employment. I've given him so many kicks in the ass and chances to become really good, and just when I think he's finally going to meet or (gasp!) exceed my expectations, he falls on his face and starts crying like a wounded child. I should note at this point that due to problems with our ownership group and myself not exactly seeing eye to eye on some pretty important stuff, I'm currently entertaining a new job prospect. I'm not exactly holding my breath, but if it pans out, it could be pretty good. The point? I don't want to make any big changes to my line up until I know if I'm sticking around or not. Sound bad? not really. I promised myself I'd get all their training, costing, inventory, and labour control programs up and running before I leave. For what they're paying me, they're getting a damned bargain. Anyway, back to my reasons....I've noticed that without me there all the time this week, my staff seem to be turning on each other like feral dogs. And that's with me still on the premises, just not always in the kitchen. As well, because I like to be active in the kitchen all the time, I usually end up picking up a lot of prep. Prep that I thought could be picked up by someone coming in for a few shifts extra that week. Turns out I was wrong. With one extra person on both days and nights today absolutely fuck-all got done and I was forced to put my manuals aside and work part of the night in my jeans. Ever work a hot line in your jeans? Anyway, suffice it to say that next week is going to be a serious test for everyone as a team and as individuals. I can't help but wonder if this is all somehow my fault. But I think the truth is simply that these kids today (okay, so they're in their 20's) just don't care. I've tried to pass on my knowledge, my work ethic, my work style, my time management techniques, but in the end, they're kinda just flakes. It's somewhat heartbraking, because a lot of them have been with us since we opened, and at some point I saw a lot of potential in all of them, but to be honest, there's probably going to be some major turn over after this.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
Let's start at the very beginning for now. Things may get all over the place after that, timeline-wise, but for now, the beginning seems good.
Flashback to 2002. A young idealistic computer engineering student with his whole life and a good career in front of him. Cooking hasn't really crossed his mind at this point, although he does enjoy cooking for his girlfriend and friends. The only problem is that he's beginning to hate the career that might be in front of him, and the prospect of working with the goofs he's going to school with for the rest of his life is...well...unappealing.
Jeezus, I could go on like that forever. Suffice it to say that I hated school and the thought of being stuck at a desk with a bunch of nerds as a career was actually depressing me. I mean thoroughly. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, I just knew I had to get the hell out of there.
It was only really by chance that I got into cooking. I had prepared a dinner for a girl that I was trying to be dating at the time, and after she had gone home, a friend of mine came over and we split the leftovers. The conversation is pretty fuzzy at this point, but it went something like this:
"This is pretty fucking good."
"Yeah, thanks."
"No, really. You should go into cooking."
Like I said, it's pretty fuzzy, and I'm probably leaving out some details, but those are just that, details, and at this point, they don't matter that much. The point is, even though I just thought it was a crazy idea at the time, that crazy idea was a seed that grew and grew and grew and along with it, my hatred for the career path that I'd chosen. It grew to the point one day that I decided I was going to drop out of computer engineering and enrole in the culinary arts in the next semester.
And that's the start. I'd like to think that I'll continue this in some sort of orderly fashion, passing through what was supposed to be my school years but ended up being year, all the way through my shitty first jobs right up to the point that I'm at now, but we all know that isn't going to happen. I will, however, attempt to intersperse the random rants and brain-spewage with posts that actually make some sense and follow my ever-so-glamorous career development.
Flashback to 2002. A young idealistic computer engineering student with his whole life and a good career in front of him. Cooking hasn't really crossed his mind at this point, although he does enjoy cooking for his girlfriend and friends. The only problem is that he's beginning to hate the career that might be in front of him, and the prospect of working with the goofs he's going to school with for the rest of his life is...well...unappealing.
Jeezus, I could go on like that forever. Suffice it to say that I hated school and the thought of being stuck at a desk with a bunch of nerds as a career was actually depressing me. I mean thoroughly. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, I just knew I had to get the hell out of there.
It was only really by chance that I got into cooking. I had prepared a dinner for a girl that I was trying to be dating at the time, and after she had gone home, a friend of mine came over and we split the leftovers. The conversation is pretty fuzzy at this point, but it went something like this:
"This is pretty fucking good."
"Yeah, thanks."
"No, really. You should go into cooking."
Like I said, it's pretty fuzzy, and I'm probably leaving out some details, but those are just that, details, and at this point, they don't matter that much. The point is, even though I just thought it was a crazy idea at the time, that crazy idea was a seed that grew and grew and grew and along with it, my hatred for the career path that I'd chosen. It grew to the point one day that I decided I was going to drop out of computer engineering and enrole in the culinary arts in the next semester.
And that's the start. I'd like to think that I'll continue this in some sort of orderly fashion, passing through what was supposed to be my school years but ended up being year, all the way through my shitty first jobs right up to the point that I'm at now, but we all know that isn't going to happen. I will, however, attempt to intersperse the random rants and brain-spewage with posts that actually make some sense and follow my ever-so-glamorous career development.
Somewhere to start
This blog....oh god, I'm not a blogger....am ?
Anyway, this....thing...is officially started July 8, 2009 as a result of too much coffee, lack of sleep, and most importantly the manual writing which was the cause of everything and led me to believe that I had some sort of strange affinity for writing.
Let me say right now, I'm probably not a good writer. So if you happen upon this, keep your grammatical do's and don'ts to yourself.
Anyway, I'm going to attempt to give some insight into this crazy world I've gotten myself into. Names and places will be changed to protect the not-so-innocent.
Anyway, this....thing...is officially started July 8, 2009 as a result of too much coffee, lack of sleep, and most importantly the manual writing which was the cause of everything and led me to believe that I had some sort of strange affinity for writing.
Let me say right now, I'm probably not a good writer. So if you happen upon this, keep your grammatical do's and don'ts to yourself.
Anyway, I'm going to attempt to give some insight into this crazy world I've gotten myself into. Names and places will be changed to protect the not-so-innocent.
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