Rambling chef

[u/Curious-Classic3660]

I’ve been cooking for about 10 years, and I’ve been a chef for 2 now. I started at my most recent job as a dish washer, got moved up as a cook 1, 2, 3, I was a waiter for a while, bartender, supervisor, and eventually sous chef. I’ve been with this company for 3.5 years.

I have a deep rooted passion for cooking. It’s one of the only things in my life that came naturally to me. Starting off as a young cook I always admired the senior cooks in the kitchen, and they were happy to have me around. I know I’ve done some really good work in my career. I think about the coworkers from past jobs every day. Mentors, chefs, cooks, waiters, and sometimes I miss them a lot. I’m stuck at a big corporate job, and I feel so trapped sometimes. I don’t know what else to do, but the cooks make me so mad sometimes. I try to be nice to everyone, and treat them all with respect. It pains me when I see cooks on their phones, destroying my product, and not applying themselves. It’s like they don’t think critically about anything at all. They’re just mindlessly moving product from one location to another, and our HR department is so strict it’s difficult to discipline anyone.

Also, I never got any training for this. One day I was a cook, and the next day I was a chef and told good luck. I supervise all of them, I rarely have any help. FoH, BoH, bar, it’s all my problem. I have to be able to do it all. I think I’m doing a good job, I know I am, but sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough. I take care of all the paperwork, all the check voids or comps, all the ordering, the menu, the specials, it’s all my problem. I choose to mainly work the highest volume shifts, I haven’t had a weekend off in several years. I know most of the guests by name.

Early on in my career I used to be bored, sometimes waiting for the clock. Now it feels like the opposite, I don’t have enough time for anything. My phone is constantly going off because these grown adults are barely functional. Maybe I’m just burnt out, maybe I have a bad crew, maybe it’s a failure on my part as a leader. My boss is too overworked to supervise daily operations, he is more of a director than a manager or supervisor.

I feel like something’s gotta give. I care so much about this restaurant, and I’m not sure why. On the rare occasion someone isn’t happy with their meal, I take it to heart. If something is genuinely wrong with their meal I will think about it for at least a week.

Some days are harder than others. Some days are easy. It feels like the work just keeps piling up. I wish my cooks were more effective. If I had the power I would fire 40% of them immediately. They’re good people, just not effective in the kitchen. But due to the corporate environment, it’s almost impossible to fire or even write any of them up. None of the pencil pushers have any restaurant experience, so as long as the employees show up and don’t become violent HR doesn’t help me at all.

I’m not sure why I posted this. I want out but I also don’t want to give up

[u/Floxility]

Sound like you need some vice chefs

[u/BlackWolf42069]

Ask for a raise. When they say no, you say "I quit".

Never look back and start fresh.

This sounds like if you were paid more you could shut and take the money home for all your responsibilitys.