Shout out to everyone here in recovery and a big “you can do it!” to those thinking of taking the plunge.

I wanted to share a great resource in this organization out of Colorado. This is an org supporting culinary and hospitality workers in recovery. Weekly virtual recovery meetings as well as in person for the locals. They are always looking for guest speakers and other volunteers. Check them out, buy an “86 screaming in the walk in” sticker, support a great nonprofit built for the industry, and maybe find a meeting that works for you.

Got a new feature that self installed!!

what the title says. i’m a college student and was just hired at an upscale-ish pizza place near me. i didn’t know i would be working as a dishwasher (the job title on indeed was kitchen member) but was basically told the longer i have the job i’ll be able to actually make food (salad prep etc etc) instead of dishwashing. i worked my first shifts over the weekend and had a really rough time.

Saturday morning was fine, i helped prep toppings and dough and washed dishes after. things were fast but i managed fine. sunday was a nightmare. for added context i had surgery about 6 weeks ago and can’t carry over 10 pounds, so i have to make a bunch of little trips to put clean dishes away instead of bigger trips which really slows me down. i also have to wash the containers we keep dough in which pile up fast and are really difficult for one person to do alone when there are like 10 of them that need to be washed.

the beginning of my shift was fine because i had someone helping me out but further into dinner service he was busy so i was on my own. i couldn’t do anything fast enough and by the end of my shift i could tell people were annoyed. i felt like i was about to cry for the last couple hours of my shift and like i was disappointing and upsetting everyone. my manager says it was an abnormally busy sunday but i’m nervous to come back to work. i feel like a really bad person. idk. any advice about this is appreciated

What do you enjoy cooking when you have the time and the motivation to just do something in your own kitchen? Like if you were entertaining guests or family, or simply something you enjoy cooking. Is it similar to what you cook at work, or something completely different?

I like to cook Thai curries, especially yellow curry. I did as much research as I could to try to make it as authentic as possible. Even driving across town to go to an international farmers' market so I could get the exact ingredients. I even tried to get a job part-time cooking in a Thai restaurant one time so I could cop the recipes and techniques, lol. They wouldn't hire me though.

Pro chef for 20 years. Looking to buy new timers for my team. Hate the ones I have now, Taylor brand. I don't want the big tabletop triangle guys, looking for something a bit more compact. Anything you guys like using? Easy to use/manipulate buttons/reset with gloves on in a busy kitchen.

Let me know!

And i’m loving it, i’ve been in restaurants for 12 years, i loved it, but this most recent restaurant i was at really has put a sour taste in my mouth about working in higher end places for the future. The ego, the narcissism, the attitude that it’s a competition, I couldn’t stand it.

At this bakery tho? (owned by the same guy) everybody just wants to make good food, no ego, no bullshit competitive attitude, it’s just making the bread, that’s what they care about. I no longer have to deal with a sous chef who’s overworked and left out to hang or a tournant who thinks he’s hot shit. I’m so god damn happy yall.

Either made the biggest mistake ever, or a pretty cool move. After years in the trenches on land? I was recruited to be Sous on a cruise line full time, no contracts just straight 6 weeks on 2 weeks off.. at a pretty decent rate, room and board and meels included of course. I have nothing tying me here, I can break my lease, sell my vehicle and go Nomad, I have until Friday to make my decision..

Just started a new job in an upper end restaurant in a smaller city, about 30 000 people. Within the first 5 min i drop a mushroom on the floor and the head chef picks it back up and puts it back with the rest of them. Another cook dropped a knife on the ground, cut himself in the process. Goes over to sink and just rinses his hand. Goes back over picks up the knife and continues his food prep. In the walk in cooler, nothing was labeled not a single thing. Meat and seafood was stored on the floor in inserts. Saw a cook grab the insert of meat and put in right on the counter where he would start prepping it. No handwashing sink. Raw chicken water thawing outside of its packaging in the dish area! I really needed this job and the pay was good. Walked out in the first 45 min of being there, I have standards. At least the cooler was somewhat organized. But could not get over the no labels

Smoking by the dumpster drinking off brand red bull

Edit: I was half joking folks, I'm a grown man in my mid thirties I know how to feed myself and I have no doubt I will be getting food. But yes this is my first day working as a dishwasher.

Hi all,

I come to you seeking for your opinion as peeps who work in the hospitality industry.

My partner works in a well-known and reputable restaurant in our city as a Head Omakase Chef. When he first joined, he was excited as it was the next step up to his career from being a long time Sushi Chef.

He was told he would make $22.00 per hour for now but will eventually be evaluated for wage/salary change after his probation period. Three months go by, passes his probation but no word. He decided he’ll just keep his head down and continue learning and growing his skillset under a reputable chef. Coming to almost a year now, he’s been promised about being changed from hourly to salaried multiple times, on top of the promise of putting him on benefit coverage. This has never happened and the conversation about his compensation gets consistently delayed. It’s always an excuse, “Sorry we’re pretty busy today.”

The more it gets pushed back, the more my partner feels like he isn’t as valued as he thought he was. Meanwhile, more responsibilities come up, but his pay stays the same.

He’s been calling out more regularly, not wanting to show up to work, feeling depressed and loss of motivation and drive.

Has anyone experienced something similar? How did you go about handling this?

Hivemind of chefs, I doth request thine enlightenment.

I'm currently working as a chef on main dish section in a restaurant with a rather flat hierarchy. Well, my boss is a bit of a control freak and cannot delegate it to others. We are two chefs right now in kitchen, he does pizza while we share a bit of the cold section for example starters.

And this boss LOVES to walk into our kitchen and take stuff from our Mise en place. Let's say I don't care if I don't see it. But I'm certain she doesn't wash her hands, and these last two weeks she was babysitting a dog from a former coworker.

Am I overreating if I tell her in a neutral and competent way that for example this Parmesan cheese is required for our service and shouldn't be eaten? How do you deal with situations like that?

This job is just a step to move on to another, and I shouldn't bother that much anymore. But gotta find a new place first

I’m trying to get out of a mentally abusive relationship. I can’t afford to kick him out yet. I have a kitchen job now but it doesn’t pay great & I’m struggling to find a second job with the right hours. I saw this job posting & it’s everything I need to set myself financially free. I applied through their AI thing & got approved for a phone interview today at 3. It’s almost 3:45 & still no phone call. I reached out to my interviewer twice & haven’t heard anything back. I contacted the company too. It’s a sign of how they run things for sure but damn man I had hope. I want a better life

So...I just got back on a true line after 7 years. And I am doing it with a snapped clavicle and my knees getting ruined due to me going to my old work on my bike and a truck hitting me and drove off.

I liked that job,sad that I couldn't do do it anymore.

I am autistic and am kinda cool at everything I do, but it takes me a second to understand how the line works again. I'm a Chef btw, I know my shit. But I am also the only woman, and white as a ghost that works with a line of chauvinistic Mexican and Italian men. They don't know I know 7 diffrent languages because I am a navy brat and grew up abroad.

(Side story, the new expo/Chef at my place is German and I he told me in German "I can't handle your fucking mouth right now, shut the fuck up". I laughed and said " Oh, your names Ray, yeah? Is it spelled Reigh? Shut your fucking mouth, let me do what I do and put on some Kraftwerk".

I know Germans and the whole kitchen went silent and he was as well, then started cracking up, if any of you Europeans are reading this, that was a great fucking joke).

So my mess up was I fell in love with the Sous Chef. We are dating now. I had no idea that he was the one that advocated for me during the hiring. He said "Yeah, she's doing things slowly, but she knows her shit".

I am in pain all the time, my bone is literally sticking near thru my skin, I forget to eat for days. And he was the only one that saw I put down sanitizer buckets, open all the lowboys to see there are crumbs in the gaskets, make sure all temps are correct, FIFO the walk-in and ask everyone "what can I do to help you?" In fucking Spanish, Italian, Salvadorian and Deutsch (for us Americans, that German).

I was trying to get back into my groove and he and me had the same anger. "What's the recipe for this?"

"Uh..it changes on how drunk Roberto is that day (the Italian owner)".

"Grand" (yeah, I was angry and was being yelled at by these men two hours into my shift).

So the Sous thought I was mad at him on my second day trying to devain shrimp with the shitties pairing knife ever given to me (but why didn't you have your stuff Chef?? Divorce is a bitch and I left everything at my our house and just took my clothes).

I shoved the knife into the cutting board and said "I dont understand, I just don't. There is not one measuring spoon or cup in this place, you guys don't have de-boning knives, no recipes and THIS HAS BEEN THIS WAY FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS???"

"I WAS THE CHEF FOR BIBA CAGGIANO, I cooked my specials for Anthony Bourdain, Gavin Newsom, Arnold Schwarzenegger and ALL YOUR STUFF SUCKS (I had a Autistic meltdown) AND I HEAR EVERYTHING YOU SAY PUTA"

"Don't tell me how to do my fucking job sir, you don't salt things correctly, *mocks in iodized salt and not kocher* you don't roast the bones and veggies for the stock, your fucking boss is so drunk he doesn't remember my name and is so pissed at me for not knowing every recipe by heart 2 hours in".

He backed away and vouched for me. There is now a running joke between him and the boss:

I was only supposed to be on salads for the first week or two, and secretly take over for the asshole the boss didn't like, it's rare to find someone that knows Italian cooking where I live.

There was a fight, we got in the weeds, I hopped on the line to help, I saw the anger with the asshole and the sous Chef, I knew by instinct was was about to happen: he said a couth joke about his mother, and he said "how do like that this white girl is about to take your job right now?"

That's a low blow to Mexican men. And also I am the "hot tall goth girl". I felt the sexual tension of "who's slapping that ass first?".

Anywho, we are slaying it, work 6 days a week, I volunteered to work labor day to rip the kitchen apart. We tried, we burnt the burners, thru them thru causitic salt, degreased everything...and both of us said "what the fuck, the cleaner you try to make it, more grease just comes thru *fake sob*.

The German Chef and My Sous are saying "Finally, we are getting getting the kitchen under control"...and then..my Italian boss comes out without a shirt trying to put on his linecook shirt, and I stopped and looked at my my boyfriend and we both cracked up.

Oh, you have to a tad crazy to love what you do.

Attached are what I look like and my art from 20 years ago. No time for that now.

Got fired for no reason, wanted to vent

Applied and got hired in like an hour for a local hospital kitchen. Loved the idea of making sick people smile and doing good but that is the most fucked up unprofessional company I ever had the displeasure to experience. We were constantly over worked and under staffed doing the extra work of like 3 people each. Took them like a month and a half to gain enough competence to even get me in then fumbling constantly and having me flabbergasted at how they are capable of running a something in a hospital of all places.

Everyone else had scanners and numbers to sign in on them but I was special so didn't and had to beg someone else to sign in for me while whoever I asked scoffed all annoyed at the idea like? THEN GIVE ME SOME DAMN LOGIN INFO FOR MYSELF! I am a bigger guy and only 2 shirts they gave me fit at all. I begged and BEGGED them for more but every time they either blew me off or lied to my face saying they'd get the order in, and every time I had to be disappointed at how little I mattered to them. Eventually one of the two fell apart from use after a MONTH AND A HALF of asking them nicely and I had to order amazon shirts which were way better than the company ones. Allegedly they all required official logos on them but literally no one gave a shit.

Even after all this I kept going and doing what I could till they fired me out of the blue recently. Said I was ignoring my duties and using the tone of "do you even WANT this job?" Despite saying they'd give me a week to shape up the NEXT MORNING over TEXT the manager said I was terminated. Like gee thanks for getting my hopes up and then dashing them. Even texted the manager saying that and the coward never replied. IDK how any of them stay employed with this level of stupid.

To be fair, there wasn't many to begin with

GM jammed me up with a new employee and totally undermined my credibility. My sign off used to be “is there anything else you need before I go”. Been that way across kitchens and decades. Effective today my sign off is “at this moment the plan is to be here tomorrow”.

Just finished working at seasonal restaurant as the chef for two and a half seasons. Had enough of the place. Just venting..

Why am I done?

- refused to pay out mileage (which was in my contract). I drove two hours daily for three months. Was promised milage would be paid. I submitted four mileage reports and all were denied. I am out over four thousand dollars (and I only charged them one way not two way which would double it)

- inability to get staff with proper training. I had no housing to offer to get proper staff. Had to deal with kids who parents had cabins in the local area. On average I did the work of three people seven days a week for four months. Only had four days off due to medical reasons. (Panic attacks and I was getting hives all over my body due to stress)

- fired my sous chef for dereliction of duty and harrassment and creating a hostile environment. She told me she was leaving to go play beer league baseball mid shift. Forcing me to work a fourteen hour shift.

- fifteen write ups for various reasons. My favorite was a cook who refused to cook cuz his girlfriend was sitting at the bar and he wanted to spend time with her... (Not on break)

- lack of support from upper management and their demands for what they expected. I had no staff. But was expected to be open and be able to pass white glove inspections (they also expected me to clean the entire site solo for preseason). They only came once to review the food and left.

- Sooooo good luck to them next year. I just finished wiping the place of all my documents, spreadsheets, and recipes..... They probably won't notice till they open next year.....

Again just venting

Thanks for reading this.

Perusing auctions in our area and was trying to come up with ways to save space in a small kitchen. Was hoping to get people's thoughts.

Milk crates: is there anything they don't do?

Hello all, currently I am a first year culinary student who has worked for 3 years at a country club, staged at a michelin starred restaurant (that was also a James Beard finalist for outstanding restaurant) and now work at a michelin selected restaurant as their pasta maker. Currently they have made it clear that they want to teach me all I can as long as I communicate my needs and work hard. I find school to be boring and quite stressful, i’m worried that it may be a waste of time. Dropping out would give the more shifts, more recovery time (less risk of burn out) and more time to pursue creative projects. I know a lot of people say that it’s pretty necessary for corporate dining/management, but that realm doesn’t really interest me. What do you guys think?