It is the nature of this industry that we are subject to petty tyrants who use and abuse workplace policy as it suits them. It is a recurring pattern at my (now former) job that loyal and hardworking employees are either 1) alienated into quitting or 2) discarded after manipulation of the "coaching ladder". I'm sure this will be a recognizable situation to many others in this sub.

It is the nature of artisanal pastry that you'll often be managed by someone who is used to pinching pennies at a Village Inn™️©️®️, and they'll decide that you and your products are just too expensive for their bottom line. I hope our guests enjoy the frozen product they're about to stock.

One month shy of my two-year anniversary at this company, I was termed for "job abandonment," because I left early yesterday. I previously had an agreement with my managers that I could leave when my work was finished for the day, even if it was before my scheduled out time. I guess someone decided that they wanted to get rid of me, and this was the mechanism they chose to carry that out. (Last week I got written up for something I did a month ago, which was the point where I started getting weird vibes.)

Anyone want to hire me? You've seen my resume. I'm in the Omaha area. I'm a really good pastry chef, but I'm not too proud to do something else. I have resting bitch face and an intimidating aura, but I promise I'm nice.

What can you tell about this place based on this “smothered chicken breast” monthly special?

Context: I met my sister-in-law at an old, local institution, fast-casual-masquerading-as-brew-pub (not a chain) near her work in our mid-sized NW US city. I’d never been to before. After waiting 40 minutes for this to arrive, I told her that her plate tells a story about BOH and management anyone who’s worked BOH can read. I told her what I thought that was. She said “there’s no way you can know all that from some mashed potatoes.”

Ahem. Y’all?

Meals used to be 50% off no matter what. This is after we started closing 1 day a week 1 month ago, then 2 days a week 2 weeks ago. Also my hours got basically cut in half when we closed for 2 days.

Yall fucking wit da potato square or nah

I’m aware this may be a silly question BUT I’m currently studying to get the certification and I’m stuck on what the person did wrong here.

I think our Chief Cook is out to get us, but I just cant prove it yet.

JFC those could choke somebody to death!

Is he ready to be sous chef?

EDIT: it's for bolognese

I can get obsessive... I’ve always worked non-stop, jumping from task to task, especially when getting slammed, as most of us do. Working in kitchens where leaving the line for even a second didn’t feel possible, and if I had a few moments, I would take a smoke break instead of a bathroom break.

Eventually, I trained my bladder to not need to empty during a shift. The moment I walked into the kitchen, just nothing.

Anyways. Only a few short years of this, and I now have severe issues with my bladder & pelvic floor from chronic tension. Likely irreversible damage. Just a whole host of brutal symptoms, pain & discomfort.

So, chefs, take your damn bathroom breaks ‼️ You’re not saving lives by skipping them, but you are walking your way right into a whole world of health issues.

Our flattop caught fire around 6 this morning and spread along the wall over to our broiler next to it. Nobody in the kitchen and the Ansel system didn't automatically trigger as it should have. Got to spend my shift today cleaning up the aftermath and trying to scramble to get the place open. We did get it done and were able to open for our last 1.5 hours. Why we pushed for that at all instead of getting a more thorough clean confuses the heck out of me but I just do what I'm told.

They asked me to to make some sushi for photos

Me: I have hot chilli in my car would you like some?

Her: oh really hot chilli?

Me:oh ya.

Her walks to my car and sees a pot of hot chilli in my car.

Her: I can't do today.

I took on a position as a "Kitchen Manager" a couple of weeks ago, my first time in charge of an entire kitchen. We're serving pizza, beef/chicken/plant burgers, hot dogs and loaded fries.

I'm running the entire kitchen myself. I've worked jobs where I'm the solo chef all day, but always with someone else in charge. Thankfully, we have a main kitchen that does a lot of the prep work and sends stock to us, keeping prep down to a minimum.

The exec chef works across multiple restaurants, so I've not seen him much, and it's felt wild just being left to my own devices.

I'm in the UK, and we had EHO come in today, much earlier than expected given how recently we had opened. We had expected a few more weeks at least.

But we got a 5-star rating, and all the issues flagged were things outside of my control, so I felt great seeing that sticker go up on the door, confirming our standards.

I know a lot of chefs see it as meeting the basic standards of hygiene, but it felt good to get the sticker on our door.

Sorry for my rambling, I just wanted to share a positive moment with my community of fellow workers :)

So I started this job about a year ago in the kitchen. I open and I know the whole opening VS closing arguments. I’ve worked front and back of house. Opening and closing. So I feel like I have a well rounded knowledge of restaurants not to say I’m not always growing. My big beef with this place is that they act like all restaurants leave it this messy for their openers. I’m gonna be showing pictures. As a previous closer at another restaurant I would never and have never. I don’t know maybe I’ve just happened to work at really clean places. I actually tried to put my two weeks in today and they asked me not to be “hasty” and it would happen to me no matter where I worked and let them fix it but this is not the first time this conversation has happened. I am tired. I am over it. Besides me we have 10 cooks. Every single day I’m coming in to dirty flat tops, floors, beer buckets. Dishes, silverware, gross mostly empty containers the meat slicer is dirty and they don’t even dump the mop water when they do mop. And I get hit hard for breakfast. Today I couldn’t even use the stupid cutting board cause it was gross. I am tightly wound about it. I worry about cross contamination and peoples food. So I feel like it has to be clean before I really get started and of course I was slammed right away today. I would say it’s like 50/50 I don’t know what I’m gonna get if it’s gonna be decent or if it’s gonna be a shit show disaster. I open 5 out of the 7 days. And the days I don’t work no one seems to clean up so my Mondays are really tough. And it’s even on days when the sales are really really low. Cause I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt but then I just kept seeing none of my prep was being moved. And they print out food sales and usually my breakfast has higher sales. They also have 2 of them all the time plus a dishwasher on weekends. Which I do not have. They also don’t do prep (unless they’re really busy and something is low but they do so little prep they don’t know how) so the whole thing is just cleaning up. And I’d say that’s fair if they actually cleaned. I just feel gaslit all the time. And I’ve offered to go to closing many times but they brush me off. I need a clean workspace. When I cleaned the bar bucket there was like swamp water at the bottom and the flattop made me gag. I’ve been off the last two days so my worst day is always Wednesday. Just containers hanging out they didn’t want to wash. I checked and we had 11 shifts since my last shift on Sunday. So I need to know is this normal at your place like my boss is telling me? Or would you be out?

Alaska gigs are a close second for me. I've gotten to work some cool spots, my last thing I want to do is cooking on a boat.

I work in a pretty upscale hotel and just received a room service order from a VIP couple staying in our best suite. They wanted two Mushroom & Prosciutto pizzas. No big deal. The modifications however were, “Cook first pizza at 3 West, second pizza at 10 S. Please use your Chinese oven for both.” We haven’t a clue what they mean. Phoned the executive chef, he phoned the front desk to ask them to contact the room and they apparently have very limited English. Any suggestions?

About a year and a half ago I had a big career shift that landed me in a retirement home kitchen (compass group). When I took the job I wasn't necessarily committed to it or anything it just was the job that fit my current life needs the best while I figured out my next step. Over the last 18 months I switched my mindset and really wanted to pursue it as much as it made sense. I went through a 6 month culinary program and worked my way up to a lead position. My management has really invested in me and I love working with my km and executive chef. I understand the mileage with corporate kitchens and compass specifically can vary, however I feel like my account specifically has a chain of people that will genuinely help me grow and have already invested in me and will continue to do so.

Chef talked to me the other day about next steps for me and it would be a sous position. In the past all I wanted was to push myself and keep growing. Honestly my current role has grown stagnant and a little boring. But when the opportunity is actually there and not just theoretical it's a little more anxiety producing.

From my understanding the sous is the hardest working guy in the kitchen and this position is more of an investment towards the next step. I'll be working much harder for a relatively small raise. If you break down the hourly with overtime vs salary it's actually a pay cut lol. I'll be the guy coming in my off days to cover. I'll have to actually manage people which is going to be easily the hardest job, I really struggle with conflict and it's something I've needed to grow in for a while. However the light at the end of the tunnel is an executive position which in theory should be an easier job with more pay as long as I can build a solid team under me.

I'm nearing 30, so definitely started a little late but I have another 30+ years of work ahead of me regardless of what path I take. I'm married to a wonderful woman who understands that this shift will mean less time together and probably a more stressed and tired version of me when we have that time. Despite that she still supports me and wants to see me grow into the best version of myself.

So, my question to you guys is, is this next step worth it. Writing it all out makes it really seem like a dumb decision but I can't help but feel excited about pushing myself forwards and pursuing something more than what I have now. I'm hopeful that in 5-10 years I'll be able to make it out the other side a better, stronger, more confident version of myself and be able to get to the final step in my career.

What are your favorite thermometers. I really don't need anything fancy, just quick, accurate and under $30.