Kuan: I work at a family restaurant. The chicken breast filets that we cook there are thin and would cook within a short time on the flat grill or the char grill. We used to have some that were three times as thick and had to be microwaved to be finished. And the GM has even said that same phrase, almost- "He's got 20 years of experience and he's working here. What does that say about him Ernie?"
Suzanne: I was taught to cook steaks entirely on the char grill. Whenever I had an idea on how to cook something better, I'd run it by the general manager, and I'd find out that's how we're supposed to, but my trainers were all being lazy, and teaching me the lazy way of cooking. For example, she cooks char-grilled hamburgers entirely on the char-grill, but I'm the only other cook there who does that. The GM is the closest we have to a chef there. Otherwise, a line cook gets trained by the last line cook, and they're only as good as they're trained (or as good as they're willing to question training). I am pretty much "head night cook" now, because the cooks who trained me have all quit, but I know my training isn't over. It's just that now I have to ask her about these things.
-E