Chef problems

[chefboy2160]

Anneke has it right,document everything,do your job above and beyond and then report the harassment from pos chef with delusions of godhood to the human resources department (owner or manager) directly after an un provoked attack from him.
Be sure to use the word harassment and sexual in your report. Give them the chance to cool off there predator and keep him in line or maybe you should seek legal help? Whatever you decide no reference is worth that kind of tension.
Keep cookin,Doug............

[hipjoint]

The list goes on ladies and gentlemen and quite frankly Ive had enough. There have been nights I go home and cry like I was two years old because some ******* feels I don't have a right to work with him. When I know there is nothing else in theis world that I would rather be doing.
We talk about women's rights in a male dominated industry like we are living in the 70s.
I gotta know, are there men out there that feel that when a woman enters a kitchen and she is the only woman, does it have a negative impact on the kitchen? If so, what can we do about it?


===== sorry to tell you, but it happens in EVERY workplace where a woman
is the only female person in the place. on a construction site, on a basketball court, in a kitchen ... whatever ... sometimes guys just want to
hang with other guys. it's just this freedom to be a guy, to talk like a guy,
to cuss like a guy, whatever. a woman entering the scene can and often
will change the dynamics.

sometimes some guy will want to brag about his latest conquest, or wonder
why j.lo's butt gets so much criticism when he thinks it is a thing of beauty,
or ask if that irritating itch "down there" can be the crabs ... and all three
of these topics can be considered sexual harassment in every major corporation! he can be fired if the lone woman employee finds any of this offensive even tho the guy might be talking to another guy and she is not part of the conversation ... just being offended overhearing this conversation is cause for dismissal under sexual harassment rules!! and if a guy can't be free to talk "guy talk" at work (certainly can't talk "guy talk" at home!) then he won't want to work there either!

hey ... it doesn't even have to be at work!! when my wife and her sisters and friends are at the house and they are talking in the family room and i have to log on the computer to find out something, the whole dynamic changes there too!! they stop talking, or start talking about a neutral subject, or simply give me the "evil eye" until i leave ... so it ain't just a "guy thing"!!

what can you do about it??? either start your own restaurant (impractical) or work someplace else, preferably with an "open kitchen". at a restaurant like san francisco's famous "zuni cafe", there is a good mix of male/female kitchen folk. talk is polite and businesslike cuz anybody can look in and see what is going on. there are usually hundreds of restaurants one can look into (and as one who likes cooking i certainly make a point of looking into every kitchen of every restaurant i eat in!!) and by keeping notes and asking pointed questions, i am confident you can find someplace you can call "home".
it's kinda like dating ... sometimes ya gotta go out with a lot of people before you find the one who "clicks" with you.

[ricib]

I have to say that some of these responses sound more like the "Me Tarzan You Jane" response than anything helpful to 100folds origianl post. Thank GOD someone actually gave her good advice on talking to someone and finding out what's wrong with her work, etc. I get the feeling the reason the chef was nicer, was because the owner was involved in the talk. Owners don't seem to like discrimination lawsuits against them, especially if it's because of one of their employees, and not actually them doing the discriminating.

Good on you for sticking up for yourself!

Don't you find it "funny" that in the "real world" men spend all their time telling women they belong in the kitchen, yet in the restaurant, they are told or made to feel that they don't belong in the kitchen after all?

I documented everything that was wrong with my current job, before giving my two weeks notice, the problem is the owners nor chef want anything to do with what I said. That tells me they not only don't care about me as an employee, but about their business either. No amount of "discrimination" or "harrassment" is worth staying at a job, just to fill a resume.

[hipjoint]

Good on you for sticking up for yourself!
===== same here. the squeaking wheel gets the lube. in any endeavor,
if you don't speak up, others will walk all over you. in restaurants, there
are competitive kitchens and co-operative kitchens. in competitive
kitchens there is all the yelling and backstabbing and put-downs
and harassments you describe. in a co-operative kitchen, the cooks
are supportive and seek to share knowledge and skills. look for
such a kitchen. they DO exist!

I documented everything that was wrong with my current job, before giving my two weeks notice, the problem is the owners nor chef want anything to do with what I said. That tells me they not only don't care about me as an employee, but about their business either. No amount of "discrimination" or "harrassment" is worth staying at a job, just to fill a resume.
===== so it is good that you aren't working there anymore, if simply
for your sanity and well-being! in all future endeavors, document
everything, not just what is wrong with the kitchen (the owner couldn't
care less what you have to say if, for example, he has been in business
for 25 years and grosses $5million a year!!) but also what is RIGHT .....
if there is nothing but negative feedback it will make you look bad ...
if you put down what is bad and GOOD, you will more likely be seen
as someone who has a balanced, neutral opinion, and it might make a
difference. bottom line should still be ... if you don't like where you
work, work somewhere else!

[100folds]

I don't know how I feel about your responses hipjoint. There are things I like and don't like with what you said.
I think I'm over this whole ordeal and since my last posting I have recieved a promotion and have started training on saucer.
But it's like this. I am not asking anyone to ignore their sex's natural behavior, I am asking for some good old mature consideration for another human being. Not the oppisite sex, another person. Ya, I understand that I change the dynamics of the kitchen but really now, grow up and start acting professional. We are not in highschool my dear and many of these cooks, including my chef d'cuisine have well over 15 years experience, so why don't they start acting like it.
I don't know. I am thick skinned and there are some people I will never work with again, really that's what it boils down to. This man is one of them. I'll learn what I can from this place and move on. The positive aspect is that I will be saucer in less than 3 months. My Chef teaches me what he can. And what he can't, I learn on my own.
You see, none of this had to do with what sex I am. It had to do with me, as a person.