When cooks go bad.

[Peachcreek]

I hired a guy a few weeks ago as a lead line person. He has 15 years of experience, worked for some corporate type places, a few independent restaurants, managed a place for a year with a former friend who started a restaurant... Came back to town after being gone for a year and I hire him. Nice person, decent resume, seems to speak intelligibly about food, etc. But like it seems everybody has one- this point where otherwise decent people fall apart on you. For him he has one really bad flaw about cooking. Invariably he forgets to fire at least one item on a ticket when he feels overwhelmed. Mayhem ensues. This happened today for the second time since he has been with us and my gut feeling is to toss the guy out as soon as I get back to the restaurant. Am I being overly hard on the person or am I right to stick to my "zero tolerance for stupid f*ck*ps" gut feeling?

[katbalou]

time to sit him down for a long talk. find out why he does this and make your decision from there. perhaps he needs new glasses? you know as we get older we don't seem to see as well.
kat

[kuan]

You don't constantly yell out all days?

[cheflayne]

Honesty. Sit down with and say this is not working out for this reason. This obviously can not be allowed to continue. What can I do to help you get past this hurdle. Then after his feedback. Give a time frame, after which you will sit down and discuss his progress and decide his future.

[Peachcreek]

No hearts and flowers. No long goodbyes. He's gone. I dunno, maybe I could have delved into the problem, help solve something and worked through the issue, etc., but I'm just not in the mood..... I offer a job, not an extended family. When will people learn to leave their problems at home and give us employers their moneys worth of full attention!

[chefpeter]

I appreciate in an ideal world we would all leave our worries and problems at the kitchen door and get on with a good days work. Unfortunately we are all human and have to deal with lifes ups and downs and often we can't forget. As a responsible employer I'm sure you appreciate this and that as a manager sometimes you have to take on a variety of roles to look after your staff; friend, mother, father, councillor, advisor and so on. Without good staff and good moral you will fail in business. If its simply a case of the guy can't do the job then that's a different matter

[Sheaam]

It seems to me that if you were to fire each one of your employees that makes mistakes. WHere are you gonna work next. we are all human. We all make mistakes. It's your place your descision. But I have found that resolving a problem will make a more solid and loyal cook. Not always. This guy may have just not been able to handle pressure.

[Rivitman]

"off with their heads" is a prescription for some bad karma down the road.

[alexr]

Very harsh....

[riverrun]

So how long does it take you to turn coal into diamonds?

[Rivitman]

If this guys only problem is not firing an item on an occasional order, you are doing pretty well by having him around IMO.
Many chefs have to start a new cook from practically scratch.
If his attitude is lackadaisical, that's one matter, but if he is apologetic, ashamed, and or contrite, that's another matter.
You sit him down and tell him to come up with a system to prevent such mishaps, then review it with him, and put it into action.

[Peachcreek]

Sometimes I believe that in this lifetime we are cooks and chefs to pay back some karmic debt. Pastry chefs must have been really bad. The worst are the guys to have to cook, but just can't.

Peachcreek.