Tasks you hate doing

[ChefInTraining]

good one rivit....i hate peeling off those darn stickers too...

[chefontheloose]

I hate having to usher the inpectors around during the busiest part of my working day when i could be doing something else like ummmm COOKING.

Also dislike prepping african pumpkin...you need like the biggest , meanest, baddest cleaver to get through the skin...

Ill also second the skewers thing, nothing hurts more than bamboo pricks every two minutes or so...its a perfect torture method.

Steam burns suck to....your hand pulsates for like 3 hours after it and if you try wash your hands in water that is 1 degree higher than you body temp...you cry like a baby...ive been steam burnt twice...never again i hope.

[powers]

So I have a few odd tasks I used to have to do that I hated:

-Fluting mushrooms: I had a chef that just thought they were the coolest thing, guess he was about 100 yrs behind. I was the only one in the kitchen that could do it, so I became the expert. I'll NEVER do it again.

-Breaking buerre blans and sving the butter: Chef said that's what you have to do when you use plugra and have 20 DIFFERENT BUERRE BLANCS on the menu plus usually one for the special. I have an idea chef "Change the F-in menu!"

-Cleaning new equipment in an open kitchen- can't even use nylon scrubbies, just rags and elbow grease. I guess it pays off, the place is 8 years old now and I went in for dinner, same equipment looks BRAND NEW

-Grinding freshly toasted peppercorns- Like 20 pounds at a time, didn't have time to let them cool down first, so grinding pepper while it's still hot. I had abs of steel from the sneazing

-Cleaning grease traps: Miami....middle of sumer 105 plus 100% humidity. outside, reaching in the underground grease trap (through all of the flies) to scoop gooey goodness from the drain water grease trap YUMMY!

-Putting together walk-in coolers, if you haven't done it, don't bother!

-one last one: I worked in a restaurant about 5 yrs ago that burned down in the middle of the night. The new compressor on the walk-in set the fire. The only thing that burned totallyt was the walk in(just the roof part mostly) The rest of the restaurant was totally smoke damaged. Anyway, the fire marshall wanted to investigate so we couldn't move anything from inside or around the walkin for 2 weeks. We watched on a daily basis the mold, maggots and smell getting riper and riper for us. Then after 2 weeks we were allowed to clean. Every single one of us spent all day cleaning and throwing up, and covered in maggots. Did I mention middle of summer in mississippi heat? haha

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[Mead]

Originally Posted by Salliem

The task I hate the most is when you have to stop what you are doing to tend to another cook's job when they are a no call/no show...

That and having to triple-time it to catch up after the previous shift was a no-show or just a lazy bum. Which is likely what I'll have to do this evening. Just like yesterday.

[katbalou]

yup, the grease traps under the sink, doesn't matter where you're located. can't think of anything that makes me want to gag more. i'm so glad i don't work in kitchens any more.
kathee

[Nicko]

Not that I had to do it often I always hated letting people go.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Nicko

Not that I had to do it often I always hated letting people go.

Good one. Inventory is tops on my list of things that have to be done regularly, but overall it's firing people.

[Someday]

Not too many jobs that I absolutely hate...though I'm still at a point where constant improvement is necessary.

Besides all the nasty cleaning stuff (like grease traps, etc), I HATE picking thyme. I think that if I had a ****, it would be me and an endless pile of thyme that needed to be picked. Ugh. ANd I love thyme, just not picking it like that.

Does make my fingers smell nice though

[Panonthefire]

Grease traps?? I never had to clean a grease trap. And I will never clean one. Same thing for hoods.

I am a cook, I work with fresh food, I dont want to start to contaminate the food I make. Sorry Boss

[Salliem]

Have to agree on the grease trap...have never done it..will never do it...

[firiki03]

In my opinion, grease traps are best left to the professionals to do.

[katbalou]

sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. never liked pearl diving either, but if i needed plates or pans or whatever i would always jump in to help out. bottom line was getting the food out in a timely manner.
kathee

[tsblo]

I hate cleaning the flat top after a long day of orders.

[Erik]

I was a donut fryer long enough that cleaning fryers doesn't bug me one bit.

What really just kinda gets to me is getting a container from the dish pit and having to peel old labels/day-dots off of it. Just one of those pet peeves I guess....

[RAS1187]

I don't have a problem doing dishes... but leaving at 1 am sobbing wet when it is -0 outside is not the ideal way to end my shift.