To cook or not to cook

[welsh]

I have two job offers. One is in fast food management and the other is hospital cook. The problem is that I don't know which one to take. They both offer the same perks. The money is a little different for awhile but not the problem. Same catogory in food and bev but very different. As a line cook the next step is management, sous, or exec. So which one will be more benificial. Fast food management or work my way up in the hospital in which I hear advanement is great. I will go back to school for a culinary degree sometime soon but which one will help me further along. And all this experience that I am aiming for is so that one day I will own my own restaraunt. So which path I ask again??

[Chad Aaland]

If it were me I'd take the hospital. Management would be nice...but I wouldn't want to tell anyone I was the manager of a fast food restaurant.

[Panonthefire]

I have never worked in any of the two types of enterprises before, but I think that in an hospital you will have smooter shift, better pay, older co-workers, 8hrs shifts with paid over time....In other words, a better quality of life.

[RAS1187]

Trying to get lazy 16 yr olds to work ranks at the bottom of my list of things to do.

Go with the hospital

[web monkey]

Originally Posted by welsh

I have two job offers. One is in fast food management and the other is hospital cook.

Unless one of these really makes you happy, Don't take either. It's like somone walking up to you and asking if you want to be kicked in the b***s or poked in the eye.

Wait for a job you *really* like.

If you need the money right now, take the hospital job. At least the hours will be regular and you won't have to ride herd on a continously changing mass of teenagers.

Terry

[Chad Aaland]

+1 to everything.

[foodpump]

I'd tend to agree with webmonkey. On the con- side of fast food places, they follow a very set formula, the holy commandments from head office. These work well for a fast food place, specifically the one they're designed for, but not for much else. Kinda like taking an apprenticeship on how to work only on '65 Cutlasses, great for Cutlasses, but not for any other car.

Hospitals have pros and cons too.. Yup, good pay and bennies, even real food too, if it's a good hospital, but they have unions and union workers. Think working with 16 yr olds is tough, try telling a 4o yr old cook to clean up after himself. If you catch him before he hits the time clock you might even have a chance. Try getting a 50 yr old to work 2 hrs overtime to cover for a shift of a fellow cook who called in sick, try getting the same guy to keep his #$%^!-ing cell phone in his locker while working on company time.

Alot of hospitals don't have a real Chef, per say, they have dietary technicians and kitchen managers, some fantastic purchaser/recievers, but if you want to learn how to use a Chef's knife, for instance, or how to make appetizers, or setting up or carving on a buffet, don't look for help in a hospital kitchen. It's you and whatever book you can buy, beg, borrow, or steal.

Life's full of choices, but with all things in life, you can't have your cake and eat it. Either you make serious coin, and wash the fryer smell out of your hair every night, or you earn less and learn as much as you can from some very talented people.

[foodpump]

I'd tend to agree with webmonkey. On the con- side of fast food places, they follow a very set formula, the holy commandments from head office. These work well for a fast food place, specifically the one they're designed for, but not for much else. Kinda like taking an apprenticeship on how to work only on '65 Cutlasses, great for Cutlasses, but not for any other car.

Hospitals have pros and cons too.. Yup, good pay and bennies, even real food too, if it's a good hospital, but they have unions and union workers. Think working with 16 yr olds is tough, try telling a 4o yr old cook to clean up after himself. If you catch him before he hits the time clock you might even have a chance. Try getting a 50 yr old to work 2 hrs overtime to cover for a shift of a fellow cook who called in sick, try getting the same guy to keep his #$%^!-ing cell phone in his locker while working on company time.

Alot of hospitals don't have a real Chef, per say, they have dietary technicians and kitchen managers, some fantastic purchaser/recievers, but if you want to learn how to use a Chef's knife, for instance, or how to make appetizers, or setting up or carving on a buffet, don't look for help in a hospital kitchen. It's you and whatever book you can buy, beg, borrow, or steal.

Life's full of choices, but with all things in life, you can't have your cake and eat it. Either you make serious coin, and wash the fryer smell out of your hair every night, or you earn less and learn as much as you can from some very talented people.

[mredikop]

If it was my decision I would go with the Hospital gig and keep looking for a restaurant, catering or hotel cooking gig. There is a minimal amount of flexibility in cuisine in a hospital. They usually favor cost effectiveness over taste 2 to 1. If the Hospital's kitchen is a Sodexho branch though, those are generally chef staffed so you might learn something.

You know what to expect from fast food, repetitive tasks, menial over and over and over "busy work" and the joy of joys of fast food employees who are likely just working there to pay for their insurance 'cause Mommy and Daddy want them to learn responsibility. You can count on endless call offs, tardiness, short staff days, slow times when all the kids sit around and discuss the existential dilemma posed on last night's Laguna Beach episode, "Will Rocky and Alex ever work things out? They are so uber cute together" and other such tripe.