I haven't been on for a while and just wanted to post on what's been going on.
We moved to Madison for better jobs and just a better life in general. My wife got transfer to the main office of her job and I took on an executive chef position at a small restaurant. Before moving, we hired on an almost entirely new staff, including a soux chef. Mind you, the hour commute one way was starting to really wear on me and things were tough, but my GM was telling me I was doing great. My soux has 16+ years experience from the east coast compared to my 6+ from small town Wisconsin, but things seem cool. Then it all went down hill.
One week after moving, my GM calls me into his office and says he and the soux were talking and feel it would be best if we switch positions. I was hired under the understanding the GM would be in the kitchen with me showing me the ins and outs of the exec position. He didn't. There was no strong front of the house, so I got maybe three days with him, the rest I picked up on my own. So, when the conversation started with "I blame this on myself" from him, I knew it wasn't good. I had two choices: either stay at a $2 an hour pay cut or try my luck somewhere else. I decided it would be best to stick it out, due mainly to the fact that I still did really care for the restaurant and wanted to give it my all. Plus, the new exec assured me he would take me under his wing and show me the ropes. What followed was probably the worst working experience of my life. Nothing I did was right. I was told everything I did was "not good" to paraphrase. He wanted to have a talk with all my old chefs to call them all morons and other not so nice words. Everyone else in the kitchen was fine, I was his problem child. A week after taking the position, I was fired. I put out great food the night before. Customers were happy, the GM was even impressed. But, apparantly, he heard different.
I took a week off, job hunting. I now am a line cook at a brew pub in Madison. It's called the Great Dane. It isn't as fancy, and it's a lot less than I thought I would make. But, I can definately say I am much happier there. They asked how I would feel about management in the future, to which I said I would be intrested. So, who knows. Just wanted to give a quick up date and see if anyone else on the board has been pretty much ridden out of a job. Am I alone on this one?
We moved to Madison for better jobs and just a better life in general. My wife got transfer to the main office of her job and I took on an executive chef position at a small restaurant. Before moving, we hired on an almost entirely new staff, including a soux chef. Mind you, the hour commute one way was starting to really wear on me and things were tough, but my GM was telling me I was doing great. My soux has 16+ years experience from the east coast compared to my 6+ from small town Wisconsin, but things seem cool. Then it all went down hill.
One week after moving, my GM calls me into his office and says he and the soux were talking and feel it would be best if we switch positions. I was hired under the understanding the GM would be in the kitchen with me showing me the ins and outs of the exec position. He didn't. There was no strong front of the house, so I got maybe three days with him, the rest I picked up on my own. So, when the conversation started with "I blame this on myself" from him, I knew it wasn't good. I had two choices: either stay at a $2 an hour pay cut or try my luck somewhere else. I decided it would be best to stick it out, due mainly to the fact that I still did really care for the restaurant and wanted to give it my all. Plus, the new exec assured me he would take me under his wing and show me the ropes. What followed was probably the worst working experience of my life. Nothing I did was right. I was told everything I did was "not good" to paraphrase. He wanted to have a talk with all my old chefs to call them all morons and other not so nice words. Everyone else in the kitchen was fine, I was his problem child. A week after taking the position, I was fired. I put out great food the night before. Customers were happy, the GM was even impressed. But, apparantly, he heard different.
I took a week off, job hunting. I now am a line cook at a brew pub in Madison. It's called the Great Dane. It isn't as fancy, and it's a lot less than I thought I would make. But, I can definately say I am much happier there. They asked how I would feel about management in the future, to which I said I would be intrested. So, who knows. Just wanted to give a quick up date and see if anyone else on the board has been pretty much ridden out of a job. Am I alone on this one?
"A brave man likes to feel the rain on his face." "Yeah, but a wise man knows when to get in out of the rain."
