So this is not only a rant, but i also want opinions.
As i have mentioned i am working in a restaurant that currently has two chefs. A chef during the morning breakfast-lunch rush, and a chef during the afternoon-night.
The morning chef is nice and all, but he isn´t a good cook, he is lazy, procrastinates, a total nut job after what i saw today. He is nice and all, but today i realized this dude is nuts....
Basically i have been pulling way over my weight in the kitchen with this chef. I work both mornings and nights during the month so i get two different experiences working with two different professionals.
To keep it short i´m just going to minimize my experience to recent activity and try to keep focus on the morning chef.
Anyway it seems that i have been working a lot harder then my chef, who is just a lazy arse kisser. He doesnt put in his work, doesnt do prep, doesnt have contact with reps, doesnt plan costs, doesnt develop menu ideas (unlike the night chef). So i have been working a lot just to show to my fellow co-wrokers and my employers that i´m a hard worker and plan on doing my best for the business/restaurant. It´s been really paying off and i am doing a nice job, the problem is still this morning chef.
It all started 3 days ago on monday. I decided recently that i would stop being such a little b*tch in the kitchen and i was going to return to my old assertive and serious ways while working. So i put the bubbly and quirky personality behind and started to get serious. Sure i have fun in the kitchen, but as soon as that first ticket comes in its serious time....
So monday im doing my prep (after finished doing the prep that the morning chef should have done). And i noticed something very important. We had no tomatos in the kitchen and we were running low on eggs.
So i advise my chef and state that we should call our suppliers to get them to bring some in ASAP. We use a lot of tomatos and everyday we have a daily dish that is part of our value meal, that is cheap, with the dish comes one portien, 2 sides and a salad that is basically free with the meal. Instead of buying regular tomatos he being all lazy and accomadated tells me to just use cherry tomatoes in the salad.... I respond "Well that going to be a very expensive free salad IMO", because here in Brazil Cherry tomatos are expensive way more then regular ones.
So i just keep my mouth shut and pretend im going to follow his lead as soon as one of the partners/owners shows up asking how everything is going i tattle on the fool, and tell her we have no tomatos and are running low on eggs.... to which i get the response "why haven´t you ordered them yet, if we need them then you guys should have ordered them", i just roll my eyes and point to the chef, to which she notices why we havent ordered them and gets off my back.
The morning chef gets pissed, thinking i´m disrespecting his authority in the kitchen, talking behind my back, saying it´s not my business to tend to supplyers, the way i saw it was that it was his own fault and his own mistake, considering i advised him of the situation beforehand and he simply gave me an unacceptable option and just ignored the problem.
Today i was working as usual doing my prep, and as i was making some soup he comes over and says its too thin. The problem is we got complaints that last time we made soup it was too thick to which i was told by the night chef and my superiors to thin it down a bit. He tells me its over seasoned, and too thin and that he is going to add corn starch to thicken it quick. I against this quickly demonstrate my resistence, and as soon as possible i ask others for opinions to which they thought my soup was great and very pleasant. The chef still being persisent and not trusting on my soup decides he is going to thicken it even... thats when i decide to turn off the little b*tch inside me and get someone with authority to taste my soup. A partner/owner comes in and i have her taste the soup to check seasonings she thought that there was a tad bit too much cilantro (but she just went through surgery and was going through a diet so her palette was out of whack), tasting it again and looking at it she then responds to my doubts saying it was "perfect". The chef gets pissed, thinking i am once again showing him disrespect on his terf. He then just goes and gets the corn starch and dumps it in my soup, just ruining what i had spend my time on creating....
During service we were slammed HARD. I was in the zone and i didn´t get frazzled. 1 6 top comes in and orders, (4th ticket in the window) we then get slammed with a one diner, followed by 4 followed by 2, followed by 5....
The order was basically:
1st ticket: 2, 2nd:2 3rd:2 4th:6 5th:1 6th:4 7th:5, follwing another 2, 2, and 2 and etc...
Anyway i put out the first 2 orders fast, the 4th ticket comes in while im working on the 3rd and its mad complicated, the chef loses it, seeing that more tickets are coming in, he even considers just walking out in the middle of service. The waitress comes in with a few more tickets and he almost throws an iron baking sheet at her, which luckily hit the floor. (someone still is pissed from the morning prep time we spent i assume).
Anyway wile he is covering the 6 top i send out the salads and entrees for the third ticket, and i send salads to all other tables in record time. I start entrees and i finish them all, when he finally finishes the 6 top, im already on my 7th ticket sending out the 5 top, followed by 3 more 2 tops and a 4 top. ( i wanted to help him on the 6 top, but he was pissed and i was advised to continue on...)
I finish service on a high the place was packed and in roughly 90-100 minutes of service i sent out 23 salads, and 21 entrees, followed by 2 desserts as well. (the place only fits around 35 people in our main dining room which is always free for lunch.
Basically i sent out 46 plates in more or less 90 minutes feeding almost all the customers on my own, while the chef feeds only 6 people in one table all while almost hitting a waitress with a baking sheet and looking like a deer in the head lights.
The kitchen was nuts during service, swearing, cursing and just so much racket coming from the chef and the waitress who just started rambling and bickering unprofessionally, and a good portion of the clientele was watching the whole show.
Service is finished and i did great, no items on my part were delayed, put out all the orders AFAP and i worked clean, no mess on my station during service. I even got the thumbs up on a new dessert that i suggested that will be entering our menu.
I´m just guessing the new chef aside from being pissed, got jealous, because he started bad mouthing me thinking i wasn´t close by with my ears to the ground. Saying he was going to talk to the owners and get my schedule changed, or talk to them to get me fired, because i wasn´t working out..... that it´s a kitchen not a school and he doesnt have time to teach unexperienced line cooks. I have only been working in the industry for a few years, but he hasn´t taught me anything, actually i have learned what not to do, just by watching him work.
Anyway i´m pissed, and i need to know opinions because i don´t even want to attempt to understand this clown of a chef that i need to work with for 2 weeks. I just want to kick the bucket and hand in my 30 day notice, cause im sick of it. I want him the hell out of the kitchen, i´m just tired of working hard, doing the job of 2 cooks by myself, and even being badmouthed for it and having my work ethic questioned by some lazy fool. But after seeing a baking sheet tray fly across the kitchen in the vicinity of a waitstaff member, i just want to stay away from this psycho. Cuz if anything comes flying in my direction im going to dish it back 10 fold. Cause like i said i aint going to be a little (insert b-word for the third time here) anymore.
Honestly if you want to be a winner, be a winner if not go cry in the corner. This is a kitchen and if you can´t take the heat get the heck out. Why is it that this guy has it in for me. If he want to put out crappy food, and get out shined by a young line cook that isn´t my problem. Do your job correctly and this wouldnt be a problem. Now i ain´t going to slack off just to make you feel better.
Now i´m pissed and even at risk of losing a job because this dude can´t handle working with me, because apparently i´m not as nearly a good professional/cook as he is.
Alright rant over, opinions please.
What would you do? Anyone been through something similiar?
Please tell me i´m not crazy for considering handing in my 30 day notice....
Alright lets hear it guys.....
As i have mentioned i am working in a restaurant that currently has two chefs. A chef during the morning breakfast-lunch rush, and a chef during the afternoon-night.
The morning chef is nice and all, but he isn´t a good cook, he is lazy, procrastinates, a total nut job after what i saw today. He is nice and all, but today i realized this dude is nuts....
Basically i have been pulling way over my weight in the kitchen with this chef. I work both mornings and nights during the month so i get two different experiences working with two different professionals.
To keep it short i´m just going to minimize my experience to recent activity and try to keep focus on the morning chef.
Anyway it seems that i have been working a lot harder then my chef, who is just a lazy arse kisser. He doesnt put in his work, doesnt do prep, doesnt have contact with reps, doesnt plan costs, doesnt develop menu ideas (unlike the night chef). So i have been working a lot just to show to my fellow co-wrokers and my employers that i´m a hard worker and plan on doing my best for the business/restaurant. It´s been really paying off and i am doing a nice job, the problem is still this morning chef.
It all started 3 days ago on monday. I decided recently that i would stop being such a little b*tch in the kitchen and i was going to return to my old assertive and serious ways while working. So i put the bubbly and quirky personality behind and started to get serious. Sure i have fun in the kitchen, but as soon as that first ticket comes in its serious time....
So monday im doing my prep (after finished doing the prep that the morning chef should have done). And i noticed something very important. We had no tomatos in the kitchen and we were running low on eggs.
So i advise my chef and state that we should call our suppliers to get them to bring some in ASAP. We use a lot of tomatos and everyday we have a daily dish that is part of our value meal, that is cheap, with the dish comes one portien, 2 sides and a salad that is basically free with the meal. Instead of buying regular tomatos he being all lazy and accomadated tells me to just use cherry tomatoes in the salad.... I respond "Well that going to be a very expensive free salad IMO", because here in Brazil Cherry tomatos are expensive way more then regular ones.
So i just keep my mouth shut and pretend im going to follow his lead as soon as one of the partners/owners shows up asking how everything is going i tattle on the fool, and tell her we have no tomatos and are running low on eggs.... to which i get the response "why haven´t you ordered them yet, if we need them then you guys should have ordered them", i just roll my eyes and point to the chef, to which she notices why we havent ordered them and gets off my back.
The morning chef gets pissed, thinking i´m disrespecting his authority in the kitchen, talking behind my back, saying it´s not my business to tend to supplyers, the way i saw it was that it was his own fault and his own mistake, considering i advised him of the situation beforehand and he simply gave me an unacceptable option and just ignored the problem.
Today i was working as usual doing my prep, and as i was making some soup he comes over and says its too thin. The problem is we got complaints that last time we made soup it was too thick to which i was told by the night chef and my superiors to thin it down a bit. He tells me its over seasoned, and too thin and that he is going to add corn starch to thicken it quick. I against this quickly demonstrate my resistence, and as soon as possible i ask others for opinions to which they thought my soup was great and very pleasant. The chef still being persisent and not trusting on my soup decides he is going to thicken it even... thats when i decide to turn off the little b*tch inside me and get someone with authority to taste my soup. A partner/owner comes in and i have her taste the soup to check seasonings she thought that there was a tad bit too much cilantro (but she just went through surgery and was going through a diet so her palette was out of whack), tasting it again and looking at it she then responds to my doubts saying it was "perfect". The chef gets pissed, thinking i am once again showing him disrespect on his terf. He then just goes and gets the corn starch and dumps it in my soup, just ruining what i had spend my time on creating....
During service we were slammed HARD. I was in the zone and i didn´t get frazzled. 1 6 top comes in and orders, (4th ticket in the window) we then get slammed with a one diner, followed by 4 followed by 2, followed by 5....
The order was basically:
1st ticket: 2, 2nd:2 3rd:2 4th:6 5th:1 6th:4 7th:5, follwing another 2, 2, and 2 and etc...
Anyway i put out the first 2 orders fast, the 4th ticket comes in while im working on the 3rd and its mad complicated, the chef loses it, seeing that more tickets are coming in, he even considers just walking out in the middle of service. The waitress comes in with a few more tickets and he almost throws an iron baking sheet at her, which luckily hit the floor. (someone still is pissed from the morning prep time we spent i assume).
Anyway wile he is covering the 6 top i send out the salads and entrees for the third ticket, and i send salads to all other tables in record time. I start entrees and i finish them all, when he finally finishes the 6 top, im already on my 7th ticket sending out the 5 top, followed by 3 more 2 tops and a 4 top. ( i wanted to help him on the 6 top, but he was pissed and i was advised to continue on...)
I finish service on a high the place was packed and in roughly 90-100 minutes of service i sent out 23 salads, and 21 entrees, followed by 2 desserts as well. (the place only fits around 35 people in our main dining room which is always free for lunch.
Basically i sent out 46 plates in more or less 90 minutes feeding almost all the customers on my own, while the chef feeds only 6 people in one table all while almost hitting a waitress with a baking sheet and looking like a deer in the head lights.
The kitchen was nuts during service, swearing, cursing and just so much racket coming from the chef and the waitress who just started rambling and bickering unprofessionally, and a good portion of the clientele was watching the whole show.
Service is finished and i did great, no items on my part were delayed, put out all the orders AFAP and i worked clean, no mess on my station during service. I even got the thumbs up on a new dessert that i suggested that will be entering our menu.
I´m just guessing the new chef aside from being pissed, got jealous, because he started bad mouthing me thinking i wasn´t close by with my ears to the ground. Saying he was going to talk to the owners and get my schedule changed, or talk to them to get me fired, because i wasn´t working out..... that it´s a kitchen not a school and he doesnt have time to teach unexperienced line cooks. I have only been working in the industry for a few years, but he hasn´t taught me anything, actually i have learned what not to do, just by watching him work.
Anyway i´m pissed, and i need to know opinions because i don´t even want to attempt to understand this clown of a chef that i need to work with for 2 weeks. I just want to kick the bucket and hand in my 30 day notice, cause im sick of it. I want him the hell out of the kitchen, i´m just tired of working hard, doing the job of 2 cooks by myself, and even being badmouthed for it and having my work ethic questioned by some lazy fool. But after seeing a baking sheet tray fly across the kitchen in the vicinity of a waitstaff member, i just want to stay away from this psycho. Cuz if anything comes flying in my direction im going to dish it back 10 fold. Cause like i said i aint going to be a little (insert b-word for the third time here) anymore.
Honestly if you want to be a winner, be a winner if not go cry in the corner. This is a kitchen and if you can´t take the heat get the heck out. Why is it that this guy has it in for me. If he want to put out crappy food, and get out shined by a young line cook that isn´t my problem. Do your job correctly and this wouldnt be a problem. Now i ain´t going to slack off just to make you feel better.
Now i´m pissed and even at risk of losing a job because this dude can´t handle working with me, because apparently i´m not as nearly a good professional/cook as he is.
Alright rant over, opinions please.
What would you do? Anyone been through something similiar?
Please tell me i´m not crazy for considering handing in my 30 day notice....
Alright lets hear it guys.....