Hi! Apologies for the intrusion, I cannot cook to save my life and have never stepped foot behind the counter at a restaurant. I just need to ask some real folks!

My boyfriend works at a restaurant and is constantly on his feet all day. I’d like to get him some comfier shoes, but I know he needs non-slip & waterproof shoes. I work in healthcare, and we use hokas, does anyone have any experience with those in the kitchen? He’s concerned because it says slip resistant instead of non-slip, but I’m convinced all websites changed their language since I can’t find any true “non-slip” shoes anymore.

So what do you all use that doesn’t make your feet hurt?
Thank you all so much in advance!

So there's a rating system on poached for employers to rate employees based on past interactions with new hires and stages. I just found out about this shit a couple months ago.

Anyway. I've had the same poached account for around 8 or 9 years and I was a drunk back then.

I've been sober for years now and feel like its kind fucked up that those ratings stuck around for so long. I'm a changed man and really want to work somewhere ill be happy but none of my applications are sticking.

Anyone got any other methods of getting my resume's through to someone that isn't poached or craigslist?

I have a killer resume' but I feel like this rating system really puts a damper on trying to excel and a chance to be happier somewhere that takes my skills seriously.

Sorry if this post is long winded but I’m frustrated and this situation needs some background

Job 1- sushi chain- makes me roughly $750 biweekly, it’s been fine but they’ve given me less hours than expected. If nothing came up I could stay here and make a decent living

Job 2- small business pizza joint - (when i worked full time) I could make between 600 or 1000 biweekly due to it being a tipped job. They have a consistent weekly schedule I love and I’m friends with a lot of people there

Anyways, I quit job 2 in early September after it screwed me up on rent day. Once my two weeks were up I learned that we had a full time cook walk out, and the Kitchen Manager asked if I can cover some of his morning shifts that I wanted to work on before leaving. I missed my coworkers and how relaxed the small business kitchen was compared to the busyness of a chain restaurant, so I said yes. Literally rehired a week after quitting

Then the Kitchen Manager put his 2 week notice in, and I saw opportunity. I asked the General Manager if I could be considered for the job, and she looked so excited to hear that. We’re trying to prepare for our busy holiday season and lately the kitchen has lost more employees than it’s hired, so I think more than anything she was just happy to have someone cooking that doesn’t need trained. Regardless, she said she’d have to talk to the owner about it

This starts a very frustrating process of telephone between the GM and the Owner that lasted the entirety of our KM’s notice.

I talked to the owner last week, and he stated he’d love to have me as the kitchen manager but that he’d need to talk to the GM. He seemed to really like me because we talked for almost an hour about the town, college, and the restaurant. He also mentioned that the pay for KM is twice that of a cook. So I hope you understand why I’m so passionate about this promotion

But that was last week, when I came in today I asked him for an update and he had something very different to say: “your on-time percentage is below 50%, how can i trust someone who, on paper, looks like they just don’t give a shit?” I was too taken aback to respond to this.

Now that I’ve processed the interaction and talked to my coworker, it seems he’s not excluding tardies that my KM and I had agreed on, and he’s including things like clocking in at 4:01 as late. Clearly this shouldn’t be a reflection of my abilities. In fact in a few cases I had clocked in “late” to relieve someone from the second half of shift they wanted off of.

After he left today, I talked with the GM about that and she said she’ll discuss it with him. Then she told me to give my notice to job #1, and she’ll have an answer about the KM job tomorrow.

Now i don’t think she means to mess me up, but I really don’t want to quit a very steady job before I get confirmation of a raise/promotion at this job. In the case that the owner is seriously upset over me clocking in marginally late and decides not to hire me, what would happen to me? I want to wait until I hear back but what if it gets delayed again? Do you guys think I should put my notice in at job 1, wait and see what happens tomorrow, or talk to the GM at job 2 today and tell her I can’t put notice in until I get a solid offer?

Hey guys.
I (25f) recently got a job as a cook in a nursing home and just finished my second week. I have around 7 years of combined kitchen experience and after trying something in a different field for a year, and hating it, I decided to get back in the industry.
Unfortunately like many places we are very short staffed and everybody is working overtime. For me that’s both good and bad because I’m poor, but it’s also been a shock to my body trying to get used to this kind of work again. That fact has also made my training somewhat difficult. They’re great at training and have been legitimately trying, and I hear I’m doing well but my imposter syndrome is so fucking bad.
The problem is that there is so much food to prepare especially given the different textures needed and specials people prefer and often not enough time for one person to do it. Even with two people we still run tray line a little late. I genuinely try so hard to go as fast as I can, not leaving time for anything in between tasks and always consolidating everything I need to do, and somehow I end up falling short. (At least by my standards) I just can’t help but feel that I’m letting them down already.
I’ve grown up working in kitchens in really tough places and endured lots of abuse, so I’m extremely strict with myself. I also have severe OCD that makes trusting myself and being confident in my actions a lot more difficult, but I’m working on that. I try to do everything as physically fast as I can and somehow it still takes longer than I feel it should.
There have been a few things they’ve given me tips on in terms of speed, just teaching me how to do it their way, but I haven’t gotten any talkings to about my performance yet. I am always there when I need to be and I’m consistently, always always always doing something. I mind my business and work. My brain is telling me though that if I don’t develop superhuman speed I’m going to get fired.
I’m consistently wondering if I made a mistake or if they made a mistake hiring me.. it’s tough. I know I’m still very new and these things come with time but I can’t help beating myself up. There is a part of me that wonders if I should look for something else (difficult because I can’t really afford to make less and switching environments too soon fucks with my head..I also don’t want to fuck them over) or just bite the bullet and keep going and hope I succeed. Everybody was new once but I truly hate being new.

Do we still send the new guy out for “specialized” tools? Or am I a fossil?

What in the ever-loving fuck is this knife?

So in the PNW this place had been well regarded. Sad to see the spiral.

We’ve ran out of sanity for the night, I can double check but I’m pretty sure closing chef is crying in his car and we’re out traditional and white onion.

“Just had a smoke and checked, he’s laughing a whole bunch so maybe he’s okay, fuck if I know. It’s probably fine. Is Oscar still coming in for dish out tonight? I can take care of it, it’s not a big deal if he can’t make it in”

It is a big deal. I’m screaming internally and have had 4 separate and uncomfortable bowel movements today. I’ll see if we can get a float chef to help me. Fingers crossed until they hurt. I can play my gameboy at the bar when it gets slow so what am I even complaining about?

Beverly is long in the tooth and hired her teenage son that she probably conceived as a teenager to bus tables. He’s way too nervous and I am trying to relate to him via my video games, showing off my modified gameboy to him. she “jokingly” mentioned that they had to pawn his PlayStation awhile back. She’s too on speed to be dishonest. Kid’s name starts with an L, I just wanted to make sure he has a homie while he’s here. Either that or her white knuckles of sobriety has left her with early onset dementia. It is certainly more likely the former than the latter, but who fuckin knows we don’t have to money to drug test, also everybody here is with drugs, continual or not, lying or honest.

If it’s too hot, get out of paying your rent, phone bill, or car insurance.

I get it though, I’m still unsure and insecure in my decisions and how I handle social situations, and I’m twice his age. Keep it up L, I’ll throw you in the back one of these days and teach you how to flip an over easy egg. You will be a chef, behind, heard, calienté, sharp, and all. Only after I get my fucking rear alignment on my car done.

Linneah, my hiring manager drunkenly cried to me about being short with me because I reminder her of her brother who committed suicide. I honestly didn’t notice, but in retrospect I still couldn’t tell ya the vibe, I was cleaning a grill and she was very day-drunk. Her old lady BFF agreed, and when I saw pictures… it was uncanny. Washed my hands after the hug, but only for sanitary purposes. Big ups and Rest Easy lil bro, whose name I don’t remember. I hope you’re good at poker and hanging out at the tables with my grandma up there or wherever the fuck you both ended up. She’s great, she reminds me of your sister.

Wondering…as a non-professional. What is the one or two things you look at in a restaurant or kitchen that would convince you not to eat there?

EDIT: Sorry I was unclear. What specifically would you look for in a kitchen to determine its overall cleanliness? Like the one place that shows you is really is a clean kitchen.

Hello lads, it’s me, the old lady of the group. So I had a cook go out on long-term disability. He’s a former marine and has been suffering with PTSD, and extreme alcoholism because of that. He came into work one day, back in September, absolutely roaring drunk (at 6:00am) with a black eye.

We put him on leave and we’re holding his job, pending him finishing a rehab course. Unfortunately, the rehab course had a four-week wait. So he just started two weeks ago. It’s a 12-week course, which means he won’t be done until mid-January.

I’ve been one cook short for months and months, and now I’m two cooks short. I’m currently going into our ever so much loved busy season, and I’m two men down. Or girls, whatever.

Anyway, I’m already feeling burned out, overworked, taken for granted, and taken advantage of. I know this too shall pass, but it feels like it’s gonna pass like a kidney stone.

I’ve been begging my Executive Director to let me hire one more cook for over a year, and it’s been falling on deaf ears. Today, she said she would take my request to the Board of Directors, so maybe there’s hope…

I guess what I need right now is just a few words of encouragement, and I hope you can find it in your heart to give them. I love this job. But I’m just so f@cking frustrated!

Hi all, of all the thankless jobs in the world, I don't think you all get enough credit.

I am curious though, how do you guys recognize your line cooks and dishwashers? Outside of money, promotion, etc b/c my hands are tied in that regard. Sometimes a thank you doesn't cut it and I am trying to have a more creative idea on how to recognize employees. Keep it legal please.

Alternative question: What was the best way you got recognized at your job for the work you did?

It doesn't look like much, but both sides of my plastic wrap are factory tucked underneath the roll. It is physically impossible for me to get more than a foot of clean wrapping before both edges tear. If one side tears, by the time I'm done fixing it, the other side is torn to shreds. Back and forth, back and forth. I've been arguing with it for the last hour and a half 😭😭

(This might a rant, Mods may remove if it doesn’t fit 🙏🏾)

A year after graduating, I decided to leave Server hell and finally do something with my Pastry Degree. The restaurants scene back home was basically non-existent, So I decided to stage in a restaurant across the country and was sold a dream. A young restaurant with a radical, French-trained executive chef chasing a Michelin star within its first year. I knew it was a pipe dream then but I wanted to give it a shot, (plus it wasn’t like I had many options in the area). When I was greeted with a “Welcome to the Shitshow” my very first day I knew..

Flash forward 6 months and a puff piece film about our Chef, I’ll give it credit; I would take doing Pastry work is better than getting psychic damage from customers. However, there’s no way you can achieve Michelin with Pillsbury Puff Pastry. On top of stretching the kitchen crew to cover the concert season, Surprise Banquets on days we are closed, and a head chef who declares war against FOH. Ofc we didn’t get a star.

Whatever try again next year….

Recently, We’ve received the news that We will be working on Christmas Day. Upper Management’s orders. They promised that we would be working no holiday… “It’s a Friday” was our Chef’s reason so we can’t have it off. Sprinkled in the convo also was the declaration if you have requested time off and are called to come earlier, you are heavily inclined to accept. No matter if you are out of state and a flight away. Heavily eyeing me whose Birthday is coming up and has time off requested in December.

Everyday, It feels more like I’m working in a restaurant with a rich owner who just wants his name on the building and an executive chef who’s been taken on for the ride.

At least I have insurance.

How common is equipment/tool “theft” at your job?

I recently got a new job at a large campus dining facility after almost 5 years at a small bakery. The stations here are large, spread out, and each has their own dishwasher, set of serving and cooking utensils, and speed racks.

The goddamn speed racks. I have 3, I use all of them every day for bread. They are clearly labeled and numbered. And yet, somehow, nearly every week I find at least one of them loaded up with raw meat in some random cooler on the opposite end of the building from my station.

Other (clearly labeled) things that have been stolen from our station:

- tomato corer
- tongs
- knives
- dividers for our coolers
- bench scrapers
- oven racks (????)

Does anyone else deal with this? Most of these things are mildly annoying to have stolen and then some of them derail my entire day due to the sheer volume of product we’re pushing. How do you keep the thieves at bay?

Left to right:

Scallops with herby couscous

Lamb chops with red wine reduction sauce

Salmon tartare

Jamon iberico pork croquettes with truffle mayo

Recently did some thinking, and remembered the absolute, 100% worst shift of my entire life.

I was addicted to vodka at the time, drinking a handle (1.75L) every single day.

One particular shift, I didnt bring any alcohol with me hidden in small containers, thinking I could make it. Oh boy was I wrong…

I was “ok” for the first hour, because I got well (by drinking obviously) before work, but then my body already started needing more. I started getting sick around the second hour, stomach hurting, sweating like crazy, body pain, no energy, the usual stuff. Then it just kept going downhill and got worse.

Vomited around 15-20 times throughout the shift, going to bathroom every few minutes. Shaking SO BAD, could barely hold a water cup. And even when I did drink the water, I’d throw it all up immediately after. The shaking never stops. Not only your hands but your entire body. and the ONLY thing that will make you feel better is more alcohol. didn’t have any until I got home. by the time I got home all my fingers and muscles were already contracting involuntarily - the withdrawals were getting brutal.

By some miracle I still ended up closing my station, but took way longer than it should have and clearly my manager knew something was wrong. But you know, as long as you aren’t literally passed out they don’t really care.

9 months sober now. alcoholism is a fucking nightmare. So glad it’s over.

I'm at a loss of words here.