A Message to BOH

I’m a chef, spent 15 years waiting prior in only fine dining establishments.

I worked with waiters who had that kind of attitude…..it was great to see them set themselves up for failure.

One day a waiter who was running food, noticed an order was missing a garnish, he had been at the establishment for 10 years, and all the other staff, with the exception of the owner, and managers we new 3 years or so.

this guy ripped one of my latino cooks a new ass, for not putting some basil oil on the plate…he could have simply asked for a squirt of green jizz for the lamb, but no, he threatans to call INS and have his whole family removed.

I here the commotion, and see this guy just spitting venom….

I asked him what the problem was, and he begins berating my cook, calling him and idiot, too stupid to do his work, and why can’t they be professionals like him? (he acted as if he was entitled to belittle all staff period)

So I told him to apologize to my line cook, he said” I’m too busy!” and stormed off to deliver food to a table.

I rush out after him, signaling the bus boy to take care of serving the guests.

I summon him back to the kitchen…..again I say apologize, he says he has work to do, and he’d rather not apologize.

I fired him on the spot.

He came in two days later with the owner, and I explained what had happened, and had statements from other employees detailing what was said.

the owner said I should give him another chance. I said somebody else should, as I was finished with him.

the owner insisted, and I threateand to take my cooks, and myself out of there fast.

we were at an impasse, and I had no desire to play this game.

finally my boss promised me there would be no more back talk, no more rudeness, no more complaining.

the next day the waiter came to work 30 minutes late. So I fired him

again he complains, saying I am harassing him, I point out that any one a half hour late is going to a lose that shift, and possibly others..(dinner shift to a lunch) and considering his other aggressions I was done.

Owner calls me tells me again to reinstate him.

so I did.

and my staff (the entire kitchen crew, and half of the waitstaff walked out.

The owner can now have his favorite waiter, and no other staff.

They had to shut down for two weeks in order to get things up and running again.

Think we’re lowly kitchen scum? We are. But you know what?, We take more pride in what we do on a daily basis more than virtually any other “respectable” occupation you can think of. We are are own harshest critics. Personally, I hate people. I know from my posts this might be hard to believe but bear with me, it’s true. Think that because of what I write here that I take customers for granted and treat them like shit? Wrong. I love and hate everything about this horrid business and will sacrifice anything and everything for it. Burned out? Maybe. Jaded? Definitely. Enough to let a minute detail go unnoticed? Not on your miserable life. It’s that long forgotten virtue(?) called pride. Sure the whiney, pain in the ass,needy motherfuckers drive us all to the point of madness. Sure the sacrifice we all make on a daily basis is enough to also make us think”I have to get out of this shit”, but when it comes down to it, when you strip away all the bullshit, all we have left is our pride in what we do. I’m not talking about sellout shoemakers, I’m talking about cooks or ANYONE who has the slightest vestige of principle in what they do. When a dish fails either in conception or execution, for that brief instant my life is ruined and I am shit. There is no”getting over it”. There’s no “Aww dude, it’s not the end of the world”. Yes it is fucker. Granted, these feeling pass but it grounds us and let’s us know that we actually care about what the f#*k we’re doing. That in itself is a great feeling. That brief realization after the self flogging ends to know you actually give a shit. It’s one of the hardest parts of this odyssey. The majority of people tell you how great everything was and all you do is rip apart the things you felt could be better. “Ohhhhhhh…the souffle of sea urchin was like Heaven!” And all I think is, Heaven? I don’t want that! I want you to feel like you wiped out in a wave and ate the beach! Therefore, I think I failed. To me Heaven just doesn’t sound that glorious.
My point is that after all the headaches, all the insulting ridiculousness, we already have seen our shortcomings and are ready, willing and able to do our own version of better next time. Most are willing to settle for something less. But for us, settling for “good enough” is a personal affront. I think all my work is garbage. Maybe I’ve set my personal standards too high and it drives most of my kitchen staff nuts, but as far as I think, if you settle for good enough, you’ve less importantly let down your diner(they rarely notice) , but you’ve failed yourself. A simple thing like a dinner roll can destroy an entire evening. ONE ROLL!!! If a poorly risen roll is ever served, it negates all the other things you’ve pulled off. No one sees it but us. Everyone is happy except us. It’s truly strange that bunch of predominantly foul mouthed, uncaring, harsh, egotistical sociopaths actually care so much about what they do. It’s admirable and honorable and I am fiercely proud of caring so much about what we do. Cooking. We feed people. What is more important and communal? Nothing.