Food Service Industry thread

I should quit and go find a bit better paying job that is slightly meaningful, but honestly, this job is just so laid back it's hard to abandon.

>appear at work whenever I feel like, no one cares so long as the place gets clean
>usually means twelve, when the last bus leaves, but I sometimes sleep in
>work all by myself, at night
>it's peaceful and quiet, no one tells me what to do
>spend half the night playing video games and funposting

Daytime actually annoys me now. I was out in the light the other day and the noise and the people and the stares and the cars and the sun. Yeesh. I like the night.

The shitty italian restaurant I worked at until two weeks ago is closing, so I'm going to hang out at the bar for a bit tomorrow and watch the show. Wish me luck lads.

Well, I can't really do much but bump with my shitty greentext story. Typical day for me:
>be chef de cuisine at a place for many many years
>quit because I can't deal with the babby sitting anymore
>get laid off from next job because shit got slow
>collecting unemployment
>place I was chef at has to pay my unemployment
>Gen Mgr says they'd rather pay me to work than to ..not
>Take a significant wage cut, but am now eligible for tip share (ty, USA)
>make almost the same amount of money as when I was chef
>laugh to myself when the things I used to be in charge of don't get done correctly
>grin when the people who used to complain about the job I did, now have to do what I did, and finally understand how obnoxious and wrong they were
>Gen Mgr loves me
>employees look at me when they need direction
>say "well, if I was in charge, I'd do xxx"
>xxx gets done that

Shitty bragging, I know.
Feels good though.
I need to be in charge of something though. Kinda got a leader mentality after doing it for so long.

I need that mentality now because fuck, I won't survive otherwise

How so?
I'm here for a bit.
Your just the janitor, no? Why care so much?

Naw I'm OP, tomorrow's Saturday and college kids have mommy's money to burn

Oh, I thought you were OP and second post

I'm in a college town too.
January and February are shitty slow for us.

Where do I go to move up? I'm currently working at dead end line cook job and there isn't any "real" restaurants around where I live. Mostly chain places, Ruby Tuesday and the like. I'm a great dishwasher, prep cook, and a mediocre cook, I don't know where to go to take it to the next level.

>there isn't any "real" restaurants around where I live

Dropped my name, but I'm
etc

You answered your own question. You need to change where you live. That's a tough one, though.
You could travel Europe I guess. Working in restaurants as a kitchen boy. Not sure what that's like anymore. Might not be feasible in today's political climate.
Tech school is an option, but you're still going to have to find somewhere to apprentice once you get your degree.
Best bet is to get into a "real" restaurant. If there are none in your area, you're going to have to move.

Not really food service but I guess technically

>cook hot dogs and stuff for my mom's church's hot dog sales
>time after time it's a mediocre turn out because no one wants a boring old hot dog
>tell them to let me smoke some sausage or let me smoke the hot dogs or caramelize the onions or fucking SOMETHING that is different
>no we have to do what people will like because people are very particular about their hot dogs!
>barely ever break even and half of the time only because people donated the stuff

I get angry over this stuff and I know I shouldn't.

>cook hot dogs
>let me smoke the hot dogs
I'm just saying because I'm bored, but hot dogs are both smoked AND cooked. You can't have an emulsified sausage without the meat being already cooked, and hotdogs are made specifically from emulsified meat that is then smoked. Be it turkey, pork, beef, or a combination. Sure, I'll bet some company smokes them or adds smoke flavor prior to emulsification, but muh jist.

There. Now that you know more, quit asking if you "CAN" do it, and just "DO" it.
It helps (I've found) if you ask the ppl if they want their onions grilled... "oh wait, sorry. They don't let me do that". Wait for it.
"Would you like warmed sauekraut? oh, wait..."
Wait for it.
>no we have to do what people will like because people are very particular about their hot dogs!
Fucking EXACTLY you old stuffy church ladies!
Gimme toppings!

Fuckin last kitchen I worked was the first time in my life I was the only cook that was white, not counting the chef and sous. Made me wonder if the gm and owner did a trading places type bet. Fuck lazy niggers

>hot dogs smoked

There isn't a single large scale hotdog manufacturer in the US that smokes their hotdogs. They'll add some chemical combination to give you a slight hint of smokiness on the higher end, but many don't even do that. You're not in Germany anymore where you have local sausage makers.

Fwiw, I make my own amerifat hotdogs and bologna occasionally and they're both smoked.

>cook has huge rice cooker pot in the three-chamber sink
>lifts it up, knocking one of the faucets loose
>we both stare like deer in headlights as a firehose is now erupting from the wall
>GM runs in screaming with his arms up over his face, struggling to turn the valves off

Laughed for an hour straight.

I know hot dogs are already cooked. I guess I'm just so used to smoking all my food (almost) I just immediately go there. Don't mean to be snarky in my reply either, just saying. My idea was to take my smoker and technically heat them up whilst there for an hour or two (an hour and forty five minutes is how long I usually go with my own when I do stuff). That would give a better texture with a snappier outside and a "creamy" inside. They're amazing. It would also bring people's eyes towards the smoke.

We did a pork shoulder smoke one year. Literally everyone that went by that day as me and my assistants were working slowed down and stared. Some came up and asked when they'd be available without even asking the price. We sold all of them and made a decent profit for the church for two days worth of work, I'd say. They haven't done it again though despite me being willing.

I guess I'm just tired of seeing the same thing again and again. It's just mediocre or outright failure. I want to see them do well especially since it's my stuff that is being served. It gets annoying to be told "no people like it this way" but see few people actually eating it. In catering to "everyone" they're boring and generic. I don't even want to do anything radical for Christ's sake.

Maybe next time I will just take my stuff there and go, "yeah, let's do it this way." Maybe not the smoker, but at least the onions and stuff.

There's another church a bit up the road that does food and everyone goes to that because even though they do the same thing all the time (not hot dogs but Brunswick stew) their consistency has been good. We can't even have consistency with times doing it.

Does bartending count? There's all the classics

>I'll have a wine, please
>I'll have a bitter, but won't specify if I mean a draught bitter like John Smith's, or a real ale
>Anybody acting like an ale or wine connoisseur in a pub in the middle of the city
>People who come to the bar to buy a round, order their drink, then proceed to spend a good five minutes trying to round up their friends to find out what they want (because apparently asking them beforehand was too difficult)
>People who want their double vodka and coke to be "really strong"
>Anybody who asks for a triple anything

Food-wise the main offenders are
>Large groups of people who all have well-done steaks (once had a table of twenty five, all ordering steak, with ~12 well-done fillets, and 6 or 7 well done sirloins. Head chef was rather upset)
>People who order five minutes, or even one minute, before the kitchen closes. Bonus points if they order something that takes a while to cook or has to be made totally from scratch. You can hear the yelling coming from the kitchen as the ticket goes through.

I just enjoy shooting the shit with the locals and enjoying some cheeky bants.

>be kitchen steward
>get put into garde manger on-call 2 or 3 times a week if i'm lucky

potscrubbing is getting real fuckin' old because i cannot stand the lack of work ethic in the other kitchen stewards. backbiting, bitchfitting, corner-cutting shitbags.
for now i'm just going to delve into my technical manuals and try to work out some proof-of-concept for the summer menu changeover but i swear to god i'm just gonna leave if i don't get put on full time production by the end of this year.

Dude, dude...DUDE, WAIT

>order 5 minutes before close
FUCK
Ok it's just fries
Every fucking time

>9:55 pm
>bzzt bzzt
>'hey user grab that and put it on the wheel will ya?'
>'sure thing. walking in a... auto fire half chicken!'
>'MOTHERFUCKER!'
>'

>everything cleaned up
>ready to walk out
>SIX BACON BUTTER BANANA BATTER PECAN SALAMANDER WATERMELON PASTRAMI PIZZAS

Had a 15 top in for a post christening dinner, took half an hour to order sweets, at which point it was twenty mins past close down, changed and sat at the bar. On top of that, the check came in for gluten free beignets and even worse; french toast from the breakfast menu. I'd blame it on FOH but the diners were friends of the owner.

Ch-charlie..?

Hi there!

You seem to have made a bit of a mistake in your post. Luckily, the users of Veeky Forums are always willing to help you clear this problem right up! You appear to have used a tripcode when posting, but your identity has nothing at all to do with the conversation! Whoops! You should always remember to stop using your tripcode when the thread it was used for is gone, unless another one is started! Posting with a tripcode when it isn't necessary is poor form. You should always try to post anonymously, unless your identity is absolutely vital to the post that you're making!

Now, there's no need to thank me - I'm just doing my bi to help you get used to the anonymous image-board culture!

it's all about being friendly with the right people, showing that you work harder than the chumps next to you, and making something really fucking cool if you ever have a chance to make staff meal.

that was my method for getting out of dish pit and onto the line. it worked

>bzzt bzzt

god that sound triggers me so hard and will haunt me in my nightmares

>work in a second kitchen just for the extra money
>in the back room prepping
>hear the bzzt bzzt
>go out to check who ordered, it's an open kitchen so you can see everyone in the building
>there's nobody at the counter
>nobody inside the building in fact
>and the kitchen doesn't have a printer

you have the 'endless ticket' dream yet?

>add on 'motherfucker', heard!

Charlie Kelly?

>tfw haven't drank since wednesday.

This is like a year for cooks.

two days off in a row is like a 6 month vacation

Good luck.
I hope it is more than spectacle.

>have two days off after a 50 hour week
>awake today for some fucking reason
why