annabelle

Thanks. I forgot that Brits start college much younger than we do and had added a few years to her age.

Nigella has to be nearly 60 by now. I'm also thinking better foundation garments are the secret.

She's only on there for eye candy and she's getting a little long in the tooth for that. At least she isn't getting so plastered that she's practically under the host by the time she slurs "Pack yer knives 'n' go." Yet.

Well thank goodness Josie is finally gone a-and facing off with Kristen in Last Chance Kitchen. My guess is we never hear her donkey laugh again. All that said, I thought Tom was really a horse's ass about getting rid of her. Sure, she's needed to go for weeks but he was mocking her with those other douchey hipster chefs at dinner and practically looking over his shoulder at judges' table because his sneer was dragging his head sideways. Same deal with Padma calling Stefan a 'bullshitter'. While true, she can keep that tidbit to herself since she's hardly a gal of sterling qualities. Questionable paternity of little Krishna, anyone? This might be my last season of Top Chef unless they focus more of food and technique instead of insults and whacky challenges.

I outgrew Bourdain and his crap years ago. It's a living for him going on these cooking shows and trashing the contestants..

Sandra Lee gets a bad rap. I don't watch her show, but she has really pulled herself up by her bootstraps. She was raised in poverty, abandoned as a child by her mother and raised her siblings on her own. Her style of 'cooking' is geared for those who don't cook, don't particularly like to cook, but have a family to feed. As scoffed at upthread, she began the Kraft Kurtain business while in college and became a millionaire in her own right as a young woman. She deserves our admiration for making the best of a bad situation as a young woman and beating the odds.

Given the profanity, (which seemed to outweigh legible language), I couldn't see or understand the value in it all. I like Gordon when he's cooking. Just cooking. I hate to be the one to break it to you Dave, but prisoners swear a lot. I liked it that given Gordon's brother was imprisoned for many years, he wants to help the inmates learn a trade. He's teaching them to cook, to follow direction and to work together.

I just watched Ramsey's show. I kind of liked it but will have to see it next week to see if it's worth getting invested in.

I love the way you think, Jaymes. Allez cuisine, Josie!

I've not said what I feed my children. They are grown. They feed themselves. I've said I don't think it is the business of anyone to tell me or you what we may or may not eat.

mugen, first welcome to eGullet. Second, calories are calories. 3000+ calories of pork belly plus globs of foie and butter and bottles of alcohol are certainly as bad for us as are cheeseburgers and fries. Burgers and fries are not hipster food at the moment and fast food outlets are sneered at. It is a ridiculous posture and one I hope you grow out of soon, if not in years than in attitude. Thirdly, how I choose to spend my time, spend my money, feed my family are no concern of yours as you don't know me from Adam's housecat. Likewise, I do not know you and you are free to spend your money on tasting menus or library paste. Whichever you see fit.

Bravo Chris. There is ever more argumentum ad verecundiam being done by our government(s), usually staked around a "It's for the Children" theme. I will decide what my family eats. I don't want others deciding for me and I will extend that courtesy to others and I will thank our government to remember who pays their salaries.

Humans are big on the finger-pointing. I don't know that I'd confine it to Americans.

Obesity is indeed a problem. However, every night there are commercials showing little children and some celebrity intoning about how many kiddos are going to bed hungry every night. Blah blah number of children don't get enough to eat and we need to donate money to whatever the program is that feeds the tykes. Why? Why are these kids going hungry if there are tens of millions of people on food stamps? Are we too fat because we like french fries and soda pop or are our kids practically starving to death because they don't get enough to eat? I disagree that we are a lazy people. However, that has nothing to do with food so I will leave it at that.

Educating the public about what? Isn't eating out a treat to be enjoyed and perhaps splurged on? Personally, I am sick of being lectured to about what and how and where and when and how often we should eat this that and the other. I had a mother, I don't need to be nagged at by the CSPI. If I want nagging, I can call Mom.

Meh. No one is forcing anyone to eat at places like the Cheesecake Factory. Obviously, they have a following or they wouldn't be all over the country.

It's not in the commission. Commission is paid on the gross profit of the unit sold, usually 20%. Servers are tipped on the total check including tax, usually 20%. We can do this all night.

All salespeople, regardless of the rhetoric put out by their employers (cf. Saturn) receive a commission on sales. Employees of companies who tout to the public that they don't negotiate, that their salesmen receive no commissions are telling a pack of lies. The salespeople are paid a flat commission on each sale. You could starve to death selling Saturns and it is part and parcel of the company's demise. No one with any talent or ambition was going to work there. Computers, jewelry, and furniture all have huge mark-ups, many times as much as 300x costs. The same is true of medical equipment and restaurant equipment. In restaurants we are talking from stoves to refrigeration units to table linens, glassware and artwork. Yet people do not insist that their doctor, dentist, broker, jeweler or restaurantuer is screwing them over. Waiting tables is a sales job, as is bartending. Restaurant employees receive their commissions/tips in cash at time of sale, whereas persons selling big ticket items such as homes, vehicles, medical equipment, et al will be paid when a lender funds the contract.

Exactly.

Damn, Josie dodges yet another bullet.

I was talking about waiting tables in that comment you snipped, Pierogi. Hating salespeople? That's rather aggressive, don't you think? They're just working for a living like everyone else and it is hard work and not dishonest as is often portrayed in the media and anecdotes.

I didn't like pooling tips when I was a waitress. I was very good: efficient, attentive and took excellent care of my tables. There are always one or more servers who spend most of their time loafing, flirting with the other staff and eating on the clock. It pissed me off to have to share with them. As far as balky waitstaff goes; let them quit. There are hundreds more where they came from and refuse to give them a decent recommendation if they just walk on you. While it's not the same thing exactly, I went through this a lot with salesmen, particularly the middling ones who had worked at other places and figured they could push me around because I am a woman. They got let go, too because there are always plenty of newbies who actually want to work. You asked me what to do about balky waitstaff. I told you and then you told me it won't work. I really don't know what else to tell you. Restaurants draw a lot of young people, alcoholics, burn-outs, slackers, wanna-be actors and people looking for transient work. You have to play the hand you're dealt and sometimes you're trying to fill an inside straight.

Staff needs to have a clear idea of the parameters of their job. Like every other job in which the wellbeing of the business is dependent on the face it presents to the public, the staff needs to have a set of rules presented to them by the management at the time of hire. These rules should be written up by the owner(s) who have consulted with management and be subject to review and revision as needed. Employees should be presented with a copy of an employee handbook and made to sign off that they have read and understand the rules as outlined in the handbook. Disciplining employees should be laid out in this handbook, as well, such as what constitutes a firing offense versus a warning. Staff meetings should take place a minimum of once a week in which to go over menu changes/additions. In these meetings there should also be a time when the employees may discuss problems and for managers to offer praise or corrections. Employees who know they are always free to come to you to discuss problems or to make suggestions for addition or deletion of menu items or the way the floor is being run are happy employees who feel pride in their work and a sense of ownership in the business' success. Don't be afraid to listen, but always be firm about whose business it is and who is the owner. Tyrannical behavior will cause a huge amount of turnover while being a pushover will cost the store business.

I do not endorse cherry picking and would discipline any employees who were caught doing it. One person's money spends the same as another's and the employees work for the employer, not the other way round. If there is an unclear definition of who does what, then a staff meeting is in order. Certainly, none of this should be taking place on the floor in front of guests and other staff. Quite obviously, EdwardJ, commissioned sales and waiting tables is not an apples to apples comparison. I was answering two posts in one.

I am sorry you have had a bad experience with commisioned salesmen, but there is no need for you to be prejudiced against them all. Cherry picking is discouraged wherever there is good management. I certainly didn't stand for it when I was managing any of my dealerships. Commisioned sales people will be better trained than are persons who work for wages. The manufacturers I worked for demanded that every sales representative be thoroughly trained about our products and were sent to seminars and new product proto-type unveilings. I must say to EdwardJ, that many moons ago when I was a waitress, we were also trained. We had a dress code and a code of conduct. We were disciplined if we did wrong and made the store look bad. We were taught to upsell. BOH has always been a rougher environment than FOH. Yes, formal training wasn't the rule back in the 70s for cooks. Their learning was more OJT (on the job training) and they began from the dishroom and worked their way up. Times change and so has the way the BOH works and for the better.