"Behind You"

[johnder]

I agree with toby, at PDT it is a very tight bar -- luckily we tend to stay in our own stations, but we do tend to stray back and forth, usually with a handful of drinks being dropped of to service.

If I have a free hand I will usually tap a person to signify I am behind them, especially if they are talking to a customer. But we have also adapted the "down the line" call -- mainly because it is so tight, we can only go in a straight line. :-)

While I tend to tap people on shoulder or lower back, there are certain bartenders in NYC that have a fondness for tapping, uh, slightly lower. When I say tapping I really mean grabbing. Ok, groping.

No names though, but you know who you are!

[Jakea222]

Here is a good story - I am working a huge banquet kitchen with rows of convections. I am short so that top freakin' shelf is a chore for big things...anyways the Exec chews the crew out for now saying "behind" or "Hot coming out" or whatever becasue lots of us were going from oven to table very quickly and we all knew what each other were thinking.

So I am grabbing towels to take that top shelf, yell coming out hot and who in the hell do you think is standing at the table I am going to checking the products coming out - the Exec. So I pulled out and instead of dropping it down his neck, dead stopped, having the boiling liquid splash down the towel and give me a blister burn on my forearm the size of a tennis ball! He says "oh sorry" So I yell and look now and really make sure people are aware. That burn was the worst too. Never had another one like it and don't want it.

[JimmyWu]

In restaurants you develop peripheral vision, most of the time you're aware of your surroundings.

I know who's coming down the line for the most part, even before you declare yourself.

I was once in the middle of a brunoise all hunkered down and had a newb slap me on the back as she was passing by. It scared the @#$# out of me !!! My knives are sharp, and I'm fast with them.

Please don't touch me.....LOL

-Jimmy

[Alchemist]

While I tend to tap people on shoulder or lower back, there are certain bartenders in NYC that have a fondness for tapping, uh, slightly lower. When I say tapping I really mean grabbing. Ok, groping.

Just one of the perks of the job. Only hookers and porn stars get groped as much on the clock as bartenders.

Toby

[JimmyWu]

I'll ditto on that Toby.... In my brief years in the foh, it was touchie feelie out of necessity.

I doubt patrons want to hear worker bees chirping "behind you" every couple of minutes.

Dang...Why did I leave ?!?!?

-Jimmy

[phlox]

Yup, sometimes it's necessary to reach out and touch someone!

In restaurants that have an upstairs and downstairs dining room, it becomes v. important to yelp 'coming up!!' or 'coming down!' when using the back staircases.

Especially when you are trying to carry an enormous buspan full of dirty, nasty dishes and knives that is so heavy that you'll *just* make it to the dish station.

I find myself wanting to use 'behind!' or 'corner' in my non-working life, too.

Speaking of Momofuku, when I was there I noticed that instead of saying something like 'runners! I need runners!' the expiditer/chef/whoever will just make sort of a grunty yell to get people to go over and run food. I'm so accustomed to respond to this sort of thing that it took all I had not to jump up, grab plates, and ask, where am I going, chef?

Edited April 20, 2008 by phlox (log)

[JimmyWu]

and the bane of the FOH.... 86'd.

-Jimmy

[sandra]

HOT OIL!!

[jace]

I always say "watch your legs!" when I'm diving into an oven or tossing blazing hot saute pans into the dish crates. Definitely fair warning to those around me I'm throwing a fair amount of heat at their lower extremities.

Another is callbacks. Very important to communicate back to your mid or wheel guy calling tix while on grill or saute. For example:

"ORDER IN! Two Tenderloin one med one med well, One scallops, One New York med rare, two Duck both med, and a veg entree!!"

so, the callback goes like this:

GRILL

"Two Filet, med, med well! One New York med rare! Thank You!!"

SAUTE

"One Scally, two duck med, Veg!! Thank You!!"

You get the idea

Kitchen speak rules.

[phlox]

I always say "watch your legs!" when I'm diving into an oven or tossing blazing hot saute pans into the dish crates.  Definitely fair warning to those around me I'm throwing a fair amount of heat at their lower extremities.

Another is callbacks. Very important to communicate back to your mid or wheel guy calling tix while on grill or saute.  For example:

"ORDER IN! Two Tenderloin one med one med well, One scallops, One New York med rare, two Duck both med, and a veg entree!!"

so, the callback goes like this:

GRILL

"Two Filet, med, med well! One New York med rare! Thank You!!"

SAUTE

"One Scally, two duck med, Veg!! Thank You!!"

You get the idea

Kitchen speak rules.

←

I find myself wishing people would do this outside the kitchen, too!

[onocoffee]

"Voy atras" is something I've heard a lot of lately.

"Voy atras, caliente" is another.

[Loosecanon Dolph]

hot free tatoo

[LJFATS]

if all else fails, "get the f$#k outa my way" while carring a pot of pasta on the way to be drained. they know i ain't stopping.

sometimes i, out of bordem, just say dumd stuf, but very audible.

[Sukie]

'behind you' is the most important and commonly used phase....but we also use 'on your left' and 'on your right' when coming into the (small) service area to let persons in front of you know which way you are entering/going into the station.

At other places I've worked, they've used 'echo' for call backs...ie...'can I get more coffee for table 6'....'echo...more coffee for 6!'....which I've always found to be a fun and ingenious term

[clokwurk]

Hot Behind!!

That got me an interesting look at the market the other day

as I was squeezing past a rather large lady in the isle.

I was immediately laughing in my head that an innocent habit

made me instantly guilty of rude public behavior.

Edited June 27, 2011 by clokwurk (log)

[ScoopKW]

My wife and I brought kitchen lingo home. Behind is in CONSTANT use in our kitchen, as is "corner corner corner" and "timer timer timer."

We don't call back orders, because it's just the two of us, and that's a bit silly. But we do say "heard" a lot.

"Can you pull out a pound of ground beef from the freezer and put it in front of the fan?"

"Heard!"

[chefjk26]

Hot has always worked for me. Coming through "HOT"

[chefjk26]

Yeah know what you are talking about. The wife and I will be cooking and I'll ask her to get something out of the "reach in" or put this dirty pan over in "dish"

[judiu]

When I'm in a favorite restaurant, I always stop at the corner, to be sure no FOH is powering thru the hall when I need to go to the Ladies. I also will give a 'behind' when approaching a staff person from the back. The problem is that a lot these folks are green as little baby beans, and always walk backwards into me! GRRRR!

[Renn]

I find it hilariously puzzling when the french cook shouts "Chaud!" while carrying the LN2

[pastrygirl]

I find it hilariously puzzling when the french cook shouts "Chaud!" while carrying the LN2

They should shout "Froid!"?

Edited July 3, 2011 by pastrygirl (log)

[Renn]

they should...but don't. Or refuse to...you never can tell with those sneaky bastards!

[haresfur]

I think it makes sense to use one word for a similar danger that requires similar action. When rock climbing, anything coming down from above is "ROCK!". Doesn't mater if it is a rock, piece of hardware, or a body. Your reaction should be the same so why confuse things?

[chocolate lover]

we use "HOT!!" in our kitchen too. But since my kitchen is a chinese-speaking kitchen,we use "siol!!"