Life after my first year at JWU

[Anna N]

For heaven's sake -stop being so hard on yourself. You're new, just learning and you are going to make mistakes - heck doesn't matter what line of work we are in we all go through the same learning curves. If you knew it all and could do it all, you wouldn't be there now would you? Relax, forgive yourself and be as kind to yourself as you would be to another learner!

Anna N

[elyse]

I agree. And at the end of the day... it's just food. It is very hard to learn a menu, and I'm imagining yours is extensive. It's only when everything else becomes second nature that you'll stop burning cheese. Don't rush it. I love burned cheese!

[tan319]

I hate it..hate it hate it hate it.  Sure, I'm fine making quesadillas, chip and dip plates, and bowling soups, but ask me what's on any plate that involves the word sampler, trio, or platter and you've lost me.  I don't get to practice most of the dishes enough for it to be routine.  I forget about things under the broiler, I can't lift the fry baskets, I can't reach half the plates...

Technically this is my second week, but I've only worked about 25 hours so far, and they want me to start cooking by myself next week.  Ummm, can we say I don't think so?

What should I do?  Hang on, fumble through, get a lot of sendbacks and have a breakdown every day?  Or get out while I still can?

Money's not an issue, I'm doing this for experience, and if I do hang on, I can either quit at the end of summer or keep on during weekends if they want to do that while I go back to school.  But my career goal is more of a private practice, not corporate.  Somehow I have this image of making meals in my own home, or a small kitchen, with maybe a couple helpers.  Minimal use of fryolaters 

I need your thoughts, everyone.

Hi, Kate

Man, sounds a bit rough but don't sweat it!

Is this a corporate place? Because if it is, their recipe and plating logs should be up to date. Although I don't have experience cooking in that type of place.

If you feel like you don't know enough about the platings of entrees, maybe you could speak to your supervisor and see if you could come in on your days off to 'trail'. If you don't know what that means, it's usually something done when you are trying out for a gig or you want to see if the restaurant is the kind of place you want to be at.

You 'trail' the person and get to see what the items are, how they're plated , what's on the plate, etc.

This could help you get everything together in real time, up to date, notated in a notepad so you wouldn't have any doubts about what's going on.

As far as burning stuff because you forgot you had something under the salamander, or you're just not used to the timing of it yet, don't worry.

When I did my appenticeship, it happened to me too. It happens to everyone. Just DON'T GIVE UP!!!

It's not easy walking into the eye of the hurricane. Nothing can prepare you for that reality. But it will come to pass. And keep in mind that it's not the end of the world if you decide not to be a line cook. You might end up being more comfortable in a prep position or working in the pastry department of a reataurant. where there's a bit less craziness going on.

Best of luck to you!

[Marlene]

Relax Kate. It's a learning curve. And your learning curver is just more exposed than some other people's might be. Hang in there. In a couple more weeks, you're going to be acting like a pro!

[KateW]

Maybe, but they tend to not give you that much time. After 3 weeks or so, if you can't cook and close by yourself, they let you go. The manager is being nice and giving me some time but I'm not sure how much.

[tan319]

Maybe, but they tend to not give you that much time.  After 3 weeks or so, if you can't cook and close by yourself, they let you go.  The manager is being nice and giving me some time but I'm not sure how much.

If the worst happens, Kate, and I hope it doesn't, please reconsider what I wrote you about working in a more fine dining or casual upscale place.

I was thinking earlier about a J&W student that was interning at a place I worked at. She was there for the summer and when she went back she got a gig at a big corporate joint and it ended up not working out for her. She had been fine at our place. We gave her the room to grow and didn't throw anything at her that she couldn't handle.

Just keep your head up. It will be cool

[Dana]

Why don't you take some time to re-write the booklet they gave you to suit yourself? Include plate sizes and whatever else you need to remember. It sounds like it needs updating, and if you pass it on to the person they hire after you, I'm sure they'd really appreciate it.

[KateW]

Trailing and updating the menu sound like good ideas. I "trailed" for about an hour before I was hired, and they made it look so easy, I thought, why wouldn't I be able to do that? It's hard to believe it's this hard for everyone. "It isn't rocket science", everyone keeps telling me, and I suppose that's supposed to help, but it just makes me feel worse that I can't grasp this supposedly simple job.

[elyse]

Sounds like you're working with some real assholes.

[KateW]

No, they don't say it in a mean way. They're just trying to make me feel better. They're all totally supportive. When I flipped out yesterday, most of them came up to me later and said hey it's ok, give it time. And even some of the servers who were around gave me a pat on the back.

So when they say it isn't rocket science they arent saying it in the "Hey get the program" tone of voice. It's more like, this isn't hard after a while, you'll get used to it. And it doesn't seem hard. Just a lot to learn.

[elyse]

Okay. Just watching your back, dear.

[Steve Klc]

Kate--all the standard blah, blah applies about doing the best possible job you can do in whatever job you accept. Rick Tramonto first worked at a Wendys and look how things turned out for him.

But, I'm with Tan on this--ask yourself where you see yourself down the road, do you see yourself in a more fine dining atmosphere? There's no reason why you couldn't explore getting into one of those pseudo-fine dining Italian or Portuguese places in New Bedford--like a Candleworks--to trail or stage on your day off just to see what it is like, to get a feel for the management and kitchen there--while you are at RT.

Don't let RT beat you--short term, prove to yourself you have the dexterity and organization and speed to improve. Improve quickly. Improve and then move on.

Also, consider finding the very best place with the very best chef within a 1 or 1.5 hour drive of New Bedford. And consider spending your day off volunteering there. You are in learning mode--and networking mode--and you cannot start this process too soon. You just might impress somone there with your work ethic, the way you show up early and sweep after your shift, and when your skills catch up down the road, you'll have your foot in the door if you want to return. Ideally, this place will have some national or media cachet which you can leverage to get another job down the road. That's why you'd be willing to drive an hour each way and work for free.

[KateW]

Thanks They're actually funny, because like most kitchens it's very testosterone heavy, they like to rag on each other a lot and make comments, and they keep saying things like, we must be scaring you...and I'm really hard to offend when it comes down to things like that. But I do know all about harassment and all that, so I would say something if it went that way.

[KateW]

Steve, that's also a good idea. I never really thought about just going to a place to watch. How about Olive Garden? ;) I bet they microwave and fryolate more things than I'm aware of!

I wanted to get a kitchen job to prove that I do have the dexterity and organization skills to do it. But is it a possibility that I just don't have it?

[KateW]

Oh, my. Just went to this page about Tru to check out some of his stuff. To be honest I didn't know who he was when Steve mentioned his name, but I have heard of the restaurants he has worked in. I looked at the pictures of the food--now THAT is what I want to do.

[elyse]

Well then, go do it girl!

[Steve Klc]

Watch? Be prepared to "do" not watch; you offer to help out, just for free. For the "learning experience." Also, fyi, it will help your cause if you try to research a little about the chef in the high-end restaurant you are considering, find out where they went to school, it just might have been J&W. That might give you an in.

Were there no teachers or advisors to tell you any of this stuff in school? Did they just say get a job somewhere and see you in the Fall?

[KateW]

Sorry, I thought trailing meant just watching to see what you think. I'd be more than happy to help.

JWU didn't offer much help in the summer job department. They claim to have an excellent job placement program when you graduate, which will be next summer, so hopefully I'll have a more suitable job at this time next year.

[kpurvis]

Yeah, but think of it this way: Years from now, when you're a great chef, your favorite story will be getting fired from a Ruby Tuesday! This is just the first in what will be a long, long career. One of the best motivations I've had was that I never wanted to go back and repeat my first job, as a cashier in the speed lane of a Winn Dixie. I can put up with a lot of crap -- just never make me put that blue suit and the nurse shoes on again.

Bet you won't get fired, though. You'll just learn and get it behind you.

[tan319]

Watch?  Be prepared to "do" not watch; you offer to help out, just for free.  For the "learning experience." Also, fyi, it will help your cause if you try to research a little about the chef in the high-end restaurant you are considering, find out where they went to school, it just might have been J&W.  That might give you an in.

Were there no teachers or advisors to tell you any of this stuff in school?  Did they just say get a job somewhere and see you in the Fall?

To Kate: NO OLIVE GARDEN!!!

Steve is right about the research, a j& w grad might favor you and that could be cool.

If you looked at TRU and that's the kind of food you want to be doing, then start looking for a well reviewed place in your area, as Steve suggested, and meanwhile learn all you can at RT. When you've found the place you like, give RT notice and get going.

To Steve : No diss towards Kate or J & W but, this is the second person I've heard of who's a first year student at J & W and is working at a fast food joint. The woman who interned at our place in the summer went back and started working in a pizzeria Weird...

When I was attending L'Academie de Cuisine in D.C., all of their 2 year program students were working in pretty great places. I don't get it.

[Steve Klc]

Well, not to divert this too far, but DC is a pretty substantial food town, it's huge and sophisticated, it's Paris or San Francisco compared to the likes of a New Bedford; there's only one real cooking school here with like 20 people per class looking for work--and all the chefs in town know they can get decently trained labor cheap from L'Academie. L'Academie has always been totally connected locally. That's good and bad, however, if you're wondering why your hourly wage is so low or as a student your sophistication and talent awareness extends to Chicago or NYC. But for first jobs it is fine. And our scene is getting better.

With Kate what I think is interesting--and what I wanted to explore with her--is what I sensed was a real lack of preparation on the school's part before sending these sheep out to the real world for their first job. That isn't dissing Kate, that's exposing something I feel is a flaw, potentially, of that school. Why should Kate have to find this stuff out from us on this thread? Why isn't she finding this out from her instructors and advisors--unless cooking schools ain't what some crack them up to be.

As far as J&W or CIA or other large schools turning out students who take jobs at RT or chains or wherever, well, that is why some call them factories. That's neither here nor there. Those jobs and baking jobs where you scoop ice cream all day long and proof and bake off thousands of frozen pre-formed croissants still give you a chance to work cleanly, quickly, and efficiently in a small space. And you can file those volume experiences away to define what it is you don't want to do. The key is maximizing your potential and taking advantage of opportunities wherever you are at the time.

There's energy and pleasure to be found in these jobs and down the road, if Kate is lucky, they will also help her develop a kind of easy grace in her cooking.

[KateW]

It's probably partially my fault that I am not at a more upscale establishment. I didn't seek out any help in looking for a summer job. I wanted to work at Sid Wainer and when they didn't call back I stalled and finally went to the mall to look for something I thought would be pretty straightforward. I thought I might get prep work, dishwashing, salad bar--just so I could get a taste of it. Instead, I ended up behind the line.

I'm not sure what my point is. I just worked about 10 hours and I'm wicked tired. I'll post tomorrow.

[elyse]

Wicked tired? You ARE around Rhode Island, aren't you?

[KateW]

Yeah I'm originally from Massachusetts, and I've lived briefly in Maryland and Tennessee but the Massachusetts lingo has always stuck with me. No accent, though.

I'm not sure JWU counts summer jobs as "real" jobs since people from all over the country and the world come to JWU, and therefore wouldn't be able to hold their summer job when they come back to school in the fall. So JWU focuses on post-graduation jobs instead.

Anyway, last night wasn't so bad, it was incredibly (I mean WICKED) slow for a long time and then we got slammed for a couple hours at the end. All I ended up doing was dropping what they told me to drop in the fryolater. When it was slow, one of the guys quizzed me on a lot of stuff. I know most of it, but I tend to draw a blank when it comes down to actually doing it. I also second-guess myself a lot.

I have today off, and tomorrow I work 6-close and I'll probably be on quesadilla, soup, and chip and dip duty.

I got a nice little splash of oil burns on one of my hands when I put some fries in and the fryolater flared up. I also got a couple other minor burns from I don't know what.

I really want to stay for the summer and I'm going to keep trying for as long as they want me.

[elyse]

Vitamin E oil is your best friend for burns. Or aloe first for the burns, E for the scars.