Military Kitchen

[shmug25]

well having spoken to people who have worked in top restaurants

only to wonder is really neccesary for the verbal abuse and militry treatment in some of the top restaurants???

how much would you take in just to get a reference from that restaurant??

i know kitchens whereby having to arrange ingredients in alphabatical order, swearing at the staff as though they were dogs. ..

well lets hear some views!!

how far would you take??

[NeroW]

how much would you take in just to get a reference from that restaurant??

how far would you take??

I think I would draw the line at improper touching.

Proper touching, however, is--well, proper.

[d.hawksworth]

I've worked in several.

I worked for 10 years in Europe , but what you learn is organization, dedication and a strong work ethic.

It can be taken way to far and I believe we have seen the worst of the kitchen ASSHOLES. It shouldn't get to soft but a certain level of professionalism and respect is growing within the industry.

Edited August 4, 2003 by d.hawksworth (log)

[inventolux]

Respect employees as you would respect your guests.

[NeroW]

Haven't we had problems around here with the use of the word "Nazi"?

Is there a different word we could use?

Like, for instance, "asshole"?

[Nick]

well having spoken to people who have worked in top restaurants

only to wonder is really neccesary for the verbal abuse and militry treatment in some of the top restaurants???

They're babes in the woods compared to a real military kitchen. If they don't like it, they can always leave and get another job.

I worked four naval mess halls including, skullery, kitchen, prep, cold storage, and butcher shop - Great Lakes IL, Memphis/Millington TN, Quonset Pt. RI, and the USS Lake Champlain. We're not talking just verbal abuse - it gets physical. If you fall behind too much, you get your asshole reamed verbally. You complain, the head man might drop you with one punch - I've seen it happen.

Head butcher at Memphis drops the whiner/complainer and then asks us if we've seen anything. Nope, didn't see a thing, and that was the last we saw of the complainer. Probably got transfered to the skullery, which is the real shit hole. Hot and wet and there'll be a gang-banger that the judge let off easy by telling him he could go in the military or go to jail. He's not gonna be happy and you best humor him.

You're prepping, cooking, and washing pots, pans, flatware, and dishes for 1000-1500 people three times a day and nobody's gonna cut anyone too much slack.

And you can't quit and get another gig if you don't like it.

Edited August 5, 2003 by Nick (log)

[alanamoana]

i work in a professional kitchen and this is definitely an interesting topic...i could go on for days, but i guess i'll spare everyone and just add my two cents:

1) a lot of this comes from the european tradition of apprenticing in kitchens. you don't touch the food or think to cook until you've peeled ninety million cases of asparagus and have learned humility, respect for your chef and respect for ingredients. you accept it because you know the chef came up the same way, and now look at him!

2) there's no such thing as an apprentice in the united states. people go to culinary school never having worked in a kitchen before...just because they "love to cook" and "love food". they graduate and are confused when they aren't immediately given a restaurant to run. what do you mean i make $7/hour for the first three years?! these people have a false sense of entitlement and they need a little bit of "tradition" drilled into them!

3) there are chefs that like to degrade other people because they have their own inferiority complex. it makes them feel good to be able to make someone else feel bad. no one should put up with that, but unfortunately, people do because now that they've spent $30,000 dollars on culinary school...they need that $7/hour job!

I personally have done the yelling. luckily, i've rarely been yelled at. my advice is: don't be an idiot, do your job, do it well, keep your mouth shut except to ask intelligent questions, work clean. as in every aspect of life, common sense can keep you out of a lot of trouble. unfortunately, common sense just isn't as common as it used to be.

[shmug25]

ok heres something to think about then:

generally to train a fellow homosepian..yes it is so easy to kick the fellow around, shout and "teach"..

have anyone ever wonder that it takes a bigger person with a bigger passion of teaching someone without throwing a whole lot of tantrum? its even harder for someone to just control their patience for once and teach! (Now that is people management-using different kind of manipulation to control different kinds of people)... but no! many "asshole" out there take the easy why out by walking in their "respectable" mentors eg. just because they went through it as wel.-now that is just plain not using the thing up there.think about it!

i personally feel the most respectable chefs are those who teach with their heart not with their damn mouths or physical strength!

i do know a few world reknown chefs who are very mild mannered and i take my hat of them..

Best of all they get things very much undercontrol and done in a perfect way!!!!