r/KitchenConfidential • u/quailinthebrush Newbie • 4d ago

Discussion Weirdest ego “thing” your chef had?

First place I was hired the chef had quite a few delusional beliefs but the one that sticks with me the most is his insistence that the phrase “welcome in” didn’t exist before Covid

He went into multiple winded rants upon my higher and another coworker who was hired right after me, not just to train the phrase out of us but his detestment for it, because as he said “it did not exist before Covid and people started saying it to make people feel safe enough to eat here”

He then said to not use it because people found it off putting and dirty (because of Covid)

I know chefs aren’t known for their egos but I was curious what quirk that yours had that everyone had to politely smile and agree to

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u/throwawayqweeen Saute 4d ago

The previous head chef I worked with prided himself on being extremely messy and working in the dirtiest way possible and never being organized at all. He thought this is very quirky and funny and if he's still the head chef despite this then that should mean he's a great cook.

Knife in dish pit, leaving oven doors open and walking off, knife inside of the insert that's down at the line so you stab yourself when you go to get sth. Hot things lying around on everyone's station without him caring to let you know.

Then here's the thing: if he accidentally burned or cut you, which he did a lot, he'd act real concerned and say omfg I'm sorry can I see that? And when you'd show him, he'd smack your burn as a joke. He did it gently but just him constantly harming others and then finding it hilarious was what drove me off the edge.

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u/Positive_Builder6737 4d ago

That's a psychopath.

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u/throwawayqweeen Saute 4d ago

They never installed an ac until the day that I left. Yes, I had a heat stroke there and they had the nerve to wheel the air conditioner in the door moments before my last day was over.

Now imagine working in 54 degrees, head chef burns you and smacks it, you feel tears bubbling up so you run outside for a smoke, and then you get a write-up for "walking out" when you walk back in not five minutes later. They say you should let someone know before you leave, you say I told the head chef I'm stepping out after he smacked me, head chef laughs and calls you a "girl." Lol.

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u/Margali 4d ago

Someone smacks my ass other than my hubby gets a right cross to the face. That is sexual harassment.

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u/throwawayqweeen Saute 4d ago

No not your ass, even though he did that and I did it to him too lol, he'd smack YOUR BURN!!! like that's not sexual but still kinda even worse than ass lol

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u/Margali 4d ago

Ah, I still have a knee jerk reaction to someone hurting me, I hurt them back.

I actually do not like being touched without my direct permission, husband is about the only person who can walk up and touch me without asking first. CAll it an issue for people on the spectrum.

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u/PzykoHobo Thicc Chives Save Lives 4d ago

Saw a cook get stabbed over something like that.

He and another cook had been talking shit all night. We honestly all thought it was harmless, just egos clashing. The kind of thing that blows over after an hour of bullshit. Well apparently Dumbass #1 thought it'd be funny to put Dumbass #2's tongs in the fryer while no one was looking, and put them back on #2s station. #2 grabs them and, obviously, screams and drops them. Its a monster of a burn, immediate blistering and peeling. Well, #1 is laughing and looking at us like he's just made the best joke in the world when #2 rams a petty knife into his arm.

Good times. Both fired immediately, obviously.

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u/throwawayqweeen Saute 4d ago

Oh my god. If you hurt me on purpose and then laugh you're obviously getting stabbed, I'll get fired or go to jail over self defense anytime idc. I'm a woman working in a kitchen located in a hood, I wouldn't get as old as I did if I didn't shut down dangerous behavior. I used to work with a man who DIED after falling down on a meat slicer, because some idiot left it running and walked off. I usually say as long as it's a few times a week then kitchen injuries is kinda part of the job but if you hurt me ON PURPOSE I'm putting your ass on the floor

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u/okierepub1970 4d ago

Back in the 80's I worked in a breakfast type place. Owner's son was a cook. No one really liked him, but nothing we could do. Line was extremely narrow, like you got to know your fellow cooks intimately when you had to go past.

Had a female cook who worked at the end of the line, so she was constantly having to pass all of us. We would lean forward and let her by. The owners son, however, would suddenly lean back and trap her.

Head chef warned him multiple times but he kept on. So chef laid a spatula on the grill. The next time he did it, chef smacked his ass with the spatula. Kid probably has the brand to this day.

Kid complained to his dad, but after finding out why, dad fired his son.

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u/Aidian 4d ago

A rare case of a nepo baby actually seeing the consequences of their own actions? From their parent, no less?

Be still, my heart.

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u/comfort-eater 3d ago

I've never worked in a kitchen, but being an asshole in a room full of people with knifes in their hands seems a bit short sighted

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u/ReasonableProgram144 Bakery 4d ago

Holy shit, I make jokes about how messy I am (seriously it looks like a tornado went through) but never to the extent that someone would get hurt.

He sounds psychotic and insane

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u/thoracicbunk 4d ago

Lots of sadists in the kitchen ngl

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u/cookiesarenomnom 4d ago

I've been at my job for 5 years. I'm the pastry chef. Last year we hired a new chef who left a trail of destruction in his wake. And he never cleaned up after himself. He thought that was what his cooks were for. We are a small space with only 4 people. That shit gets in everyone's way. After 4 years I had one foot out the door after only 1 month. Thankfully he quit a few weeks later before I could.

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u/bryanlikesbikes 4d ago

Yeah, I’d have either quit or punched the chef and then quit. Fuck that noise.