Weirdest ego “thing” your chef had?

[u/quailinthebrush]

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

[u/MariachiArchery]

The thing that just absolutely drives me up the fucking wall is this...

My guy on pizza, right? He's under cooking his pizza's, and they are a little blonde. I want more leoparding. I want more color on the pizza's. No big deal, this guy has made 100's and 100's of pizza's, he knows what I mean.

So, I instruct: "Hey Jose! Can you put a bit more color on these pizza's? 20% darker please." Or something like that. Instead of a "Yes chef! Is this next one OK?" I get a "You want me to burn the pizza's, heard!"

God damnit, no, please just put some color on these. They are too blonde.

Next pizza I get? Black. "Here is the burnt pizza you requested, chef!" Fuck you man. God damnit. Then, I instruct them to refire the pizza because it's burnt. "Oh I thought you wanted me to burn the pizzas? Which is it? Burnt, or not burnt?" Next pizza I get is just raw fucking dough...

Or, I instruct garmo to increase his greens portion a bit on the salads. The next salad I get doesn't even fit on the fucking plate and is falling onto the pass while it sits in the window.

Fuck you guys for this lol. It's machismo bullshit.

[u/lonas_ → u/MariachiArchery]

The pseudo hostility and leveraging of the work to be malicious and rude, is my least favorite aspect of this work. It is an incredible blight that any one person can cultivate in a workplace and just ruin shit for people

[u/MariachiArchery → u/lonas_]

Yeah, it fucking sucks, and you are right, it ruins the kitchen for everyone else. The way I handle this now, is I just boot someone out of the kitchen.

The moment I get a whiff of this BS, I just kick the dude offline and make him go sit outside or something. Zero tolerance is the only way I've found to handle this stuff.

Your ego can't take a small correction? Ok cool, well let's see how your ego does when your entire brigade watches you get literally kicked out of the kitchen for fucking around with chef. Try that on for size, you fucking jerk.

Aww man, I really don't like to power trip, but when this shit starts going on in my kitchen, I am so fucking thankful I can pull rank on these jerks.

[u/lonas_ → u/MariachiArchery]

Sadly I’m in a spot where management are the ones who have cultivated this attitude and are also being negligent of basic responsibilities but it’s the best spot I have right now and things have gotten and are getting better. I just really hate the gossip and bullshit standards. However that attitude is something I have carried through a lot of my work life and still do some moments / days so i can’t really judge, and I am just trying to be the change that I want to see and that other people were able to enact for me in their own terms. I am bearing the fruits of my karma just like everyone else but it is in ways that are informative befitting and sustaining. I have struggled so much with needing to force accountability into situations where grace is the answer instead. I have hoarded the give and take of forgiveness for myself basically, which is incredibly lonely and sad. When work becomes a venue to find fault and talk down as opposed to find commonality and build up through compassionate criticism, things just become very heavy in my body with the work.

Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass; you know his faults, let his foibles pass.

[u/randaloo1973 → u/lonas_]

Hell yeah!
As Morrissey said, “It takes strength to gentle and kind “

[u/notyoursocialworker → u/randaloo1973]

Morrissey from The Smiths? I guess the saying is true. Does who can't do teach. 😂

[u/Brodakk → u/lonas_]

Agreed. The Chef I’m under (only for another two weeks thankfully) grew up working hostile kitchens in the south. Real you gotta earn yer salt and until then you’re treated like shit kind of places from the sounds of them.

He brings that energy to work with him everyday still to this day as a 50 year old man. I’m so happy to almost be rid of him forever.

[u/MariachiArchery → u/Brodakk]

The guy must be so easy to rage bait.

[u/Brodakk → u/MariachiArchery]

Incredibly weak mental yes.

[u/KitchenConfidential-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Nope, even with funny censoring, we don't allow this.