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A different job a different problem!

job seeker

So I have previously created a thread here on a money issue I was having at work. To make a long story short I left that particular job when I got my money all sorted and I went back to college to finish my 4 year honours degree.

So I got a job last week as a Commis Chef. this is the lowest rank in becoming a chef. I started last week I had my trial last Friday at twelve and anyway I was offered the job. I told the head chef that I really need to develop my skills and increase my speed, which is why I applied for this particular job. He explained that he give me the job as I have the right attitude and willing to learn which means a lot.

On Saturday there was a booking of 170 people, so I found it very difficult. However I met the executive head chef on Saturday as well. I was given tasks throughout the day by the head chef who I met the previous day and when ever I went at something the executive head chef would shout at me or if I asked a question she would give me a pure sarcastic answer. I went home feeling pure sick. I explained this to the head chef on Sunday as I was in to help with breakfast on Sunday morning and he told me to "pass no heed of her. Also that it was the way she was trained and it was the norm in the kitchen environment."

Now this job is a brilliant opportunity for me to learn and develop my skill. But the abuse I'm getting is something else. I felt so useless and just that I shouldn't be there. The executive head chef is really making my life hell and has me turned me off the job.

Sorry for the rant..

Any advice is appreciated.

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ibarelycare

Have you only worked with her once?

If this is a dream place for you to work, I think you need to try sticking it out for a bit longer and hope things get better. Kitchens are notoriously difficult places to work with high pressure and big egos. And sometimes people in workplaces like to throw their weight around and intimidate new people. I'm not condoning it - people who do that are arseholes - but I'm just saying give it a chance and see how things go. Talk to your colleagues who are closer to your level and see if they have had the same experiences.

Your only other option is to leave.

Del2005

That's catering. Crap hours, crap conditions (roasting hot kitchens and huge pressure), crap pay and usually the head chef is a egotist.

Sounds like a normal kitchen.

pilly

Yeah, OP, I agree with others and also with the Head Chef you spoke to. If you really want to work in kitchens you're going to have to toughen up and ignore the abuse. It comes with the territory.

eeguy

pilly wrote: »

Yeah, OP, I agree with others and also with the Head Chef you spoke to. If you really want to work in kitchens you're going to have to toughen up and ignore the abuse. It comes with the territory.

Watch a bit of Gordon Ramsey.

pilly

eeguy wrote: »

Watch a bit of Gordon Ramsey.

People think he's OTT but I've seen worse. Mind you the ones I'm thinking of were coked up as well.

pilly

Just as a matter of interest what was your degree in?

job seeker

ibarelycare wrote: »

Have you only worked with her once?

If this is a dream place for you to work, I think you need to try sticking it out for a bit longer and hope things get better. Kitchens are notoriously difficult places to work with high pressure and big egos. And sometimes people in workplaces like to throw their weight around and intimidate new people. I'm not condoning it - people who do that are arseholes - but I'm just saying give it a chance and see how things go. Talk to your colleagues who are closer to your level and see if they have had the same experiences.

Your only other option is to leave.

Well, it's not really a "dream" as such. Like it's a goo opportunity. But it's something I plan on doing for the next 2 or 3 years at most. I see what you're saying though!

job seeker

Del2005 wrote: »

That's catering. Crap hours, crap conditions (roasting hot kitchens and huge pressure), crap pay and usually the head chef is a egotist.

Sounds like a normal kitchen.

Yeah, I guess you're right! Maybe I'm just not cut out for this..

job seeker

pilly wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest what was your degree in?

I think this is the bottom line issue here. I sort of studied Culinary arts in the hopes that I would be good at it. However I continued on and completed the 4 years to try and find away out of chefing. I was hoping to get into food product development,but you basically need a masters to do that. I've come to realise that this degree is good for nothing.

This is it here anyway..
https://www.lyit.ie/full-timecourses/gastronomyculinaryarts/lygcartb/

Thanks for the replies everyone!

eeguy

job seeker wrote: »

Yeah, I guess you're right! Maybe I'm just not cut out for this..

You're never gonna land your dream job out of college. Unfortunately you'll have to cut your teeth in a kitchen and get some experience behind you before you can move into more preferential roles.

Would it be worth doing a part time masters if you're interested in food science?

job seeker

eeguy wrote: »

You're never gonna land your dream job out of college. Unfortunately you'll have to cut your teeth in a kitchen and get some experience behind you before you can move into more preferential roles.

Would it be worth doing a part time masters if you're interested in food science?

the Chefing is okay for the time been. But if I was looking for a long term goal I'd prefer to go into the health an safety side of things.

My lecturer said that this degree would be very beneficial if I wanted to become a trainer of the NATIONAL HYGIENE PARTNERSHIP. But you see there is already a trainer in Sligo and I just don't know how much work there is in this role. The other thing I was considering was a Health and Safety officer role. But I assume that I'd have to go back to college to achieve this.

I only achieved a 2.2 in my honours degree, so I really don't think I'd be able for a masters. However I was only considering the food product development/food science if my degree could get me into it. I don't really think I;d be very pushed on doing a masters.

Thanks for your reply!

pilly

OP, you seem really nice and you just have to look at this as a learning experience.

Everyones first job is tough but if you stick it out you will learn so much, not just about kitchens but about how to deal with people.

job seeker

pilly wrote: »

OP, you seem really nice and you just have to look at this as a learning experience.

Everyones first job is tough but if you stick it out you will learn so much, not just about kitchens but about how to deal with people.

Thanks. But I was raised by my parents to show respect towards others. I'd never hurt anyone deliberately...

However I do agree with you about learning stuff.

Thanks!

fritzelly

Worked in multiple hotels over the years and the kitchen is always like that
Head chefs are really like Gordon Ramsey, kitchen porters usually get the worst of it, waiters fare no better

Have to suck it up and not think of it as a personal attack but just the way it works - it's a stressful job

job seeker

fritzelly wrote: »

Worked in multiple hotels over the years and the kitchen is always like that
Head chefs are really like Gordon Ramsey, kitchen porters usually get the worst of it, waiters fare no better

Have to suck it up and not think of it as a personal attack but just the way it works - it's a stressful job

How do you get used to something like that though? I only met the executive head chef on the second day. Funnily enough, I was actually looking forward to work that morning and going home I was just regretting ever applying for the job. Like even in the likes of tesco or Dunnes you're going to be respected. Anyway, I can see why there is such a shortage of chefs in this country and I'd really discourage anyone who would be considering becoming a chef!

edit: Thanks for the reply anyway.

fritzelly

OrThe head chef gave you the best advice, brush it off.
It's stressful in a kitchen, especially catering for 170 people,Tescos and Dunnes are not the same as catering
If you are easily hurt by insults then the kitchen is not right for you
Even as a manager I got abuse off the head chef, restaurant managers get it as well

job seeker

fritzelly wrote: »

OrThe head chef gave you the best advice, brush it off.
It's stressful in a kitchen, especially catering for 170 people,Tescos and Dunnes are not the same as catering

I never said it was!

I previously worked at a restaurant the work got done, everyone worked together and every one respected each other. My point is, you don't have to act like a cnut to get work done.

fritzelly wrote: »

If you are easily hurt by insults then the kitchen is not right for you
Even as a manager I got abuse off the head chef, restaurant managers get it as well

It's not that they "hurt my feelings" I just thought there wasn't any need for it all the same.

fritzelly

Gave my experience of the kitchen - take the advice or not but using exclamation marks for a response tells something

It's not that they "hurt my feelings" I just thought there wasn't any need for it all the same.

Not what you said in the OP

[Deleted User]

ike even in the likes of tesco or Dunnes you're going to be respected.

Hahahahahahaha!

Got my first job working in Dunnes in the Deli. The butcher who was next to us on the same counter, and thought because he was a butcher and we worked the deli that he was superior, couldn't decide whether he was a drill instructor or Gordon Ramsay. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Gordon Ramsay was famous when I was working there, but you get the point. There were times in the first few weeks when I thought he gave the turkey breast more respect than to us.

As others have said, thats what the kitchen is like. In restaurants all over the globe the kitchen is one loud, shouty stressful hot mess. Its a bit like basic training in the army. You either get used to it, or you quit. If its not for you, then its not for you. Give it 1 month. If you aren't feeling more comfortable after a month, look for something else. Lifes too short to do something you are miserable in.

ibarelycare

How many times have you worked with the executive chef so far?

job seeker

fritzelly wrote: »

Gave my experience of the kitchen - take the advice or not but using exclamation marks for a response tells something

Not what you said in the OP

What I said was that I felt useless and I shouldn't have been there.

job seeker

ibarelycare wrote: »

How many times have you worked with the executive chef so far?

Twice.

job seeker

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hahahahahahaha!

Got my first job working in Dunnes in the Deli. The butcher who was next to us on the same counter, and thought because he was a butcher and we worked the deli that he was superior, couldn't decide whether he was a drill instructor or Gordon Ramsay. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Gordon Ramsay was famous when I was working there, but you get the point. There were times in the first few weeks when I thought he gave the turkey breast more respect than to us.

As others have said, thats what the kitchen is like. In restaurants all over the globe the kitchen is one loud, shouty stressful hot mess. Its a bit like basic training in the army. You either get used to it, or you quit. If its not for you, then its not for you. Give it 1 month. If you aren't feeling more comfortable after a month, look for something else. Lifes too short to do something you are miserable in.

Jesus, I never would have thought.

It's just strange as I previously said coming from my old job where there was a totally different attitude towards other people. Also a much higher staff moral. So basically you're telling me that the executive chef is basically trying to break me, like in the army?

but if it was that simple I wouldn't be here now. My degree gets me nothing else really..as I previously said.

ibarelycare

job seeker wrote: »

Twice.

It's a bit dramatic to say after working with her twice that she's making your life hell. It's not an industry in which you can be overly sensitive. You need a thick skin.

pilly

Okay, OP, I have to say it, there's a theme coming across here. You don't take criticism very well at all, anyone who's tried to steer you in the right direction at all you've jumped back at.

You say you weren't "hurt" by the chef and then reply to me that you would never "hurt" someone else so which is it?

At the end of the day you're right your degree means nothing here, you're working in a kitchen as the commis chef and you have to roll with the punches or get out but since you've already left one job my advice was simply that sometimes you have to stick something out and put up with it for a while before you give up.

pilly

job seeker wrote: »

Jesus, I never would have thought.

It's just strange as I previously said coming from my old job where there was a totally different attitude towards other people. Also a much higher staff moral. So basically you're telling me that the executive chef is basically trying to break me, like in the army? but if it was that simple I wouldn't be here now. My degree gets me nothing else really..as I previously said.

But you left your previous job?

job seeker

pilly wrote: »

Okay, OP, I have to say it, there's a theme coming across here. You don't take criticism very well at all, anyone who's tried to steer you in the right direction at all you've jumped back at.

Oh my god, You're right.

pilly wrote: »

You say you weren't "hurt" by the chef and then reply to me that you would never "hurt" someone else so which is it?

Right again.. Maybe I am a bit too sensitive.

pilly wrote: »

At the end of the day you're right your degree means nothing here, you're working in a kitchen as the commis chef and you have to roll with the punches or get out but since you've already left one job my advice was simply that sometimes you have to stick something out and put up with it for a while before you give up.

Ya, my last job was a restaurant. Which doesn't really mean anything on a c.v. It's all about hotel experience. But I see what you mean again. Like it or get out kinda thing.

job seeker

pilly wrote: »

But you left your previous job?

Indeed I did.

pilly

I suppose what I'm trying to say to you as a young person is to stick it out. I know what it's like. I was fired from my first job and so stuck out my 2nd job and learnt so many lessons from both.

job seeker

ibarelycare wrote: »

It's a bit dramatic to say after working with her twice that she's making your life hell. It's not an industry in which you can be overly sensitive. You need a thick skin.

I suppose it is.