u/OrchidImpossible4412

Hello, I’ve never posted on reddit. Thank you in advance for reading this and any advice. I need more actionable advice from people who are bakers and patisserie chef because no one I know is in this industry.

I’m 20F and I started working at a bakehouse and patisserie 7 weeks ago, it’s a placement so it’s half paid and a part of my patisserie course. However I will continue to work there once I’m finished.

My main problem is I’m extremely slow, not that I can’t be fast sometimes but I’m horrible at time management. I’ve had multiple instances so far in which I’ve taken WAY too long to complete something and they were not happy with me.

One of them was today, where I had to make 80 pies. Last week and earlier this week I had made these pies (not as many though), both times under filling them and one time not crimping them properly so they burst and they had to throw them out. This time my main boss said to one of the girls who works there to show me how to correctly fill them today. And she did, she also said that this job should take me 1.5h in total. Starting at 8am and finishing at 9:30am. I finished at 10:45am. 😬 It took me 1.5h just to fill them.

I’ll be specific on what im actually doing; I’m lining tray with baking paper, putting frozen pie bases on them and then filling them with 3 chucks of meat and then gravy. This should have only taken me half an hour. When they are all done I top the pies, this should take an hour, 15 mins per tray, 4 trays of 20 pies. I got told off after my first tray went in the oven and after that I hulled ass to get it done and I did! Which means I can do it! It’s just something about the long time frame that doesn’t create a sense of urgency for me. To defend myself a little I was kinda taking my time to avoid the pies being under filled and not properly crimped but clearly it was too long a time.

This has happened before with big task taking a long time to complete. I do have ADHD but I say that not as an excuse but for context I guess. I struggled in school and home with being fast and managing my time.

My gf and family always say that I’m new and I’m there to learn but I can’t just say that to my employer, they don’t feel the same way as they clearly had greater expectations of me. I had a talk with the bosses wife (she runs the front of house) after my shift today, she was very nice but said I can’t do anything like that again. (or I’m done I guess, she said 2 more weeks) Which is very understandable, it stuffs up the whole team and the work flow, costing the business.

I guess I’m saying I’m scared I will do it again because this is the second time I’ve been told and I believe I’ve done it many more times before. I can’t seam to recognise that I’m getting myself in these situation, it’s like I’m blind to it likes it’s random change. Like I don’t have control over if I meet there expectations or devastatingly ruin everything.

In my conversation with the bosses wife today she said I need to be more confident and ask questions, always check that I’m doing things correctly. Which is simple but I haven’t seemed to be able to doing that, I don’t know what question to ask and I can’t recognise in the moment when I need too. How can I do this? and how do I know how long something should take?
How can I get myself to be in this headspace? Where I’m focused on being fast. I try and keep track of the time but it’s hard. I think I keep forgetting how I’m suppose to be acting when I’m working, the mindset I’m suppose to have. I always accidentally slip into this state where I’m not super focused and just doing the task, not really TRYING to get it done asap. Idk honestly I really love this job and business, it’s a rare opportunity to learn in a place like this and I really don’t want to let these people down and have them believe they’ve made a mistake in hiring me.

I hope this makes sense. Any specific and actionable advice on being fast and on time management. And also on how to recognise what to ask and what to take notes on. Or if there is anywhere else I can post this let me know. Thank you so so much for reading, I want to be great and show them I’m passionate and dedicated, but I need some help. Thank you.

Hello, I’ve never posted on reddit. Thank you in advance for reading this and any advice. I need more actionable advice from people who are bakers and patisserie chef because no one I know is in this industry.

I’m 20F and I started working at a bakehouse and patisserie 7 weeks ago, it’s a placement so it’s half paid and a part of my patisserie course. However I will continue to work there once I’m finished.

My main problem is I’m extremely slow, not that I can’t be fast sometimes but I’m horrible at time management. I’ve had multiple instances so far in which I’ve taken WAY too long to complete something and they were not happy with me.

One of them was today, where I had to make 80 pies. Last week and earlier this week I had made these pies (not as many though), both times under filling them and one time not crimping them properly so they burst and they had to throw them out. This time my main boss said to one of the girls who works there to show me how to correctly fill them today. And she did, she also said that this job should take me 1.5h in total. Starting at 8am and finishing at 9:30am. I finished at 10:45am. 😬 It took me 1.5h just to fill them.

I’ll be specific on what im actually doing; I’m lining tray with baking paper, putting frozen pie bases on them and then filling them with 3 chucks of meat and then gravy. This should have only taken me half an hour. When they are all done I top the pies, this should take an hour, 15 mins per tray, 4 trays of 20 pies. I got told off after my first tray went in the oven and after that I hulled ass to get it done and I did! Which means I can do it! It’s just something about the long time frame that doesn’t create a sense of urgency for me. To defend myself a little I was kinda taking my time to avoid the pies being under filled and not properly crimped but clearly it was too long a time.

This has happened before with big task taking a long time to complete. I do have ADHD but I say that not as an excuse but for context I guess. I struggled in school and home with being fast and managing my time.

My gf and family always say that I’m new and I’m there to learn but I can’t just say that to my employer, they don’t feel the same way as they clearly had greater expectations of me. I had a talk with the bosses wife (she runs the front of house) after my shift today, she was very nice but said I can’t do anything like that again. (or I’m done I guess, she said 2 more weeks) Which is very understandable, it stuffs up the whole team and the work flow, costing the business.

I guess I’m saying I’m scared I will do it again because this is the second time I’ve been told and I believe I’ve done it many more times before. I can’t seam to recognise that I’m getting myself in these situation, it’s like I’m blind to it likes it’s random change. Like I don’t have control over if I meet there expectations or devastatingly ruin everything.

In my conversation with the bosses wife today she said I need to be more confident and ask questions, always check that I’m doing things correctly. Which is simple but I haven’t seemed to be able to doing that, I don’t know what question to ask and I can’t recognise in the moment when I need too. How can I do this? and how do I know how long something should take?
How can I get myself to be in this headspace? Where I’m focused on being fast. I try and keep track of the time but it’s hard. I think I keep forgetting how I’m suppose to be acting when I’m working, the mindset I’m suppose to have. I always accidentally slip into this state where I’m not super focused and just doing the task, not really TRYING to get it done asap. Idk honestly I really love this job and business, it’s a rare opportunity to learn in a place like this and I really don’t want to let these people down and have them believe they’ve made a mistake in hiring me.

I hope this makes sense. Any specific and actionable advice on being fast and on time management. And also on how to recognise what to ask and what to take notes on. Or if there is anywhere else I can post this let me know. Thank you so so much for reading, I want to be great and show them I’m passionate and dedicated, but I need some help. Thank you.

I’m 20F and recently started a placement at a bakehouse/patisserie as part of my course. I really love the job and want to stay there after my placement finishes, but I’m struggling badly with time management and speed at work because of ADHD.

My biggest issue is that I’m extremely slow on larger tasks. Not because I physically can’t work fast but there’s no sense of urgency.

Today I had to make 80 pies. I’d previously made mistakes with underfilling/crimping, so this time I was trying really hard to get them right. Another worker showed me exactly how to do them and said the task should take 1.5 hours total. Staring at 8am finishing at 9:30. I finished at 10:45. I only sped up after getting told off, which proves I can work faster, but I don’t seem to naturally stay in that focused/urgent mindset.

I’ve always struggled in every area of my life to judge how long things should take, recognise when I’m falling behind, switch gears mentally, and know when I should ask questions or take notes. My bosses have said I need to ask more questions/check in more often, but the problem is I often don’t realise I need help until it’s already too late.

I’m scared because this is the second serious conversation I’ve had about being too slow, and they basically said I can’t let it happen again. I completely understand why, it affects the whole workflow.

I’m looking for actionable ADHD advice, especially from people in fast-paced jobs/kitchens/trades/etc:
- How do I create a constant sense of urgency?
- How do I stay aware of time while concentrating?
- How do I recognise when I should ask questions or check my work?
- How can I take the best action in each situation? I don’t have to be perfect at everything but I need to show I have the frame work to become that.

I really care about this opportunity and want to improve fast. I’m not trying to make excuses with ADHD — I’m trying to figure out how to work with it before I lose this job.
Thank you for reading.