r/KitchenConfidential

As a 33 year old who's been in the industry for roughly 17 years now and has a wide spectrum of music tastes...I'm so sick of these 20 year olds that listen to the most TRASH mumble whiney dickmouth rap and call it good, it sounds like pure garbage and it ruins my mood for the whole night

27 years in the business working in 1, 2 and 3* places . Always fascinating to see what people are asked to cook to show their skills (when required). I always ask for an omelette? Any other favourites?

I'm talking asking someone to grab a board stretcher or a screw sharpener, that kind of thing.

I worked at a place that had a very deep culture of trying to put as much plastic silverware, usually spoons, in people's pockets before they noticed. I myself got at least 7 or 8 in a couple peoples pockets. Cooks were obviously easier cause of the pants.

Then I took it to a new restaurant that I worked at and unknowingly started an enormous fucking culture shift that ended in HR telling us that people had to be able to opt out of the spoon game.

I'd be waiting tables and at some point reach into a part of my apron to find like 10 God damn spoons. The students became the fucking masters.

You ever call someone out infront of everyone because they arent following safe food handling and and you tried to talk to them in private but it didn't work?

Well I did, did it during the middle of the day while the morning guys were getting ready to leave and the night guys were just coming in. This guy is supposed to be a supervisor so I hold him to higher standards. When I called him out he was quiet and walking around like a dog with his tail between his legs the rest of the shift.

2 weeks later and today he tried to do the same to me. Our beef gravy mix we get says to add to cold water and warm it up, well i was making our turkey gravy today that says to add to boiling water. When he sees me add the gravy mix to the boiling water he starts haulering about it asking what the instructions on the gravy say. He was so embaressed when I read them and showed him and those who were listening and cared. (In his defense he rarely used the turkey gravy, i do as i am in charge of banquets, he only uses in during Oct, Nov, and December when we have leftovers and give them turkey for a sandwich special)

I recently did 3 years on a working holiday visa in Australia and worked as a cook in cafes and restaurants. Over there they apply a penalty rate on Saturdays and Sundays where you get paid more hourly. Saturdays was a slight increase and Sundays was a substantial increase. Now that I am back in Canada it feels kinda shit that I constantly work weekends and dont see any extra money. What are the chances something like this ever gets integrated?

i'll go first-- i work in a nursing home kitchen, and one of our exit doors is unfortunately easily accessible by confused elderly folk, and it also happens to be very close to our grill station. as i was helping a newer coworker empty the fryer filter, our night manager casually strolled over and started putting new oil in the fryer-- before we finished cleaning it and while the filtration was open, spilling oil all over the floor.

i genuinely just stood in shock because this manager never cooks and doesn't know how to use any of our equipment, so i'm genuinely confused as to why she decided this was the moment to jump in. now me and coworker have to immediately clean up the oil before it makes its way to the high-traffic exit door and some poor old person's walker goes flying, and our manager just laughs off her little "oopsie."

this is the same manager who showed up at a coworkers house at 4 in the morning to find out why they weren't working that breakfast shift (a day they had asked off for months in advance).

what are some of your best (or worst) manager stories?