LINE COOKS OF /CK/

[Anonymous No.18318732]

Tell me your stories. It could be a time where you had an exceptionally great service where something really cool happened to you, it could be a nightmare service, something funny that happened, a particularly bad boss, anything at all that stands out from your time on the job.

I'd like to know what the people who make my food go through.
The mic is yours.

[Anonymous No.18318750]

Ran out of hake and gave them haddock instead. Both are fairly similar in flavour and texture a random patron couldn't tell the difference. Just so happened the person who ordered was THE captain birdseye. Needless to say, it was very embarrassing

[Anonymous No.18318766]

>be server
>walk into kitchen for something
>line cooks are headbanging to Motorhead
>walk out

[Anonymous No.18318776]

>>18318732
I was working for a place that had multiple kitchens. I was working at one for 6 hours and was about to take a lunch break, and I got called to help out at one of the other kitchens because someone had quit. After working for 6 more hours at the other kitchen, I was told I couldn't take my lunch break cause someone else was taking a break already. I ate anyway, and had some kind words to say to the sous-chef about his buddy, taking his heroin nap in the car, when he confronted me afterwards in regards to me not following his orders. I still worked 4 hours that day, and about another month after that. Good/hard workers are not rewarded at many jobs.

[Anonymous No.18318777]

was filleting mackerel but fucked it up, the headchef wasn't pleased. He turned around with a hot pan and burnt me with it. He claims to this day it was a mistake but he used to lock the kitchen porter in the walk in when they were late.

[Anonymous No.18318796]

>>18318750
So what's the difference between hake and haddock?

[Anonymous No.18318799]

>>18318776
Isn't it illegal to deny employees breaks?

[Anonymous No.18318800]

>>18318732
I worked in a tiny kitchen with too many people in it and a menu that was a little too complex for what the place was. The chef would go a little Ramsay from time to time, so we used to try to get the restaurant manager to keep him occupied with numbers during the dinner rush.

Anyway, my last day shit hit the fan. Two people didn't show up, so I'm sauces, pasta and apps, and the chef is on the line losing his shit. The lunch rush starts dying down, and we get an order for two calamari - copy chef, two calamari. less than thirty seconds later, "WHERE THE FUCK IS MY CALAMARI!?" "Working, chef." "PUT IT ON A PLATE FUCKING NOW!!!" "I can't do that. Literally 60 seconds, chef." And he screams at me the whole minute. Finally "THAT SQUID BETTER BE IN THE FUCKING WINDOW!" so I slam it down. "CALAMARI, GRILLED LEMON, SQUID INK AND SHALLOT WHITE CHOCOLATE, UP!" and he throws a hot skillet full of porkchop at me. I wish I'd have come up with something caustic or even clever, but I just saluted and walked out. Dude screamed at me the whole way to the locker room, and followed me out into the street. Finally I just yelled out "HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE ME A SANDWICH OUT HERE? GET YOUR ASS BACK IN THE KITCHEN!"

[Anonymous No.18318802]

>>18318796
Hake is more flaky

[Anonymous No.18318831]

>>18318799
That was my bargaining chip for remaining employed. His focus was on getting product out. He didn't care about anything else, until I promptly reminded him about all of the laws being violated. Then it was, let's let bygones be bygones. After I left that place, that sous-chef was fired for how high the staff turnover was.

[Anonymous No.18318852]

>>18318776
I would love to hear their side of the story lmao. You faggots are lazy as shit using jarred sauce and eating fast food.

[Anonymous No.18318856]

While I was waiting for replies I made a new pepe for you. Please use it however you want.

[Anonymous No.18318885]

>>18318852
You don't really think there aren't bosses out there, that won't run over people, if they can get away with it, do ya?

[Anonymous No.18318947]

>>18318800
What the actual fuck? Why didn't you spit in his face at least?

[Anonymous No.18318966]

>>18318750
>THE captain birdseye

Like, just some fisherman who knew his shit or is it like some title they give to the CEO of Birdseye or something?

[Anonymous No.18318969]

>>18318856
cute

[Anonymous No.18318989]

>>18318856
Nice

[Anonymous No.18319035]

>>18318732
I was a line cook at an Italian place and I talked them into training me to serve.
working saute for the lunch and service at night
the wildest thing I've ever seen at a restaurant job was when I was taking an order, I could see the busboy in the corner of my eye. and he dropped a wine glass, it hit the floor on its rim, bounced once and the busser took one swipe and caught the base and stem between his fingers.
as for line the soux chef came out of the employee bathroom and said hey buddy there's a line of coke of the toilet tank if you want it. actually he was the acting chef because the real chef called me in to work his lunch shift a week earlier, because he brought a stripper home the previous night and he needed to get back to her. he was fired before he left
I got one more working saute at a different italian joint. the girl who was trying to get the opening saute spot that I ultimately got was none other than elise from hells kitchen. she was just as much of a bitch in real life as the show. I threatened to quit cause of her shit and they sent her up north to another location the next day

[Good boy rides again No.18319048]

>>18318777
I would have slammed a red hot cast iron skillet in his face!
then claim it was accident

[Anonymous No.18319052]

>>18318947
I figured by the manner he was yelling while I was packing up my knives, that he was probably looking forward to a confrontation - either suicidal or just too jacked up to care. I wanted to get out of there before I lost my shit and murdered him, because I'd stick around and finish the job properly - carve him up and serve him with fava bean and ramp hummus and chianti reduction until the police arrived.

[Anonymous No.18319077]

>>18318856
My pepe now

[Anonymous No.18319176]

>>18318856
thanks you anon

[Anonymous No.18319180]

>>18319035
>met busboy jesus
>still posting on 4chan

[Anonymous No.18319253]

>>18319077
That frog's front-butt better chill

[Anonymous No.18319331]

>>18318966
You'll know when He visits you.

[Anonymous No.18319335]

>>18318732
been working pastry station for the past 2 months or so at my job just cause they needed someone to fill the position until they find someone to fill it. anyways the station is situated in a spot where there are food runners walking in front of my station in order to get to the dining floor. guy had just polished some plates and tripped on air trying to stack them somewhere and hit the ground so hard that I felt that shit in my feet. pretty hilarious because the guy can be a bit annoying at times. no plates were miraculously harmed in the process.
sorry if the story was ass i just loved watching him eat shit.

[Anonymous No.18319354]

>>18319335
I chortled vicariously through you

[Anonymous No.18319378]

>>18318799
It's an extremely abused part of restaurant workers. There's no real recourse other than losing the job and spending thousands to take the business to court. When you have to work through your lunch break because a rush came in most aren't willing/capable of doing anything about it. It's common to an almost comical degree. There isn't a single cook or server that's never been denied a break. For a huge portion it's a constant standard.

[Anonymous No.18319380]

>>18318732
My brother has been a cook his entire life, he can cook anything, right off the top of his head no recipe, the food he cooks is always way better than better than anything else I've ever had.
That said he is an angry drunk that has social issues.
From the stories he has told me through the years, being a cook is stressful.

[Anonymous No.18319397]

>>18318800
>shallot white chocolate
jesus fucking christ

[Anonymous No.18319402]

>>18319380
Some of the people I've worked with in kitchens (heinous, poorly run kitchens, to be fair), left to join the armed forces. They routinely told me the job was easier and less stressful - less yelling and reduced chances of injury unless in active combat - and the pay was better.

[Anonymous No.18319405]

Had a guy stroke out mid rush hour one time. Had to step over him to finish an order. They took him out through the back so the costumers wouldn't freak out.
Wouldn't go back to line for gold bars.

[Anonymous No.18319407]

>>18319405
bet you would, whore.

[Anonymous No.18319412]

>>18319397
Like I said, needlessly complicated menu. The calimari plates were pre-done with the shallot chocolate and refrigerated, so the heat from the fried calamari would basically melt it. It did mean that we had to start a fresh stack every day, take up a section of a base with them, risk dropping them, and replenish as became possible. Needless bullshit for an a la carte menu.

[Anonymous No.18319415]

>>18318799
in many states, it perfectly legal to give no breaks to an employee on a shift of ANY LENGTH
my restaurant has three cooks working a cramped line on the busiest days, and service is 7.5 hours. it's rare that you get a chance to pee or smoke a cigarette during that time, and you NEVER get told to "take 15" or anything like that. cooks work ~10 hour days with little break (no official break) and I (sous) work 12+ and eat toast over a garbage can and smoke cigarettes while i'm calling in orders, otherwise no break.

[Anonymous No.18319417]

>>18319407
Nah, carpentry is just too damn chill and pays good too. If I ever went back into service it would be tending bar. Didn't even have to deal with the fights when I tended bar.

[Anonymous No.18319418]

What's your favorite thing to cook at work and why?

[Anonymous No.18319424]

>>18319380
There was an article in Time over a decade ago listing the most stressful jobs in America. #1 was a neurosurgeon. #2 was a short order cook.

Some places it's a simplistic job. Others you might be the only person back of house and you just had 75 people walk in all wanting unique, from scratch dishes served at the same time. Also you only have 60 clean plates so you need to find a way to wash about 20 in the middle of this.
>t. Ran the back house of a greasy spoon diner for ten years

[Anonymous No.18319433]

>>18319424
>not chewing out the frontman for that horseshit
What kind of debt were you in?

[Anonymous No.18319436]

>>18319424
Solo BOH in a diner that seats 75+? ... ... ... I dunno man. If you'd have said bar, I might have believed you.

[Anonymous No.18319439]

>>18319436
yeah sounds like bullshit to me

[Anonymous No.18319451]

Tonight was a fucking nightmare. The chef and garde manger are bickering and I'm stuck in the middle of it. Garde manger is calling him an asshole, chef is calling her a crackhead well he said,
>I think drugs are involved
And I'm just standing there like can't we just get the fucking good out it's the middle of service and we're trying to serve a 5 course 115 person wedding in under two hours. Stress got the best of me and the ethos of negativity scraped off and I started snapping. To his defense garde manger is a bit of a slob and unprofessional and the chef is a bit of an arrogant prick... But he's still the chef so not much we can do there. Just wanna plate the fucking compound butter and go home why are we doing all this extra.

[Anonymous No.18319453]

>>18319436
It was my family's restaurant. Most nights it was quite slow. But Occasionally you'd get the entire baseball team and all their families walk in after the game unannounced and shit like that. Most nights a big rush was about 20 at the same time.

[Anonymous No.18319458]

>>18319451
>drugs involved
>in service
As if anon, as if.

[Anonymous No.18319486]

From what I heard most chefs, cooks and all workers are drug addicts

[Anonymous No.18319514]

>>18319486
Moreso drunks. It's just so available

[Anonymous No.18319682]

>>18319453
If your family can seat twenty fourtops, they need to be able to serve twenty fourtops. And twenty is a pretty harsh rush for a one-man kitchen, or a pretty harsh wait for 8-10 of those customers - the kind of thing you'd want to minimize or mitigate.

[Anonymous No.18320270]

>>18319486
That's absolutely true.
Really though, I don't have any problem with my crew being a little bit intoxicated on whatever their drug of choice is. If they're completely off their tits that's a problem, but that's pretty rare. Their reasonable maintenance doses keep them functioning efficiently.
People that don't have enough discipline to not get completely wasted don't last very long.
Generally those types are flat broke when we hire them, then they do okay until their first paycheck. We're training them up, they're getting the hang of it, it's all smooth sailing. Then that payday rolls around and either their performance goes to shit completely, they go all schizo and start causing problems, or they just stop showing up at all. It's annoying for that little bit of time but the problem basically solves itself.
People not giving a shit is a way bigger problem than any of that. I'd rather have people that actually have some passion for making the customers happy but are maybe a little bit stoned all the time instead of people that just don't care.

[Anonymous No.18320282]

>>18318856
Very nice of you, anon