How restaurants get cooks to work 12-hour days ...

This was an interesting article in the Globe and Mail about the exploitation of cooks. Hope the link works; try it in a different browser if not.

http://goo.gl/vd4qAq

This is the restaurant industry. We work a lot. We grind hard. You don't need a degree. You dont need people skills. You don't need to be politically correct. You don't need to be a salesman, you don't need to be educated. Hell, most places, you barely even need to be showered, much less sober.

If you work hard enough, learn enough, sacrifice enough, you can make a good living without any of those things.

This is the life we chose. Don't weep for us. We love our lives. In fact, if you're a cook and you DON'T love your life, you're in the wrong industry. I don't see anybody weeping for artists. Nobody cares when a great musician cant get by.

You dont get in to this industry for the money. If you did, somebody lied to you. I could do 100 other things. I could be a lawyer. Doctor. Professor. I could sit in some cubicle, do some coding, make my 100k and go home.

Wouldn't trade my job for the world, and certainly not for a few thousand more dollars.

I could sit in some cubicle,

Ouch. Cubicle life does pay for a lot of nice meals though.........

I could sit in some cubicle,

Ouch. Cubicle life does pay for a lot of nice meals though.........

I don't think Griffin was knocking cubicle workers; his livelihood depends on them. He was just saying it's not for him. Like 12 hour shifts cooking food isn't for me.

I for one am grateful for the people like Griffin that do love their restaurant cook/chef positions. I love to cook but could never shoulder the responsibility of cooking for dozens every night. Nope. No sir.
So, thank you to all of you out there that are there for me when I come in to dine after my day of kids and diapers.

I for one am grateful for the people like Griffin that do love their restaurant cook/chef positions. I love to cook but could never shoulder the responsibility of cooking for dozens every night. Nope. No sir.
So, thank you to all of you out there that are there for me when I come in to dine after my day of kids and diapers.

Hear, hear!!

[Robin Garr]

This article that's been going around offers a similar narrative about servers. "Rockstar" servers, specifically.

The Difference Between Average Servers And Rockstar Servers

[Robin Garr]

The Difference Between Average Servers And Rockstar Servers

(I'm indebted to Fontleroy's server Patrick K for the find, posted on Facebook.)

It's important to understand that people want lives outside of the kitchen. If you want the industry to be full of professional, well trained and motivated cooks, then it should be treated as a career. We already see the shortage of cooks right now, likely a result of cooks who burned out after only a few years. Those of us who have stuck around for 10+ years throughout it all shouldn't be bragging about being undervalued by our employers. I can't get back all the family time I should have had, or making better relationships with people outside of the workplace so I could have a more enriching life.

As a chef, it's important to have time to think, to meditate, to breathe. We are expected to be creative, to perform all of our job duties, and to manage our employees well. On 4 hours of sleep, and if you don't have the ability to pay for your expenses or eat well yourself, none of those things can be done as well as they should be.

I look forward to a future of cooks who are actually excited to be at work, don't feel beat down, and have the drive to make a lifelong career in the restaurant industry.

This article that's been going around offers a similar narrative about servers. "Rockstar" servers, specifically.

The Difference Between Average Servers And Rockstar Servers

The answer is: tips. No more tips, no more rockstar servers.

The rockstars, on the other hand, they don’t blame. They just do it. They say to themselves, “This is the job. Those tables are my income. More tables means more money – so bring it on.”

[Robin Garr]

The answer is: tips. No more tips, no more rockstar servers.

Ever eat at a restaurant in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain? No tipping. Excellent service.

That is not what I said.

Not sure but maybe what Steve is saying is that there would be more consistency in service if there is a consisistency in pay via higher hourly wages vs tipping. But I have been known to presume...

[Robin Garr]

That is not what I said.

I assume you're responding to my question about no-tipping, good service in Europe, Steve? It sure seemed like a relevant response to me. If no tipping means no rockstars in the US, then how does Europe get its rockstars?

I always thought that Europeans think of food service as a legitimate profession and not just something you do while in school or on your way to something else. Food service positions in the once old grand restaurants (like Maxim's) were handed down from father to son. And they were pretty lucrative in their own right. I guess things have changed since then. (~~shrugging~~) I don't know.