adventures in fine dining, part one
So, yesterday I started my new job at Rococo, a niceish resteraunt here in OKC. It was kind of a mixed bag...it's hard work, but it's fun hard work. The only time I wasn't having fun was when we didn't have any orders and I had nothing to do. I think that's a good sign.
Basically my job is to
a) do light prep (portioning out pasta, cutting tomatoes, making little toasted bread tip thingies)
b) make desserts, appetizers and salads
c) help with dishes
Honestly as far as the work itself and the pace, it's much easier than panera. At PB we had an hour and a half of closing to do every night; last night we got out in 15 minutes after the kitchen closed. I don't like the people as much though. Like most professional kitchens it's a boys club, and I don't have much to say about cars and dogs with "big wieners" (actual topic of conversation). Jose the dish guy seems pretty cool, mostly because he seems to have limited patience for stupid shit, which I can totally relate to. The sous chef I worked with seems ok too, although I don't think he said more than 6 words to me all night. (to be fair, he has stuff to do).
The special award for bigges tool of the night goes to one of the waiters...apparently there was a high roller in there, and so, realizing that his tip depends as much on our performance as it does on his, and that we have no incentive to care, he decided to be incredibly annoying all night, and not just to us...(he went so far as to have the jazz band that was there not play for an hour so that they wouldn't disturb the conversation of said high roller.) He then stood around in the back making bets with the other waiters about how much this guy would tip. His guess was 300 for the table, 100 from Mr. Moneybags (the maitre de said "well, I know you, so I guess two dollars...for the table".).
40 minutes later:
Sous Chef: "How much did he tip you?"
waiter: "Seven." (slams stack of dishes down)
Obviously, that's an inexcusable tip, and I'm sure this customer was a perfect asshole, but still I wanted to prepare a montage of his obnoxious behavior throughout the night, with the immortal song "Was It Worth It?" by The Pet Shop Boys over it.
Yes, I like the Pet Shop Boys. Bite me.
Next shift is friday night. We'll see how it goes.
Basically my job is to
a) do light prep (portioning out pasta, cutting tomatoes, making little toasted bread tip thingies)
b) make desserts, appetizers and salads
c) help with dishes
Honestly as far as the work itself and the pace, it's much easier than panera. At PB we had an hour and a half of closing to do every night; last night we got out in 15 minutes after the kitchen closed. I don't like the people as much though. Like most professional kitchens it's a boys club, and I don't have much to say about cars and dogs with "big wieners" (actual topic of conversation). Jose the dish guy seems pretty cool, mostly because he seems to have limited patience for stupid shit, which I can totally relate to. The sous chef I worked with seems ok too, although I don't think he said more than 6 words to me all night. (to be fair, he has stuff to do).
The special award for bigges tool of the night goes to one of the waiters...apparently there was a high roller in there, and so, realizing that his tip depends as much on our performance as it does on his, and that we have no incentive to care, he decided to be incredibly annoying all night, and not just to us...(he went so far as to have the jazz band that was there not play for an hour so that they wouldn't disturb the conversation of said high roller.) He then stood around in the back making bets with the other waiters about how much this guy would tip. His guess was 300 for the table, 100 from Mr. Moneybags (the maitre de said "well, I know you, so I guess two dollars...for the table".).
40 minutes later:
Sous Chef: "How much did he tip you?"
waiter: "Seven." (slams stack of dishes down)
Obviously, that's an inexcusable tip, and I'm sure this customer was a perfect asshole, but still I wanted to prepare a montage of his obnoxious behavior throughout the night, with the immortal song "Was It Worth It?" by The Pet Shop Boys over it.
Yes, I like the Pet Shop Boys. Bite me.
Next shift is friday night. We'll see how it goes.