first day kitchen-wenching
...was yesterday, but I couldn't write up a post then because I couldn't really see straight after I got home (@__@);
So as a lead-in to Kitchen-Wenching Day the First, I picked up my employee manual on Wednesday afternoon, and it was NINE PAGES + 2-page notes on hygiene and etiquette. Entirely in Japanese.
Owing to the fact that I can speak it at home with my housemates, my J-go has not devolved very much in that I can still understand nearly 80% of what I hear and make, in not mind-bogglingly eloquent, at least polite and replies. However, I have become nigh on illiterate when it comes to kanji, excepting the basic 50-100 or so that never leave your brain. Not a whole lot of those basic ones have to do with the nitty-gritty of restaurants.
So I spent several hours painstakingly translating most of the nouns and verbs and a good smattering of the adjectives and adverbs too in the 2-pager...aaaaaand got housemate #2 to read the rest to me aloud when she got home. Listening took all of 10 minutes and I understood nearly all of it on the first run. Still, I'm really glad I actually took the time to make myself read and comprehend the cleanliness notes, because they were chock full of words I'd never needed to bother with in college and thus had never heard before, but that would probably be on the lips of my shift leaders and the uber-bosses.
Mostly owing to that crash-course refresher, I actually did not have any problems reading through one last sheet of guidelines, nor understanding the kitchenmates and super-badass-shift-leader whom I will be calling Nana O, because she bears an uncanny resemblance to Mika Nakashima. It's stupid and yes I'm secretly still 12 years old, but having her as a kitchen-boss makes me want to do well and learn quickly just so I can minimize the time I spend being a total derp in her presence (>.>);
Speaking of, I messed up the sizes on a few... maybe five... orders during the dinner rush. And kept losing track of ingredients that were either right in front of my face or on the counters behind me. But I am glad they tossed me straight into the line of fire on my first shift. Woulda been bummed if I was making base mixes or chopping veggies while the seasoned people were being useful all night. Plus, there will be a test on the house recipes after about two more weeks, and the only way I'll learn is by doing, effing-up, and doing better.
So I got through my first run of flaily-arming fails with little more than an eyestrain + low blood sugar headache and a rapidly increased uptake of J-go - tonight will go better. For one thing, I will know to eat well and eat lots immediately prior to starting a 6-hour evening shift, something I knew anyway but there were pubtimes with tomodachi's yesterday afternoon and I could neither abandon them nor say no to a cheese platter (note to self: next time say no to cheese platter. Those do NOT sit well after a few hours standing up in a steamy kitchen).
So as a lead-in to Kitchen-Wenching Day the First, I picked up my employee manual on Wednesday afternoon, and it was NINE PAGES + 2-page notes on hygiene and etiquette. Entirely in Japanese.
Owing to the fact that I can speak it at home with my housemates, my J-go has not devolved very much in that I can still understand nearly 80% of what I hear and make, in not mind-bogglingly eloquent, at least polite and replies. However, I have become nigh on illiterate when it comes to kanji, excepting the basic 50-100 or so that never leave your brain. Not a whole lot of those basic ones have to do with the nitty-gritty of restaurants.
So I spent several hours painstakingly translating most of the nouns and verbs and a good smattering of the adjectives and adverbs too in the 2-pager...aaaaaand got housemate #2 to read the rest to me aloud when she got home. Listening took all of 10 minutes and I understood nearly all of it on the first run. Still, I'm really glad I actually took the time to make myself read and comprehend the cleanliness notes, because they were chock full of words I'd never needed to bother with in college and thus had never heard before, but that would probably be on the lips of my shift leaders and the uber-bosses.
Mostly owing to that crash-course refresher, I actually did not have any problems reading through one last sheet of guidelines, nor understanding the kitchenmates and super-badass-shift-leader whom I will be calling Nana O, because she bears an uncanny resemblance to Mika Nakashima. It's stupid and yes I'm secretly still 12 years old, but having her as a kitchen-boss makes me want to do well and learn quickly just so I can minimize the time I spend being a total derp in her presence (>.>);
Speaking of, I messed up the sizes on a few... maybe five... orders during the dinner rush. And kept losing track of ingredients that were either right in front of my face or on the counters behind me. But I am glad they tossed me straight into the line of fire on my first shift. Woulda been bummed if I was making base mixes or chopping veggies while the seasoned people were being useful all night. Plus, there will be a test on the house recipes after about two more weeks, and the only way I'll learn is by doing, effing-up, and doing better.
So I got through my first run of flaily-arming fails with little more than an eyestrain + low blood sugar headache and a rapidly increased uptake of J-go - tonight will go better. For one thing, I will know to eat well and eat lots immediately prior to starting a 6-hour evening shift, something I knew anyway but there were pubtimes with tomodachi's yesterday afternoon and I could neither abandon them nor say no to a cheese platter (note to self: next time say no to cheese platter. Those do NOT sit well after a few hours standing up in a steamy kitchen).