college_cook
Head Chef
I've got a little problem at work, and I can't quite think my way through it, so I'm going to tell you folks about the situation, and you can just tell me what you think.
I really like the restaurant where I work. I think we do excellent food, the waitstaff is generally fun to be around, I generally get along well with the other cooks, and I've got an enormous amount of respect for the chef. Last night's service was a disaster though, and things sort of came to a head. Our dishwasher walked out on us yesterday before service, and that's so commonplace for us that it wasn't really an issue. It especially shouldn't have been an issue since last night was the first night we had the full kitchen crew working together since graduation weekend back in May. There was 6 of us total, plenty enough to work 4 stations, expedite, and for everyone to do a few dishes when they had time.
Unfortunately, the two of us not on the hot line ( it takes 2 to run the cold station on busy nights) basically decame the de facto dishwashers last night, in addition to running our own station. The night sort of went like this: make food for a stack of tickets as fast as we can, then run to the back and wash as many dishes as we can until we get our next rush of tickets. What gets me though, is that we never caught up on dishes the entire night until after we closed, because the other cooks on the hot line spent all of their free time leaning on their elbows or in the back smoking. I was so shocked that they had the nerve to watch us running back and forth all night while sitting on their butts smoking.
The hot line should know better than everyone how critical teamwork is in a kitchen, and they left me and the other guy out to dry. I don't think words can describe how angry I was last night. I've been at the restaurant a year now, and I'll be moving to the hot line literally any day now, but after last night's displays of egos and non-teamwork, I really feel like I don't want a part of it, and a part of me doesn't even want a part of that kitchen. This wasn't a 1 time incident, but a culmination of a growing trend lately.
The guy who was with me last night happened to mention that a buddy of his just became chef at a country club about a month ago, and has 2 line cook position open, paying $3.50 an hour better than what I make now. When I move to the hot line I'm supposed to get a raise, but it will probably be $2.00 an hour if I'm extremely lucky. After what happened last night, I was VERY interested in this new position, and really the only thing keeping me from calling the country club today is my respect for my current chef. He's a really great guy, and he's really taught me alot, but on the other hand, it's not like I couldn't use that $3.50 an hour pay raise I'd get at the new job. I'm really torn here. On the one hand, I feel a certain amount of loyalty to Chef and the restaurant, and on the other hand I'm wondering, "But don't I owe a certain amount of loyalty to myself?" And that part of me thinks I should just cut loose and go for the higher paying position.
I really like the restaurant where I work. I think we do excellent food, the waitstaff is generally fun to be around, I generally get along well with the other cooks, and I've got an enormous amount of respect for the chef. Last night's service was a disaster though, and things sort of came to a head. Our dishwasher walked out on us yesterday before service, and that's so commonplace for us that it wasn't really an issue. It especially shouldn't have been an issue since last night was the first night we had the full kitchen crew working together since graduation weekend back in May. There was 6 of us total, plenty enough to work 4 stations, expedite, and for everyone to do a few dishes when they had time.
Unfortunately, the two of us not on the hot line ( it takes 2 to run the cold station on busy nights) basically decame the de facto dishwashers last night, in addition to running our own station. The night sort of went like this: make food for a stack of tickets as fast as we can, then run to the back and wash as many dishes as we can until we get our next rush of tickets. What gets me though, is that we never caught up on dishes the entire night until after we closed, because the other cooks on the hot line spent all of their free time leaning on their elbows or in the back smoking. I was so shocked that they had the nerve to watch us running back and forth all night while sitting on their butts smoking.
The hot line should know better than everyone how critical teamwork is in a kitchen, and they left me and the other guy out to dry. I don't think words can describe how angry I was last night. I've been at the restaurant a year now, and I'll be moving to the hot line literally any day now, but after last night's displays of egos and non-teamwork, I really feel like I don't want a part of it, and a part of me doesn't even want a part of that kitchen. This wasn't a 1 time incident, but a culmination of a growing trend lately.
The guy who was with me last night happened to mention that a buddy of his just became chef at a country club about a month ago, and has 2 line cook position open, paying $3.50 an hour better than what I make now. When I move to the hot line I'm supposed to get a raise, but it will probably be $2.00 an hour if I'm extremely lucky. After what happened last night, I was VERY interested in this new position, and really the only thing keeping me from calling the country club today is my respect for my current chef. He's a really great guy, and he's really taught me alot, but on the other hand, it's not like I couldn't use that $3.50 an hour pay raise I'd get at the new job. I'm really torn here. On the one hand, I feel a certain amount of loyalty to Chef and the restaurant, and on the other hand I'm wondering, "But don't I owe a certain amount of loyalty to myself?" And that part of me thinks I should just cut loose and go for the higher paying position.