While this may sounds like a weather report, it is not, and Chicago often has snow in Spring. What I am referring to is the storm of change and work tied into our programming during the Spring sessions. The last month or more has been fantastically busy and rewarding. My last session ended near the end of May and due to all the extra work needed, it became difficult to make all of the appointments.
Scholarship competitions, fundraisers, meetings, professional development, interviews for Summer term, planning, syllabus modification, more meetings, doctor appointments, medical issues, orchestra and band concerts, field trips, and the closing of my own kids schooling for the year. Phew.
Now things can slow down a bit and leave me to do some catching up. The first thing on my list was to catch up on some missed sleep. Recharging is essential. These last weeks proved to be telling me that I am a bit more fragile than I'd like to admit.
Some hard work comes with the satisfaction of knowing that you didn't let it beat you in the end. Some hard work comes with little visible evidence of success. And some hard work doesn't pay off right away, they are the long-term gains that manifest over lots of years. I have been asked if I thought that teaching culinary at this level was harder than working in the industry, quick and without hesitation, my answer was yes.
There isn't a single parent that hasn't questioned their skill based upon the child's advancement or success despite the fact that a lot of things that happen along a child's life, especially in teenage years that may have nothing to do with parental input. Years and years later, most of the successful adults, will say that their parental influence was positive and necessary, even when the adult may have dropped out of school or had a teenage pregnancy, or any other negative impact on life that we can all agree makes life much harder to be successful.
I count it all profitable to gain even the smallest shift in a students opinion, taste, or concept of the world at large. I dance when a kid goes from "that's nasty" to "wow, I like that". The work can take a long time, can be hard to do, requires that I trust my kids in class and that they trust me. I have to position myself somewhere between a parental role, a type of friendship, a teacher, and a wise elder in order to do what I do successfully. This work is also about how the student sees themselves and their future.
I have always began each term with asking the kids to write about their life goals. Those kids who have been in my class in multiple times, have had the answers on the page turn from "I don't know" to "I'd like to become _____". I have heard, and witnessed, kids begin to take small steps to change what they eat, how they project themselves, how they see themselves, how they expect certain reactions from me and how we interact. To have a student start off with no idea who they want to be and have no care about what they eat, change towards a new image and shoot for much higher goals, it is all worth the effort.
I have set a personal goal with this blog and related podcast, having a regular scheduled time table, so when I have to miss days, I get a bit hard on myself, but I am working on letting go of negative self-talk.
Spring is all about new growth and return of better weather, a renewal. Rebirth. Imagine, as we all post pictures about graduations, proms, and Spring weddings, that we are all just Spring flowers nestled under the cold blankets of winter, just aching for Spring rains to melt off our heaviness and allow us to bloom.
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Showing posts with label working. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Elevator Pitch
If you have any type of career training in the last 20 years or so, you have probably heard about the 'elevator pitch', a short synopsis that gives the listener a clean, precise, understanding of who you are and what you desire to achieve. Two years ago, I turned a short bus ride into a shift in my career path.
The story goes, I had a free convention pass to the National Restaurant Association show at McCormick place. Parking is always hard to find and frequently expensive, I took public transportation. I entered the bus, and sitting a couple of rows back from the driver, was a guy in his chef coat that looked familiar. It took me a few to put it all together but I realized that this chef and I had been connected via social media for a couple of years. Chef Blackmon is a very talented person who is in charge of culinary arts training for Chicago Public Schools. I am limiting his role to just this aspect of what he does for teenagers all over the city of Chicago, Illinois.
As we spoke about our industry, I expressed my desire to begin teaching and had found the school applications online were almost completely geared to academic educators, making it difficult for someone like myself to successfully apply. The story goes, there are often openings for skilled instructors, and I put myself up for nomination and swift as I could emailed my resume. Almost two months later, I got a call about my resume, Chef Blackmon had forwarded my information on to another program in need of instructors. Even without having an opening with CPS, I was afforded the opportunity to interview for another position.
Sometimes you wait in a hallway wondering which door will open for you, other times you wait in waiting rooms seeking the door to get out into a hallway, a path towards new goals. You never know what connection you will make that can propel you into new spheres. Always be closing because when you are not, there is a risk of missing your change to jump in the deep end. No more kiddie pool for me.
Some people are put off by this ideal as they may not be comfortable talking about themselves. I am not quick to do so either, I don't have much of an ego, but I have learned to give out pieces of my career as validation of my skills and ability. Sometimes that's all you really need to do prior to sending off your resume, or even at the interview. For the food business, a portfolio can do tons of bragging for you, not having to speak a word, it is always helpful to have pictures of your work, easily available online for customers and potential employers to review. This invaluable tool can speak for you, even when there isn't a new opportunity readily available, and having this presence can really come to arms for you.
Our industry runs on sensory perceptions, sights, sounds, smells, and taste all come together to judge your work. While I know you can't duplicate, or represent, all the aspects of food we love without being there in the moment, but pics can be a valuable representation of what is possible. Once you have peeked someone's interest then you can duplicate the experiences.
Always be prepared because not all opportunities come neatly packaged with a bow on top, or are scheduled on a calendar. Be ready, be a pinch polished, learn to speak to your skills instead of heaping on details about yourself to fed your ego.
The story goes, I had a free convention pass to the National Restaurant Association show at McCormick place. Parking is always hard to find and frequently expensive, I took public transportation. I entered the bus, and sitting a couple of rows back from the driver, was a guy in his chef coat that looked familiar. It took me a few to put it all together but I realized that this chef and I had been connected via social media for a couple of years. Chef Blackmon is a very talented person who is in charge of culinary arts training for Chicago Public Schools. I am limiting his role to just this aspect of what he does for teenagers all over the city of Chicago, Illinois.
As we spoke about our industry, I expressed my desire to begin teaching and had found the school applications online were almost completely geared to academic educators, making it difficult for someone like myself to successfully apply. The story goes, there are often openings for skilled instructors, and I put myself up for nomination and swift as I could emailed my resume. Almost two months later, I got a call about my resume, Chef Blackmon had forwarded my information on to another program in need of instructors. Even without having an opening with CPS, I was afforded the opportunity to interview for another position.
Sometimes you wait in a hallway wondering which door will open for you, other times you wait in waiting rooms seeking the door to get out into a hallway, a path towards new goals. You never know what connection you will make that can propel you into new spheres. Always be closing because when you are not, there is a risk of missing your change to jump in the deep end. No more kiddie pool for me.
Some people are put off by this ideal as they may not be comfortable talking about themselves. I am not quick to do so either, I don't have much of an ego, but I have learned to give out pieces of my career as validation of my skills and ability. Sometimes that's all you really need to do prior to sending off your resume, or even at the interview. For the food business, a portfolio can do tons of bragging for you, not having to speak a word, it is always helpful to have pictures of your work, easily available online for customers and potential employers to review. This invaluable tool can speak for you, even when there isn't a new opportunity readily available, and having this presence can really come to arms for you.
Our industry runs on sensory perceptions, sights, sounds, smells, and taste all come together to judge your work. While I know you can't duplicate, or represent, all the aspects of food we love without being there in the moment, but pics can be a valuable representation of what is possible. Once you have peeked someone's interest then you can duplicate the experiences.
Always be prepared because not all opportunities come neatly packaged with a bow on top, or are scheduled on a calendar. Be ready, be a pinch polished, learn to speak to your skills instead of heaping on details about yourself to fed your ego.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone: Part #1
I was born into two families, as we all are, my elders had long work records that highlighted a dedication to a blue collar workforce and style of life. Therefore, I was taught the ladder to success was in working for a company or the government for 40 plus years, put your kids in school, get the gold watch, and retire in peacefully.
Entrepreneurship wasn't what they understood or felt that it also could lead to success. Elders with that type of mindset cannot teach a child that starting their own business is a good thing. Most think it is too risky to attempt. They see that a stead job with benefits is the way up the ladder and business ownership is a ladder with missing rungs.
It takes a different mind to attempt such risk and you have to be somewhat fearless do to it. Business is always risky, no matter where you stand with the company, owner or employee. The same company that pays you from payroll is taking a risk that the company will survive and taking you with them. It is just as easy to get laid off or fired from a company than it is to own a business and make it successful. So why don't you take a hold of the course your ship is headed?
With high risk comes high rewards, taking no risk leaves you with very little rewards and tied to other's fates. While you are working hard for another person or company, you are making them rich and taking a small percentage of the benefits. As an employee your labor belongs to another. Lots of people have used the innovation that employee #37 created while working for a company. Work in that mode is the "work product" of the company. If you invent the next big time comic book character, for example, while working for Marvel or D.C. the company owns it, not the one who created it. You have traded your rights to the innovation you created for a paycheck and nothing more than that. No royalties, no copyrights, nothing but a small check.
When you are working for yourself, it isn't easy, you must be knowledgeable, skilled, and dedicated to the company. But isn't that the same expectation that your boss has for you everyday? Owning a company means that it's your reputation on the line. You have to rely on your staff, manage your budgets, inventory, and everything else.
It takes much more than the efforts of one person to run a successful food business, it can take a whole village. Good chefs know their weaknesses and hire experts to lend a hand at those things they are not adapt with handling. Tons of people, every year, decide to try their hand at running a food outlet. They take their savings or take out a loan and jump into the deep end of food operations with little experience and training. The failure rate of independent food operations is very high, and opening can be very risky even when you have the skill and training needed. http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/03/infographic-failed-small-businesses.html
Business is much like the food chain, the big fish can swallow the little fish whole. Who is your big fish? Are you at the top of the food chain, swimming, and making decisions, or are you following the school of fish that you help to create? Have you researched the demographics of the area? Do you know what your customers want or are you selling what you like? Can you differentiate your business from all the others? Have you acquired the needed capitol, equipment, staff, and décor that drives customers to you or away from you?
There are so much to discuss on this topic that I am splitting it up over a few posts for ease of reading....
Entrepreneurship wasn't what they understood or felt that it also could lead to success. Elders with that type of mindset cannot teach a child that starting their own business is a good thing. Most think it is too risky to attempt. They see that a stead job with benefits is the way up the ladder and business ownership is a ladder with missing rungs.
It takes a different mind to attempt such risk and you have to be somewhat fearless do to it. Business is always risky, no matter where you stand with the company, owner or employee. The same company that pays you from payroll is taking a risk that the company will survive and taking you with them. It is just as easy to get laid off or fired from a company than it is to own a business and make it successful. So why don't you take a hold of the course your ship is headed?
With high risk comes high rewards, taking no risk leaves you with very little rewards and tied to other's fates. While you are working hard for another person or company, you are making them rich and taking a small percentage of the benefits. As an employee your labor belongs to another. Lots of people have used the innovation that employee #37 created while working for a company. Work in that mode is the "work product" of the company. If you invent the next big time comic book character, for example, while working for Marvel or D.C. the company owns it, not the one who created it. You have traded your rights to the innovation you created for a paycheck and nothing more than that. No royalties, no copyrights, nothing but a small check.
When you are working for yourself, it isn't easy, you must be knowledgeable, skilled, and dedicated to the company. But isn't that the same expectation that your boss has for you everyday? Owning a company means that it's your reputation on the line. You have to rely on your staff, manage your budgets, inventory, and everything else.
It takes much more than the efforts of one person to run a successful food business, it can take a whole village. Good chefs know their weaknesses and hire experts to lend a hand at those things they are not adapt with handling. Tons of people, every year, decide to try their hand at running a food outlet. They take their savings or take out a loan and jump into the deep end of food operations with little experience and training. The failure rate of independent food operations is very high, and opening can be very risky even when you have the skill and training needed. http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/03/infographic-failed-small-businesses.html
Business is much like the food chain, the big fish can swallow the little fish whole. Who is your big fish? Are you at the top of the food chain, swimming, and making decisions, or are you following the school of fish that you help to create? Have you researched the demographics of the area? Do you know what your customers want or are you selling what you like? Can you differentiate your business from all the others? Have you acquired the needed capitol, equipment, staff, and décor that drives customers to you or away from you?
There are so much to discuss on this topic that I am splitting it up over a few posts for ease of reading....
Monday, March 28, 2016
Quitting your boss
You may already know that 75% of workers who quit their jobs, voluntarily, said they decided to do so because of having a bad boss. Unfortunately, many of us are familiar with this bad trend. In food service, this still applies, as many of us don't walk in to the industry as seasoned chefs, food and beverage directors, management, and the like, a lot of us working in my industry have studied in other professions, worked unrelated positions, and came to us with some knowledge of order or management, but not of the style needed for my industry. We are all works-in-progress, but the learning curve is a lot steeper for those who have not been trained to our industry verses the ones that have had training.
No matter the industry, or company, you can find yourself working for a bad boss. I never wanted to be one of the bad bosses who, either feel that the title means that you can push your weight around, bugging everyone and ruling with an iron fist, or a boss who knew nothing about the work or workers they were in charge of managing. I have always wanted to own a company and therefore I took opportunities to learn different positions instead of just working as a chef in the back of the house.
I have worked for people in lots of different situations and not all of them were good or made any sense. I have been required to answer manager's requests from people who had very little knowledge of what I do or how long things take. This is critical, that you as a boss, or as a employee under a boss, work with a knowledge base as requests can be irrational or impossible to create. If you ask me for more cinnamon rolls be baked for the sales table, you need to know that it can not be done in less than an hour, for example.
The worst bosses that you can encounter are those who are promoted or became owners without understanding who and what management is all about. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing which are yours will create the best environment possible. Too often people who are good cooks think that they can spend some money and open a food outlet and be successful. Food business is, without a doubt, a business first and foremost, but then you add food production, receiving, P&L, ROI, labor costs, personnel, shrinkage, edible portions versus actual portions, food safety, sanitation, injuries, liability, talent recruitment, menu and recipe development, marketing, cost controls, alcohol licenses, storage, payroll, and insurances. Many business do not have nearly as many perishable products nor the amount of personnel needed to run a successful operation in food.
I once met a bakery owner that left the confines of being a pastry chef in order to step into the ownership role. She is a horrible boss because she isn't good with customers or management of staff. The company did, of course, need a front of the house manager but she was not a good person to do this. I suspect that she has control issues and doesn't want a manager, someone that she could have hired with a good track record and a mind for innovation, but instead stopped doing the thing that she was excellent at in order to exhort control of the whole company. Too many people make this type of mistake when forming their businesses. She took her best cake designer, herself, out of the kitchen and made herself the management face without expertise in the customer service and/or management areas. In other words, if she was working for another organization as an employee, it is my opinion that, she would never have been promoted up the ladder to a management position due to her lack of expertise and poor disposition, but since she is the owner, few people can tell her what she should do to run her business efficiently.
I wish not to make mistakes like that, mainly because I fully understand what it feels like to be in that position, attempting to work underneath a bad boss. I know quite a bit about both the back of the house and front of the house. If I get blessed to own my own outlet, I will make the hard decisions needed to run the business smoothly instead of the choice to make myself some type of local celebrity. The front of the house and back of the house must depend upon each other for proper functioning but the work done between the two is vastly different skill types.
No matter the industry or line of work, a good boss is vital. What a lot of people do not understand about leadership is that it is not about being a bully, being in total control of operations, or not having anyone to answer to about your decisions, in fact a good leader must be cool and level headed knowing that the leader has more 'bosses' than they did as just a worker. A leader must respond to the demands of upper management, customers, AND the employees. A bad boss is one who doesn't take the needs of employees into consideration and feels autonomous to make unilateral decisions that effect everyone one involved without any giving anyone needs into account.
Check your ego at the door, and get to work. The culinary world isn't at all easy to be successful at what we do and no amount of kissing up will keep you employed when your work doesn't live up to expectations.
No matter the industry, or company, you can find yourself working for a bad boss. I never wanted to be one of the bad bosses who, either feel that the title means that you can push your weight around, bugging everyone and ruling with an iron fist, or a boss who knew nothing about the work or workers they were in charge of managing. I have always wanted to own a company and therefore I took opportunities to learn different positions instead of just working as a chef in the back of the house.
I have worked for people in lots of different situations and not all of them were good or made any sense. I have been required to answer manager's requests from people who had very little knowledge of what I do or how long things take. This is critical, that you as a boss, or as a employee under a boss, work with a knowledge base as requests can be irrational or impossible to create. If you ask me for more cinnamon rolls be baked for the sales table, you need to know that it can not be done in less than an hour, for example.
The worst bosses that you can encounter are those who are promoted or became owners without understanding who and what management is all about. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing which are yours will create the best environment possible. Too often people who are good cooks think that they can spend some money and open a food outlet and be successful. Food business is, without a doubt, a business first and foremost, but then you add food production, receiving, P&L, ROI, labor costs, personnel, shrinkage, edible portions versus actual portions, food safety, sanitation, injuries, liability, talent recruitment, menu and recipe development, marketing, cost controls, alcohol licenses, storage, payroll, and insurances. Many business do not have nearly as many perishable products nor the amount of personnel needed to run a successful operation in food.
I once met a bakery owner that left the confines of being a pastry chef in order to step into the ownership role. She is a horrible boss because she isn't good with customers or management of staff. The company did, of course, need a front of the house manager but she was not a good person to do this. I suspect that she has control issues and doesn't want a manager, someone that she could have hired with a good track record and a mind for innovation, but instead stopped doing the thing that she was excellent at in order to exhort control of the whole company. Too many people make this type of mistake when forming their businesses. She took her best cake designer, herself, out of the kitchen and made herself the management face without expertise in the customer service and/or management areas. In other words, if she was working for another organization as an employee, it is my opinion that, she would never have been promoted up the ladder to a management position due to her lack of expertise and poor disposition, but since she is the owner, few people can tell her what she should do to run her business efficiently.
I wish not to make mistakes like that, mainly because I fully understand what it feels like to be in that position, attempting to work underneath a bad boss. I know quite a bit about both the back of the house and front of the house. If I get blessed to own my own outlet, I will make the hard decisions needed to run the business smoothly instead of the choice to make myself some type of local celebrity. The front of the house and back of the house must depend upon each other for proper functioning but the work done between the two is vastly different skill types.
No matter the industry or line of work, a good boss is vital. What a lot of people do not understand about leadership is that it is not about being a bully, being in total control of operations, or not having anyone to answer to about your decisions, in fact a good leader must be cool and level headed knowing that the leader has more 'bosses' than they did as just a worker. A leader must respond to the demands of upper management, customers, AND the employees. A bad boss is one who doesn't take the needs of employees into consideration and feels autonomous to make unilateral decisions that effect everyone one involved without any giving anyone needs into account.
Check your ego at the door, and get to work. The culinary world isn't at all easy to be successful at what we do and no amount of kissing up will keep you employed when your work doesn't live up to expectations.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Argh.... what a weekend!
I make no excuses as to why I have slipped off of my daily post routine and I will get back on schedule very soon. Writing this regularly is not a habit of mine, I have tried time and again, but never really succeeded.
My fibromyalgia and my work schedule nearly put me back in the emergency room. It seems that when I attempt to feel better AND get some work done, like I once could, I end up in a flair up. In my case, the piece of me that is most effected is my digestion system. I avoid gluten, which helps a lot, and I try to always have a snack handy when I am away from home, but not all plans work to my good.
I am discovering what is referred as "fribro fog" where the memory is effected either by the condition or by the medications taken to treat the condition, which includes opiates. I made a mistake that I never ever do, I forgot to write down a client's order. Luckily, everything worked out but it isn't like me to handle things this way.
I, once again, am experiencing sleepless nights battling my aches and pains. Having gaps in memory isn't good at all. It's hard to keep your word, when you can't remember what was discussed.
In the realm of my teaching career, last week went very well. We had a successful site visitation, the high school kids did very well on their Cajun meal of blackened catfish, dirty rice, king cake and banana foster.
There was no podcast scheduled for this weekend and despite wanting to put one together, I did not push for someone to interview. I though about just posting solo but resting seems to be the order of today. Strength, courage, and wisdom. New levels to be yet achieved.
My fibromyalgia and my work schedule nearly put me back in the emergency room. It seems that when I attempt to feel better AND get some work done, like I once could, I end up in a flair up. In my case, the piece of me that is most effected is my digestion system. I avoid gluten, which helps a lot, and I try to always have a snack handy when I am away from home, but not all plans work to my good.
I am discovering what is referred as "fribro fog" where the memory is effected either by the condition or by the medications taken to treat the condition, which includes opiates. I made a mistake that I never ever do, I forgot to write down a client's order. Luckily, everything worked out but it isn't like me to handle things this way.
I, once again, am experiencing sleepless nights battling my aches and pains. Having gaps in memory isn't good at all. It's hard to keep your word, when you can't remember what was discussed.
In the realm of my teaching career, last week went very well. We had a successful site visitation, the high school kids did very well on their Cajun meal of blackened catfish, dirty rice, king cake and banana foster.
There was no podcast scheduled for this weekend and despite wanting to put one together, I did not push for someone to interview. I though about just posting solo but resting seems to be the order of today. Strength, courage, and wisdom. New levels to be yet achieved.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Culinary and Mathematics
In my travels, I have learned a lot of different things. One of the hurdles that my students struggle with is mathematics in the kitchen. There are others equally difficult and important that I will confront later.
Kitchen math is relatively simple but it is painfully obvious that there are deficits when training young folks. It's the fractions that trip them up. It's frustrating to them and to me that they are in high school and stumble over this stuff. My 6th - 8th grade group are better at it than my older kids and I believe that the quality of their education is a bit better.
Multiplying and dividing fractions, and dealing with 3 tsp equal 1 Tbsp, the rules of non-metric calculations are able to confuse the best of us. I hit them consistently with kitchen math, both on paper and in practical usage. I am disappointed that the movement to change to the metric system has been extremely slow. Metric system is much simpler to calculate as the entire system is base 10.
With metric system calculations, a quick glance is typically all you need to do in order to scale a recipe, however, America has been very resistant to a change over. Many of our citizens that use the metric system know how to use it because of our drug culture. Believe it or not, grams and kilos are predominate measurement in drug trafficking but when cooking you have to deal with 1/3, 2/3, 128 oz equal 1 gallon, and 16 oz or 2 cups equal 1 pint.
I have been an advocate for conversion to the metric system since high school chemistry class, a thousand years ago, because of its simplicity. Unfortunately, we have not converted and all of cookbooks use the old system so we cannot get accustom to use of metric. We buy 2 liters of soda pop but not 100 grams of sugar, for example.
Our system is the one we inherited from the British Empire where 1 foot was the measurement based upon the length of the King's foot. Americans do not use the weight measurement of stones but rather pounds. Horses are still measured in hands tall and we do still use peck, bushels, yards, and acres. All are old British royal family measurements. I could understand the use of this system when there wasn't an alternative, but metric is far superior and simplistic, so why not adopt the better system?
Kitchen math is relatively simple but it is painfully obvious that there are deficits when training young folks. It's the fractions that trip them up. It's frustrating to them and to me that they are in high school and stumble over this stuff. My 6th - 8th grade group are better at it than my older kids and I believe that the quality of their education is a bit better.
With metric system calculations, a quick glance is typically all you need to do in order to scale a recipe, however, America has been very resistant to a change over. Many of our citizens that use the metric system know how to use it because of our drug culture. Believe it or not, grams and kilos are predominate measurement in drug trafficking but when cooking you have to deal with 1/3, 2/3, 128 oz equal 1 gallon, and 16 oz or 2 cups equal 1 pint.
I have been an advocate for conversion to the metric system since high school chemistry class, a thousand years ago, because of its simplicity. Unfortunately, we have not converted and all of cookbooks use the old system so we cannot get accustom to use of metric. We buy 2 liters of soda pop but not 100 grams of sugar, for example.
Our system is the one we inherited from the British Empire where 1 foot was the measurement based upon the length of the King's foot. Americans do not use the weight measurement of stones but rather pounds. Horses are still measured in hands tall and we do still use peck, bushels, yards, and acres. All are old British royal family measurements. I could understand the use of this system when there wasn't an alternative, but metric is far superior and simplistic, so why not adopt the better system?
Friday, March 4, 2016
How I got my life back....
When I began working in the industry I was 18 years old, in the age of dinosaurs, and I committed to working hard, working long hours, and never turning down an opportunity to learn. I was successful in my pursuits as the hospitality work is never ending.
I was lucky that one day one of my professors at Roosevelt University took me by the hand to the Palmer House Hotel where he was the Food and Beverage Director. He set a meeting for me to get introduced to how that organization operated and I was quickly hired by the Exec. Chef. I was placed in the party department and began to expand my craft. I failed to realize the good fortune in its fullness, at the time, as that department allowed all the team members to work a steady shift 90% of the time. We were on the 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. shift. Employees could use the hotel gym that included a sauna. There was an employee cafeteria where we could eat for free.
With the goal in mind, to never turn down an opportunity to learn, I soon found myself also working as cocktail waitress, a couple nights a week, in the hotel bar. This gave me some very nice additional income and taught me more about good customer service. When I would work a shift in the bar, I would get off work at 4:30, grab some food, maybe even hit the gym, and then change from one uniform to another, starting a shift starting about 7 p.m., and work until the bar was dead quite or ready to close at 3 a.m. Afterwards, I would take a cab home, nap, and come back to work at 8 a.m.
This hamster wheel kept on turning for about a year and a half. I enjoyed it. I like talking with customers, I especially liked the extra cash, and I was single and living alone with my cat, so I didn't need a good work/life balance. I needed the money and I was, and probably still is, a adrenaline junkie. I was young and able bodied so the industry opened up for me and gave me as much as I thought I could handle.
With age comes wisdom, and aches and pains. I got married at 27 years old and was immediately pregnant with my eldest daughter. At that time, I was working in the social service arena, and that job was rewarding and wonderful, as I could adjust my schedule for the needs of the pregnancy. I had PTO hours and a standard 40 week, so I often worked 10 hour days so that I could have a 3 day weekend often, giving me some needed downtime. The pregnancy changed a lot of my career habits. Being a parent made me make different choices about how, when, and where I worked. I love being a chef but the 80 hour work weeks were too difficult to maintain while parenting small children. I wanted to parent them myself, we didn't have the aid of extended family members, as some do, for childcare. I was the mommy and the wife. I wanted to be these things so I had to make changes in the way I worked to do it.
I think it is sad that I had to find alternative places to work ,and use my skills, so that I could take care of my life and those people in it. So I worked for a homeless shelter, then a church organization, then as a grocery store bakery department manager, a teaching and demonstration chef, a pastry cook at a university, and lake dinner cruise company, all so I could have an adequate family life, and even so I was sacrificing more than mothers that had a standard work week. My career as a chef was diminished, slowed down, and almost derailed. I lost my connections, I had to use differing skills because working in a production kitchen requires too much time and physical endurance. If I hadn't make the choices that I did, I would have kids that I hardly ever spent time with when they needed me the most.
Some male chefs do not put their careers on the back burner like I did, and some would say it is easier for the guys to do this than us ladies. I have never been a guy but it does seem likely. Chefs do often get divorced and are all work and all play. The habit of chefs to unwind after a huge long day is to go to a bar and unwind. There is usually a spot where the whole crew goes and shut down the bar. Heavy drinking, smoking, and some drug abuse are all present in this lifestyle. In order to handle the stress and chaos, in order to keep going for 18 hours or more, in order to get up and do it all again the next day, in order to handle the chauvinism, the racism, the misogyny, the demanding customers, and all the big egos, many of us turn to chemical assistance to get them through it all. Some who do this can find it ruling them instead of them controlling their life.
I love my career, I love what I do, I love serving my customers, and I love teaching these skills to others. Now that I am a lot older, as my eldest is now in college, and my health is a super bumpy road, I once again found a need to move away from the love of my life, a professional commercial kitchen. When I began I wanted a great big career, and company ownership, but also wanting a family meant something had to be sacrificed because the industry didn't have the ability for me to do both.
The chef life is as complex as some of the finest meals and most people have never seen what is happening on the other side of the kitchen doors. I have had relatives shame me that I couldn't attend this or that event because I was working. I have been accused of lying about my need for their help because there is no way that I needed to work a 18 hour shift. I have had the argument with an upset child about the recital I missed because I didn't get off work until 8 p.m. I now teach kids after school and therefore I don't finish up until 7 p.m.
Think about this: whenever you want to party, whenever you want to eat, whenever you need to celebrate, that's when chefs need to work. We work weekends, holidays, late days and early mornings. We are not the bank teller type of folks and working an 8 hour shift leaves us feeling like we are forgetting to do something more. Work/life balance in our world is a quick way to stunt your career unless you do something other than production work.
I am not the only writer talking about this subject, check out this article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2016/02/29/why-working-restaurant-industry-can-hard-your-mental-health/NaqWdSHvKJtZQCoberbLjP/story.html
I was lucky that one day one of my professors at Roosevelt University took me by the hand to the Palmer House Hotel where he was the Food and Beverage Director. He set a meeting for me to get introduced to how that organization operated and I was quickly hired by the Exec. Chef. I was placed in the party department and began to expand my craft. I failed to realize the good fortune in its fullness, at the time, as that department allowed all the team members to work a steady shift 90% of the time. We were on the 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. shift. Employees could use the hotel gym that included a sauna. There was an employee cafeteria where we could eat for free.
With the goal in mind, to never turn down an opportunity to learn, I soon found myself also working as cocktail waitress, a couple nights a week, in the hotel bar. This gave me some very nice additional income and taught me more about good customer service. When I would work a shift in the bar, I would get off work at 4:30, grab some food, maybe even hit the gym, and then change from one uniform to another, starting a shift starting about 7 p.m., and work until the bar was dead quite or ready to close at 3 a.m. Afterwards, I would take a cab home, nap, and come back to work at 8 a.m.
This hamster wheel kept on turning for about a year and a half. I enjoyed it. I like talking with customers, I especially liked the extra cash, and I was single and living alone with my cat, so I didn't need a good work/life balance. I needed the money and I was, and probably still is, a adrenaline junkie. I was young and able bodied so the industry opened up for me and gave me as much as I thought I could handle.
With age comes wisdom, and aches and pains. I got married at 27 years old and was immediately pregnant with my eldest daughter. At that time, I was working in the social service arena, and that job was rewarding and wonderful, as I could adjust my schedule for the needs of the pregnancy. I had PTO hours and a standard 40 week, so I often worked 10 hour days so that I could have a 3 day weekend often, giving me some needed downtime. The pregnancy changed a lot of my career habits. Being a parent made me make different choices about how, when, and where I worked. I love being a chef but the 80 hour work weeks were too difficult to maintain while parenting small children. I wanted to parent them myself, we didn't have the aid of extended family members, as some do, for childcare. I was the mommy and the wife. I wanted to be these things so I had to make changes in the way I worked to do it.
I think it is sad that I had to find alternative places to work ,and use my skills, so that I could take care of my life and those people in it. So I worked for a homeless shelter, then a church organization, then as a grocery store bakery department manager, a teaching and demonstration chef, a pastry cook at a university, and lake dinner cruise company, all so I could have an adequate family life, and even so I was sacrificing more than mothers that had a standard work week. My career as a chef was diminished, slowed down, and almost derailed. I lost my connections, I had to use differing skills because working in a production kitchen requires too much time and physical endurance. If I hadn't make the choices that I did, I would have kids that I hardly ever spent time with when they needed me the most.
Some male chefs do not put their careers on the back burner like I did, and some would say it is easier for the guys to do this than us ladies. I have never been a guy but it does seem likely. Chefs do often get divorced and are all work and all play. The habit of chefs to unwind after a huge long day is to go to a bar and unwind. There is usually a spot where the whole crew goes and shut down the bar. Heavy drinking, smoking, and some drug abuse are all present in this lifestyle. In order to handle the stress and chaos, in order to keep going for 18 hours or more, in order to get up and do it all again the next day, in order to handle the chauvinism, the racism, the misogyny, the demanding customers, and all the big egos, many of us turn to chemical assistance to get them through it all. Some who do this can find it ruling them instead of them controlling their life.
I love my career, I love what I do, I love serving my customers, and I love teaching these skills to others. Now that I am a lot older, as my eldest is now in college, and my health is a super bumpy road, I once again found a need to move away from the love of my life, a professional commercial kitchen. When I began I wanted a great big career, and company ownership, but also wanting a family meant something had to be sacrificed because the industry didn't have the ability for me to do both.
The chef life is as complex as some of the finest meals and most people have never seen what is happening on the other side of the kitchen doors. I have had relatives shame me that I couldn't attend this or that event because I was working. I have been accused of lying about my need for their help because there is no way that I needed to work a 18 hour shift. I have had the argument with an upset child about the recital I missed because I didn't get off work until 8 p.m. I now teach kids after school and therefore I don't finish up until 7 p.m.
Think about this: whenever you want to party, whenever you want to eat, whenever you need to celebrate, that's when chefs need to work. We work weekends, holidays, late days and early mornings. We are not the bank teller type of folks and working an 8 hour shift leaves us feeling like we are forgetting to do something more. Work/life balance in our world is a quick way to stunt your career unless you do something other than production work.
I am not the only writer talking about this subject, check out this article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2016/02/29/why-working-restaurant-industry-can-hard-your-mental-health/NaqWdSHvKJtZQCoberbLjP/story.html
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Knowing your worth.
This industry, like almost any other, has not only food and food production, it has every other aspect of business activities. Every office involves sales, human resources, OSHA, inventory, purchasing, hiring and firing, communications, profit and loss, accounting, and many more.... and so does every food business except we produce food as well.
Being a chef is like being a chemist and a artist at the same time. We apply cooking skills i.e. applied chemistry to food products and then make them artistic. All the personnel issues that comes with dealing with a staff happens everyday in a kitchen. You are in the trenches with the same people day in and day out relying upon them to bail you out and you to do the same in return. And that is long before you even open the doors to invite in clients.
So, how do you know what your work is worth? How do you judge if the company is paying you fairly or not, or even if you are paying yourself enough when you are in charge of the budgets? With the new age of information and immediate access, it is a good idea to go ahead and do some research into pay scales, after all, it can be done from the smart phone in your pocket.
There are lots of websites that have calculators online that you can use to assess your marketability. www.payscale.com is one of these sites that ask you about your demographics, region of work, education, and skill sets, to determine what is an average salary for the job you either are seeking or already have. If you are seeking a new job, this can be used to determine if the company in question is adequately compensating its employees or you can check to see if it is time to request a raise from your current employer. When asking for an increase, this information can be invaluable as you can confidently give evidence as to why you feel that a raise is needed.
Every town and city is different. As I have been working in Chicago these last 20 plus years, I can tell you that the cost of living here is quite high compared to other markets and therefore you can ask for a higher wage than average because the cost of housing and food here is higher. A company cannot keep good staff if they cannot afford to live in the area as they will move away to more affordable regions to keep from risking homelessness or cut off utilities. It's simple mathematics.
Once you have entered the information and gotten a salary rage and a average salary for comparable work in your region, you must honestly ask yourself if you have adequately proven yourself in the position, or in the case of seeking new employment, have you had a strong track record to successful work history. If you are armed with this knowledge but haven't put in the extra work to get at the top of your pay scale, then you aren't likely to be able to leverage it into an increase or a new position paying top dollar.
Every one's experience comes at a price both for you to gain it and for your employer to use that knowledge by hiring you. The total of all you have done, have been trained to do, and the length of time you have been doing your job all comes into play when assessing the fairness of your compensation. Be honest with yourself and others when discussing this topic. Knowing your worth and what the next organization can and are willing to play, can make all the difference in your favor.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Have Skills Will Travel
I have noticed, over the many years I have toiled in the food service industry, that some workers have either a larger than average ego or not enough. This phenomenon displays itself perfectly when there is a need to renew contracts or when there is a union vote pending.
There was a time in which I worked for a large grocery store chain as a bakery department manager. There came a time when contracts were nearing the end and negotiating began. Of course, this period of time was stressful of all concerned as it was literally was going to direct both the company and it's employees economic future. As things progressed, talk had an increasingly nervous tone. When talking to co-workers a negative sentiment was repeated with some members that was in direct opposition to my feelings about the matter. I don't expect the world to agree with me always, however it took some review for me to understand their point.
I have always said that my skills and knowledge travel with me and rather than bow to the demands of the corporate overlord I am committed to being justly compensated for leasing my time, skills, and knowledge. A few of my co-workers at that time, and a few others mimic the sentiment, were literally scared witless that the negotiations would result in them being jobless if they didn't cave into the demands of management. I am not afraid to value my time and put a price on it taking into account my costs of living, my three kids, the average wage for my work in the marketplace, and my education. All of these things can be valued and the fair exchange of my time for a wage is important. I have had offers from companies that were well below my average asking wage, and while it did make me a bit nervous to say no and wait for the next offer hoping that it would come quickly enough to not put my economy in jeopardy, I did so in effort to not misstep into a situation that would be inadequate. By accepting too low of a wage, you are lessening the option to have adequate time to find the right job.
Too many workers are too afraid to find out if the rest of the marketplace needs their skills, if there are jobs available elsewhere for similar jobs, how much other's pay for the same work, and they are afraid to value themselves adequately. I was taught the following sentence "I was looking for a job when I found this one." This sums up my stance to workplace evaluations. Any worker can transfer their skills to another job, if in fact the skill and training has been well earned. I find it hard, too hard on oneself, to not understand who you really are in life. A bad situation, no matter where it is, bad relationship with a spouse, or a friend or relative, or job, can be very costly. You put your physical and mental health in harms way.
In this economy, hell in almost any economy, valuing your contributions to the workplace is important. Just like you asked for, interviewed for, and was offered your current position, you can do so again, no matter how long you have been at the current job. As a chef, perhaps unlike some other industries, a long tenure is not common place. There are few gold watch retirement parties given to staff who have been with the organization for 20 years or more. It's just not how things work anymore. I did work for some highly talented chefs who had long terms with one company but they were older workers and nowadays it isn't common. Most chefs who are not partners or owners, typically work for 5 or 6 years at a spot, then move on, out of need to grow and/or company's wish to keep costs low. An experienced chef can be costly, but well worth it, and some organizations would rather take on two young chefs with limited experience and train them instead of paying one prized chef well.
Do some research! This age of Internet quickly offers up information about average wages in any industry, you can even get a better idea of wages by reading the want ads. Do some soul searching. Too many people undervalue themselves both in the workplace and in their social life. This is killing you slowly like a small dose of poison not able to kill right off but building up in your flesh over time. It drains your life blood and weakens your spirit.
Equally damaging is over evaluation. Do not fluff yourself up without cause or reality. This seems to be the realm of the young more so than the old. Older folks have been knocked around by reality and have had to plainly see themselves in a good mirror, just don't focus solely upon the flaws. Youthful workers often take things off their resumes to heart and make more of them than they really are worth.
When you dream, dream big! Shooting for the moon and missing, still leaves you in the realm of the stars. Personally, my big dream of owning my own bakery has been held in my heart for many many years, and while it is not yet a reality, I have been trained by some of the best, had experiences singularly superior to most, and have learned skills I did not anticipate. Lovely.
There was a time in which I worked for a large grocery store chain as a bakery department manager. There came a time when contracts were nearing the end and negotiating began. Of course, this period of time was stressful of all concerned as it was literally was going to direct both the company and it's employees economic future. As things progressed, talk had an increasingly nervous tone. When talking to co-workers a negative sentiment was repeated with some members that was in direct opposition to my feelings about the matter. I don't expect the world to agree with me always, however it took some review for me to understand their point.
I have always said that my skills and knowledge travel with me and rather than bow to the demands of the corporate overlord I am committed to being justly compensated for leasing my time, skills, and knowledge. A few of my co-workers at that time, and a few others mimic the sentiment, were literally scared witless that the negotiations would result in them being jobless if they didn't cave into the demands of management. I am not afraid to value my time and put a price on it taking into account my costs of living, my three kids, the average wage for my work in the marketplace, and my education. All of these things can be valued and the fair exchange of my time for a wage is important. I have had offers from companies that were well below my average asking wage, and while it did make me a bit nervous to say no and wait for the next offer hoping that it would come quickly enough to not put my economy in jeopardy, I did so in effort to not misstep into a situation that would be inadequate. By accepting too low of a wage, you are lessening the option to have adequate time to find the right job.
Too many workers are too afraid to find out if the rest of the marketplace needs their skills, if there are jobs available elsewhere for similar jobs, how much other's pay for the same work, and they are afraid to value themselves adequately. I was taught the following sentence "I was looking for a job when I found this one." This sums up my stance to workplace evaluations. Any worker can transfer their skills to another job, if in fact the skill and training has been well earned. I find it hard, too hard on oneself, to not understand who you really are in life. A bad situation, no matter where it is, bad relationship with a spouse, or a friend or relative, or job, can be very costly. You put your physical and mental health in harms way.
In this economy, hell in almost any economy, valuing your contributions to the workplace is important. Just like you asked for, interviewed for, and was offered your current position, you can do so again, no matter how long you have been at the current job. As a chef, perhaps unlike some other industries, a long tenure is not common place. There are few gold watch retirement parties given to staff who have been with the organization for 20 years or more. It's just not how things work anymore. I did work for some highly talented chefs who had long terms with one company but they were older workers and nowadays it isn't common. Most chefs who are not partners or owners, typically work for 5 or 6 years at a spot, then move on, out of need to grow and/or company's wish to keep costs low. An experienced chef can be costly, but well worth it, and some organizations would rather take on two young chefs with limited experience and train them instead of paying one prized chef well.
Do some research! This age of Internet quickly offers up information about average wages in any industry, you can even get a better idea of wages by reading the want ads. Do some soul searching. Too many people undervalue themselves both in the workplace and in their social life. This is killing you slowly like a small dose of poison not able to kill right off but building up in your flesh over time. It drains your life blood and weakens your spirit.
Equally damaging is over evaluation. Do not fluff yourself up without cause or reality. This seems to be the realm of the young more so than the old. Older folks have been knocked around by reality and have had to plainly see themselves in a good mirror, just don't focus solely upon the flaws. Youthful workers often take things off their resumes to heart and make more of them than they really are worth.
When you dream, dream big! Shooting for the moon and missing, still leaves you in the realm of the stars. Personally, my big dream of owning my own bakery has been held in my heart for many many years, and while it is not yet a reality, I have been trained by some of the best, had experiences singularly superior to most, and have learned skills I did not anticipate. Lovely.
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