Ok I answered no but technically yes. I once did work while being in a restaraunt. I think the question is have your ever worked for a restaraunt. There is a difference.
@borisparsley Is it possible that you are working in health care now- because I share that sense of personal doom- that or ending up as a really lame greeter at Wally World.
I worked at the soda fountain at a Rexall drug store as a teenager in the early '60s. The "manager" took 50% of my tips. He was 3 years older than I was and he had a girlfriend with large breasts and a bad attitude. My career aspiration was to be him. Fortunately I've gotten over that.
My dad owned a number of restaurants on Miami Beach. When I was in High School, I worked in one as summer jobs. The experience got me jobs when I was in college, helped finance my education.
@The_Baron I got my chops busted working in a grocery store in HS, at Pizza the Hut in college while waiting for a bespoke [legacy] summer job at E. Kodak, and then graduated into a retail "career" for way too many years- which was the true real-world penalty for getting a BS degree in a "soft" or social "science" [psych] in the late-70's/early 80's = the Raygun years in the US.
@PhysAssist I did grocery stores, porter at a dealership, auto installer (jr mechanic)/ quick lube jobs, retail manager in the mall, then computer tech in retail. That got me into infrastructure support for a retail store and up into corporate IT. (10 years ago) I didn't go to college, just got known to be the person to take the most challenging projects.
Does Papa John's count as a restaurant? I worked at one for about a year during the dotcom bust (just to keep money coming in so I could eat -- although I was living out of my car at the time).
I also worked very briefly at TruGreen Chemlawn doing phone sales at that time (they lied about the job, and once I found out how big the lie was, I basically quit and went back to slinging pizzas).
@darksaber99999 Yeah, they used the phrase "pre-qualified leads" in the job ad and in their three-day training. So you figure a pre-qualified lead is somebody who sent in a notecard saying "yeah call me" from a magazine or whatever, right? That's because you're not in sales, my friend. Their idea of "pre-qualified" was "someone who ever said yes to us for anything in the past". Ten-years-gone canceled customers were considered "pre-qualified leads". Basically watch Boiler Room or Glengarry Glen Ross and substitute "lawn-care service" for "junk stock" or "real estate".
My very first job, and if I was 13 as I remember it was in '71 or so, was the back-room guy who glazed the donuts. This place would probably be "artisanal" today but, back then, it was just the local donut shop. There was a huge stainless steel bowl full of glaze and I had to drop each donut in, count to 3, flip it, count to 2, and remove it. (And this was before gloves were invented, I think.) Anyway, I quit my first after-school job on my first day because I knew it wasn't the direction my life was going in, and it wasn't the kind of work I wanted to do for three bucks a day, even at 13 in 1971. (That would have been an LP a day.)
The closest I've come was making caramel apples at the original Marin Co Renaissance Fairs. Dipping tart crisp Granny Smiths into a cauldron of bubbling caramel. I had lots of burns on my hands, but those apples were so good!
@AnnaB where do you work? Executive chef? Sous chef? I love cooking and the culinary world is fascinating to me. Tell me more! Give me your best and worst 'working in a restaurant' stories, pleeeeease?
@JonT I'm currently teaching at Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles and doing some consulting R&D on the side, but before that I was an Exec Chef at a number of places, total of about 15 years. Worst disaster? Most of the food I needed to cook a 7 course wine paired dinner didn't roll in until about an hour before dinner was supposed to start. Dinner for 40. But we pulled it off.
@AnnaB That's awesome!!! My fiancée and I love Chopped and have been watching the newer collection on Netflix. Do you happen to know when the episode will air (or has it already)?
@AnnaB So glad to hear that! You both really deserved this break and it's nice that your talent and hard-earned skills were able to make it a reality. Safe travels!
My very first job was working at Subway. It was awful and I only lasted about a month, a lot of that had to do with the store owner who was totally crazy.
The best example is that on her days off she would sit at home and watch the security camera feeds and if we weren't doing something (even when there was nothing to do) she would call the store and yell at us for not sweeping/mopping/etc even after we had just finishing doing exactly that.
I 'quit' after I called in sick the night before I was supposed to work and she called me in the morning and said "you're not sick, you need to come to work". I reminded her that it was Subway where I'm supposed to handle people's food, but she kept saying I wasn't sick so I said okay cool and never came back to work.
I worked a KFC for a year at about the time where they switched from making the biscuits from scratch to the frozen ones. Despite often hearing from people that "if you've worked in fast food, you wouldn't want to eat it," so much of what we made at KFC was fresh and nearly from scratch. We didn't just take breaded, frozen chicken pieces and drop 'em in a fryer. We cleaned fresh, pre-cut chickens, marinated them (Ex Crispy only), breaded them, and fried them just like you would at home.
Except at home, you'd probably use a bit less MSG (nothing wrong with MSG!) and a bit more cayenne.
I worked for 2 years in a middle school kitchen. I made bread every damn day. Have you ever made 1200 dinner rolls, 1-1/2 to 2ozs each pinched shaped and weighed by hand by yourself in 3 hours. I hated it. We were understaffed and the district just didn't care.
The real question is, have you lived in a restaurant?
Ok I answered no but technically yes. I once did work while being in a restaraunt. I think the question is have your ever worked for a restaraunt. There is a difference.
@sohmageek Once, I worked for a restaurant but I never worked for the restaurant IN the restaurant. So yes but no.
I've laboriously worked at finishing my half of the pizza, if that's what you mean.
My first job was as a dishwasher in 1975 and ever since I've felt more and more like it'll be my last job.
@borisparsley Is it possible that you are working in health care now- because I share that sense of personal doom- that or ending up as a really lame greeter at Wally World.
Does a conference call in the bathroom count?
@TerriblyHuang Is that a euphemism?
Yes, didn't most people in high school needing money?
Yes, because I too enjoy producing something that provides momentary joy, just like here
Yes. In fact, I spent most of today selling ice-cream at Seattle Pride. Queer folk tip really well apparently.
@brumagem Probably because most of them have worked in a restaurant at one point or another in their lives.
@Teripie Well at most fairs our tips come to about 1-2% of what our gross sales were. At gay pride events it's consistently 3-5%.
@brumagem I declare we run an econometric analysis!
I worked at the soda fountain at a Rexall drug store as a teenager in the early '60s. The "manager" took 50% of my tips. He was 3 years older than I was and he had a girlfriend with large breasts and a bad attitude. My career aspiration was to be him. Fortunately I've gotten over that.
everyone should do it!
My dad owned a number of restaurants on Miami Beach. When I was in High School, I worked in one as summer jobs. The experience got me jobs when I was in college, helped finance my education.
Nope, I took my beatings through retail instead of the food industry.
@The_Baron I got my chops busted working in a grocery store in HS, at Pizza the Hut in college while waiting for a bespoke [legacy] summer job at E. Kodak, and then graduated into a retail "career" for way too many years- which was the true real-world penalty for getting a BS degree in a "soft" or social "science" [psych] in the late-70's/early 80's = the Raygun years in the US.
@PhysAssist I did grocery stores, porter at a dealership, auto installer (jr mechanic)/ quick lube jobs, retail manager in the mall, then computer tech in retail. That got me into infrastructure support for a retail store and up into corporate IT. (10 years ago) I didn't go to college, just got known to be the person to take the most challenging projects.
Does Papa John's count as a restaurant? I worked at one for about a year during the dotcom bust (just to keep money coming in so I could eat -- although I was living out of my car at the time).
I also worked very briefly at TruGreen Chemlawn doing phone sales at that time (they lied about the job, and once I found out how big the lie was, I basically quit and went back to slinging pizzas).
@kensey Ha ha, more like FalseGreen Chemlies, am I right?
@darksaber99999 Yeah, they used the phrase "pre-qualified leads" in the job ad and in their three-day training. So you figure a pre-qualified lead is somebody who sent in a notecard saying "yeah call me" from a magazine or whatever, right? That's because you're not in sales, my friend. Their idea of "pre-qualified" was "someone who ever said yes to us for anything in the past". Ten-years-gone canceled customers were considered "pre-qualified leads". Basically watch Boiler Room or Glengarry Glen Ross and substitute "lawn-care service" for "junk stock" or "real estate".
My very first job, and if I was 13 as I remember it was in '71 or so, was the back-room guy who glazed the donuts. This place would probably be "artisanal" today but, back then, it was just the local donut shop. There was a huge stainless steel bowl full of glaze and I had to drop each donut in, count to 3, flip it, count to 2, and remove it. (And this was before gloves were invented, I think.) Anyway, I quit my first after-school job on my first day because I knew it wasn't the direction my life was going in, and it wasn't the kind of work I wanted to do for three bucks a day, even at 13 in 1971. (That would have been an LP a day.)
@editorkid I hope you licked your fingers after each "glaze"!
The closest I've come was making caramel apples at the original Marin Co Renaissance Fairs. Dipping tart crisp Granny Smiths into a cauldron of bubbling caramel. I had lots of burns on my hands, but those apples were so good!
I'm a chef.
@AnnaB where do you work? Executive chef? Sous chef? I love cooking and the culinary world is fascinating to me. Tell me more! Give me your best and worst 'working in a restaurant' stories, pleeeeease?
@JonT I'm currently teaching at Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles and doing some consulting R&D on the side, but before that I was an Exec Chef at a number of places, total of about 15 years. Worst disaster? Most of the food I needed to cook a 7 course wine paired dinner didn't roll in until about an hour before dinner was supposed to start. Dinner for 40. But we pulled it off.
@JonT and best? I won Chopped and am currently in Ireland traveling on the winnings.
@AnnaB Niceeeeeee.
@AnnaB That's awesome!!! My fiancée and I love Chopped and have been watching the newer collection on Netflix. Do you happen to know when the episode will air (or has it already)?
@JonT it did already. About a year ago. But they replay it often
@AnnaB Amazing! Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!
@AnnaB that's so awesome! I'm going to have to watch your episode sometime, even though the ending is already spoiled :)
@AnnaB I'm pretty sure I saw that episode recently on the Food Networks full-episode web page. Good Job! How is your mom enjoying the trip?
@AnnaB @JonT If you don't mind ads (won't play for me with adblock) "Cool, Palm and Perfected" http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/cool-palm-and-perfected-0217943.embed.html
@gio having a great time!
@AnnaB So glad to hear that! You both really deserved this break and it's nice that your talent and hard-earned skills were able to make it a reality. Safe travels!
My very first job was working at Subway. It was awful and I only lasted about a month, a lot of that had to do with the store owner who was totally crazy.
The best example is that on her days off she would sit at home and watch the security camera feeds and if we weren't doing something (even when there was nothing to do) she would call the store and yell at us for not sweeping/mopping/etc even after we had just finishing doing exactly that.
I 'quit' after I called in sick the night before I was supposed to work and she called me in the morning and said "you're not sick, you need to come to work". I reminded her that it was Subway where I'm supposed to handle people's food, but she kept saying I wasn't sick so I said okay cool and never came back to work.
@JonT What a way to spend time off.
I worked a KFC for a year at about the time where they switched from making the biscuits from scratch to the frozen ones. Despite often hearing from people that "if you've worked in fast food, you wouldn't want to eat it," so much of what we made at KFC was fresh and nearly from scratch. We didn't just take breaded, frozen chicken pieces and drop 'em in a fryer. We cleaned fresh, pre-cut chickens, marinated them (Ex Crispy only), breaded them, and fried them just like you would at home.
Except at home, you'd probably use a bit less MSG (nothing wrong with MSG!) and a bit more cayenne.
Panera Bread and a fine dining bistro.
@connorbush and an Indian restaurant.
My first highschool job was at the BK Lounge. Lots of good memories of that place.
I worked for 2 years in a middle school kitchen. I made bread every damn day. Have you ever made 1200 dinner rolls, 1-1/2 to 2ozs each pinched shaped and weighed by hand by yourself in 3 hours. I hated it. We were understaffed and the district just didn't care.
@remo28 I used to work in an Indian restaurant.... hundreds of paratha bread all made and weighed by hand..... horrible.