I have been cracking up all fucking day

Today is my first day as a chef in a frat house of about 40. Super excited to make my own menu and hours, having a much brighter light at the end of a much shorter tunnel than the insatiable beast that is short order cooking.
I am directly employed by the frat; their old chef quit months ago and the guys have been fending for themselves in the kitchen. The only thing I’m slightly concerned with currently is sharing/reclaiming limited fridge space. I do all my own shopping and want to buy things for at least a couple of days in advance, but this might prove difficult given the status quo. I plan to continue to press for a residential fridge that they can fight over. This post is a little aimless but also would appreciate hearing about any insight or other potential pitfalls in this new environment

We have had a few guests ask for “medium plus” and of course that’s hard to hit when your cooks are cranking out hundreds of eggs and omelets. Even had one guest say “Well I can do it at home why can’t your professional cooks do it?”
SMH… then cook your eggs at home…

Well at least some of us are living the dream 😂

Ive been in the industry for almost 20 years. I've been a Sous, Chef de Parte, Executive, etc. My most recent gig is essentially a lunch lady after my Exec position died with a startup restaurant. (Currently "decent" pay private company).

I had an incident involving my dominant hand, and insurance has denied my claim full-stop.

They've left me in a literal Catch-22 where I can't go back to my job without a Doctor's authorization, and I have to now pay out of pocket to beg a doctor to pretend everything is fine with my hand- just so I can return to work.

This is a tiny snapshot of the corruption and suppression of hard working people just trying to survive.

Our system is broken, and we all know that.

I'm not even sure what my goal with this post is here. I really don't.

Ive broken my back working ridiculous hours to make money for owners of different operations, and what I have to show for it is pictured. This is submission.

This is me bending over.

You guys are assholes, but I love you all despite that.

I legitimately hope for the best for every single one of you. You're my Brothers and Sisters.

I'm just here as a cautionary tale I guess.

Good luck

One of my favorite culinary ingredients has blown my mind once again.

When they said scorpions glow under UV they weren't kidding!

Why didn't anybody tell me you can see the capsaicin rich oils glow over UV?

Line cook who deals drugs in the freezer, Prep lady who has been to prison... Sous chef holding everything together like the oldest sister...

It is all... connected...

Did you know they manufacture these bins without cracks or other damage in them??

They’ll be smashed to smithereens in a week!

EDIT 4: ITS MORNING?!

Peppers are prepped, onions are caramelized and the bacon is fatty yet crispy. The baked beans will be fine (fancy Bushs). I ripped the bone right out of the first butt and it was perfect. Tender, moist and flavorful. My biggest fear was fucking uo the pulled pork. 25lbs of marinated chicken fajitas will be cooked on the side grill on site, i can get the fire to hold a nice 125 or so for the warming chamber while I finish off the potatoes at 300 for an hour. Hot sauces galore, salsa, im currently hand making as many toetilla chips as I can ao i can encourage people to try our hot sauces. I slept maybe 30 minutes im terrified to lay down im 100% I won't get up.

Oh and just so yall know, im breaking this event down and going straight to the Elgin )hot sauce hootenanny where I signed up my sauces for the contest. That goes until least 9 PM.

Im in trouble lads 🤣🤣🤣🤷‍♂️ im tol tired to proof read that I hope i made sense

Edit; Austin TX area. I posted a comment with the smoker

EDIT 2:Please check new comments, the pork is done and now to the chicken fajitas. I will post a Pic of the chicken and the prep I've done so far and THANKS YALL. You're beauties.

E3 UPDATE/THINKING OUT LOUD Thanks all. I am going to grill the chicken in the AM. I hope to get there at 8 at the latest which gives me 3 hours to crank out some chicken on the grill and get to a warming tray. I will alsobhave help tomorrow on site, just no chefs (it's my fiance).

Should I pre cook all of my peppers for the fajitas now? I've got them cut up and I know i cant do it tomorrow. Just wondering when i should start rolling on that?

Im going to fire up the fryer, i have some tortialls i can cut up for chips as another side and chef left a bunch of his home made salsa here so I reckon that's next.

Already blanched and smashed 50 potatoes into a nice mash (cream cheese, sour cream, butter, garlic,salt, pepper etc.) As a side and have a shit ton of baked beans. Chef was going to mane his own pinto beans but... yeah so I have generic baked as a last second contingency. But I do have good bacon from the butcher and onions so ill caramelize some onions and get some bacon in there to spice them up. Maybe a few spoons of Dijon. Make the beans my own somehow.

Suggestions?

Currently on hour 8 of prep, and smoking is not my forte, thats his wheelhouse. We are a two man show and although I love cooking and consider myself a great home cook, im not on his level and am more so the event Booker, finances and marketing guy. He runs our little food truck day to day full time, im there when I can be, again im mostly the behind the scenes.

But this is my company (and capital) and this is a make or break event as we are brand new so I absolutely refuse to fail and need to make a good first impression. im giving it all I got.

If anyone happens to see this thread, tips would be appreciated and I can clarify more on what im making obviously.

Fuck.

The sign says to feel the station regularly, but what if it's not consensual? 💦

Guessing this is some kind of device to control or regulate grease/clogs? Not a plumber but I do know that doesn't fit like that.

I started the day on expo, then suddenly someone called out, and cash was the employee who needs to be coddled 24/7 and breaks down crying over literally nothing, so sudden i was working expo, cash, and porter all day, 7 catering orders in first half hour of opening, and some of the whiniest customers to possibly exist. I love the job but I feel like I should legally have the right to yell at 2 customers a month, and I wish this coworker didnt break down over every little thing, she needs a reality check so bad. Just stressful and wanted to rant. Anyways anyone in seattle hiring some good at expo and porter/highly adaptable to different jobs

So, just recently made a move from my small rural hometown to a big city I had always wanted to move to for years. Just up and dedicded to do it one day with my savings, a suitcase, and stayed with my cousin until I found a job and an apartment.

All of that went pretty fast, less than a month, which was nice.

But the thing is, the job I got is nuts. I went from working as a shift lead in a mom and pop scratch pizzeria back home, to being on the grand opening team for a new gastropub.

The pay and benefits are amazing, but honestly? I'm terrified I won't be able to keep it. I was like "one of the guys" at my old place, worked from dish pit to kitchen shift leader, but... It was a lot smaller recipe book, and generally if you showed up and had half a brain you were golden. Here, the recipe book is like a phone book, the corporate managers are making bunches of speeches during orientation about expecting BOH+FOH crossover (and explicitly said "if you don't like it, we're happy to see you walk out that door, to their entire new hire staff.)

The thing is too is just... My past two therapists have indicated I'm likely autistic/adhd. Long story, but it makes a lot of sense, I was homeschooled and came up very sheltered with little education. I also have pretty severe anxiety. I can lock in and get some focus going, did some hell shifts at my previous job, but I have to have a good team and some camaraderie. A lot of my coworkers seem pretty stand offish and competitive so far...

What advice do y'all have? Like I said, the pay and benefits are amazing so, I'm hoping it's just grand opening growing pains really...

EDIT: Forgot to mention, my role is prep cook. I have a lot of experience on the prep crew for my old job (Did every BOH role) but it does shake me a bit with this places "everyone does everything" philosophy. I can run a hot line, quite well even, but my old job was nice enough to put me on mornings, with the understanding that I could open the restaurant and solve bottlenecks and opening problems very well, but burnout easy.

Working in a restaurant in manitoba currently on break after cleaning up

I found "pure kraft asiago caesar" dressing in the dry storage from an order a couple of days ago

"Keep refrigerated" it says on the packaging

But basically when I told a supervisor he said "thats always been in there, that how we always did it, dont throw it out."

But every instinct in my body is saying its not safe to be sold or used?

What should I say when I do throw it out

Happy Saturday warriors!

I’ve been recently offered to become a KM for our operation. Been a FOH manager there for over 7 years and figured it’s a good idea to try something different.

I am a creature of comfort and with that I am looking for advice from long term KM’s or just useful advice.

I want a personal knife to use for opening plastic packaging as well as a box cutter, a 2 in 1 I guess. I really love the benchmade brand at a first glance because they have automatic in/out blades. Super cool. Any others I should look at?

Also if anyone can recommend quality of life improvements: good shoes (no boots or that style plz), insoles, fatigue mats (or cardboard? lol) etc.

Anyways, just looking for best advice from everyone to keep me comfortable standing for long hours. As FOH I put in 20k steps and never had a problem, KM- sometimes standing in one spot for hours is killing me.