33anda3rd wrote:--and cooks, physically, are not always in terribly great shape and health and need sick days.
im curious if there is a "reason" for that, from what you've seen.
Part of it is job requirement/environment. Length of workday, standing for 12+ hours/day, the stress of being yelled at by your chef, being in a very hot kitchen, frequent cuts and burns. The emotional issue of working that kind of environment then leaving work and hearing some server complain that (s)he 'only' made $300 that night and being able to cope with the inequality of pay in the industry can wreck a lot of cooks' brains and emotions.
Part of it is lack of benefits, particularly healthcare so a lack of preventative medicine. Also lack of paid vacation time, so lack of needed downtime/rest. Also lack of paid sick days and personal days, in a macho culture of "we work through this" that makes you a (another way to call a cat or kitten, as ol Treach said) (and an unpaid one) if you call off.
Part of it is abusing their bodies for 12 hours/day at work then going out and abusing their bodies with drugs and booze til 6am, sleeping for four hours and starting that unsustainable process all over again.
I have it pretty easy it seems. I'm a salaried employee and don't track my time at all. Our core hours are 8:30 to 4:30, but that is dependent on the team lead because I'm regularly working 10:00-6:00 (or later sometimes). I typically leave at a logical stopping point for the day whether that be 6 hours or 10 hours into my day. There are definitely people at work that take advantage of this, but for the most part the company still gets the better end of things.
We get separate sick leave and vacation time that are basically interchangeable, and we get so much of it that its rarely an issue. I've heard of people getting written up for establishing patterns (always calling in on Mondays, etc) but I don't think anyone has ever been fired for it. I think the only real requirement is if you use sick leave two days in a row you have to have a doctor's note. If you show up late or leave early they can make you use leave to cover it or charge AWOL, but most managers are pretty flexible about letting you make it up by staying late. My current manager is pretty awesome and has no interest in micromanaging people, so I get away with a lot more than most other people. All he cares about is the work getting done and since I'm better at that than just about anybody I can regularly show up late or cut out early no problem.
33anda3rd wrote:--and cooks, physically, are not always in terribly great shape and health and need sick days.
im curious if there is a "reason" for that, from what you've seen.
Part of it is job requirement/environment. Length of workday, standing for 12+ hours/day, the stress of being yelled at by your chef, being in a very hot kitchen, frequent cuts and burns. The emotional issue of working that kind of environment then leaving work and hearing some server complain that (s)he 'only' made $300 that night and being able to cope with the inequality of pay in the industry can wreck a lot of cooks' brains and emotions.
Part of it is lack of benefits, particularly healthcare so a lack of preventative medicine. Also lack of paid vacation time, so lack of needed downtime/rest. Also lack of paid sick days and personal days, in a macho culture of "we work through this" that makes you a (another way to call a cat or kitten, as ol Treach said) (and an unpaid one) if you call off.
Part of it is abusing their bodies for 12 hours/day at work then going out and abusing their bodies with drugs and booze til 6am, sleeping for four hours and starting that unsustainable process all over again.
thats what i was most curious about. the few people i've met in the food industry have "rockstar lives" (in my eyes) and there is no way i could live it. they work hard, sometimes for less than stellar money, then when they get off they are usually ready to relax and so they start their drinking/partying at like midnight or 1 when "everyone" else is slowing down/quitting their shenanigans for the night. and while i dont want to subscribe that to everyone who works in the fine dining arena, thats my initial impression.
33anda3rd wrote:Part of it is abusing their bodies for 12 hours/day at work then going out and abusing their bodies with drugs and booze til 6am, sleeping for four hours and starting that unsustainable process all over again.
while i dont want to subscribe that to everyone who works in the fine dining arena, thats my initial impression.
A completely fair prejudice, frankly. It's a chicken/egg thing. The talent pool for line cooks is largely the types of people prone to that kind of behavior, and the job/benefits/pay don't give them the opportunity to change.
The emotional issue of working that kind of environment then leaving work and hearing some server complain that (s)he 'only' made $300 that night and being able to cope with the inequality of pay in the industry can wreck a lot of cooks' brains and emotions.
This minor detail surprises me. There is a lot of animosity towards servers and bartenders from the back of the house since everyone has a general idea of what's going on, but talking about how much money you made in front of a cook has always been completely taboo everywhere I've worked. It's just not done.
Part of it is abusing their bodies for 12 hours/day at work then going out and abusing their bodies with drugs and booze til 6am, sleeping for four hours and starting that unsustainable process all over again.
For the most part, the cooks that I work with don't even bother trying to live like that, though they probably did at one point, but in the front of the house it's a different story (obviously it's usually easier in terms of finances and schedule). I made it until just before my 33rd birthday before I finally had enough.
The emotional issue of working that kind of environment then leaving work and hearing some server complain that (s)he 'only' made $300 that night and being able to cope with the inequality of pay in the industry can wreck a lot of cooks' brains and emotions.
This minor detail surprises me. There is a lot of animosity towards servers and bartenders from the back of the house since everyone has a general idea of what's going on, but talking about how much money you made in front of a cook has always been completely taboo everywhere I've worked. It's just not done.
I've only had to speak to a server who works for me once. I deal with it more at the bar I run now across the bar, which is located near a lot of restaurants and is kind of Cheers for industry people after 11pm. We fill up with cooks, food runners, servers, managers, etc. getting off shift and there are a couple regulars who have Unrofessional Server Syndrome (a disease in which the world is viewed through a filter of My Tips, My Table, My Guests, My Section, My Schedule, My Side Station, My Busser) for whom the answer to "How was your night?" is always telling me how much money they made, usually saying it in front of a few cooks who just spent a long tough day in a kitchen for $12/hour.
To circle back, it's stuff like that that makes me wish we had separate attendance policies for kitchen and FOH.
As long as I am available when needed, I have no set schedule. I'm in a global job so things happen around the clock. The trade off is nobody cares where I am as long as the job gets done. Handled everything today by 12:30 so I'm spending the afternoon running errands and working out. If anything comes up, it'll come through on my phone and I'll take care of it. Sometimes I work 3 or 4 hours a day, other times 12 to 14.
