It has probably been the longest, physically most challenging and taxing week of my life. Working in a kitchen is in no way glamorous or a bed of roses. I spend half of my day wearing these fashionable chef shoes, an awful white hairnet, and a variety of food smells and stains; lovely, no? Putain (fuck) and merde (shit) are probably the two most used words, and I have been criticized as a cochon (pig, which always means dirty and messy in French) and slow many, many times. The chefs are crazy/uptight/angry/unreasonable/scary/insane and I hope I never become like them. My hours are long, our lunch break is 10 minutes, and I work on the weekends…but I’m still looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.
Talk to me again in eight weeks and my answer may differ. A lot of the work is repetitive and once the novelty of the whole experience wears off, I’m sure the redundancy will start to get old. But for now, I’m still running on newbee energy.
Michelle says
That sounds terrible! I think it’s morally repulsive that these chefs feel like they can treat you like this, but you know what? People who power trip do so because they’re miserable. Kudos to you for having a great attitude because you can get the most out of your internship and then set up your own successful business and never see these folks again!
Jessica says
Michelle- Thanks for the encouragement, means a lot!
Vivienne says
haha nice kitchen attire 😉 man, this is not how i imagine working in a kitchen is like.
i’m sorry to hear that the first week has been this bad (they sound really scarrrryy)…i hope it’s all uphill from now..and that you’re learning heaps – that’s more important! u gotta have some bad weeks in order to appreciate the good weeks rite?! keep running on that newbie energy!
Tara says
Sounds awful! But hang in there; just think of everything you are learning!
Love your blog 🙂
Sasha says
This sounds exciting. Even though it’s an arduous task, you are lucky to be where you are. Good luck in the future!