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The kitchen can be a highly rewarding place to work, but it can also be highly demoralising, as any chef working in the industry will testify.
There are monster hours, hot working conditions, literally hundreds of potential dangers and that’s before you consider the general public, who you find yourself serving every day.
To allow chefs to vent some of their frustrations after service, Chef Talk have a great section on their forum called Worst Things About Being a Chef.
It’s basically a free for all where chefs from across the industry can weigh in and share their kitchen peeves.
Below we’ve picked out some of the best, but we’re pretty sure many of you could add to the collection. Let us know on Facebook what the worst part of being a chef is for you.
Vegans, celiacs, and vegetarians
Using my timer when I stick things in the oven only to either have someone turn the timer off when it goes while I'm away (because the noise bothers them) which in turn I might forget I got something in the oven and it burns ... or someone else sticks something else in the oven and jumps the temp without me knowing and it burns when my timer goes off but their stuff looks lovely!
I really hate when friends of the owner/boss waltz around the kitchen talking like they have any clue in the world.
When I have to work on my families special occasions like birthdays like my son's first birthday, not only breaks my heart but my family as well.
When your work surface is about 1.5" too short. My back is fricking killing me.
Getting an email complaint by a guest because she didn't like my tattoo on my forearm and calling me a dishwasher while I was doing a table visit.
People that just don't understand that teflon pans, and high heat are not fond of each other.
Still the worst thing is working through the aches, pains, burns, illnesses, migraines, cuts
that SHOULD have gotten stitched but no time, etc.
Waiting staff pocketing tips for your hard work
Working a year and a half without a vacation. Always working on holidays. The pay sucks.
Restaurant owners that have little or no experience in a professional kitchen, yet insist on making unreasonable demands.
What I hate about being a chef is scraping my forearm with a 18X2000 film cutter.
Saran wrap.
Creating a perfect plate up and clipping the ledge on your way to the window, so everything just falls apart.
What about badly designed kitchens – five steps from the stove to the reach in? Massive pillar between the grill and the window. Only enough refrigeration for proteins because the kitchen hasn't been updated since 1983.
I hate when I hire new people and they complain how busy it gets.
I have worked with many cooks who hate last minute customers.
Taking six months to train a new sous so that they can steal my ideas and become exec at my competition.
The day shift vs. the night shift ... battle over who didn't do what.
