It's been 20 days since I last worked and I am starting to really feel like those useless sons who stays at home all day and sponges off his parents money, money the parents got from collecting drink cans and selling used newspaper.
So I went to collect my last pay check, well second last since I have another one that's not due yet, on Friday, the pay was as expected, not high at all, slightly higher than my pay as a recruit in the army and like a hundred bucks lesser than my pay as a Corporal... and I didn't even need to do anything physically demanding in the army to get paid $600 per month, so I am actually spoilt by the army, salary wise.
The trip to collect my pay was riddled with cold sweat and headaches from the horrible motion sickness I was getting from riding the bus, which I waited for a half hour. Got my pay, returned the uniform, signed some form and bought my bubble tea, lemon flavored because I read somewhere that lemon helped in soothing motion sickness, along with some fried snacks for lunch before heading back to ride the bus home again, the journey back was even worse. It didn't take long for the bus arrive at my stop and everything was going well, the aroma of my fried snack was wafting through the air in the bus and I was taking small sips of my lemon tea to suppress a potential motion sickness attack.
At the third or fourth stop on my way home in the bus, an old man decides to board the bus and for some reason, take a shit in his pants, by shit his pants I mean release his steaming pile of human defecate, or what we would call diarrhea, right into his long pants, and I didn't realize he had taken a shit when the bus driver was chasing him out of the bus until I saw two Indian ladies sitting near him taking their sarees and covering their noses with it followed by the passengers who were sitting around the old man's vicinity moving to the back of the bus. The smell hit me later on because I was already being surrounded by the smell of yummy fried snacks... and seeing the soiled pants the old man was wearing only emphasized what I was beginning to smell. He was wearing a long black pants, so it was shiny where the stream of shit that was stuck in his pants was and the sheen was all the way down to the back of his knee area... like a shit luster design.
Can only imagine how horrible it must feel to have to unzip your long pants and be welcomed by the sight of a stream of shit just climbing down your legs, and the fact that he was kicked out of the bus probably meant that he had to walk to a toilet to clean up, which is even more disgusting because the time he took to walk to a public toilet would have probably allowed his shit stream to harden and crust up. I can imagine a bit I guess, since I had actually took a shit in my pants in Primary School before unknowingly and allowed it to stay there for the entire school day... smelled like burnt rubber for some reason... Hmmm.
The funny thing was that right after the old man was chased out of the bus after he had stink up the entire bus with what he had for dinner the night before, a few stops later, some Indian guy carrying a giant luggage boards the bus, wearing full white, white buttoned shirt with long white pants, I'm not even making this up, sits right where the old man who shit his pant was seated like 5 minutes earlier, no one told the Indian dude anything, the Indian saree ladies just looked at him and all I was thinking was how hilarious the whole situation was in my head. The Indian guys' pants didn't get stained though, since all the shit was actually stuck in the old man's pants but I bet his pants smelled liked it... if he goes home, pulls his pants down, shoves it in his face and takes a deep breath or ten.
And the lemon drink didn't work because as I was almost about to reach my stop, I had to get out a few stops early because the motion sickness got so bad that if I hadn't, I would have probably vomited in the bus, and the old man don't need someone like me stealing his limelight. Waited for my motion sickness to go away before finally flagging a bus to complete my journey.
So right now, I am just awaiting responses from the various companies that I have applied for, most hoping to get the position in IKEA as an Interior Designer, which actually is a bit underachieving now that I think about it. Looking at the other companies Facebook profile and seeing their workers doing AutoCAD drafting made me feel really really depressed because it looked so uninspiring to be staring at floorplans and building elevations all day.
Indecisive. What I do in online games, now I am doing in real life. Play a character for a while, get bored of it and play another one, worked in an Interior Design firm, got bored of it and work in a restaurant and now going back to the Interior Design field. The perfect job for me would be one as a cake designer, seated all day and decorating a cake or rolling out fondant dolls.
Monday, 20 January 2014
Monday, 13 January 2014
End of my F&B Career.
Decided to show some initiative today and actually ask the Central Pastry Kitchen ,my supposed new workplace, whether or not they were planning my schedule this week...
"We don't need any staff for now so we don't need you to come down. We're sorry for not updating you."
I'm paraphrasing but it's essentially that. When I first told them I was ready to work, they told me that they would get back to me as soon as possible, apparently their definition of "asap" is a week, maybe 2 week if I hadn't messaged the person in charge.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that they wasted my week, making me wait for them to actually give me what I had hope would be a decent work schedule, because even if they had told me beforehand that I wasn't needed, I would probably be doing the exact same thing... staying at home to game and feel bad about the direction my life is heading towards instead of going back to the old restaurant to work.
The day before I actually told the restaurant I wasn't planning to go back to help out anymore because my new job wasn't working out and I was working elsewhere full time, a white lie which I have every intention to follow through... by follow through I mean actually finding a full time job, not continue to lie and make up more lies to cover that one up... takes too much effort to spin up a good story without any plot holes in between.
So that's one load off my chest, the next thing is just having to go back to collect my final pay check. I also have absolutely zero intention of going back to the Central Pastry Kitchen to work anymore, because even though they didn't technically waste my time, I mean I'm doing that on my own accord at this point, it's pretty unprofessional of them to not even have the decency and initiative to drop me a simple text message telling me I'm not needed the entire week.
"If you have anything else to do, you go ahead and do them, I can't advise you at this point in time."
If they had told me earlier, I would probably just wait for them to schedule me, but the fact that they didn't even bother to, well I'm just gonna take it that I am no longer needed, heed their advice and I'm going to go ahead and start finding a full time job. Screw them and their influx of Chinese New Year orders.
"We don't need any staff for now so we don't need you to come down. We're sorry for not updating you."
I'm paraphrasing but it's essentially that. When I first told them I was ready to work, they told me that they would get back to me as soon as possible, apparently their definition of "asap" is a week, maybe 2 week if I hadn't messaged the person in charge.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that they wasted my week, making me wait for them to actually give me what I had hope would be a decent work schedule, because even if they had told me beforehand that I wasn't needed, I would probably be doing the exact same thing... staying at home to game and feel bad about the direction my life is heading towards instead of going back to the old restaurant to work.
The day before I actually told the restaurant I wasn't planning to go back to help out anymore because my new job wasn't working out and I was working elsewhere full time, a white lie which I have every intention to follow through... by follow through I mean actually finding a full time job, not continue to lie and make up more lies to cover that one up... takes too much effort to spin up a good story without any plot holes in between.
So that's one load off my chest, the next thing is just having to go back to collect my final pay check. I also have absolutely zero intention of going back to the Central Pastry Kitchen to work anymore, because even though they didn't technically waste my time, I mean I'm doing that on my own accord at this point, it's pretty unprofessional of them to not even have the decency and initiative to drop me a simple text message telling me I'm not needed the entire week.
"If you have anything else to do, you go ahead and do them, I can't advise you at this point in time."
If they had told me earlier, I would probably just wait for them to schedule me, but the fact that they didn't even bother to, well I'm just gonna take it that I am no longer needed, heed their advice and I'm going to go ahead and start finding a full time job. Screw them and their influx of Chinese New Year orders.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Rotting at home.
Staying at home right now with absolutely nothing to do except game.
I have reached that point in my life where doing that the whole day actually makes me feel really useless, it's like when a fat person knows he has to go on a diet but he can't help it, his hand just automatically dials the McDelivery number.... except I am not fat but I am pretty sure my liver isn't at it's optimal condition.
So I have essentially been spending my entire week at home gaming and playing MMO games like it was pre-enlistment all over again, except with Pre-Enlistment, at least I know there was something to "look forward" to, right now it just feels like I am wasting my time doing absolutely nothing productive at home when I could be outside earning money and hoping to get off work so I can go back home and do absolutely nothing productive.... and not feel like I am wasting my time.
One thing I really need to do now is to actually quit my old job because now I am just doing the carrot and stick approach with them, giving them false hope that I will go back in my free time to help out the kitchen when I have absolutely no intention of ever going back to work there again. The biggest problem right now is that they are holding to to my pay for last month, which probably amounts to less than $500, not a lot at all considering the amount of work I had to do.
When I say work, I don't mean the amount of hours I clocked, what I mean is the actual work I do. When I say I work for 6 hours, I mean I am literally working non stop for 6 hours....
First 2 hours - Preparation of cake batter, different whipped cream, creme brulee, brushing ramekins with butter.
Next 2-3 hours - Non-Stop preparation of desserts for the lunch crowd, which doesn't slow down until like 2 pm, there's always a line outside the restaurant, it's fucking amazing how some Singaporeans can actually queue up despite the crazy long line of people, I mean there are like 20 people in front of you waiting to be seated, maybe wanna try eating elsewhere so I can actually take a break . The only time I would actually queue up is when I am buying bubble tea, well actually that's equally WTF so I have no right to be judging them I guess. All I can say is, the desserts I prepare in the restaurant are never made with love. My heart and mind is filled with stress, there's no space for "love".
Last 1-2 hours (they always make me do slight less than an hour extra) - A mix of preparing orders for customers and doing more mise-en place for the dinner crowd. And if the person who's taking over me is late, which he always is, I will have to handle the initial dinner crowd or what I would call the pre-cum of dinner customers. I get the most tense when I see group of teenagers comes in at like 4 pm because you know those are the damn customers who are going to be ordering the specialty desserts because they saw pictures of it on their Social Networking Sites.
Oh, and then after that it's my lunch at like 4 pm or 5 pm depending on how late the person taking over me is, the latest I had my lunch was at 6 pm, and I only had my bread for breakfast like 7 hours earlier.
Whereas in a desk bound job, when I say I work for let's say 8 hours...
First Hour - Doing actual work.
Next 2 Hours - Open new tab in Internet Browser and log into Facebook and Twitter. Go for a toilet break every half an hour.
Next 1 Hour - Go for lunch.
Next 2-3 Hours - Mixture of work and browsing the internet but mainly browsing Youtube and looking for music videos to listen to and watch when no one is around. And then go home.
And even with that I still get paid more in a desk bound job.
That's why Passion is so important in the F&B industry because it's passion that will blind you from the fact that your are actually being overworked, underpaid and thinking that that's actually a financially stable job, well it kinda is because all your supposed "free time" is spend in the kitchen and your actual free time is spend sleeping at home to get your body rested for the next day, and the next day and the next day.... those smart ones who actually realize the vicious cycle, which goes on for quite a while because that vicious cycle will end eventually when you get to the top, will actually go and do teaching in a culinary school like all my Chef Instructors... get a decent pay and have work-life balance.
I have reached that point in my life where doing that the whole day actually makes me feel really useless, it's like when a fat person knows he has to go on a diet but he can't help it, his hand just automatically dials the McDelivery number.... except I am not fat but I am pretty sure my liver isn't at it's optimal condition.
So I have essentially been spending my entire week at home gaming and playing MMO games like it was pre-enlistment all over again, except with Pre-Enlistment, at least I know there was something to "look forward" to, right now it just feels like I am wasting my time doing absolutely nothing productive at home when I could be outside earning money and hoping to get off work so I can go back home and do absolutely nothing productive.... and not feel like I am wasting my time.
One thing I really need to do now is to actually quit my old job because now I am just doing the carrot and stick approach with them, giving them false hope that I will go back in my free time to help out the kitchen when I have absolutely no intention of ever going back to work there again. The biggest problem right now is that they are holding to to my pay for last month, which probably amounts to less than $500, not a lot at all considering the amount of work I had to do.
When I say work, I don't mean the amount of hours I clocked, what I mean is the actual work I do. When I say I work for 6 hours, I mean I am literally working non stop for 6 hours....
First 2 hours - Preparation of cake batter, different whipped cream, creme brulee, brushing ramekins with butter.
Next 2-3 hours - Non-Stop preparation of desserts for the lunch crowd, which doesn't slow down until like 2 pm, there's always a line outside the restaurant, it's fucking amazing how some Singaporeans can actually queue up despite the crazy long line of people, I mean there are like 20 people in front of you waiting to be seated, maybe wanna try eating elsewhere so I can actually take a break . The only time I would actually queue up is when I am buying bubble tea, well actually that's equally WTF so I have no right to be judging them I guess. All I can say is, the desserts I prepare in the restaurant are never made with love. My heart and mind is filled with stress, there's no space for "love".
Last 1-2 hours (they always make me do slight less than an hour extra) - A mix of preparing orders for customers and doing more mise-en place for the dinner crowd. And if the person who's taking over me is late, which he always is, I will have to handle the initial dinner crowd or what I would call the pre-cum of dinner customers. I get the most tense when I see group of teenagers comes in at like 4 pm because you know those are the damn customers who are going to be ordering the specialty desserts because they saw pictures of it on their Social Networking Sites.
Oh, and then after that it's my lunch at like 4 pm or 5 pm depending on how late the person taking over me is, the latest I had my lunch was at 6 pm, and I only had my bread for breakfast like 7 hours earlier.
Whereas in a desk bound job, when I say I work for let's say 8 hours...
First Hour - Doing actual work.
Next 2 Hours - Open new tab in Internet Browser and log into Facebook and Twitter. Go for a toilet break every half an hour.
Next 1 Hour - Go for lunch.
Next 2-3 Hours - Mixture of work and browsing the internet but mainly browsing Youtube and looking for music videos to listen to and watch when no one is around. And then go home.
And even with that I still get paid more in a desk bound job.
That's why Passion is so important in the F&B industry because it's passion that will blind you from the fact that your are actually being overworked, underpaid and thinking that that's actually a financially stable job, well it kinda is because all your supposed "free time" is spend in the kitchen and your actual free time is spend sleeping at home to get your body rested for the next day, and the next day and the next day.... those smart ones who actually realize the vicious cycle, which goes on for quite a while because that vicious cycle will end eventually when you get to the top, will actually go and do teaching in a culinary school like all my Chef Instructors... get a decent pay and have work-life balance.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Happy New Year.
It's a new year. Yay~!
The idea of New Year only makes an impact on students, for me it is anyway because that just means I have to wake up early at 6 am and go back to school the next day.
Like how animals view time, the new year isn't really doing anything special for me... probably because I don't actually have much of a social life so there's nothing to look back to and reminiscence. And new year resolutions are essentially things you can do the year before but decide not to and leave it for 2014 like the procrastinators you are.
I have never bothered to make a resolution before because I know I am not going to follow through with the list of things I have written down.
1. Make a million dollar by the end of the year.
2. Be a better person and open up a charitable organisation.
3. Donate a million dollar to my own charitable organisation.
4. Make my charitable organisation global and collect donations from everyone around the world.
5. Embezzle the money from the organisation.
6. Built a rocket to fly to space and built an empire on Mars.
Sounds legit.
Was busy working on New Year's Eve because I had forgotten it was a public holiday that day, and not surprisingly, there were a lot of customers during lunch time, my work timing was extended due to insufficient manpower and I ended up working an extra half an hour, probably unpaid. The day before I had to work an extra 2 hours, fully paid of course but at the expense of my lunch break being pushed all the way back from 4 pm to 6 pm... which is technically makes it dinner. I did not get a good night sleep that night, woke up in the middle of the night looking for food.
The work pace in a restaurant is not something that I can mentally prepare myself for, and I am starting to think working in that particular pastry station is just a bad idea. The hot kitchen cooks who had to cover the pastry station didn't enjoy doing it, the manager who was send into the kitchen to learn to ropes also wasn't interested in getting back into the pastry station to work after my replacement yesterday asked her to help out, no one wants to work in that pastry kitchen because no one wants to be stuck doing a 2 man job for 12 hours alone. And it also doesn't help that the 3 newly hired pastry cooks were send to the other outlet... leaving my side with only me as the full fledged pastry cook.
That's a valid reason to quit, overworked and underpaid... and I'm not even working there on a daily basis for 12 hours a day, I'm only doing an average of 6 hours for 2 day a week, and for that 6 hours, I am always working my ass off, it's no wonder the full time hot kitchen cook who has to take over my side when I am either not working or am knocking off for work can be such a dick at times.
Good thing is now my priority isn't for the restaurant but for the other pastry shop central kitchen. Hopefully that one goes well... and if it doesn't, that's what my Singapore Polytechnic Diploma there for... to fall back on.
The idea of New Year only makes an impact on students, for me it is anyway because that just means I have to wake up early at 6 am and go back to school the next day.
Like how animals view time, the new year isn't really doing anything special for me... probably because I don't actually have much of a social life so there's nothing to look back to and reminiscence. And new year resolutions are essentially things you can do the year before but decide not to and leave it for 2014 like the procrastinators you are.
I have never bothered to make a resolution before because I know I am not going to follow through with the list of things I have written down.
1. Make a million dollar by the end of the year.
2. Be a better person and open up a charitable organisation.
3. Donate a million dollar to my own charitable organisation.
4. Make my charitable organisation global and collect donations from everyone around the world.
5. Embezzle the money from the organisation.
6. Built a rocket to fly to space and built an empire on Mars.
Sounds legit.
Was busy working on New Year's Eve because I had forgotten it was a public holiday that day, and not surprisingly, there were a lot of customers during lunch time, my work timing was extended due to insufficient manpower and I ended up working an extra half an hour, probably unpaid. The day before I had to work an extra 2 hours, fully paid of course but at the expense of my lunch break being pushed all the way back from 4 pm to 6 pm... which is technically makes it dinner. I did not get a good night sleep that night, woke up in the middle of the night looking for food.
The work pace in a restaurant is not something that I can mentally prepare myself for, and I am starting to think working in that particular pastry station is just a bad idea. The hot kitchen cooks who had to cover the pastry station didn't enjoy doing it, the manager who was send into the kitchen to learn to ropes also wasn't interested in getting back into the pastry station to work after my replacement yesterday asked her to help out, no one wants to work in that pastry kitchen because no one wants to be stuck doing a 2 man job for 12 hours alone. And it also doesn't help that the 3 newly hired pastry cooks were send to the other outlet... leaving my side with only me as the full fledged pastry cook.
That's a valid reason to quit, overworked and underpaid... and I'm not even working there on a daily basis for 12 hours a day, I'm only doing an average of 6 hours for 2 day a week, and for that 6 hours, I am always working my ass off, it's no wonder the full time hot kitchen cook who has to take over my side when I am either not working or am knocking off for work can be such a dick at times.
Good thing is now my priority isn't for the restaurant but for the other pastry shop central kitchen. Hopefully that one goes well... and if it doesn't, that's what my Singapore Polytechnic Diploma there for... to fall back on.
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
Career Switch soon...?
Spend pretty much the last week staying at home doing absolutely nothing productive, it's like reliving the days before I enlisted into the army, except now I'm no longer playing any MMOs so my time now passes by even more slowly.
Been playing a bit of Minecraft lately in my time of idleness, attempted to built a roller coaster that wasn't as roller coaster as I had hoped it would be.
The reason why I have such a long break is because I told my Head Chef that I will be unavailable for the Christmas period, mainly because I want to avoid the Christmas crowd, which I am not sure if there are many or not, a legitimate question, since I pretty much spend my Christmas at home doing exactly what I am doing now... and I assume most people would spend their Christmas at home having dinner with their families like mine during Christmas Eve.
Plus I am about to quit soon in about a week or two and I would rather have them not call me back for anymore shift even though I told them I was available for 3 more shift slots, which I am not really excited to be slotted for. Just let me go sooner, it will happen eventually, whether it's amicable or not I still don't know... the last one who quit did not go amicably and the reason the Chef Trainer gave me was because she had "girl problems", which I initially thought was menstrual problem because in my head, I just made that connection. But it obviously wasn't, the only time that reason worked was in Secondary School during Swimming... a reason I was almost going to give to the teachers to be excused from Swimming myself until I realized I lacked the necessary body parts required for that to happen.
I actually managed to find work in a Pastry Central Kitchen for a pastry shop a few days ago where the pay is higher and the stress level is hopefully lower, they are paying me a dollar more per hour than my current restaurant, which when I calculated and converted to a per month salary, is still below minimum wage, I love baking but I also like having cash in my bank account every now and then for spending. I couldn't spend my money this month and last without feeling guilty after hitting the "Accept" button for my credit card credentials confirmation... Minecraft was not cheap and I don't like getting games from Piratebay, it would really suck if I were to have built an empire in Minecraft only to have the game crash and lose all it's data because of some bug. I probably won't have the patience to "built an empire", I can't even built a proper house without restarting the game but I like to be safe in the miraculous event I do built an empire.
And so I have decided to give my career as a Pastry Cook a 3 - 6 months probation period before deciding if it's worth it ,monetary wise, because right now, it's not. My last pay check was only $200, granted I didn't work much because the Chef Trainer only gave me like a few days worth of work, half of which I worked my ass off in the kitchen. I did not feel good receiving that salary at all. 3 to 6 months in the new Pastry Central Kitchen to see if it's because the current restaurant I am working in is just shit or I am the one who is a shit asset to the F&B industry.
Good thing I have my Diploma in Interior Design. In the beginning, I had this constant nagging feeling because I did not give the F&B industry a chance and instead just gave up on it entirely, that's partly why I hated my Interior Design job so much, but now that I have and so far it's not looking very good, if I were to actually go back to Interior Design, I will definitely be more open to learning the ropes... except maybe not in the same company anymore because I seriously can't stand the people there.
Passion or Pay. I would go with the latter and do the former at home, during my free time and actually be able to enjoy doing it instead of getting a panic attack because "the customers have already been waiting for an hour... no pressure but hurry up with the other seven million orders as well"
Been playing a bit of Minecraft lately in my time of idleness, attempted to built a roller coaster that wasn't as roller coaster as I had hoped it would be.
The reason why I have such a long break is because I told my Head Chef that I will be unavailable for the Christmas period, mainly because I want to avoid the Christmas crowd, which I am not sure if there are many or not, a legitimate question, since I pretty much spend my Christmas at home doing exactly what I am doing now... and I assume most people would spend their Christmas at home having dinner with their families like mine during Christmas Eve.
Plus I am about to quit soon in about a week or two and I would rather have them not call me back for anymore shift even though I told them I was available for 3 more shift slots, which I am not really excited to be slotted for. Just let me go sooner, it will happen eventually, whether it's amicable or not I still don't know... the last one who quit did not go amicably and the reason the Chef Trainer gave me was because she had "girl problems", which I initially thought was menstrual problem because in my head, I just made that connection. But it obviously wasn't, the only time that reason worked was in Secondary School during Swimming... a reason I was almost going to give to the teachers to be excused from Swimming myself until I realized I lacked the necessary body parts required for that to happen.
I actually managed to find work in a Pastry Central Kitchen for a pastry shop a few days ago where the pay is higher and the stress level is hopefully lower, they are paying me a dollar more per hour than my current restaurant, which when I calculated and converted to a per month salary, is still below minimum wage, I love baking but I also like having cash in my bank account every now and then for spending. I couldn't spend my money this month and last without feeling guilty after hitting the "Accept" button for my credit card credentials confirmation... Minecraft was not cheap and I don't like getting games from Piratebay, it would really suck if I were to have built an empire in Minecraft only to have the game crash and lose all it's data because of some bug. I probably won't have the patience to "built an empire", I can't even built a proper house without restarting the game but I like to be safe in the miraculous event I do built an empire.
And so I have decided to give my career as a Pastry Cook a 3 - 6 months probation period before deciding if it's worth it ,monetary wise, because right now, it's not. My last pay check was only $200, granted I didn't work much because the Chef Trainer only gave me like a few days worth of work, half of which I worked my ass off in the kitchen. I did not feel good receiving that salary at all. 3 to 6 months in the new Pastry Central Kitchen to see if it's because the current restaurant I am working in is just shit or I am the one who is a shit asset to the F&B industry.
Good thing I have my Diploma in Interior Design. In the beginning, I had this constant nagging feeling because I did not give the F&B industry a chance and instead just gave up on it entirely, that's partly why I hated my Interior Design job so much, but now that I have and so far it's not looking very good, if I were to actually go back to Interior Design, I will definitely be more open to learning the ropes... except maybe not in the same company anymore because I seriously can't stand the people there.
Passion or Pay. I would go with the latter and do the former at home, during my free time and actually be able to enjoy doing it instead of getting a panic attack because "the customers have already been waiting for an hour... no pressure but hurry up with the other seven million orders as well"
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Not dedicated to just ranting...
It's pretty obvious from the last few post that I've written (which I have reconverted back into a draft because I sound like a super annoying whiner).... I'm not having the grandest time working in a restaurant.
Which is why I have decided to leave the restaurant and look for work in a Pastry Shop rather than in a Pastry Kitchen in a restaurant that happens to serve desserts on the side. Was asked by my manager why I wanted to quit and I told her because of the level of stress I was going through, to which she replied...
"It's only because of the promotion period, that's why it's so rush, after that everything won't be so busy anymore."
... to which I couldn't use the stress as an excuse and had to quickly think of another answer, which is because their pastry kitchen isn't really a kitchen I want to work in. It's just a small section in a restaurant and the truth is, (I didn't tell her this part but said something similar) choosing to work there was my last option when I was sending out my resume after completing my certificate program. None of the other bakeries I applied to got back to me and only the restaurant did.
And what happens when you have to settle for something less than what you wanted... a repeat of my interior design work life... granted the people in my restaurant are much friendlier than those in my interior design firm... well the waiters, managers and the part-timers are anyways, the full time cooks on the other hand are a different story, probably because they are on the verge of losing their sanity from working 10 to 12 hours everyday non-stop in the kitchen. Which is why now I feel for cooks working in a busy restaurant on the weekends, I have been there and it's not fun to be stuck in that situation of having just completed an order, only to have 3 new ones pop up.... the most being 6 popping up at once because the table of friends all ordered different types of desserts.
The good thing is that the kitchen has finally found more part time pastry cooks, all 3 happen to be friends with each other... and my Chef Trainer showed up today to over look how they work, all I can say is if I were to be spoken to like that on my first day, I would probably quit the following week. They are just students who are working to make some extra money on the side while waiting for their A Level results, not doing it to support their family or whatever super important reason.
It's only their second day of work and she was really strict with their attire, from their Chef Uniform to their hair, to the shoes they were wearing and her tone was really fierce as well... completely different from when she was teaching me and the first pastry cook I was working with. The manager told her to be firm with the employees and she is now really showing her authoritative figure, but I would tone it down a little considering the fact that you are speaking to a dying breed of cooks in your restaurant that you are severely lacking... the last thing you want to do is scare them off.
The fact that they are all friends makes it even more dangerous because if you were to offend one, it's equivalent to offending all 3, and if all 3 of them left, the pastry kitchen will be royally screwed over. They are in the process of opening a second branch... I don't know how they are going to be able to operate it when their first branch is already running low on manpower.
I actually felt a bit bad for the new cooks, it's the same feeling I get when I just finished my Basic Military Training and I see new recruits lining up outside the Ferry Terminal waiting to board the Ferry to get stuck in Tekong for their confinement period for the next few weeks before being able to come back to Mainland Singapore again. You feel bad for them, but you are glad you are not them, but in the case of the pastry cook, I feel bad for them and myself because we are all stuck in the same situation, except I actually understand the consequences of working there in the long run.
In the past it was always the restaurant who was managing my schedule, now they are planning my schedule around my free time... and that was before I told them I was going to quit, after telling them, they are begging me to stay a little longer, which I agreed to because I am a bloody idiot. It's not going to happen though, the moment I get my pay check for the month, I am out of that place and will start cooking up some excuse as to why I can't go back there.
I am leaving the job because of the stressful environment caused by both the work pace, with their "freshly baked as you order" motto which I can seriously do without, there is a difference between freshly baked everyday with things like cakes and tarts and freshly baked as you order which are items like souffles, and I would much rather be doing the former than the latter anytime....and the people, mainly the full timer, more mainly the hot kitchen cook, who are on the verge of having a mental breakdown, there's no way I am going to go back there. I thought working in a new restaurant that just set up was a good idea, I was wrong.
Which is why I have decided to leave the restaurant and look for work in a Pastry Shop rather than in a Pastry Kitchen in a restaurant that happens to serve desserts on the side. Was asked by my manager why I wanted to quit and I told her because of the level of stress I was going through, to which she replied...
"It's only because of the promotion period, that's why it's so rush, after that everything won't be so busy anymore."
... to which I couldn't use the stress as an excuse and had to quickly think of another answer, which is because their pastry kitchen isn't really a kitchen I want to work in. It's just a small section in a restaurant and the truth is, (I didn't tell her this part but said something similar) choosing to work there was my last option when I was sending out my resume after completing my certificate program. None of the other bakeries I applied to got back to me and only the restaurant did.
And what happens when you have to settle for something less than what you wanted... a repeat of my interior design work life... granted the people in my restaurant are much friendlier than those in my interior design firm... well the waiters, managers and the part-timers are anyways, the full time cooks on the other hand are a different story, probably because they are on the verge of losing their sanity from working 10 to 12 hours everyday non-stop in the kitchen. Which is why now I feel for cooks working in a busy restaurant on the weekends, I have been there and it's not fun to be stuck in that situation of having just completed an order, only to have 3 new ones pop up.... the most being 6 popping up at once because the table of friends all ordered different types of desserts.
The good thing is that the kitchen has finally found more part time pastry cooks, all 3 happen to be friends with each other... and my Chef Trainer showed up today to over look how they work, all I can say is if I were to be spoken to like that on my first day, I would probably quit the following week. They are just students who are working to make some extra money on the side while waiting for their A Level results, not doing it to support their family or whatever super important reason.
It's only their second day of work and she was really strict with their attire, from their Chef Uniform to their hair, to the shoes they were wearing and her tone was really fierce as well... completely different from when she was teaching me and the first pastry cook I was working with. The manager told her to be firm with the employees and she is now really showing her authoritative figure, but I would tone it down a little considering the fact that you are speaking to a dying breed of cooks in your restaurant that you are severely lacking... the last thing you want to do is scare them off.
The fact that they are all friends makes it even more dangerous because if you were to offend one, it's equivalent to offending all 3, and if all 3 of them left, the pastry kitchen will be royally screwed over. They are in the process of opening a second branch... I don't know how they are going to be able to operate it when their first branch is already running low on manpower.
I actually felt a bit bad for the new cooks, it's the same feeling I get when I just finished my Basic Military Training and I see new recruits lining up outside the Ferry Terminal waiting to board the Ferry to get stuck in Tekong for their confinement period for the next few weeks before being able to come back to Mainland Singapore again. You feel bad for them, but you are glad you are not them, but in the case of the pastry cook, I feel bad for them and myself because we are all stuck in the same situation, except I actually understand the consequences of working there in the long run.
In the past it was always the restaurant who was managing my schedule, now they are planning my schedule around my free time... and that was before I told them I was going to quit, after telling them, they are begging me to stay a little longer, which I agreed to because I am a bloody idiot. It's not going to happen though, the moment I get my pay check for the month, I am out of that place and will start cooking up some excuse as to why I can't go back there.
I am leaving the job because of the stressful environment caused by both the work pace, with their "freshly baked as you order" motto which I can seriously do without, there is a difference between freshly baked everyday with things like cakes and tarts and freshly baked as you order which are items like souffles, and I would much rather be doing the former than the latter anytime....and the people, mainly the full timer, more mainly the hot kitchen cook, who are on the verge of having a mental breakdown, there's no way I am going to go back there. I thought working in a new restaurant that just set up was a good idea, I was wrong.
Monday, 25 November 2013
Work and Drive
Things are probably not going to go well for me in my working life...
Last week I was warned by my Chef Trainer that I might get fired by the management.... well she didn't actually say I will get fired, more of a general warning that the management might fire people who have "inflexible" work hours. What she was trying to tell me essentially is that the company wants to have full control of everyone's work schedule, so if they want me to work at night, I will not be in the position to say "No" otherwise I won't have a position in the restaurant anymore.
I am currently only working the morning shift because I really don't want to go home in the evening during peak hours and also morning shift is really the most peaceful shift to get as a Pastry Cook because no one orders desserts in the afternoon, well no one really orders desserts during dinner time as well from what I have deduced when the chef trainer ask me to prepare less batter.... like a lot less than normal. The total amount of dessert order we had on the first week was less than the amount of desserts the batter I prepare in the morning could make for a day.
So I do get really bored in the morning when I am awaiting new orders, because all I do is wait and stare at the shoppers that walk past the time, sometimes I get so bored I start helping the hot kitchen clean up their used utensils, which in turn causes my eczema to flare up like a bitch thanks the to dish washing liquids.
Today I went for my driving Theory Practice and Evaluation. I failed the latter because I didn't have enough time to complete the former. I actually failed by one question... so depressing because the instructor actually allowed me to complete my Practice after he saw me fail my evaluation and I realized I could have probably gotten at least a 95% passing mark had I gone through the entire Practice run.
Going through the entire Practice in one seating is probably not going to be sufficient though, we had 4 booklets to go through within 45 minutes, the first three has 70 questions and the last has 40... which gives us a total of 250 questions. I know I am really fast when it comes to taking exam papers in School, I can literally finish my math paper in under and hour and have an additional hour and 45 minutes trying my hardest to fall asleep but failing horribly... like the math paper I just completed in under an hour.... but I can't go through 250 questions in 45 minutes... even if they are all MCQs.
So now I have to re-book another Theory Evaluation time slot, except I can't at this point in time because I still have yet to receive the work schedule for this week. Messaged my Chef Trainer at 6.30pm to ask if i have any schedule for tomorrow and she has yet to reply. Silence usually means consent, but in this case it's probably a sign that I am one step closer to getting fired.
Last week I was warned by my Chef Trainer that I might get fired by the management.... well she didn't actually say I will get fired, more of a general warning that the management might fire people who have "inflexible" work hours. What she was trying to tell me essentially is that the company wants to have full control of everyone's work schedule, so if they want me to work at night, I will not be in the position to say "No" otherwise I won't have a position in the restaurant anymore.
I am currently only working the morning shift because I really don't want to go home in the evening during peak hours and also morning shift is really the most peaceful shift to get as a Pastry Cook because no one orders desserts in the afternoon, well no one really orders desserts during dinner time as well from what I have deduced when the chef trainer ask me to prepare less batter.... like a lot less than normal. The total amount of dessert order we had on the first week was less than the amount of desserts the batter I prepare in the morning could make for a day.
So I do get really bored in the morning when I am awaiting new orders, because all I do is wait and stare at the shoppers that walk past the time, sometimes I get so bored I start helping the hot kitchen clean up their used utensils, which in turn causes my eczema to flare up like a bitch thanks the to dish washing liquids.
Today I went for my driving Theory Practice and Evaluation. I failed the latter because I didn't have enough time to complete the former. I actually failed by one question... so depressing because the instructor actually allowed me to complete my Practice after he saw me fail my evaluation and I realized I could have probably gotten at least a 95% passing mark had I gone through the entire Practice run.
Going through the entire Practice in one seating is probably not going to be sufficient though, we had 4 booklets to go through within 45 minutes, the first three has 70 questions and the last has 40... which gives us a total of 250 questions. I know I am really fast when it comes to taking exam papers in School, I can literally finish my math paper in under and hour and have an additional hour and 45 minutes trying my hardest to fall asleep but failing horribly... like the math paper I just completed in under an hour.... but I can't go through 250 questions in 45 minutes... even if they are all MCQs.
So now I have to re-book another Theory Evaluation time slot, except I can't at this point in time because I still have yet to receive the work schedule for this week. Messaged my Chef Trainer at 6.30pm to ask if i have any schedule for tomorrow and she has yet to reply. Silence usually means consent, but in this case it's probably a sign that I am one step closer to getting fired.
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