THe devil you know vs. The devil you don't

A few months ago I was bitching about my boss and is lack of moving forward. My friend said something very important and I did not realize it at the time, " It could be worse". I couldn't imagine work being any worse with a new Chef. Boy Did I learn a lesson.

The owner hired this kid with a great resume. First off a resume should get you a interview, not a job. I have a huge problem with resume Chefs. They all think they dont have to work since they washed dishes at some 3 star European bistro. Fuck them. Anyway this kid thinks he is Hot shit and is not afraid to tell you. That would not be so bad if he had the ability to teach others, mange his time, even order properly. He likes to sit in the office and wait until 430 to start dinner prep, he over orders to the point that boxes are stacked so high they block the light and you must use you cell phone as a flashlight to see anything in the walk-in.

My biggest problem is he is unreliable. He will tell you he will do something and then never do it. WTF? If you say you will stop at the produce stand, well then stop there because I am not. If you say you will be in at 10am, be there at 9:59. If you say you are going to change the schedule, then change it. We have ran out of bacon twice this month even after he said he would order it... all he has to do is say pork belly in the phone and that is it. Someone else takes care of it.

Before he started I spent a few days writing a "101" for my restaurant. He read none of it. He has asked me questions about how things get done, all of which were in the 101. I now tell him to refer back to the booklet. I am being a dick, but every time he opens it he will hopefully see something else he should be doing. Allot of time was spent writing down the little things to look for, he is did not read a page of it. (If anyone wants it I will be happy to email to them.)

A few weeks ago I started getting the phone calls and emails about this kid and his fucking attitude from former employees. Funny how you can go from restaurant to restaurant and make only enemies. I will never understand that. Most of you I know from working together, a few of you for over 10 years.

He also likes to lie to me and thinks I don't pick up on it. We got a "fresh" truffle in and I put it in some rice. he told me that he likes to order a whole bunch and then cryo and freeze them. I explained that we get an order twice a week and serve less then 50 people a night, so why buy $300 worth of truffle to put in the freezer? He ordered it anyway and told me that one of the top reps in the country fucked up the order. He also made a statement about "empty space" on the produce shelves. As you all know we now have produce from floor to ceiling and throw out half cases at a time due to them rotting.

He spent an entire week doing nothing but prep for the new menu and when the day came to change it he had nothing ready and as soon as the owner left he ran out front to talk with the servers about God knows what. The other Sous flipped out and almost walked, luckily the pastry chef was there and calmed him down. When dinner finally came around he wasn't even close to being prepared.... I flipped out told him off and walked out at 815. The first course had just left, should have went out at 730, and he still did not have the second course ready. I couldn't take it anymore. My speech went something like this:

"You little egotistical asshole, you walked around here all week pretending to be working on this menu and you were really doing nothing. You have let this entire restaurant family down because your giant ego and laziness. The difference between a Man and a boy is that a Man's ego is smaller then his cock, think how far you have to go to shrink your ego that small..BOY. This restaurant is already 4 bells, only an idiot could fuck that up."

I have never done anything like that before and I am not proud of it in the least. I only hope it knocked some sense into him.

He has a few positives, he can write great menus(although execution is a problem) and he has made the entire kitchen staff work as one unit, excluding him. And the fact that the sheltered 24 year old, who lives at home, cuts the crust off his sandwiches and drinks chocolate milk out of a coffee cup to fit in with the rest of us, has bad things to say should sum it up for everyone. I have never heard him say anything mean about anyone before. Actually I did not think he knew how to say anything but nice things.

The Good(?) news.. I have found another job at a great restaurant and a talented chef. It is sad to leave my home of two years, I love working there so much. The freedom there is like no other and I will miss it. I also hate that a little douche bag has made me quit. Well he really has not, if I stay I will run him out of there and that will not go over well with the owner. I would rather leave now on good terms then bad terms later. I would like to think I would go back someday, but I think what is so hard is that I doubt I will.

In summary- I will take a lazy EC anyday. At least I will know what will get done on my days off and expect it. The EC that says he will do something and does not.... he is a douche bag and will constantly be looking for another job.

Thank you all for reading this, I feel so much better venting it all out. Have a great week Chefs