I'm not sure I'm the best one to help. Here I am with a "Culinary Institute of America" education, probably 4 or 5 times more then what you paid for for the California Culinary Academy, and I'm now doing Cold Fusion Web Development. But to be fair, it's mostly due to a automobile accident that injured my back and prevents me from standing on my feet eight to ten hours at a time any more.
The bad news of the culinary industry 95% of all restaurants fail with in five years. The good news of the culinary industry, there is always another job just down the street. For the ten years I was working in the kitchen (Mid 80's to Mid 90's), when I needed a new job, I would just start walking down the street putting an application in at every restaurant I came to. 4 our of 5 times I would have a job by the end of the day. If he really does love to cook, and I still do and miss the frenzy of the commercial kitchen, let him know to stick with it. I am also slow with a knife, and doubt I was ever going to be fast. But I was a good cook. It just takes planning, I started creating check list so that each day I could plan out all the work I need to do, to have my mis-en-place finished on time for the opening of the dining room. I got to be pretty good at it, and became one of the best prepared cooks on the line, even though I was still the slowest with the knife. It's hackney, but you truly can over come a lot by "working smarter, not faster". I admit I have not looked for a kitchen job in over 5 years now, but I still see allot of restaurants out there. He just need to apply to each and every one until he finds one. With the horrible turn over, there is always another job just down the road. Hope that helps. Been there, experienced that! Ian Skinner -----Original Message----- From: Ben Braver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 9:06 AM To: CF-Community Subject: Seeking a little sympathy hi gang, Another real bummer with the 22-year-old son. He's been working as a banquet cook and fills in at the pantry station in the line restaurant sometimes. It's a "boutique hotel" with a huge, deluxe fitness club attached. The restaurant serves the hotel, the club, and hopefully the general public. But the sales and marketing person (who just got fired) did a lousy job of publicizing it to the community. Between that and the economy, business has been lousy. Most of the restaurant staff have had their hours cut. Yesterday, my son found out he's being laid off (via a voice mail message). So, it's gone from bad (no roommate and not enough hours to make ends meet), to worse (no job). This is the third horse he's had shot out from under him since getting out of the cooking school. He's pretty bummed out. So am I - his moving home would create a virtual (or real) war zone. And subsidizing him until he gets up to speed on a new job (or jobs) and a roommate would be hard financially, especially when we're finally getting a handle on the budjet. <heavy sigh> My wife went over to "just be there" last night. (He only wanted "Mom" there.) She suggested he get real and go for a job at Starbucks or something just to make rent. Yes, I know the economy is rough right now. But I cringe at the idea of financing an education at the California Culinary Academy for him to end up at Starbucks. I think the problem may be that he doesn't have fast enough knife and "production" skills to keep up with the chefs' expectations - he loves food and cooking, but isn't the most coordinated person. (You should see his handwriting!) And he doesn't have the "fire" (drive) and confidence to charge into the typical line kitchen and take it by storm. (Pardon the mixed metaphors.) Yeah, I'm sure it will work out for him and us. Just feeling a little bummed and looking for some kind words from a bunch of great people. Have a nice weekend, everyone. -Ben ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
