# How bad is it being a line cook??



## cook-jetto

I know places like apple'bees ( thats it) that has line cooking and heavely is based on that.

Any more franchizes that are based on that?

But how boring/bad is it?


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## chrose

As I recall the very last thing line cooking is, is boring! Especially if you work at a chain! You won't have time to be bored. Line cooking no matter where you work is a challenging job. It may be the simplest menu in the world, but when you get a ton of chits thrown at you, special requests, you run out of mis en place, someone gets hurt, has to go to the bathroom etc. The air goes out, the suppression system fires, there is a fire, you're short staffed, you get buried, the person next to you is new and getting buried, you run out of pans, plates, you're hung over etc, etc, etc.... sound boring yet? :crazy: :beer: 
I'm not sure to what places you could possibly be referring to but every kitchen has a line of some sort, even the most high end of places. Bottom line...sometimes it's slow, but never boring!


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## suzanne

Before I move this where it belongs  I'll give my 2 cents: chrose is right on!  I never worked at a chain, but believe me, there is nothing boring about being a line cook.

EVERY PLACE has line cooks. Oh, sure, in some restaurants they may be called chefs, but really, everybody who cooks in a restaurant is a line cook. In some places you crank out the same dishes time after time, day after day. Is that boring? Not really, because sometimes you have to do 10 plates in one minute, and sometimes you have 10 minutes between plates. You start to make up games, like How fast can I do this? or How much extra care can I take to fill the time? And as chrose said, if you really have a lot of time on your hands, the sous chef or kitchen manager or chef will notice, and BOOM! you've got to prep a case of corn during your "downtime." And of course, as soon as you start the prepping, a zillion tickets come in and you're busting out the plates again -- except that the sous still expects you to prep that corn!

So it's a lot of fun, and always exciting. And if it isn't exciting, you and the other line cooks will figure out ways to make it exciting. :lol: 

Now: is it BAD????? :look: Depends on how you look at it. I loved the time I worked the line (sometimes grill, sometimes sauté, sometimes working the wood-burning oven). It could drive me crazy, it could make me want to scream (like when an order came in for something normally sauteed and served with vegs warmed in beurre montee, but with the note: No fat.  ). But the joy of making delicious, beautiful food for people to enjoy -- there's nothing like it! (Well, as I said, I never worked at a chain. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: )

And now I'm moving this where it belongs.


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## dano1

i'd rather be on the line than anywhere else. No better legal high i can think of . 

Boring? as said, no way. Bad? if you find it that way maybe the kitchen's not the right place to be. 
hth


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## pete

The line is where it all happens, where it all comes together. It is the funnest place in a restaurant as far as I am concerned. Ask most chefs and they will tell you that they miss being able to work the line on a regular basis.


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## cook-jetto

yea thx guyz. It just sounded boring doing the same thing day-after day. Being in one spot..thats what I thought it was all about.


I guess it isnt bad nor boring.

And I guess everyone is somewhat of a line cook when you thin kabout it...


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## mikefly

now he said applebees line, at one point in my career i was stuck having to work at one and yes there high paced but a bit boreing due to the fact that that other then the boriler were i was stuck everything is pre-fab there is absolutly no creative cooking involved on a corprate line!!!! so if thats what your refering to then yes corprate lines are boring to the mind!!!!


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## rivitman

Well, first, you must be able to distinguish between "bad" and "hard".

"hard" meaning the work can be physically demanding, sometimes painfull and a lot of stress.

"Bad" can mean you have lousy ingrediants tp work with, screwed up mise en place, broken equipment, a crummy waitstaff, a psycho chef, or worst of all, a machiavellian psychopath for an owner.


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## skeleton

Good lord! You've exactly described my former workplace!

Add to that ignorant clientele, and shifty payroll procedures, and you have my personal ****. I stayed 8 months because I liked the guys on the line, but boy am I EVER glad I got out of there.


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## canadianfem

What would you rate the stress level at out of a 10 to be a line cook. Is it not stressful because you become accustom to the speed of things?

Also, do tensions rise often in the kitchen or does everyone know their job and it generally runs smoothly?

I read Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". Sounds like the kitchen can be a very wacky and high stress place?? It appears alot depends on the owners and how knowledgeable they are.

Would love to know more


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## rivitman

Stress is relative when cooking. There is pressure but it can actually be heathly and not debilitating. You do get used to it, you have to.

Tension?

Betweeen cooks?
Only if there is a slacker in the ranks or someone with an attitude problem dragging down the whole kitchen. With a good chef or sous, they don't last long.

A knowledgeable owner who sincerely loves food, shares information and actually understands what kitchen work really is can be a big help, and is nice to have.
Any other kind, especially bottom liner,s are generally a pain in the *** on one end of the spectrum, to totally destructive and an impediment to everything i stand for on the other. But even they can be tolerated as long as they don't meddle in kitchen operation and leave the Chef and cooks alone.


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## markco

We all started as line cooks,we learned to organize,learn to be fast,new menus,sauces,soups,etc.A professional cook starts as a line cook or prep cook,line cooking is where any chef begins,as one who teaches cooking,I line cook is always organize,quick,learns fast any new skill,life is what one makes it,boring,asks to do something new,salad bar,deli bar,catering preperation,offering to help others if not busy. :chef:


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## suchef

Wow, reading this thread brings back memories!!! I'm on off premise caterer now, but 25 years ago I started as garde manger, then elevated to souschef , (nice way to say line cook), in a very small restaurant working alongside a crazy, but intelligent, owner. Moving on to a kitchen manager with 4 - 19year old guys on the line...that was an experience...and people wonder why I never like to sunbathe??? Maybe all that time spent in front of the salamander..LOL!

But there is nothing like the high of plating 200 fine dining meals a night, you all work in such synchronicity...like a crazy ballet. A stressful, physically and mentally draining job at times, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world!

On the downside...any wonder why so many chefs are burnouts??? Just reality folks.


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## andrew563

For me I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 for stress. Stress level of 1 if you have your mise together, everyone else has there mise. if all the equipment is running right, no one is hungover(not too bad at least), and you have a nice full dining room. I would say 1. If all of these conditions are the complete oppostie 10. It usually falls somewhere inbetween.


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## maniclowery

I loved that book.

Their is nothing better than the feel and high you get from working in a kitchen that runs like a well oiled machine!!! That feeling you get when you are part of a team that is so fast, skilled, and culinary savvy enough to take on anything. You would think that most people that get to experience that feeling just once....would never leave the restaurant industry, always staying in hopes that they could feel it over and over. That place where the metal hits the meat is a Great place to be on a Friday night, however their is a price to pay in the way you feel when you get "In the Weeds" and you cant get out until the doors close to the place at the end of the night. Either way its worth it all! I got my first job at the age of 15 at a truck stop washing dishes, and walked on the line 2 weeks later and never looked back. It has been an awesome journey, and the good has always out weighed the bad.:bounce::bounce::bounce:


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## pembroke

Depends if you're creative or not. If your idea of fun is to open a SOP manual and cook by numbers you'll be fine, and god help you if you add 1 extra ounce of xyz. Think you can plate the food better of garnish nicer than the manual you'll quickly be in trouble. Move away from chain restaurants and work where your talent and input is appreciated might be better. I find that only 20% of cooks are willing to use their day off to create new menus, most are happy to cook what ever you tell them; I'm different, I want to cook the food I decide to put on a menu, not someone elses idea of 'perfect' food. That is the biggest difference I've found in 25 years of cooking.


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## maniclowery

I have done both. No matter how you look at it their is always some sort of a number guideline you must follow. If you are in a applebees, you will have very strict portions to follow. I worked for the cheesecake factory for a bit and a cook would not work a station if he could not pass a written tests on ingredients and portion sizes. As a line cook you will never set the portions. You will not decide menu costs. Their will always be some sort of portion control point to follow. Even if you work for a private restaurant, a line cook will not be too creative of a position. With that being said, only a foolish chef would stifle a cooks thoughts. I encourage my lead line cooks every day to challenge the ideas of creativity. I love all ideas. If they are anything like myself, as a line cook they will challenge their chef daily with new ideas, new creations, and better ways to save money. Someday they will have line cooks doing the same for them. Their is not to many line cooks that get to express creativity. If they did they would be called chefs. I work at home on a regular basis with recipes and menus, cook for seniors every month, special dinner events at home, friends weddings for 500, and on and on and on. My whole life revolves around food. I dint feel i am unique in that when i go to work its like going to a playground where the slides are Vulcan ovens, the flour bin is a sand box, and a catering van is a overgrown tonka toy. I love food!!! If you do as well.......Then any amount of stress you get is worth it! You might find yourself on the wheel calling out the orders, 78 tickets hanging, and another 40 in your fist. Your heart beating fast at the fear of failing and having someone push you out of the way to show you how its done. If this happens and you show up the next day. This line of work is meant for you. i will stop going on about this, but If by chance you are anything like me, you will love being a line cook no matter where you cook.


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## maniclowery

I guess i could of just said ...Ya gatta start somewhere lol


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## leeniek

I love being on the line! I love everything about it.. the pace, the fact that I can play with my food all day and get paid to do it... you name it! I work for a chain so I know all about the portion control, uniformity, etc.. but we do have some creativity in our job. The person on eggs (usually me) can create an omelette special from Monday-Friday and I can use pretty much every ingredient we have onhand, save for smoked salmon as it is rather expensive. Same with the person on the lunch station.. they can create a daily quiche special using the same guidelines as the omelette as for ingredients. We've also recently began making the switch from the campbell's soups to homemade soup for our soup of the day, and the KM told me that if I want to make the soup for the day to feel free and jump in and well I have been and I love it! I love making food that people enjoy. The other thing about the chain I am at (and I think this in general is the exception when it comes to chains) is that anyone can send recipe suggestions to her (we are a breakfast and lunch place but really it's mostly all day breakfast) and she does look at all of them and if she thinks it fits in with the concept, then she'll try them out on the menu as a montly special.


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## rat

Never booring as long as you work with a good brigade. Booring yes when you do not get any input and make the same dish for years on end which is what I think you will find cooking in a chain type restaurnant.


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## allumirati

Rivitman said:


> Well, first, you must be able to distinguish between "bad" and "hard".
> 
> "hard" meaning the work can be physically demanding, sometimes painfull and a lot of stress.
> 
> "Bad" can mean you have lousy ingrediants tp work with, screwed up mise en place, broken equipment, a crummy waitstaff, a psycho chef, or worst of all, a machiavellian psychopath for an owner.


Sounds like where I work...lol.


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## llamabox

mikefly said:


> now he said applebees line, at one point in my career i was stuck having to work at one and yes there high paced but a bit boreing due to the fact that that other then the boriler were i was stuck everything is pre-fab there is absolutly no creative cooking involved on a corprate line!!!! so if thats what your refering to then yes corprate lines are boring to the mind!!!!


This is along the lines where my questions would lie. All of my cooking experience lies with these types of chain restaurants. I have worked in most all positions in the store over the years, but would I be able to transfer this experience to a fine dining more professional restaurant?


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## need2cook

Wow there is a lot of positive feedback on here. I have worked in kitchens for three years and just recently have had the opportunity to start working on the line. For years I feared that It would be to hard and strenuous to work on the line but the day I jumped on I was hooked. I get a rush when tickets are piling up and a stupid grin to match it. I love the feeling of putting the plates together and sending them on there way and this makes all the hard work completely worth it. I have A LOT more to learn and I cant wait.


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## leeniek

I actually miss working on a line sometimes, now that i am not in the restaurant world anymore... mind you I don't miss the annoyances that come with being on a line especially when the other line cooks do not share the same work ethic that I have..


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## etherial

I'm enjoying my first experience as a line cook and I'm having the time of my life.  My motto is "if you can lean, you can clean".  I am training with seasoned line cooks and these guys run on auto-pilot when tickets come in.  I mentally applaud their motions and movements and everything is place precisely where it'll be viewed as an artistic expression.  I have my moments, too, where I'm tossing salads, making "everything" omelettes and today, my first, on-the-spur caramel/coconut flan for dessert.  I had to whip up 30 of them within 45 minutes and get them in the walk-in to chill.  I had to bake off potatoes, make sure the line had it's mise en place before I went on break.  

I knew when I returned from break, I would have to check on the jacketed potatoes I put in the oven, make sure all salad prep was available and ready to go, fix lunch for 12 to go on the second floor, from soup to nuts.  Everything must be ready BEFORE it's time to party, because when the tickets come in, it's party time.

I love going to work for the first time in my life and this is my second career!  Viva la Culinary!


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## akat

never worked at a "chain" shop... but i`m totally addicted. even took a second job so i can get that "thrill" of line work. love it.


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## akat

...oh yeah , if your not happy don't wait, CHANGE RESTAURANTS immediately !

can not stress this enough, if your not happy its because the food is boring. GET OUT NOW.

Food is amazing, cooking is a rush and food is amazing. find the menu you respect and work to make that perrrrrrfect.

Line work is great, the mind turns off and the body knows whats best. Designing menu's is great (that's my main job) but line work is a thrill (that's why I took a second job)


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## akat

... and ! stay in touch with the best cooks from the line, you never know when they might need you , or you might need them. the kitchen world is a very close circle and good contacts will always help you down the line (boom-boom


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## foodislife1

I have been in the food industry for 27 yrs, I have worked in everything from fast food, 4 star, and family owned restaurants/bars. I have waited tables, bar backed, bounced, worked on every station in the kitchen including expediting. I started as a dishwasher/bus boy at age 19 in a Greek family restaurant/bar and worked for them for 4 years. It took me a yr and ½ to become a cook. Since then I have managed 4 kitchens and worked under 3 chefs. I am currently working at a retirement home. If you love a fast pace job with a lot of stress and can’t see yourself sitting at a computer all day, love food, team work,(if you have a good working team), and long hrs, than this is a job for you. I no longer look at it as a job but a career.

Now or the complaints.

#1 Pay sucks. I make just enough to get by and I don’t own a car or cell phone to make payments on. I live alone and have no children to take care of. I have maxed out at $10 an hour and this is what I was making 15 yrs ago.

#2 The industry has been flooded with low wage none English speaking people that take away the possibility to get a raise, (in America). I actually worked at a BW3’s that the head cook told me.” You work here now, you need to learn Spanish.” I told him that he lives here and he needed to learn English. I lasted 8 months.

#3 I’m going catch heck for this but when I started cooking, the kitchen was all men. Since the incorporation of women I have seen the stress of what has to be said around fellow co-workers and have lost a head chef due to rumors of relations between he and a cook. This was not true. I have also come to see that = pay does not = work. Most from what I have seen is the male does all the heavy lifting, (garbage, fryer oil, stock), and the female does not. I know this is not everywhere but I have seen a lot of it.

#4 Most places are under staffed and work with a skeleton crew. Time requested for being off work are hard to come by.


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## harrisonh

at those type places, you're only warming premade food. I'd find it horrendous and mind numbing. Most of that stuff comes from the corporate and is only finished on premesis.

And working the line in a real restaurant is no picnic either. Long hours, no holidays, 140 degree heat, breathing fumes, burned raw fingertips, aching feet, aching legs, super high pressure especially when you're "in the weeds" and the tickets keep coming. Abysmal pay. Managers that want to cut every penny but still have the same quality. Having to deal with fad diets, having to deal with bubbleheaded front of house that promises something that you're 86. You're never going to have a holiday or friday/saturday off and you'll never ever have a mothers day or valentines day off. And that's not even counting accidents such as 2nd degree burns, cuts or broken fingers. It is NOT what it looks like on TV or how the tv advertised schools portray it!!!

 That being said, most of us wouldn't trade it for the world


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## chefross

FoodIsLife1 said:


> I have been in the food industry for 27 yrs, I have worked in everything from fast food, 4 star, and family owned restaurants/bars. I have waited tables, bar backed, bounced, worked on every station in the kitchen including expediting. I started as a dishwasher/bus boy at age 19 in a Greek family restaurant/bar and worked for them for 4 years. It took me a yr and ½ to become a cook. Since then I have managed 4 kitchens and worked under 3 chefs. I am currently working at a retirement home. If you love a fast pace job with a lot of stress and can't see yourself sitting at a computer all day, love food, team work,(if you have a good working team), and long hrs, than this is a job for you. I no longer look at it as a job but a career.
> 
> Now or the complaints.
> 
> #1 Pay sucks. I make just enough to get by and I don't own a car or cell phone to make payments on. I live alone and have no children to take care of. I have maxed out at $10 an hour and this is what I was making 15 yrs ago.
> 
> #2 The industry has been flooded with low wage none English speaking people that take away the possibility to get a raise, (in America). I actually worked at a BW3's that the head cook told me." You work here now, you need to learn Spanish." I told him that he lives here and he needed to learn English. I lasted 8 months.
> 
> #3 I'm going catch heck for this but when I started cooking, the kitchen was all men. Since the incorporation of women I have seen the stress of what has to be said around fellow co-workers and have lost a head chef due to rumors of relations between he and a cook. This was not true. I have also come to see that = pay does not = work. Most from what I have seen is the male does all the heavy lifting, (garbage, fryer oil, stock), and the female does not. I know this is not everywhere but I have seen a lot of it.
> 
> #4 Most places are under staffed and work with a skeleton crew. Time requested for being off work are hard to come by.


Welcome to ChefTalk.

It would seem that your 27 years were filled with lots of experiences, which unfortunately left you with some pretty bad scars.

Many of you complaint points seem based on a circumstances with regard to locations, as not all places are flooded with immigrants.

As for the women thing....again it looks as though you had some experiences that were, not always the norm.

A lot of what you point out is true but again, it has a lot to do with the quality of professionalism in the kitchen.

Even in retirement home cooking you still have to deal with people.

Is there an answer?


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## zapf

I honestly hate and love being a line cook, your the cooking bitch so at some restaurants we all prep but if a ticket comes I would have to go and that's the last place I wanted to be at when the kitchen is at 100f some times. Yet especially at one place I worked at in particular when we got really busy like balls to the wall busy I would be in charge something g about the stress and everyone even your boss is listening to you feels almost blissful, as for corporate places I was talking g to a guy who used to work at Applebees and they have over 6 microwaves! Still cooking and frying but slot of nuking, slot of corporate restaurants that cook stake actually will precook stakes to get marks then have special setting for how done you want it


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## harrisonh

I saw one post about one person complaining about non-English speaking people and needing to learn Spanish

AS I AM TYPING, there is a "Spanish as first language" chef cooking at Beard House.
You don't get to the premier showcase of American food without talent. PERIOD.

Mexican culture is very pro-hospitality and very pro food.
Many Mexicans have also gravitated to our industry because you can advance without having a college degree. Economic disparity has prevented many from going to college, but they are sending their kids through college at a rate higher than the national average. In our industry you've just got to have a good palate, be willing to work long hard hours, and if anyone is willing to have that work ethic, and they are legal, I say more power to them.

If you want to work in a kitchen, we need to put aside prejudice and learn that our industry is one of the few meritocracies in the world. You get by on talent, attitude and work ethic. PERIOD
I would have to agree that the male does the heavy lifting in most kitchens, but not because of chivalry. It's because of sexual dimorphism. Women in general have less upper body strength. But in all the places, I've worked or visited or hung out in, women have the same opportunities as the guys (but they have to be able to handle the foul language, but most female cooks/chefs I know can out cuss me)

I'm semi retired right now, but if you are racist of misogynist, you never would have made it in any of the kitchens I've worked in and you probably need to look for a new line of work


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## zapf

@harrisonh I totally agree with you. A good cook is a good cook no matter what. I worked with a guy who spoke no English but he busted his ass at prep. Another cook translated for us but the reason the work ethic of these immigrants are so high is because for more of the poor families there parents will work hard day and night on the farms to try to push there kids through highschool and if they can't afford it then they to will work the farms and he said that's why he holds his two sons education so high because he can't go get a better job but he can make sure his kids get one. Honestly if everyone in the industry had half the work ethic of that man (Luis and Alvaro are there names) food industry would be a very beautiful place


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## etherial

Rivitman said:


> Well, first, you must be able to distinguish between "bad" and "hard".
> 
> "hard" meaning the work can be physically demanding, sometimes painfull and a lot of stress.
> 
> "Bad" can mean you have lousy ingrediants tp work with, screwed up mise en place, broken equipment, a crummy waitstaff, a psycho chef, or worst of all, a machiavellian psychopath for an owner.


Funny. Don't mean to laugh at you, if this is your place of business, but good God, your descriptions of this place is hysterical.


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## skamper

My earliest memory is of standing on a chair in the kitchen at home, using an electric mixer to make a cake, while my mom watched. I got my first job in a kitchen the summer before 8th grade, at a drive-in where i made burgers, fries, shakes and all the deep-fried things. Now I am 41, I have two university degrees and a culinary school diploma, and I work a very busy brunch line, and I fucking love it. I have always worked in kitchens to support myself, dishwasher, prep, fast food, baking, and line cooking put money in my pockets from 14 until I graduated from university. I was a teacher for 8 years, and started to feel the potential for burn out, so I quit, went to culinary school, and came back to cooking. I took a 2/3 pay cut going from teaching to cooking and I have no regrets.

I have worked in high-end catering, been a kitchen manager, been a dishwasher (again), been a prep cook, worked all the stations on the line for brunch, lunch, and dinner, worked exactly one large-scale corporate gig (for 6 weeks), and now I have my own catering business, run outdoor commissaries for a few festivals, operate as a hired gun for emergency situations (Your KM had a heart attack, 2 cooks went on tour with their band, and another decided to go full-time at their other job, and you need someone on the line for this weekend's brunch, and today is Friday? Okay!) and I work full-time in a kitchen I love.

If I don't like the vibe of a kitchen, I won't work in it. If it takes more than a couple of days for people to get over the fact that I'm a woman and I'm little, I won't stay. The work is hard, but it shouldn't be bad. I absolutely love the rush during Saturday brunch when I'm leading in the midst of a white-out; I've got 40 eggs cooking, some poaching, some easy, some omelettes, some scrambled, some sunny-up and I'm keeping tabs on all of them, on top of making hashes, french toast, rancheros, checking the levels in the steam table, making sure the poach water is okay, washing my hands every chance I get, pulling a pan of hash out of the oven, singing along to whatever is playing on the radio, shaking my booty and getting a little groove going on here and there, and keeping my bill times around 15-17 minutes.

FUCK YES.

The time flies, I gobble a piece of bacon or avocado here and there, I shoot shit with the servers, I guzzle watered-down root beer and watered-down juice, bitch about stupid bills, kick avocado pits under the line fridge so I don't step on them, pick stray bits of eggshell out of cooking eggs and cauterize the nerves in my fingertips just a little bit more, and add to the line of burn scars on my upper inner arm because I'm short and the convection oven is tall and I keep flash pans up there.

And then the last bill is sold and we high five and immediately step outside for 2-3 minutes of sitting in fresh air, smoking half a cigarette, checking text messages, and chatting with the kitchen crew from the burrito shop next door, before taking turns going to the bathroom, refilling our drinks and scoping out the front of house, sweeping the kitchen, restocking the line, wiping it down, and getting ready for the next rush.

Eight hours fly by like 1 or 2, and then a drink at the bar with a freshly washed face, adrenaline still pumping, but slower, and then the exhaustion sets in.

I dunno, that doesn't sound bad to me. It's exhilarating, it's skill-testing, it's physically and mentally draining. But it's not bad. Again, the key for me is to only work in kitchens where I feel good. If the pay is too low (of course it's low for the work we put in, but if it's not on par with what I'm usually paid), if attitudes are poor, if cleanliness isn't important, if egos get in the way of smooth flow, if there's bad blood between the servers and the kitchen, if the schedules are stupid, if dollars come before quality, then yes, it can be bad.

But usually it is very, very good.


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## flipflopgirl

@scamper you just described (the run on sentences kinda bring it all back lol) almost every job I have ever had.

Never worked a line (well not formally and not during a weedy situation) but always bartended high volume clubs, delivered babies at a busy charity hospital (yes the full moon is crazy as well as when hurricanes hit within 50 miles...something to do with the tides and barometric pressure?) , the same hospital but in a trauma ER that supported 4 lifeflight choppers (not babies but on a particular busy nite the organ donation "case manager") and loved every minute of it.

Those that work hard and fast (I saw you kick that pit under the reach in...suppose if you bent over your hair would go up in flames lol) and look up (sometimes 8 but more often longer as always understaffed) and see it is time to go are adrenalin junkies.

Destined to flame out at a young age (my first lumbar fusion was at 36) but what a beautiful flame it is!

mimi

I remember one weekend my father's VFW post needed a bartender for some reason or another.

Full on polka band and the hardest thing I did all nite was walk to the end of the bar for waitress orders.

Went nuts.

Eh.

Donated my time and tips to their "old soldier home" kitty.

m.


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## kidslice

I am gunna post on this after time has passesd now but, I'm 33 years old' and I started washing dishes as most of us have to get a foot in the door if u wanna swing a blade and use fire to make beautiful food that also taste amazing. I was moved to prep after a few years and bouncing from kitchen to kitchen. I landed in a japanese kitchen and was moved into sushi ( lucky me! )after a few months on prep cuz i would run out of things to do. I like to move fast. I was moved to sushi bar and prep for sushi bar. Long story short, i was there for 8 years learned in stages from the roll cheff up to the sashimi cheff and it was an EXPERIENCE . Line werk is only chaos and a shit show when the line has no one who is in control of everyone. Always stressfull and what not. But I'm at a new place and it's super busy and all the chaos u can think of but it's because we don't have things dialed in correctly and u got one guy just not talking or callin out orders or things that take a second to cook so u can fire it and another guy is making shit too fast and then...then u can pretty mutch stop cuz NOTHING IS GUNNA COME OUT ON TIME!!!!!!. Line cooks get a foot in the ass every god damn day ( when it's busy, but if u werk in a super busy place it's every day ) So in short, PROPS TO ALL US LINE COOKS THAT ARE IN THE TRENCHES! It's a job only so few of us can handle day in day out. But god damn don't days off realy feel good right!


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## happyhelen

Painful!  i know what pain is all about!! After spending hours as a line cook my feet were just throbbing!!  Everyday is difficult as the hours are long and the pain increases but its the people you work with that make it worth while!!


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## happyhelen

I too have worked the line at a retirement home -- its all about the team... no room for slackers!  My back and feet are suffering though so have to make a decision about how to handle that going forward.


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## neworleanscookj

Personally I like the line, need that adrenaline rush, but as a longer term goal I'd like to become a private chef rather than moving up the ladder in the restaurant scene. Maybe sous, at a small restaurant... Still going to work lines for the mean time, especially with moving across the country sometime later this year.


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## atatax

To be a good line cook you have to thrive under pressure. The pastry chef at my work picked up a 2nd job during the holiday season because it gets slow here during the winter, so she worked retail during the holiday season and she thought it was hilarious how poorly her coworkers were handling the stress of it. How it was nothing compared to a restaurant and she doesn't even work the line. If you like the pressure, its a fine job except the pay is shit, a lot of people you work with are unprofessional, you'll work with the worst people when working in the food industry, the hours are shit, you'll scar up your hands and arms with burns and cuts and you'll never have most holidays off, never see your mom or SO on mother's day, never have valentine's day off, ect.


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## etherial

Reading the post above regarding scaring up your hands and the "bumping" burns from the oven rack are badges and a signal to be more careful or at least try. It's cool when you're not trying to make ten different salads at once. IMHO, it's all about the team. Have fun while you can.


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## girlcook

Line cook is never boring


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## chefjess606

FoodIsLife1 said:


> I have been in the food industry for 27 yrs, I have worked in everything from fast food, 4 star, and family owned restaurants/bars. I have waited tables, bar backed, bounced, worked on every station in the kitchen including expediting. I started as a dishwasher/bus boy at age 19 in a Greek family restaurant/bar and worked for them for 4 years. It took me a yr and ½ to become a cook. Since then I have managed 4 kitchens and worked under 3 chefs. I am currently working at a retirement home. If you love a fast pace job with a lot of stress and can't see yourself sitting at a computer all day, love food, team work,(if you have a good working team), and long hrs, than this is a job for you. I no longer look at it as a job but a career.
> Now or the complaints.
> #1 Pay sucks. I make just enough to get by and I don't own a car or cell phone to make payments on. I live alone and have no children to take care of. I have maxed out at $10 an hour and this is what I was making 15 yrs ago.
> #2 The industry has been flooded with low wage none English speaking people that take away the possibility to get a raise, (in America). I actually worked at a BW3's that the head cook told me." You work here now, you need to learn Spanish." I told him that he lives here and he needed to learn English. I lasted 8 months.
> #3 I'm going catch heck for this but when I started cooking, the kitchen was all men. Since the incorporation of women I have seen the stress of what has to be said around fellow co-workers and have lost a head chef due to rumors of relations between he and a cook. This was not true. I have also come to see that = pay does not = work. Most from what I have seen is the male does all the heavy lifting, (garbage, fryer oil, stock), and the female does not. I know this is not everywhere but I have seen a lot of it.
> #4 Most places are under staffed and work with a skeleton crew. Time requested for being off work are hard to come by.


Man. As a female head chef, I am going to give you heck for this. Any person in my kitchen, man or woman, is required to do the same amount of work. If you can't pull your weight get out. It is a simple as that.


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## meezenplaz

Ive found the male female thing to be not much of an issue.
The women ive worked with werent afraid to do it all.
Even when they shouldnt have. So there were times i insisted
on doing it. Nothing sexist, they were just co workers who
who were better equipped to do some other task. we all
have our strengths and weaknesses. It evened out.

There was only one exception I can think of, she was a whiny
lazy young thing who found lifting uncomfortable, didnt like
to sweat, and wouldnt chop onions because "I have sensative eyes".
Well duh. Theyre ONIONS. But she wasnt really a cook, just a wannabe
who liked to plate, and serve pretty things to guests and say she
made it.


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## girlcook

As a woman I don't think that's really an issue if your a hard worker. I had ALL my hours taken by the illegal Mexicans at my work. I am the only white girl. I now they are illegal because they all said they were. All of them. I don't know how restaurants get away with that. Yes im a hard worker and even learned fluent Spanish but not happy with hours being cut from 38 to 12 if that. I'm interviewing right now for chef job at a major Marriott Hotel..wish me luck gotta go


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