# Chef Prank



## vzank (Oct 6, 2002)

Walter Scheib, Chef for George W. Bush was the butt of a practical joke in Paris. A false Bernadette Chirac, (the spouse of the French president) asked Scheib to work at Elysee to cook hamburger and pizzzas to fill the cravings of French President Jacques Chirac.

Scheib accepted the job and went ahead with the request. Soon after, he learned he was filmed for a telivison prank show.

According to the newspaper, the Parisian revealed that Mr. Scheib telephoned the White House, then in turn called the Elysée and asked the televison show not broadcast the foreseen sequence to pass to the screen next Tuesday.

Here is the link in French
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/030828/202/3dcj0.html


----------



## mirepoix man (Jan 26, 2002)

ever send an apprentice out to another restaurant for a "lobster gun"? how about asking the same apprentice for a cup of finely chopped flour or a bucket of steam?

pranks for the uninitiated!


----------



## holydiver (Aug 9, 2000)

I like lightbulb grease and the stove stretcher myself lol.


----------



## chef1x (Dec 4, 2002)

Very cruel.....some chefs are so cruel.
Not me! I could never really stomach pranking newbies. It was too easy; I guess I'm grateful no one ever played cruel tricks on me.
I worked with one meat purveyor who convinced the owner of my restaurant to buy a case of frozen duck legs, right legs only, because they were meatier for the confit. He totally bought it. I didn't even laugh when he told me, I was so dumbfounded. He did figure it out about a day later.


----------



## ironchefatl (Dec 1, 2002)

My Skills Chef instructor sent this one student (who was trying to figure out how to pit an olive) to the Garde Manger kitchen for an olive pitter. The GM chef sent him to another kitchen and then another..finally he came back empty handed, and our phone rang for the next 15 minutes while the chef's called eachother and laughed.


----------



## nathanz (Aug 22, 2003)

this might sound like a tall tale but im giving you an eyewitnes account.

two restaraunts to the same owner very close to each other (we shared a dry storage) the executive chef of the first store(my store) sends a new very green and very nervous server to the second store with an old 5 gallon bucket. along with the bucket she was given strict instructions to fill said bucket to the top with steam, she was also told not to lose any on the way back. when she got to the second store she was told she forgot the lid and was told to get that and return. after being sent back and forth a few times she figured it out, and thanks to her i have at least 1 funny story to tell. thanks linda


----------



## chefbk (Mar 3, 2002)

How about sending a dishwasher to the cooler for the bacon stretcher? 

BK


----------



## phoebe (Jul 3, 2002)

In his autobiography, _The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen_ Jacques Pepin writes that his "initiation" happened during his apprenticeship when he was 14. The chef called him over and told him to run to another hotel to get their "_machine à désossé les poulets_ [chicken-boning machine]" (48). The hotel was across town and from there he was sent to yet another place, and then another, etc. He finally was given a large, closed, very heavy bag which he lugged across town back to his restaurant: 
"Chef, Robert, the other apprentices, and the waitresses were waiting for me. I lowered the bag to the ground with a proud but thoroughly exhausted smile. They stood there, saying nothing. Suddenly, a horrible doubt crossed my mind. I opened the bag. Inside were two cement blocks. Everyone roared with laughter" (49).

I guess it's one way of finding out that you're accepted into the tribe


----------



## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

Bacon stretcher has already been mentioned, but how about sending someone for the banana bender ??


----------



## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

or the broccoli base...


----------



## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

err ironchef, i think there is actually a small device that is a olive pitter.

have seen , have used, hard to explain.

I will try to find a picture

Nick


----------



## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

there you go!

Nick

*snort*


----------



## olliew (Jul 28, 2003)

how about.....

diceing breading and deep frying butter cubes for a vip guest...
counting the fettucine per order....
chopping the flour....
or what happened to me....

I was a 21 year old apprentice in a very old classical 5 star hotel in Germany (Brenner's Park Hotel, Baden Baden, Germany). When the new apprentices started, the managers would have a welcome reception for them. You have to understand most apprentices are 18 or younger, so most are very nervous. So of course the cooks all run up to get a free glass of champagne to get buzzed for service. While we are up there, one of the commis tells me that I have to go to the chef (who is talking with the GM of the hotel) and propose a toast to the new apprentices. I was there about six months and they loved trying to screw with me. It didn't work, but I thought about it a few times before I figured out what they were doing.

Same hotel, the apprentices are given another apprentice to mentor them and be their 'buddy' in case they have any questions. So we decide to go to the bar with all of them and show them a good time before their first day of work. So after about an hour one of the guys stands up and tells the new apprentices that it is custom to buy the drinks. They did and we drank cheap. Then they all went home because they were so scared of their first day they wanted to be perfect for work. The rest of us stayed out until 2 am and laughed the next day with a cheap hangover.....


----------



## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

I have been involved with far more pranks than I can remember, though the one that stands out best was this. I was a Chef at a hospital. We would always do something to the new kid on the block, usually they were in the 17 year old range. Well we sent this one kid up to the ICU for I believe it was the Ice Melter. This kid went upstairs to the ICU and as I understand when they tried to tell him that the kitchen was pranking him he got pissed off at them and started yelling at them that they were trying to keep him from doing his job or something to that effect. He wasn't yelling about us, he was yelling at them.
After about an hour we wondered where he was and found out from security that he just walked! When the F&B Manager asked where he was, we told him what happened and he threw a royal hissy fit! I think that was the last time we sent anyone without an injury to the ICU! Never saw the kid again


----------



## chefboy2160 (Oct 13, 2001)

Ive always had the newbie open the new 5 gallon bucket of pickles , fill up a sixth pan , and then dig for that spice bag which is allways at the bottom somewhere . When you open the pickles this bag must be removed or the pickles will ruin . Of course you know how cold pickle juice is so you can imagine some of the blue arms Ive seen on this one .
Oh and you bakers , what about that dough stretcher ?


----------



## markovitch (Oct 14, 2003)

@ my boss put my whites in the freezer for the night. sad thing was i had to wear them anyway.

different boss, same place had me move 1000 lbs worth of frozen stuff from one side of the walkin to the other because it was 'colder'


----------



## waltersg69 (Dec 4, 2003)

"Fetch me a #10 can of dehydrated water, grab a grill extender while your over there and a left handed spatula. I need a 10 gallon sheet pan, and a perforated quart dipper."
"Scrambled hard, don't break the yolk."


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I've actually seen a left-handed spatula in one of those all leftie stores. It truly did work best in the left hand for some odd reason. Held in the right, the angles seemed different, though I really can't figure out what angles they'd change between a rightie/leftie or universal spatula.

Phil


----------



## nattychef (Jul 11, 2004)

While working in a oldschool style hotel where everyone used thier own tools.
I got our new kitchen porter/runner to go to the main kitchen where the banquet staff were picking up. I told him I had lent out my knifes and that I needed him to go collect them for me, "they'll be easy to find" I said showing him a french knife "my last name is Heinkell, any knife that has it written on the blade is mine" he had gathered close to 2 dozen before anyone noticed what he was doing.


----------



## campchef (Jan 5, 2001)

That, nattty, is a true classic. Mind if I use it during my next big fundraising dinner with all the big time rich chefs? I could use a new santuko!


----------



## chefmeow (Apr 14, 2004)

During culinary school, a chef/instructor asked me to bring him a bowl of areated water- he said I had to whisk it really good to get the oxygen in it- I actually started to gather the equipment when I realized. I just turned around and gave him the"oh no you just didn't" look. He laughed a great big belly laugh and told me of the countless students he had duped with that one!


----------



## tenthstep (Jul 21, 2004)

In the midst of our supper rush we always got the newbie to run downstairs and get the souffle pump. Not only did they have no idea what to look for, but we did not have a downstairs. It kept them busy for a while.

"I need you to portion out some ice cubes, 13 to a bag. NO, not out here, they'll melt! Take a bus pan and some baggies and do it in the freezer!"


----------



## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

Guess the yolks on ur instructor, it does exist! Unless this was like 20 years ago


----------



## jon_s (Mar 15, 2005)

LOL!!!
I did that to the new dishwasher 2 weeks ago! But that same prank happened to me back in my dishpit days. Pranking the dishwashers is a rite of passage to new line cooks.


----------



## the chef (Mar 17, 2005)

The pee in my cornflakes has always been the kindergarden style wrap job that my cooks would do on items placed in the freezer. Early in the career I warned them all about the illnesses that the dreaded "Freezer Worms" could inflict on our patrons if we didn't protect of frozen inventory properly. 
I would love to say that I invented this one, but I was once an uninitiated apprentice myself. (I hated that bucket of steam gag!) :chef:


----------



## frizbee (Sep 27, 2003)

Today at work, I dunno I guess I was struck by prank genie....
This new guy asked me to help him make whip cream on the kitchen aid. So we were getting our mise en place...and I showed him the bump on the back of the bowl and how to properly insert it. So we make the whip cream, and before he grabbed the handle to yank the bowl off I told him that he had to rub the side of the bowl in a circular fashion before removing said bowl. It will easily slide out was my reasoning...LOL I was howling when he started rubbing.

Another came up tonight...with another cook...someone sent a cook in the freezer for the ice cream slicer which I thought was genius.

And back in my FOH training days....when I opened a new corporate concept...I told my server trainees that the POS machine we had gotten was the "latest and greatest" model...they work on voice recognition, so when you swipe the credit card it won't authorize unless you say the name of the card simultaneously while you swipe it. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud when I had to demonstrate this to my trainees.
After about an hour another trainer said to one of my trainees why are you saying "Visa" when you swipe the card? I was dying... I couldn’t take it anymore I laughed so hard.

Tonight relating all of these stories to my husband, I asked if in his field (car stereo installation and design) if they had any industry specific pranks...and he gave me this little gem....
He told someone that when he picked up the new speakers he had to wear gloves, because if he didn't he would get ohms on his hands and potentially his clothes. You apparently don't want that because the ohms will burn your skin and holes in your clothes!
Hysterical.....
Frizbee


----------



## markv (May 16, 2003)

Although not cooking related,

I once worked in a factory where we would send the new employees to the warehouse for fallopian tubes!

Mark


----------



## hapyegg (Mar 31, 2005)

we sent a few runners off on a wild goose chase for "hydroponic butter"


----------



## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

ROFLMFAS... Seriously!

Man thats a classic. Can't imaging it'll work for me. [/A chinese guy saying "My name is Heinkell, please find all my knives. My Filopino brother here also lent out some knives, his name is Worstof"]


----------



## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

I've got a couple of good stories about the dangers of learning spanish from your co-workers.

The first happened to me about three years ago when I didn't speak a lot of spanish. I was working the AM shift and we had a custom of getting donuts and things to have on break with our coffee. When it was my turn, the guys told me that they were in the mood for _conchas_, the mexican sweetbread with the sugary topping. The only problem was that they called them _chichis_, which is one of the rudist words for a women's breasts. So I go to the local bodega and ask the countergirl if I could get some _chichis_. I ended up getting thrown out by her irate father. I didn't think it was that funny then, but I'm glad to have gotten a chuckle and good story out of it.

This second one happened recently to a coworker of mine. He didn't know a lick of spanish, so we are all pitching in to translate and teach him some kitchen spanish. All fine and good until he asked the grill guy what parsley was in spanish. The grill guy told him it was called mota, which is really spanish slang for marijuana. We had the guy going on about mota for almost 3/4's of the shift until the head waiter heard him. It was really hard to stop from laughing when he kept sending the prep guy clean the mota, or get some more mota.


----------



## skeleton (Dec 30, 2004)

Oh, what a terrible, wonderful industry we've chosen as our profession. On Argyle st, we used to always send kids back and forth- Argyle B&G, Opa, Piccolo Mondo, Shoeshop, Dofsky's, La Cave, Chives, etc etc etc looking for a bacon strecher or olive pitter. I *LOVE* the bag of spice in the bottom of the pickle bucket idea. One of our dishwashers just put in his notice. His replacement is totally getting the pickle spice for us. muahahahha...

One that is good that isn't mentioned is the old ketchup in a yellow latex glove trick, in which you fill up one finger of a latex glove with ketchup, and pretend to sever that finger while chopping something quick like mushrooms or cucumbers, making sure that the n00b is watching. If you're a good actor, you can get some truely terrifying results. A variation on that one is to palm a handful of ketchup and get into a huge screaming argument with another cook, server, manager, whomever, and get them to shove you. Then you take your ketchup hand and give them a nice wet smack, splattering bloody ketchup everywhere, and have them lay 'unconscious' on the ground for a bit. The terror in the eyes of the n00bs is priceless.


----------



## Arkansaschef (Mar 24, 2018)

One of my favs has always been getting the new guy to get all the “stale air” out of the walk in. Using a large trash bag collect as much air as possible, bind it up, take it outside and shake it out. Gonna take about four or five trips...


----------



## r.shackleford (Jul 16, 2009)

Swapping Chef's knives for Nellas before going off to a big competition, I sent his own knives in a separate container, I'm not that mean....or suicidal

convinced a young commis that the reason saffron was so expensive was because it was like cocaine, he tried snorting it

Back in culinary school while doing butchery our class decided to hold a challenge involving cows eye balls and where is the the best place to hide one, mine went into a random students purse, we were young and possibly drunk at the time and to be fair we did wrap them in Saran first

I'm now 54 years old and much more mature, however our catering van has a back up screen built into the rear view mirror so i'm considering covering the camera lens with one of those crazy pictures of Nicholas Cage, I'll let you know how it goes


----------



## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Every now and then we get a know-it-all or some me one who is just begging to get pranked.

One of my favorites is to get a hunk of puff pastry margarine, shape it in the form of a cutlet, double bread it, and give it to the prank-ee with instructions like,
" This is a sample of organic veal that the meat rep dropped off yesterday. Chef wants YOU to pan fry it, crispy pale gold. Think you can manage it?"

Or when the opportunity arises, sneak into the women's change room and stuff a few urinal pucks under the a/c vent grilles--piña-colada if I can get a hold of them....


----------



## capricciosa (May 30, 2015)

When I was a baker at a large grocery retailer, we had this one manager who was over the grocery department who was always working on a project (building a display of paper towels, moving one endcap to another, etc). He had a habit of comandeering people from other departments to work on said projects while he "supervised" (talked shit, cut up and otherwise joked around). One day, we had a new employee. I asked him if Robert had found him yet, and he said "no, I didn't know he was looking for me." I said, "Yeah, man, he said he had some kind of project he needed your help with." Well, unbeknownst to our rookie, Robert was off that day. He literally spent 2 hours walking around the store before another manager asked him what in the hell he was doing. He looked at the manager and said, "I'm looking for Robert. He was looking for me earlier and needs my help on a project." The manager looked at him and, almost in pity, said. "You know Robert's off today, don't you?" The manager then walked straight to me, knowing I was the only one in the building who would do such a thing to a poor rookie, and asked me what the hell I was thinking. We shared a laugh at the rookie's expense before going back to work.


----------

