# Battle Scars of the kitchen



## line_grunt (Jul 1, 2009)

Gretings all,

Just finished another 14 hour day on the line and can't sleep so thought I'd jump online and start a new thread I've been thinking about all day. Sorry if this thread has been done before (couldn't be bothered to search for one)

Treat this as our preverbial campfire...a place to tell our war stories of the kitchen so to speak.

So, sititng around this campfire let's swap stories about our battle scars. Let us all know of those injuries you've received in the line (of fire).

Ill go first, and tell you about the injury I received today whilst prepping. This particular scar involves a serious burn to the ring and pinky finger of my right hand (and I am right handed). This burn occured whilst deep frying falafels. I was lifting 3 falafels out of the 70+ degrees celsius deep frying oil when one fell from my ladle and fell back in causing the oil to cover those particular fingers.

This scar is going to be quite large, kinda proud of it ha ha ha. Stupid mistake though, but hope this starts of a thread where we can discuss the scars of our times in the kitchen...Discuss 

Line Grunt


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## iconoclast (Aug 8, 2007)

......why???


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

Battle scars? Too funny (ironic)......I roll outta bed every day....as well as carry on through the day and then attempt to sleep....... with a constant reminder of what almost 30 years did for me regarding battle scars. 

I can say that after a while, you find yourself just looking at that sheet pan sized brand, the grill marks conveniently made on the knuckle side of a hand or silver dollar sized fryer oil splatter in the kitchen, if things happen often enough (as they do when you have an A&E work ethic..........) with more of a "Oh look what I just did......cool" and shluff it off. Can't say that was what the reaction was the first few years but toward the end...........it was the norm.

Just to share......there are two "scars" (besides the one I vaguely mentioned above) that were with-in my first two years of working in the business. 

First was done while cutting salad mix for the Pizza place I got my first restaurant job at. Yes cutting.....it was a pizza place not Chez Paul....... I cut the tip of my left thumb (more than a 1/2") completely off and had to have it sewn back on........ Even 32 years later you can see the seam where it was sewn back on.

Second was probably the second worst in my life/career....While emptying a pot of pasta in the sink......some maroon I was working with decided to screw around and slap me with a towel while I had the pot resting on the sink edge to dump. The whole pot of scalding water and pasta........fell back against me. Ended up with first degree burns on my left arm bicep and arm pit and second degree burns on my entire chest and stomach.


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## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

...check the late night cafe sectioon....


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## schuster (Apr 21, 2009)

Your topic made me curious. I just counted to scars on my right arm from elbow to fingers. 17. I am right handed, so most of them are burn scars. The worst of which, and also is not really a scar and thus not counted, is obviously the knife callous on the base of the index finger. 

The most painful injury I ever had was when I was teaching a girl how to saute some fish. I turned my back for a minute while she had a salmon filet in a pan. When it was time, I went to give the pan a shake and the hot oil literally coverered my hand. Turns out she had half an inch worth of oil in the thing. My hand literally bubbled up an inch over the entire back of it for the next few days. Since then, I've been hit with hot oil on that hand many times over and it doesn't bother me for more than a few seconds, if at all.

The most heinous scar I have is on my left index finger from way back when I wasn't too good with a knife. Carving a raw top round with a very sharp 14" slicer knife, I lopped off the knuckle closest to the hand. Doctors said I was less than a milimeter from damaging the tendons or something along those lines. I still remember putting super glue on it and trying to finish out the work for the day but those above me demanded I go to the hospital. When I got there, the doctor asked me to describe the pain on a scale of 1 to 10. I said 0, it didn't hurt at all. He gave me a scrip for vicadin. Whatever. First and only time I've been to the hospital for work related issues.

I think cooking is easier, perhaps nearly requires, a numbness in the digits. I am somewhat clumsy in the first place with regards to my own safety (never others safety), but I also have a high tolerance for pain. I burn myself way more frequently than I should, but after a while, it just doesn't hurt as much, if at all.

The scars are both a badge of honor and an embarassment. It shows that I can tough it out, but at the same time, it shows I should be a lot more careful. The only one I think is important is the knife callous. All good chefs should have one or have a **** good reason why they don't have one.


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## left4bread (May 8, 2009)

better than bumping an old/dead topic IMHO. Welcome to the forums, if I may say, as a new poster myself.

WTF is up with that?! I've come sooooo close to face slapping people who do that... Last time someone did that they got their towel thrown back at them in 2 pieces /pet peeve
Never got into that "locker room" mentality.

BEST I'VE SEEN: Best scars I've seen are the carpal tunnel ones. Don't got them; don't want them. But they are hardcore scars.

BEST I'VE HAD: Besides the "sheet-pan-out-of-the-oven-on-my-forearms" scars, I think the best I ever got were when I was a doughnut fryer. Lots of little blisters all over the forearms. Then I did one where i had a 6" x 3/8" blister running up my arm. Old school baker said I "earned my stripes". LOL

CURRENT: Anyhow, these days, my back hurts. :roll: All fingers intact; no carpal tunnel. I got off "the line" before I could _really_ hurt myself.


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## line_grunt (Jul 1, 2009)

Nice stories all, thanks for keeping the thread alive and reliving a dead one if so.

Very impressive. Gotta agree, burns are a badge of honour and I'm starting to gain those badges rather quickly. I've even started to get my knife callous, so I'm very proud 

Lef4Bread: thanks for the welcome, glad to be onboard  (I also hate towel slapping, I think that stems form a childhood memory of my odler brother chasing with a tea towel trying to whip me with it when my right knee collided with a low lying brick wall, fracturing my knee cap and leaving a nice chunk of flesh stuck to the bricks. just another scar story he he).

Oldschool: lopping off part of your thumb?!?! thats hardcore, glad the part that came off didn't end up as topping on that pizza. Your pot of boiling water scar sounds horrible, I hope you exacted some sweet revenge on that Maroon. Reminds me of the scar I've got that is about the size of a bar of soap (strangec omparison I know) across my lower abdomen from that exact same incident as I was filling a pot with boiling water from the boiler, some server was mucking around behind me and bumped me causing the pot to slip, spilling alot of the water over my lower body. Thank god that was all that got burnt.

Schuster: I think I'm begingin to agree with you that a numbness in the digits is a good thing. I play guitar alot and the fingertips on my left hand are well worn with calouses so I don't feel alot of burns on them but my right hand is still very sensitive. You know where I get alot of tiny little cuts. On the thumb of my left hand from using a peeler, when peeling I must make such tiny cuts on that thumb but now my thumb is riddled with them, doesn't bother me until I'm squeezing lemons or pitting olives. Had to laugh though at your quick fix for the knuckle wound...Superglue! so many uses lol.

Feel free anyone else to discuss wounds received on the line


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## chefhow (Oct 16, 2008)

I have a 3" scar that runs down the outside of my right knee from where a line cook opened an under counter drawer into the outside of my knee and had my knee cap sitting on the inside of my leg. I was laying on the floor of the line cursing like a sailor in an open kitchen on a semi busy Wed night. One of the cooks helped me pop my knee cap back in place. 2 surgeries later to repair the ligaments and cartalige I am able to walk with only a slight limp, I like to think of it as a "swagger" though. I actually worked for 6 months on the knee 12-14 hours a day while I was waiting for the docs to approve the first surgery. While I was waiting I had the knee drained what seemed like monthly and that was actually more painful than the injury itself.


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## left4bread (May 8, 2009)

uggg...
that story turns my stomach, chefhow.
...
sounds ghastly.


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## greasetrap (Jul 7, 2009)

oh gravy, i couldn't even begin to count burn scars. i was once using a piece of shite pull through knife sharpener to sharpen a carving knife when it popped out and sliced my left index finger down to the knuckle bone. i was on the carving station at a casino buffet. by the time i made it back to a sink in the kitchen, my glove was full of blood and people started screaming thinking i had sliced my finger off. i just wanted to super glue it. they insisted i get stitches. fail. of course, my real badges of honor are worn on each forearm. they're actual battle scars from Iraq. doing a raid on a market in abu gharib, some guy materialized out of the crowd holding a switchblade, slashed at me twice, then buried the knife a half inch into the ceramic plate of my body armor. i didn't realize until after the mission was over that the dipstick had flayed me open on both arms. two marine medics and half a tube of super glue later, the scars are barely visible. of course, the iraqi learned the hard way not to bring a knife to a gunfight.


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## chefhow (Oct 16, 2008)

I am reminded of it every morning when I get out of bed and take those first steps.


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## m.d.hughes (Apr 28, 2007)

Hi there,

The higher up the food chain (pun intended) you get the more you look at "battle scars" as paper work and loss of productivity.

We all have them and if we thought about it carefully we would all admit that they where caused by carelessness or in-attention in fact when I fill in the W.C.B. claim forms under reason for incident (not accident anymore) I usually write Stupidity.

You say that you just finished a 14 hour shift, why? is the establishment you work for breaking labour codes? Are they understaffed? does ownership or management have that little respect for their staff that they would let them work a 14 hour line shift? or are you trying to prove something, nobody is doing anybody any favours by working those kind of hours on the line, productivity drops, quality drops and accidents happen, luckily this time it was you and you didn't end up putting some poor immigrant dishwasher with a family to feed in the hospital.

Get some balance in your life, if you continue to work those kind of shifts you will end up hating your job and resenting the ownership, or else looking for other ways to keep the energy levels "high" and that won't do you any good at all.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

M.d. Hughes,

Any room for a "waiver" for owner/operators, especially in a "one person shop"?


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

As a rule, you are correct.
There are always exceptions though.
Busy day, multiple banquets, a call in sick and a no call/show....someone is staying over.
Happened here last week.
Regularly scheduled 14 hour days, no.
14 hour day due to the above scenario, youbetcha.


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## laurieh (Aug 3, 2008)

As a baker, I mostly have burn scars; I don't use a knife often enough or fast enough to get many cuts.

When I was young, I spent a couple of years baking at a place with tiny old convection ovens. The racks were too close together, but we needed to use all of them, so I couldn't take any out. Anyway, I ended up with burn scars that line up perfectly to form a straight line across the fingers of my right hand.

I guess that ruins my career as a hand model, huh?


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Mmmm. lotsa scar tissue on my left hand and index knuckle. Had a 2nd degree burn on my left ankle waaay back in the 80's, emptying a pot of pasta and slipped on the floor. Worked a week before seeing the doctor, told me another 2 days and gangreene (sp?) would have set in. No burn scars though.

Lotsa burns on my forearms from the convection oven. Remember seeing the family doctor once for a regualr checkup and wanted to know if I was tortured or abused or something, I just looked at him and said "Oh, those? just burns from the oven, that's all". He looked at me like I just told him I bought the Eiffel tower for $10,000.

Cut off my left thumb just above the knuckle and have maybe 50% feeling in the index finger, but that was from a summer job on a construction site when I was 18, the summer I decided to become a cook instead....

Flat feet. Have to wear orthoitcs, that doesn't count. Had a nasty bought of "plantar facscitis" on both feet,--for *4 Years*, Doctors told me to take a couple months off and sit on my butt--hard to do when you 0/0 your own business, suffered through that one for a long time until the time was ripe to sell th business.


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## m.d.hughes (Apr 28, 2007)

You own you do everything you can to keep it afloat, and more power to you, but would as an owner ever expect an employee to work a 14 hour line shift, note line shift, not banquet?


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

No, I would NEVER expect an employee to work the hours I do for numerous reasons, not the least of which is that "I" can take a break whenever "I" decide to.


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

Not an owner, so can't really say what I would do until I am actually in the position, but theoretically yes, there would be occasions where I would need an employee to pull a 14 hour line shift.
If there are no other options but have them do it or shut down, I am going to ask them to do it.
And I think 7 out of 10 times they would do it.
There are those that will never come through for you, no matter how many times you've come through for them, but most will.
If I can cover it myself, I will.
But if I can't physically be in two places at the same time, and last time I checked I was lacking in that skill set......

I don't see 8 hours as a magical number, nor 9, 10, etc.
Some can't work 2 hours without whining for a break, others can work dawn to dusk with nary a complaint.


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

Chef How gets the purple heart so far. I used to work with a Viet Nam vet who had earned a purple heart. He said it was virtually worthless to him, so he brought it in to work and we'd take turns wearing it whenever we got hurt. You got to keep it until your injury healed or some klutz hurt themselves worse. Sometimes there would be arguments over who was hurt the worst, which led to my now oft repeated line "You ain't hurt, you're not even bleeding." They loved shoving it in my face when a frozen N.Y. strip loin fell out of the freezer and broke my foot. They were quick to point out that I wasn't really hurt as there was no blood, but they did allow me to have the heart. My worst injuries are a tie between cutting off the end of my middle finger on my left hand and a horrendous steam burn I had on the back of my hand from reaching into a steamer that hadn't shut off like it was supposed to. Literally cooked my hand. When you first work in a kitchen, every little burn drives you nuts. Now someone will say "Ow! what did you do to yourself?" and I'll look and see a burn I didn't know I had and tell them I don't know, I didn't notice it. I mentioned in an earlier thread how burning me seems to be the favorite pastime of my kitchen crew. Hot tongs on my arm, sheet pan on my arm, hot bacon grease down my shoe... I solved the hot stuff on my arm thing by wearing long sleeved chef coats so now it's just a grease spot on my coat instead of a permanent brand on my hide. Since burning me doesn't work any more, they've graduated to clocking me in the head with various doors. The award for that goes to our oldest waitress who kicked the diningroom door open while I was behind it putting away coffee cups. Had a knot on my head for three days. They say it's all accidents, but I sense a pattern here....


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## jojobaltimore (Feb 1, 2008)

My worst was when a convection steamer went cahhhput on manual setting... it pretty much sprayed out steam when I opened the door on the top of my hand/wrist. instant blister the size of a small cell phone in that area.. It took about 2 weeks to heal over... Getting burnt with a sheet pan in the back of the head wasnt fun... waking around with a red line on the back on my head for a week, hehe


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

This is how you know you should probably get out of this business: A few weeks ago I had an order for colossal shrimp and we didn't have any thawed. I was running water over and trying to hack some open as once they're butterflied, they cook fast. I'm hacking away with a santoku knife, saying to myself that if I keep this up I'm going to whack my finger, and then I did. To the bone. No adhesive tape for a butterfly stitch and I'm the only cook on, so put band aids on as tight as I can and a glove. Once the bleeding stops, glue it shut with crazy glue. Someone asked me later if I needed stitches. I said I probably did, but the only point in that is to stop the bleeding which the glue took care of, so I guess I don't need stitches any more. One of the guys said this was the first job he worked where you didn't get to leave because you were bleeding. I asked what kind of wimpy job they let you go home for just because you're bleeding, and he said construction. They'd get to go to the E-room and then home. What a bunch of wimps! They get paid about 3X what we do too. We're in the wrong business!


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## bohmike (Jul 2, 2009)

Oh I have a few. 

I love how missing fingertips grow back in place. Covered a rag in blood last Sunday after cutting the tip of my left index off.

A few years back, I was working at a pizza place. Tired, after a long shift I was cleaning the dough sheeter with steel wool, and a strand got caught in the gears. Tired, obviously not thinking, I wraped in around one of my fingers and whacked the strand with tongs. 

Just a few to mention.


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

I've got a perfect 2" triangle (from trying to salt a foccaccia while still in the oven) Its 2 years old n only just fading. Just beside it a 2" slash burn, I now have a tan, which makes it stand out.

Got an impressive scar on my left instep. Went to pick tomatoes from the kitchen greenhouse years ago. It had blown down in the high winds the night before. Stepped on a shard of glass. Didnt even feel it. First i knew, someone was moaning about my bloody footprints across the kitchen
old school chef thought he'd like to try stitching it himself. luckily i hitched a lift to A&E


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## lentil (Sep 8, 2003)

It's been awhile since I really got cut, but my son has a nasty burn up the back of his calf where his chef shut the even door on his leg. I can't quite figure out how his leg got in there, and I'm not even going to try.:lol:


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I had to laugh out loud at this one and I have to say it's true in a lot of cases!!


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I've cut myself a few times but the one that stands out is when I had a filter basket of coffee fall onto my hand mid-brew. That was bad! At first I didn't realize what I had done and I started to clean up the mess when my manager told me to get that under water and then did it ever blister up. It took a good couple of weeks to heal and I did have a scar there for a while but it's long gone now.


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## pembroke (Sep 26, 2009)

asked to borrow a pairing knife, took it out of fellow chefs hand, they didn't let go-stitches
slicing an onion when 18, sliced up one side and then down the other, caught membrane on onion-stitches
slicing standing prime rib, customer wants it wafer thin, did my best-stitches
lighting gas BBQ, threw flame on top of grill nothing happened, bent down to have a look, boom- burn cream on face
picked-up hot pan with wet towel-burn cream
deep fried calamari for the first time- burn cream
All when I was young and learning the trade!


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I should have known better but I have a stupidity related burn. Last Wednesday was Remembrance Day and well we forgot or didn't consider it when we did the schedule (and the KM and I did it together..ack!) so needless to say we were slammed and had to have the owner come help us.

In the thick of the stuff I was making multiple tuna melts and I had slopped a bit onto the grill (which is set at 375F) so some stupid part of me thought it was fine to pick the tuna up with my bare hand and put it back. Well what resulted was a small burn but it was bad enough that I couldn't handle being in the kitchen without my fingers on ice (I did the ring and pinky fingers) so I spent the rest of the rush with my fingers in and out of ice slush and when things slowed down i spent the rest of my shift with my fingers on ice telling people what to do!


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

Don't have a permanent scar so I didn't post this earlier, but with the mentionof burn cream.....

It took me a couple of times to learn this, but I have grabbed the handle of a saute pan I had recently pulled from the oven.
Busy night, pans going in, out, shuffling around, forget I had just finished that dish in the oven, then YEOWCH!
Nice red, handle-shaped burn mark on the palm of the hand, finger tips red and tender.
Funnier seeing the hole in the handle print, a little circle of unburned flesh.

As I said, took me a couple of times before I started placing these pans with the handles facing away to remove the temptation.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I've done the hot pot off the stove into the ultilty sink forgetting the **** thing is hot and touching the handles thing before... definitely an OW moment!


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## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

grabbed a towel one day, it caught the tip of my straight edge carving knife. It spun around on the cutting board and stabbed me in the side with the point(3 stitches). I then reflexively reach down with my left hand to remove the stabby intruder of my side and cut my left ring finger wide open cause it had spun edge up (13 stitches), at that point I cooly and calmly remove the knife from my side by reaching across with my right hand and pulling it out by the handle. Oof Dah! What a morning. Spent the rest of the day at the clinic bleeding and waiting to get stitched up. was at work the next day with a glove on, someones gotta open.


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## chefray (Sep 29, 2009)

Once I was cutting the netting off of a roast when the handle broke on the cheap *** scissors I was using(house equipment). The tip of one of the blades impaled my hand between two of the bones. In and out, I didn't feel it until the ER doc was pulling it out. The rest are from filleting accidents and peeler/mandolin mishaps on the left side and splatter burns on the right. 

I once worked with a guy who had the worst kitchen scar I've ever seen. There was a dent in his forearm about 3" in diameter and almost to the bone in the center from some jerk horsing around with a wet towel around a deep fryer. He told me that he was in the hospital for almost a week with that one.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

I jammed my ring finger right hand second knuckle....it swelled.....I taped it and kept working with it, went to dr. besides not using it there was little they could do. I let it rest when I could then after about 6 mos had an MRI to see if it showed anything....nope, just beginnings of arthiritist.....there's nothing like the fear that your dominate hand is out of commission (potentially forever).


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

Working a brunch, cold table lids were open under the pass as usual.
Put a plate up in a crowded window and then I thought I saw it tottering backwards, so I shot my hand forward to catch it only to jam the cold table lid between my ring and middle fingers, splitting the web wide open.
Furiously super glued it until i got a good seal, then finished service.
Took forever to heal as I had sealed it wide open.
Looked ghastly.


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## fire&wine (Nov 20, 2009)

This is sort of on topic.

The first chef I ever worked for also did land clearing on the side (tree removal, etc). So in addition to working for him in the kitchen I helped him clear trees. I fed trees into a chipper in the morning, then worked the line at night. 

Approaching a tree job one morning, my chef/boss points to a tree to take down. I follow him and he says that he's going to clear the brush out from under the tree first. He fires up his chainsaw, swings it to the left, then to the right - and right into my kneecap. He said he thought he hit a tree stump - it was me. 

He looks at me wide-eyed. I look down at the 8"-10" hole in my jeans. There is blood on his face, my face, the trees ...everywhere. 

We decide to go to the hospital.

The strange thing is, I felt no pain at all, not even a little. I saw bone, ground meat and a lot of blood. Maybe I was in shock - I don't know. He offers to stitch me up himself with his Army issue medical kit sice I have no health insurance. He calls his wife (that works at the local hospital) - I can hear the wife scream through the phone from about 10 feet away. The chef/boss says "my wife thinks we should go to the hospital". I don't remember how many stitches I had. 

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to go to work that night. I lasted until about 9:00 and then the most excruciating soreness and pain set in. I had no pain killers. It was bad.

Every chef needs a good war story. When I'm in my rocking chair, telling my grandkids several "back in my day" stories, I'm sure this one will come up.

All my good scars happen outside of the kitchen. Oh well, maybe one day.


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## billrchef (Oct 11, 2009)

After more than 30yrs, and more injuries then I can count. The worst one I `ve seen ( besides the arm cought in the 40 qt. hobart mixer) happend to a soux chef of mine.
While emptying a double stacked convection oven of baraised pork ribs, and could not find a place on the table to set them down because of clutter, my dark skined chef tried to put them back in the oven, when the hot grease spilled onto his arm. Other employees came to tell me that "kevin is burned really bad". When I finally caught up with him, he was putting on a new, clean cooks shirt and heading back to his station.....90% of his arm was now whiter than mine! 
After more than 15 days in the burn ward he returned to work, but was still ready and willing to finish his shift that day......NOW THATS ONE TOUGH INDIVIDUAL!!!


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## chefboyarg (Oct 28, 2008)

worst burn to date: at the very beginning of my career I naively believed that you had to endure pain to the enth degree and had to be uber respectful of those above you and their space. So once day I take a sheet pan out of the oven, do the whole "behind!" thing. Unfortunately the exec sous was too large to make himself smaller and I need to get past him. So I pressed the sheet pan against my arm and squeezed past. Later in the shift the sous looks and my arm and says "jesus did you burn yourself?!" I didn't think it was that bad. it didn't feel that bad, but it had bubbled up like a mofo and the scar is still there. The doctor said it would have faded within a few months.


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## chefray (Sep 29, 2009)

When burns don't hurt, it's time to get worried. That means nerve damage, AKA, you cooked yourself a little.


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## chef_wade (Nov 23, 2009)

I have so many I can't even count. Over 25 plus years tend to take it toll. I agree that most injuries are done because of carelessness or just to hurried. My biggest is the scar in the middle of my right hand due to put a ticket spindle through it and the tip of my right thumb is missing due to a run in with a faulty slicer.

I would like to address the 14 plus hour situtation. It sounds like someone is a bit out of touch. Unfortunately in this day and age, too many upper management are too scared to stand up to employees and discipline so those who actually do show up to work wind up working over.


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

I'm not sure who this is directed at, those who rail against the 14 hour day, or those that say it does happen, even if only occasionally.
Being scared has nothing to do with the scenario of someone doesn't show up, you can't cover multiple venues with one person, and having someone stay over to get through.
You can discipline the heck out of the person that fails you, but that will happen later, meanwhile everyone is pulling together to get through.

But you're right, what you described is one of the possible situations where this would occur, lack of discipline.


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## chef_wade (Nov 23, 2009)

That was directed at m.d.hughes. He seems to be out of touch as to what the realities of the kitchen are. I have worked over 16 plus hours a few times in my life, including as EC. If it has to get done, it gets done and sometimes how many hours you worked in a particular day doesn't mean a darn thing.


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## bryanj (Jun 20, 2008)

I was dropping blini on to a flat top with a pastry bag when a dishwasher came by and bumped into me. The outside of my right hand (I'm right handed) went onto the flat top. I had a blister that popped up about 3/4" running from the base of my pinky down to my wrist. Crazy part though is that it didn't even scar. Worst one I've seen though is actually on my mother-in-law. She used to cook at a pizza place that had hardwired sheeters, meaning you can't unplug them. There was supposed to be a two-stage safety switch, but somehow it was bypassed and she hit the on button with her arm while cleaning the machine. Took her right arm through the machine up to the elbow, and then spun on her skin, ripping it off, before she could reach the off switch with her other hand. That was about five years ago. She still has the arm, has become left-handed, and only has about 10% feeling and 40% mobility. My short sweet little mother-in-law has a worse kitchen scar then the most hardcore cooks I've ever met, and I think that's hilarious.


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## chef_wade (Nov 23, 2009)

I couldn't even imagine the pain she went through


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## bryanj (Jun 20, 2008)

Thing is, she said that between the shock and the nerve damage when it was happening, and the painkillers after the surgeries, she didn't have any pain to speak of until the physical therapist got hold of it.


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## adaml (Sep 23, 2009)

My regular shift is 14 hours a day, it's almost all I've ever known.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

In this business we do what we have to do to get it done. On Saturday we had no dishwashers so we pulled a cook from the kitchen as well as my daughter from the front of the house todo the dish. They got backed up pretty fast so the prep cook helped them out when they were in it deep. He had to leave early as he had childcare issues so as soon as I had my stuff done in the kitchen I went to the dish and helped them get it done. The result was an almost eleven hour day for me and when I was talking to the owners my answer was... someone had to do it and I knew Jim was in the weeds in the dish and I couldn't just walk away and leave someone with so much work to do... I've done the same thing in the kitchen.. there are days that I open and if they are in the thick of it come my time to leave I stick around and make sure things are good and then I go.


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## chefhow (Oct 16, 2008)

After reading about all the burns I am reminded of the one time I actually BURNT myself. I was an apprentice and doing a volunteer job at a very famous South Beach hotel for Meals on Wheels. The chef I was an apprentice for was doing a seared Salmon and I was incharge of searing the fish. Well we were in the weeds of course and I was dropping the Salmon in a VERY HOT pan with oil, the fish was wet and ofcourse hot oil and wet fish makes for oil spatter. The spatter was inbetween my middle and ring finger on my left hand. I quickly wipped it off and it blew up like a balloon. I finished my shift and went home where my room mates girl friend was a paramedic in training and she saw this as an opportunity to use good old me as a guinea pig. I foolishly let her drain the burn, cut the skin away and wash the area. About 3 days later after wearing powdered gloves at work for 10+ hours a day my finger turned black and I was sent to the hospital where I was lucky, they only had to flush, clean and scrub the finger, not remove it as I was told. 

As a lefty I very quickly learned how to do EVERYTHING in a kitchen as a righty and now almost 20 years later still do.


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## rdog (Jun 6, 2009)

Last friday i was searing a salmon, in the weeds, go to finish it in my oven, and in the process of moving the 18" to the oven dumped smoking hot oil all over my right hand, the whole backside of my hand went white instantly and lost all feeling.. 3 days later its a half balloon... Might have to go get that checked....


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

Ouch! I would definitely go and get that one checked out!


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## a_mak (Aug 27, 2009)

This is a different kind of burn I guess, but one time I was pouring habanero sauce into a pan and it splashed up and hit me right in the eye. Good times.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I had butter get me in the eye on the weekend.. it wasn't bad but it did smart for a few minutes. Seeing as I wear glasses I must have been in the right spot at the right time to get splashed.


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## buonaboy (Sep 5, 2007)

In twenty years, the countless forearm scars, the fact that the entire tip of my left index finger is by now completely scar tissue, (lost is so many times) and the second degree burn that covered my whole chest from a pot of beans when I was 17, are all nothing compared to the friends I've had who lost their Wives, fell into drug or alcohol abuse, or even lost their life savings in this industry. sorry to be a debbie downer. -but I still love this work.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I know this industry is hard on people and it is easy to turn to drugs or alcohol to help with the stress. Personally I don't but I know of people out there who do and I am not here to judge anyone for the choices they make. My father owned a construction company and he drank like a fish because of the stress so I have seen and lived it firsthand. 

As for battle scars... I did have a run in with a newly sharpened knife a couple of weeks ago and I'm happy to say that the cut has healed well. It was pretty deep and I think it went pretty close to the bone but I knew that it was not stitchable as I have done the same thing before so the owners taped me up and I finished my shift. They did a good taping job but I do think i hit a nerve because I have no feeling in part of that finger.


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## livinitup0 (Feb 2, 2009)

hello all, new to the forum....just wanted to share a battlescar from last night 

I was cleaning up a bunch of beef tenderloins at school last night and after going through all 10 loins I look at the lexon and see a big chunk of white I missed. I threw it on the baord lopped it off haphazardly and managed to not only cut into my index finger but actually cut a good slice into the skin right under my nail too. blood and profanities soon followed.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

oh Ouch! I did the same thing just a couple of weeks ago. I must say that the owners of the place I work at do a good taping job as my finger has healed up well.

Hope your cut heals well!


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## chefray (Sep 29, 2009)

That's why knives and hurrying don't mix. I've learned, through many a bad cut, that it takes less time to be careful and take my time with a cut than it does to tape up/go get stitches.

That being said, I whacked a knuckle today with a peeler. I am now the proud owner of a dented thumb.


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## pembroke (Sep 26, 2009)

I learned to keep the tip of my chef knive on the cutting board, and to tuck my fingers in, and on top of whatever I was cutting. 
Unfortunately, I'd been cooking a while _*before *_I learned this!


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## nichole (Sep 16, 2009)

In this world of profession scars, burn and cut are expected. Profession that involves kitchen really need to know the technique just to avoid it. But some of us learn it from experience.


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## chefguy (Nov 16, 2009)

This is a honor scar...


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

We all live and learn and my husband has his share of scars too.. he is a graphic designer and back in in the old days he used an exacto knife for everything and lost more than a few fights with it over the years.


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## adaml (Sep 23, 2009)

This summer we were deep in the weeds, everyone moving at light speed to get us caught up. I had opened my line fridge with one hand to put some mise back, while I plated with my other hand. I used my knee to slam the door shut again. The timing between my knee and my hand was a little off, and I blasted the door shut on my fingers right at the knuckle.

:thumb:

Nothing serious ever came out of it, knuckles swelled up something awful for a few days, and busy season cooking wasn't the most enjoyable thing with my red sausage fingers.

On a side note: I remember the first time I ever cut myself, I was chopping veg and took most of my index fingernail and a decent amount of flesh underneath off. My chef at the time was watching me and the first thing he said when it happened was 'You're promoted!'. Bled like a pig and was super tender for a few weeks but the fingernail grew back good as new and you can barely tell anything ever happened.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

Ouch on the fingernail!! 

Same goes for the sausage fingers....


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