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Mbarron81

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Dec 29, 2016
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Well, I guess it’s time to publicly say hi and introduce myself... where to start, I guess with some work history. I started legally working as soon as I could. In Massachusetts that is 14 and you must get your working papers from the school district and go in for a interview with a parent! Well that turned out to be my father and I showing up to pic up my work permit from the school office and the secretary simply asking if I wanted to work. I exitedly started to explain how I already had a job as the water boy at the local garden center! That I had to show them my permit before they would show me how the time clock worked. Lol Anyway my father dropped me off but befor he let me out of the car he grumbled something about being to young to work all summer but if I was old enough to have a job I was old enough for this and reached into his pocket pulling out a liter, cigs and a old pocket knife... The knife was old, pretty dull on one of the blade but sharp on the other 2. I had seen him use it but never held it because it lived in his pocket or his hand... He handed it to me with a twinkle in his eye say always remember that it is a tool not a toy and to never hold it in anger! At the time I didn’t get that last part but gave him my best Yes, Sir and nodded till he laughed and said it only come out of your pocket when you need to use it, never put it down anywhere from pocket to hand, hand to pocket. I said I understood and he let me go to learn how to clock in and start me first day...I still have that knife some 23 years later, it doesn’t get as much pocket time these days as others as my collection has grown some, but it is alway there if I know I’m going to see him. Just Incase I need to use it as a tool and never in anger!
I spent 2 summers as a water boy, well anything somebody didn’t want to do there boy. Lol
Then I was 16 and could get a job in restaurant! I had grandiose ideas of what I would be doing... well as most of you know you start at the dish station! I was told I could move up but I had to prove my speed and capabilities before moving on. It took me a couple weeks but I found that 6th gear they were talking about and was able to stay ahead even during the dinner rush enough to help with front of the house responsibilities! Which at this place was soup and salad... there really wasn’t much to do (unwrap salad, put correct dressing on side, put on tray) (put soup in cup or bowl put on plate, put on tray with spoon and 2 crackers)but I felt awesome asking what they needed and being trusted to not mess it up. Lol I had a great, kind, old fat chef and when he caught wind of what was up I started getting tipped out by them! Not a lot but to me it was... an extra 10 dollars a day was a lot of money to a 16 year old back then...plus it was cash! The waiters kept thanking me for helping them out of the weeds, which I had no clue as to what that ment. But was raised to respect my elders... so I always just said “anything I can do to help, we are all on the same team”. Boy did I get some strange looks but they always just left it at that... lol
Well chef was tired of me doing all the salads and soups and letting the dishes pile up, then scrubbing like mad and short cycling the machine every time to catch up... so after a particularly busy Saturday he said he would like a word with my father! I thought I was going to get fired or had really screwed up but had no clue as to what was wrong... I thought I had done a great job! We never ran out of clean dishes and when we ran out of prepared salads I was making them on the fly! So I said I thought he would be in a rush and maybe tonight was not the night... smart chef he replied with tell him I want him to try this new beer we got in... (Bud Ice) if he is to busy for I beer I understand though. As it turned out there is a law in Massachusetts that you can’t handle a knife or alcohol even in a kitchen till your 18! So after they cracked open 2 decided regular was better and chatted just out of ear shot till the end when I hear my father say “Fine with me, thx for asking though, he knows it’s a tool to be respected” chef walks over my way with his knife roll and slowly takes me threw the names and used of each! That these were his personal knives and I was to never touch one unless asked to bring him one! I gave him the best Yes,CHEF my 16 year old lungs could carry! They blew my mind and kind of scared me in a way a roller coaster does. But to this day I will never forget the look of the waves in steal or the single wave on what looked to be a weird chisel knife that had some strange Asian name😉.
Well many stations and restaurants later I found myself wanting to do something else. I loved the work but the late nights and heavy partying was starting to catch up. I had lost a few friends along the way and I knew I needed change. So I talked to the owner of the our seafood supplier and said I was looking for a day job. He put me to work cutting fish, first blue fish, then pollok, cod, haddock, flat fish, then on to salmon, halibut, striped bass... finally I talked my manager into letting me watch and then try a small tuna! He said it wasn’t the fastest but it was just as close to the rack as his. I was now the tuna cutter on Sunday! But I had Sunday’s off? Not anymore he laughed...
I liked that job but a lot of the guys needed a nip to steady there hands before they could get going... but more so I couldn’t pick up a girl who didn’t have a fisherman for a father and in the summer I was looking for rich summer girls to buy my drinks on daddy’s platinum Amex....
So off to the butcher I went and said I was looking for work that I wouldn’t smell like a fish no madder what soap or cologne I wore at night. He laughed and put me to work in the cooler grinding chuck for burgers and making sausages... hey atleast I smelled better!
Over the next 3 years as a butcher a lot changed for me. I met the love of my life, got sober, then got married! I was happy as a butcher, her father ran a sandwich shop and that didn’t interest me but I missed cooking...
so when the opportunity knocked, I did a asset allocation from a failing restaurant, changed the name, decor and menu and took the blind leap of faith! Well 6 years later my restaurant is doing better then ever, my wife works with me now, and I am still sober. Lol I have my own knife rolls now from all the different tools I’ve needed along the way and that is where they stay unless I need to use one, but never in anger.
 
Love that story. Totally admire anyone with such a strong work ethic. Respect [emoji1307] ! Welcome to the forum and wish you the greatest success in your restaurant!
 
Hey, I’m from the lower Cape that 1st restaurant I worked in was Sundancers on bass river. Ever been down that way? I grew up in Orleans and that 1st job was at snows garden center...
Thx Randy, spencer might just make me a chef knife after all, but we will see😉
 
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FYI the emails I’d get for time to are how I ended up really here, not just poking around from time to time... great idea, thank whoever came up with that for me!
 
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