Hard lesson learned: Never trust your co-workers.

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Yep anyone who bought them had to know that the price was too good to be true for the quality, and in fact how would a dishwasher have stones and a knife kit like this?? the shapton glass stones alone ...
 
Duckfat said:
If he pawned them the Police will recover them although it may take a year+ before they give them back if they hold them for evidence.
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zitangy said:
Very relevant question... receiving/ buying a stolen property is never a good transaction. Its still yours and you can get it back. It"s thorough police work . follow the trail .. though you will not get it back immediately as it will be in police "lock=up" as evidence .
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Not always true. My father had a couple of his guitars stolen from him a couple years ago. When recovered at a local music shop that buys and sells used stuff, the police gave them back to my dad after taking photos because he needed to use them for gigs. Since these are work related items, ask them if you can have them back asap. If they get recovered that is, which hopefully they do.
 
marc4pt0 said:
if you don't mind my asking, what's the name of the restaurant? You can PM if you don't feel comfortable putting it up here. I know a few guys in DC, and I own operate my own kitchen here in Maryland. Wouldn't mind, in fact I WANT to, spread the word in our kitchen community about these guys. I'm half tempted to drive down there and walk right the **** in their back door and handle this myself. And I might just walk out with some of their **** too. I have absolute zero tolerance for this crap.
And I might know somebody within the Washingtonian who's ear I could drop a whisper in. Might take a little time, but buzz is buzz. Probably won't get your kit back, but I firmly believe in paying dues, and this place needs to pay the **** up.
Sorry about your loss. You're a better man than I. I would have started swinging the very moment I found my stuff missing. And as an owner, all staff on that night's shift would have their paycheck(s) suspended until your kit showed up. In my own personal hands. So I'd know who's career to ruin. **** law. This is the restaurant business.
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+1 to everything just said. It's a kitchen, not a middle school. Make a scene and rip that place down. Top 8 or not, their actions and response is ********.
 
Now I feel stupid for not reading the whole thread before posting, my bad.

Still, the initial response was rediculous
 
JohnnyChance said:
Not always true.
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Very few things are always true. It depends on the cop as much as anything but where I live (MI) it can change considerably from city to city and county to county let alone from State to State. It sure doesn't hurt to ask. My view is always expect the worse, hope for the best and try to land in the middle.
 
rdpx said:
Well this is good to hear if only because it means you don't have to spend the rest of your life wrongly suspecting someone of stealing your knives... I hope the police get somewhere with what they have to go on.
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+1

At least you don't have to spend time and energy wondering who is responsible.

Hope the police come through for you and recover them.
 
snowbrother said:
That is extremely generous of you guys, but the new job doesn't pay as much and with the longer commute + moving, my funds are going to be short for a while. I honestly don't know when I will be able to buy new knives to replace them.
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I just got back from sending the loaners out to you - a deba, a honesuki and a sujihiki. Whenever you can return them is fine.

You should have them by the weekend.
 
Wow, what a roller coaster. Sorry about your loss of knives. Great job landing at the Ashby Inn; my wife's been trying to talk me into going out there for dinner at some point but my interest was limited since it's a chore to head all the way out there just for dinner. Would be a better trip if a KKF member is working in the kitchen, though. You definitely going to stick with this, or are they trying to get you to stay at the DC restaurant?
 
I'm sticking with the Ashby. Chef King is one of the chefs I've been wanting to work with and learn from for a long time. This is an opportunity I can't pass it up. I had to turn down the job a couple of months ago because I had to move back to take care of my father for about a month. Then I came back to the area and then this happened (I worked at the restaurant his happened at before I left). So I decided to give chef king a call and see if he was still looking and I got the job. I'm very excited to work for a chef that I have been looking up to for a while.
 
Snowbrother, sorry to hear about your loss. I know it's not nearly as good as having your knives back, but at least you know who is responsible, and know it wasn't anyone that you'd already talked to about it.

It may not lead to anything, but I do think having the police question whoever allegedly bougth the knives could be productive. That person also was involved in the crimes of buying (and presumably selling) stolen goods.

I don't know enough about business insurance to have any idea if the restaurant could make a claim, but it's worth looking into. It's also to their benefit to maintain a work environment where their employees' personal property is protected.

I'm in MD--maybe someday I'll make it out to Paris to your new restaurant.
 
When first started reading this thread,was going to ask if any stewards working,hard to believe another cook or chef would snag a whole kit.The tools of ones trade.Sorry for your considerable loss.
 
It's still a lousy situation, but at least honor amongst the chefs and cooks still stands. I'm glad to hear mgt. stepped up and took action. Presumably the PD will now be able to find who has them, assuming they haven't turned around and sold them all. A legit pawn shop has to hold goods for a while before selling. A not so legit pawn shop? Time will tell I guess. I hope that you'll get the kit back or at least they compensate you for it. Sounds like your job change may be the silver lining in all this.
 
Miles said:
It's still a lousy situation, but at least honor amongst the chefs and cooks still stands. I'm glad to hear mgt. stepped up and took action.
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This is true, the last thing you want is to suspect and act on someone who is innocent. I think we have all been there where paranoia has whispered false dreams of payback.

Crazy how the knife bandit only made out with $200. The poor fool didn't know what he had.
 
Wow. Talk about a f'ed up situation.
Do you have enough knives left to work with? I've got a 10" Dexter that takes a wicked edge that you could use til you get yours back or replaced. If ya don't mind carbon.
Also could loan ya' a 6" Mac utility knife.
 
I don't think they are going to be able to recover them. According to the police, he stated that he didn't take them to a pawnshop, he sold the to "some guy that he can't remember". So I don't think they will find them. Could some of you other Maryland/DC/Vieginia chefs keep an eye/ear open in case a chef/cook suddenly has a new set of knives?

The GM is looking into a possible insurance claim to pay for it, but they are getting the run around from their lawyers.

On the bright side, today was my first day at Ashby and I loved it. I always love working in a kitchen, i start to go through withdrawals if i dont, but l love working in this kitchen more than any other. On top of working with a great chef and a great team, I also get to work with brand new equipment since it just re-opened today from a major renovation.

I have to admit though, it's pretty tough trying to get my work done with only a petty, cleaver and a big freaking CCK FF2208 (it turns out that this thing is a beast when it comes to mincing garlic). Oh yeah... The cleaver is a CCK KFC 2201, which seems big, but it is very agile. I use it to break down chickens today and deboned the breasts with it.
 
Man -- so frustrating. Seems to me that any corporate restaurant GM worth anything would get out the checkbook first, and deal with lawyers later.

The gyuto is on its way -- hope it helps tide you over.

The new gig sounds great, though, so hopefully there's a seriously good up side.
 
Thanks to everyone that offered to loan me some knives until I can replace what I lost. In about week, I will have all the tools I need to do my job properly. You guys are very generous and I will find a way to repay all of you. I honestly don't know what I could have done without you guys. There is definitely something to be said about comradely in the kitchen, it might be a cut-throat business, but the generosity shown here is simply awe-inspiring.
 
best of luck with recovery of the stolen goods, and the new job. The gyuto got shipped out this morning. I assume it will be there saturday.
 
snowbrother said:
Thanks to everyone that offered to loan me some knives until I can replace what I lost. In about week, I will have all the tools I need to do my job properly. You guys are very generous and I will find a way to repay all of you. I honestly don't know what I could have done without you guys. There is definitely something to be said about comradely in the kitchen, it might be a cut-throat business, but the generosity shown here is simply awe-inspiring.
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I'm so glad to hear that your new job is working out! And I'm also happy to see that there's some resolve to this. At least the GM is trying to help a bit. And you're right about this forum. I see these guys lending and helping quite often here, and it's great to know that not everybody out there is a complete turd! I do feel lucky to have found such a great community.
Cheers!
 
as I said before take them to small claims court, then their insurance company will pay up pretty quickly I suspect. The argument you make is they didn't properly supervise the dishwasher by allowing him to be on the premises unsupervised when his hours were long since up and his shift and responsibilities long since concluded.

Anyway that's my .02 :- )
 
gic said:
as I said before take them to small claims court, then their insurance company will pay up pretty quickly I suspect. The argument you make is they didn't properly supervise the dishwasher by allowing him to be on the premises unsupervised when his hours were long since up and his shift and responsibilities long since concluded.

Anyway that's my .02 :- )
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This.

The insurance company will not pay to send an attorney to small claims court; the restaurant will not want to send their GM and/or chefs to court for a day, either. Between the two of them, one way or another, you'll likely get paid.

Just make sure your equipment list is as clearly documented as possible, with receipts and current new replacement cost.

Still sucks that they might make you go through this.
 
Sueing your employer over a knife kit is a really bad idea IMO. Something like that can follow you around your entire career. Even if you did recover $$$ you should never expect replacement cost. Not even your own insurance would cover replacement cost unless of course you paid extra and purchased a replacement cost rider.
 
Duckfat said:
Sueing your employer over a knife kit is a really bad idea IMO. Something like that can follow you around your entire career. Even if you did recover $$$ you should never expect replacement cost. Not even your own insurance would cover replacement cost unless of course you paid extra and purchased a replacement cost rider.
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It's a pretty miserable state of affairs if your only acceptable response to being treated unethically is to move on. You, after all, said this:

Duckfat said:
It's NEVER your fault when some one steals from you. Just learn from the experience. Glad they caught the guy but now that your employer knows your tools were stole from their premises by one of their employes they have no excuse not to compensate you. This is why they have insurance.
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If they're responsible, and inexcusably (your word) refuse to act on that responsibility, he's got a right to use legal means to force them. If they don't compensate him, they've already chosen to act unethically. At that point, what is there to lose? Should he just go away, and hope, "please sir", that the unethical parties won't talk **** about him anyway? If they're going to, they're going to. If they're not, they're not.
 
He has a legal right to do a lot of things. Just because some one else has been a douche doesn't mean it's a wise move to take legal action. If he files a law suit you better believe every single one of the Managers, Chefs and cooks will remember that for ever.
So what is there to loose? His reputation, future jobs, a reference etc.
You might want to let the OP that in many states when you bring a suit in small claims the defendant has the right to bump the case up to district court. That means his employer will be well represented so then what? Go pro se? Pay $300 an hour with a $5,000 retainer for a petty claim. Rotsa ruck with that.
Did the employer require him to bring his own tools? Did they have house knives? Is there a SOP against bringing "weapons" to work? A Barrister will look at every angle. Some where along the line you got the notion that his employer will tremble in fear and just pay up just because he files a petty small claims suit.
Not very likely and most will gladly spend 10x as much not to pay if it comes to that instead of setting a precident for other staff. Welcome to the real world.
No one said it's fair or it doesn't suck.
 
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