Pet peeves

Find deals on amazon
Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Miura knives
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
ajhuff said:
Have another one. When we do events, give me a number. It irks me to no end when you tell me 85 people and 115 show up and your mad we ran out of food. Likewise, I get pissy when you tell me 100 and we cook for 100 and 60 show up. And don't do like yesterday and say we are serving a party of 150 but that could go up to 300. I don't do loaves and fishes like that other guy.

-AJ
Click to expand...
Or 75 is the # they give, but only 5 show up.

I had a party ask how much for a party of 25 kids (going through the owner). I gave them a low price because it was his friends. I even asked how many adults he had no idea. It turned out that there were more kids than adults that showed. Guess who took that brunt end.
 
When that one co-worker in particular would rather unnecessarily prep for his SMALL and ONLY ticket thats ON HOLD while you're getting bent over your station, rather than help you plate two small items for the ticket before it that he already plated and is getting cold, because it's not his job.

Run-on sentence, I know.
 
Some really good ones guys, so I don't really have anything that hasn't been mentioned, but here goes, In no particular order:

1)Don't touch any of my sh!t: knives, tools, mise, towels, NOTHING.
2)Be F*ing clean, always. Drop something, pick it up immediately. See something someone else dropped, pick it up! Wipe down your board between tasks, wipe off the door to your reach-in, etc. You'll never be clean enough, but keep trying.
3)If you take the last one, replenish it.
4)Open your eyes and actually look before you tell me there isn't any ______ left. When I go and find it, I won't be happy.
5)Rotate the damn product!!!
6)People who don't know how to properly wrap their mise w/ plastic. It should be wrapped sufficiently so that when you drop your tray nothing spills.
7)If you tear the plastic on the edge of the roll, for the love of god, DON'T KEEP PULLING IT!! Open the box and fix it!
8)Write it down!!! I don't have time to tell you the same sh!t 3 times a day.
9)How can you work with knives that dull???
10)Put it back where you found it, NOW.

Good thread, that felt good.
 
I don't really mind that people use my knives when I leave them out. I try not to be too anal about things, but maybe its because I'm lucky I've never had anyone break one or do anything really stupid with it.

However I do appreciate when someone, even the chef, asks "may I use your knife?" when its sitting right in front of them. The answer is always "of course".

These are little things that the general public just doesn't understand!
 
Vertigo said:
I have a dishwasher who, when we send him to pick up the ground meat from the butcher every morning, spends 30 minutes looking at snowboards in the ski shop. He also goes there to poop. I can't figure out why the boss wont fire him. That's sort of a pet peeve on two levels: dishwashers who walk across town for their daily constitutional, and owners who wont fire incredibly awful employees.
Click to expand...

AMEN
 
Floor drain is not the lowest part of the floor, but the highest. This kind of crap wont run in a kitchen why on a construction site?
 
Nothing makes me shittier than people who take a new roll of plastic wrap out the box and throw the box away.It comes me serious anger issues.
 
A few of my customer rules:

*Make a reservation.
*Don't have your "secretary" make it.
*Make it yourself.
*Please arrive as scheduled.
*We understand that schedules change. A little heads up would be good before we send your server home after standing around making $2.33 an hour. Yes, someone will come in to work your party and have no other tables.
*Don't let foreigners leave the tip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Did I emphasis that too much?)
*Brief your overseas guests on US tipping customs.
*Your table is the most important! (It is but so is everyone else's.)
*If you walk in to an empty restaurant 5 minutes before closing you should be warmly welcomed. DON'T WEAR IT OUT!
*You will be treated like a guest in our house. We hope you act like one.
 
I love that to every peeve in this thread I've read, I've agreed with.

As a rule I normally don't like mind dietary requirements. Both my son and my wife put up with some.
But I hate pretentious ones. A buddy of mine had the request last week: "I don't eat anything with a mother or a face."

He didn't serve her any vinegar or sourdough. :)

Or clocks for that matter.
 
Having a floor drain back up when you have a full house. Worst day ever.
 
Salty dog said:
A few of my customer rules:

*Make a reservation.
*Don't have your "secretary" make it.
*Make it yourself.
*Please arrive as scheduled.
*We understand that schedules change. A little heads up would be good before we send your server home after standing around making $2.33 an hour. Yes, someone will come in to work your party and have no other tables.
*Don't let foreigners leave the tip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Did I emphasis that too much?)
*Brief your overseas guests on US tipping customs.
*Your table is the most important! (It is but so is everyone else's.)
*If you walk in to an empty restaurant 5 minutes before closing you should be warmly welcomed. DON'T WEAR IT OUT!
*You will be treated like a guest in our house. We hope you act like one.
Click to expand...

+100 Don't know how many times sent server home to have the party show up 3 hrs. late.
 
I think vegans are masochists with control issues.

Nothing out of my fryer can be vegan because cheese and tempura batter go in it?
No meat ever goes in the fryer.

Servers asked for more vegetarian small plates. I have 15 small plates on my menu. 11 are vegetarian.

I actually make Tofu bacon for these people to substitute. How can anyone tell me I am not doing enough?

I have personal relationships with all the people who raise our meat. I choose one over another based on slaughtering practices. I even know our dairy farmers for milk and cheese.

I feel I go a loonngg way to ensure my customers get quality product and provenance.

But vegans can suck it. And my servers stock is plummeting.
 
Chuckles said:
I think vegans are masochists with control issues.

Nothing out of my fryer can be vegan because cheese and tempura batter go in it?
No meat ever goes in the fryer.

Servers asked for more vegetarian small plates. I have 15 small plates on my menu. 11 are vegetarian.

I actually make Tofu bacon for these people to substitute. How can anyone tell me I am not doing enough?

I have personal relationships with all the people who raise our meat. I choose one over another based on slaughtering practices. I even know our dairy farmers for milk and cheese.

I feel I go a loonngg way to ensure my customers get quality product and provenance.

But vegans can suck it. And my servers stock is plummeting.
Click to expand...

I wish, on behalf of you, that the customers would just get it, but they don't seem to. Anyway, your place sounds great - I'd eat there if I could!
 
Chuckles said:
I think vegans are masochists with control issues.

Nothing out of my fryer can be vegan because cheese and tempura batter go in it?
No meat ever goes in the fryer.

Servers asked for more vegetarian small plates. I have 15 small plates on my menu. 11 are vegetarian.

I actually make Tofu bacon for these people to substitute. How can anyone tell me I am not doing enough?

I have personal relationships with all the people who raise our meat. I choose one over another based on slaughtering practices. I even know our dairy farmers for milk and cheese.

I feel I go a loonngg way to ensure my customers get quality product and provenance.

But vegans can suck it. And my servers stock is plummeting.
Click to expand...

I love you, man.
 
Not skimming sauces, before, during, and after reducing.
We have a new dishwasher that likes to hover. I want to shake him.
People that sit on buckets to organize the walk in.
And one that probably means nothing to anyone, I picked it up fifteen years ago at my first job: it is a towel,not a rag. This was followed by something off color said by a fifty year old woman that I cannot in good taste say in front of potentially mixed company.
 
I relate to most of these mentioned so far.

A few more/repeats:

-Servers who walk into the kitchen during the peak of summer when it is hot as hell on the line, and say, "Jeez, it's soooo hot in here!! I don't know how you guys do it!!" STFU. Yes, we know it's hot, dumbass, we are doing a 10 hour shift next to the grill or the flattie or the wood burning oven. Get out of my kitchen.

-Servers who complain in the kitchen about paying taxes on tips, or tipping out to their bussers, runners, expo, etc. "I'm only going to walk with $250 tonight. This sucks!" STFU.

-In catering, when the captain doesn't count the tables correctly, or has an incorrect guest count, or an incorrect breakdown count (tallies of chix/steak/fish/vegetarian, etc).

-In catering, when guests have replied via response card and indicated vegetarian meal, but then see the steak plate and change their order when it is placed in front of them. "Oh, that looks good, can I have the steak instead?" or "No, I didn't order vegetarian. I want steak." Oh, really, because if your name is John Smith and you're sitting in the right seat with your name card John Smith, you ordered the vegetarian meal, John Smith.

-In catering, when guests show up to the event and demand a vegan/gluten free/dairy free meal, without having mentioned it to their host.

-Servers who are unable to take the right food to the right table.

-Cooks who think they don't need to learn how we do things in our kitchen.

-Cooks who don't use salt and pepper because they forget, or there's none on their station, or whatever weak excuse they have.

-Cooks who don't put any effort into family meal.

~Tad
 
after reading many of these, I feel really out of place here as I am an RN lol
 
Ahhh, a breath of fresh air...venting...

For starters, I always beef with the kitchen manager, because seniority complexed kitchen manager is a d*ck and tells me, and not asks me to do something. Listen here, dudette...Im a nice guy here and only here and only because I have a knife addiction to support and a wife and dog to feed, dont let the half @$$ smile on my face and formal vocabulary throw you off. Yes you know the owner better than I do you kiss-@$$, and yes you went to community college culinary school, but the issues is, I work as three people here, see, I do my job, and I prep others prep lists so that they don't have to deal with your BS, I train the dish washers in wisdom and knife skills, and I cheer up the suicidal bakery-girl, I clean extra every night because others hide things all day long, I fix things that are broken, and am used by everyone in the kitchen because Im a tall sucker. Dont try to act tougher than me, I been misused and mistreated my whole life...I have tough skin, Ill take all you got and then some, but you will NEVER get my respect, Ill do as you say and outdo you as soon as I learn the ins and outs of this place and befriend the chef and owner in a professional, respectful manner without having to stab everyone else in the back. Stop treating me like crap and overworking me when there is no superiors around, it makes you look even uglier. You make me want to vomit. I will not quit, you will not bring me down, I will continue telling you the raw truth, and I will continue seeing the fear in your eyes. *sigh*

This is the 3rd restaurant I am having this dilemma at. The first restaurant, the manager broke and we ended up becoming poker buddies, the second restaurant the manager did not break and got overtly disrespectful to the point that I left with a three week notice to the chef. This new restaurant, I am the only person on the kitchen team who has not worked with the kitchen team before...I get ridden hard by this manager chick...she is verbally abusive and forces me to do her prep so that she can go f!!@# around in the office when the owners not around. Mondays and Tuesdays she is supposed to be on the line doing pantry so I can sous, but since its the days when chef and owner are gone, I end up doing BOTH stations (which is awesome to a degree) so that she can catch up on her prep list, but if the owner comes in, she always comes to the line like shes always there when hes gone. These two days I also have to clean and close the kitchen by myself. She purposefully lets the dishwasher go early, and takes off early herself, just to spite me and test me. She shorts me on my tips whenever she gets the chance to. She uses me to help her carry heavy items and reach unreachable things, yes so does the rest of the kitchen, but I do not like doing this for her. I wish that she would get laid, but I fear the worst for the poor sap who pummels through...chick has no heart whatsoever.

Sorry.

For some unmentioned pet peeves:

-servers who take food from another ticket for their table and try to hide that it was them who took it...nobodys fault but your own that you forgot to order something, or ordered the wrong thing. Writing 911 on a ticket does not mean that your medium well steak will be out in 90 seconds, you must be trippin.
-If you are going to borrow my towel, please dont bring it back all mucky.
-If you are going to borrow my thermometer, please put it back where you took it from, clean.
-If I come up with a new dish or plating, please stop taking the credit for yourself.
-If you have something to say, feel free to do so, there will be no consequences...I dont want to go back to jail, just stop talking behind my back.
-Do not EVER drop my knife like that again. Please.
-Dont send me home as soon as I come in, call me or something ahead of time please, I had to catch the busses across town to get here, its not as fun as you think.
-Dont act like a boss if youre not the boss.
 
Someone walking away from a pot/pan of something for so long it burns and they look at you like it was your fault.
 
quantumcloud509 said:
Ahhh, a breath of fresh air...venting...

For starters, I always beef with the kitchen manager, because seniority complexed kitchen manager is a d*ck and tells me, and not asks me to do something. Listen here, dudette...Im a nice guy here and only here and only because I have a knife addiction to support and a wife and dog to feed, dont let the half @$$ smile on my face and formal vocabulary throw you off. Yes you know the owner better than I do you kiss-@$$, and yes you went to community college culinary school, but the issues is, I work as three people here, see, I do my job, and I prep others prep lists so that they don't have to deal with your BS, I train the dish washers in wisdom and knife skills, and I cheer up the suicidal bakery-girl, I clean extra every night because others hide things all day long, I fix things that are broken, and am used by everyone in the kitchen because Im a tall sucker. Dont try to act tougher than me, I been misused and mistreated my whole life...I have tough skin, Ill take all you got and then some, but you will NEVER get my respect, Ill do as you say and outdo you as soon as I learn the ins and outs of this place and befriend the chef and owner in a professional, respectful manner without having to stab everyone else in the back. Stop treating me like crap and overworking me when there is no superiors around, it makes you look even uglier. You make me want to vomit. I will not quit, you will not bring me down, I will continue telling you the raw truth, and I will continue seeing the fear in your eyes. *sigh*

This is the 3rd restaurant I am having this dilemma at. The first restaurant, the manager broke and we ended up becoming poker buddies, the second restaurant the manager did not break and got overtly disrespectful to the point that I left with a three week notice to the chef. This new restaurant, I am the only person on the kitchen team who has not worked with the kitchen team before...I get ridden hard by this manager chick...she is verbally abusive and forces me to do her prep so that she can go f!!@# around in the office when the owners not around. Mondays and Tuesdays she is supposed to be on the line doing pantry so I can sous, but since its the days when chef and owner are gone, I end up doing BOTH stations (which is awesome to a degree) so that she can catch up on her prep list, but if the owner comes in, she always comes to the line like shes always there when hes gone. These two days I also have to clean and close the kitchen by myself. She purposefully lets the dishwasher go early, and takes off early herself, just to spite me and test me. She shorts me on my tips whenever she gets the chance to. She uses me to help her carry heavy items and reach unreachable things, yes so does the rest of the kitchen, but I do not like doing this for her. I wish that she would get laid, but I fear the worst for the poor sap who pummels through...chick has no heart whatsoever.

Sorry.

For some unmentioned pet peeves:

-servers who take food from another ticket for their table and try to hide that it was them who took it...nobodys fault but your own that you forgot to order something, or ordered the wrong thing. Writing 911 on a ticket does not mean that your medium well steak will be out in 90 seconds, you must be trippin.
-If you are going to borrow my towel, please dont bring it back all mucky.
-If you are going to borrow my thermometer, please put it back where you took it from, clean.
-If I come up with a new dish or plating, please stop taking the credit for yourself.
-If you have something to say, feel free to do so, there will be no consequences...I dont want to go back to jail, just stop talking behind my back.
-Do not EVER drop my knife like that again. Please.
-Dont send me home as soon as I come in, call me or something ahead of time please, I had to catch the busses across town to get here, its not as fun as you think.
-Dont act like a boss if youre not the boss.
Click to expand...

Haha sounds exactly like my situation at my last place. Glad I'm over casual restaurant BS, higher end is where you want to be. Completely different atmosphere my friend.
 
People who suddenly become overly ethnic in their translation of a given menu item or ingredient. Dude you aren't Italian AT ALL-it's mozzarella, not moutz-ahh-raell. It capicola, not gabbagoul-you aren't Tony Soprano. The same can be said for any type of Spanish and/or Mexican/Latin American cuisine.
However it also pisses me off to no end when people overly Americanize food pronunciations too. My biggest is MASCARPONE it is NOT NOT NOT MARSCAPONE!!!!!!!! The R does NOT come before the S!!!!
It's Sherbet, not SureBurt!!!!
AAAAAARRRRGGGHHH
 
knyfeknerd said:
People who suddenly become overly ethnic in their translation of a given menu item or ingredient. Dude you aren't Italian AT ALL-it's mozzarella, not moutz-ahh-raell. It capicola, not gabbagoul-you aren't Tony Soprano. The same can be said for any type of Spanish and/or Mexican/Latin American cuisine.
However it also pisses me off to no end when people overly Americanize food pronunciations too. My biggest is MASCARPONE it is NOT NOT NOT MARSCAPONE!!!!!!!! The R does NOT come before the S!!!!
It's Sherbet, not SureBurt!!!!
AAAAAARRRRGGGHHH
Click to expand...

Oh man. I hear you so loud and clear on this one. It's reason #4,571 that I hate Giada: she can't say "macaroni" without it sounding like she's doing a racially insensitive impression of Super Mario. "Its-ah meee, GeeAhdah, with-a my mah-ca-ROOOooOOOOoo-kneeee!"

The flip side is our dirty meth-addicted waiter hailing from the dredges of Eastern Washington, who--despite numerous corrections--still says "tor-tee-lah" and "kay-sa-dee-lah."

fuuu.jpg
 
I'll jump on this. I have a real problem with people who say sall-mon.

-AJ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top