My Stint as an Actual Cook - Pt 7, The End
Added 2024-09-17 17:00:10 +0000 UTCIt is a quiet, chilly, early fall morning as I post this. Looking out from my second-floor office window, across the yellow and purple Giverny of treetops soon to be bare twigs, and having just been through the camera roll of my time working at the grocery store, the moment feels draped in a forlorn gauze. Five years have passed since I learned to mince garlic in a food processor that could turn barbecue tongs into tinsel; it has been five years since I felt the food serviceperson's resting grudge stain the envelope of my perception.
I still use my Husker Deux meat thermometer almost daily, and I still stand by my commitment not to eat any of the nasty food I used to cook there. Mostly I'm sad for how much time has passed from my allotment, but I also recognize that it's dispiriting to have worked so hard at something that evaporated the moment the burners were off, every veteran of the team scattering to the winds without a connection to one another.
I've long moved on, and so have most of them — let's take a closer look in this final installment.
Comments
And keep my empathy bone healthy
Chris Onstad
2024-09-19 15:14:35 +0000 UTCThank you! Now I feel like I should moonlight in another terrible job. To stay interesting, to stay vital, to be treated badly.
Chris Onstad
2024-09-19 15:12:30 +0000 UTCIn truth, I learned this during a one-night dishwashing job in high school, but working for FedEx seemed complicated and kitchens will hire just about anyone.
Chris Onstad
2024-09-19 15:10:49 +0000 UTCThat block of time in your life taught you some stuff you would not have learned any other way. Mostly that the kitchen grind sucks immense amounts of cold dicks.
Julie (HiDeeHoGal)
2024-09-19 14:21:41 +0000 UTCDamn dude, this is some strong stuff. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed this read.
NATE WINSTON
2024-09-19 12:41:50 +0000 UTCAnd this was one of the nicer “fuck this place” faces
Chris Onstad
2024-09-17 17:47:15 +0000 UTCDude the expression on your face is exactly the expression I've made in every restaurant job that I've ever had front or back of the house. if a facial expression can say fuck this place that's what it looks like
J Hardy Carroll
2024-09-17 17:43:45 +0000 UTC
