Monday, February 28, 2011

Outlook

If you have ever had one of those shifts that seem to drag on forever, and even though it feels like it has been an hour, every time you look at the clock its only been 15 minutes? Well this weekend I had one day just like that and the next was just the opposite and I wondered why.

On Saturday I was thinking to myself "I seriously want to finish and go home" and when orders came in I did not enjoy making them, I saw them more as hindering my plans to go home, and each time I looked at that damn clock it had barely moved. So as we slowed down, I started cleaning up early, and thought "the faster I clean up the faster I finish" so I was nearly done cleaning and people walk in. Its not out of the ordinary for late customers to come in on a Saturday night so I was not surprised or angry, just a little disappointed that my luck wasn't working out for me. When the orders came in I had to pretty much undo all the cleaning I had done and make the orders. When I finished I had to pretty much start from square one. I felt like time stood still and the night would never end, but I eventually got out, and was only about five minutes late.

On Sunday I found myself thinking something more like "finally a day off tomorrow I don't care how late I get out". Every order that came in I made sure that everything was perfect, I made pretty garnishes, cooked each dish just right, not over or under done, and even when a medium rare steak came back because it was "too pink" (I think either there was a mistake in taking the order, or the customer did not understand steak temperatures) I shrugged it off. Instead of throwing it in the microwave I took the time to re-saute it to a medium well, and made it look just as nice as the first time it went out. I must say I was enjoying myself, and when I looked at the time, I thought only an hour or so had passed, but instead we were nearly closed. I thought about starting to completely break down everything and clean up, but thought I'll do it after the kitchen closes. I made the right decision, we had late customers and cleaning up would have been pointless, so once the kitchen closed, and everything was cleaned up I clocked out earlier than the previous night.

Today as I think back on the past weekend, I see why you really need to find a job you enjoy doing, time goes by much faster, and you do better work. From now on I will try to put my best foot forward as much as possible and cook with a smile, because cooking is something I enjoy doing. I think I must be extremely lucky to have found a profession that I love right off the bat.

12 comments:

  1. it's really good to have a job that you love to go to every day.

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  2. having a job you enjoy makes life great.

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  3. I find that for the first couple months of a new job, time goes by really slowly. After that, I can just zone out and time flies by. When I get back home later I'm like "whoa, I worked all day today". It's like my brain is turned off.

    That only works for crappy part-time jobs though.

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  4. doing something you like its always the best way to past time even if your working

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  5. That's not a job but a career, my friend. We should all be so lucky to as to find our own

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  6. that is awesome! good for you!

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  7. Yeah, unless it's busy, I'm hating my day

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  8. I'm ashamed to say I came here looking for tech information (Outlook like the mail client), but I'm glad I did -- that was a thoughtful and interesting post. You are lucky not to be in the 'support group' (for people who hate their jobs -- it's called "everyone else" and we meet at the bar).

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  9. Having a job you enjoy doing is nice but hard to find.

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  10. Cooking is not your job, its your life and it seems you've made a good one. You put a lot of thought into everything you make, and thats good.

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