California Pizza Kitchen..... as a workplace?

[liberalitch]

Do you,.... or anyone you know work for California Pizza Kitchen?

What kind of place are they to work for?

I know that some corporate places suck,... I have worked for Olive Garden and was treated well.

[kentauros]

1. I worked for them all of three days in the mid 90s.

I know baking and was coming from that background of previous jobs. They put me in the salad bar.

Of course, that's just a reflection on the management of the one in Houston at the time; I have no idea how it is with the rest of the restaurants or the company as a whole.

I don't know if you're in the food industry by choice or what, but this story in our local Houston Press is a well-written treatise on the state of affairs in this grueling profession: Chefs Rule!

I don't work in food anymore, luckily ;)

[KamaAina]

2. You worked for Olive Garden?

And were treated well?!

Perhaps you'd like to share some delicious Olive Garden recipes with the Lounge?

:hide:

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Get out of food service. Now.

Seriously.

I've been a cook ten fucking years and I hate my life and everyone around me. I can't pay my rent, i have no self-esteem, and the world always looks grim and hateful - all because i once liked to cook and thought i could make a career out of it.

I'm not being ironic or melodramatic: find something else you're good at. Cultivate it. Find an entryway into some other field. ANYTHING else. Stay the hell away from food service, because it's the closest thing we have to slavery that exists today. Please, please, take it from me: you can do other things to make money. Food service will rob you of your soul and your heart.


In case you're wondering, i'm in school now and interning to be a copyeditor, after ten years as a cook. Best decision i ever made - i suggest you do the same before it's too late.

I'm not kidding.

[kentauros]

4. Yeah, that HoustonPress story I linked

pretty well says the same thing. Some can take it and excel, but most simply become slaves to the job or the 'service'. The chefs in the industry know this and take full advantage of it. I remember a cooking teacher telling me that the apprenticeship program for chefs meant you were a literal slave for at least the first year of a three-year apprenticeship. Only in the second year did you start learning anything to do with cooking and only in the third year were you "allowed" to do anything on your own, including your own recipes and such. Of course, the pressure is really on in that last year since you're expected to have learned everything the chef ever said and be able to apply it all.

If you still want to stay in the food industry, move to Europe. I've known a few chefs (mostly pastry chefs) from there and it's supposedly fairly laid back :)

[liberalitch]

5. Oh, I'm a teacher....

I love my job...
My SO however is looking for something that will allow him to go to school.

[RebelOne]

6. As a copy editor myself, I can say you will enjoy that more than cooking. n/t