Assuming The Position

The first in a series by A. Chef

By that point, I had seen and done a lot despite my somewhat limited career path. Many of the people I was about to take leadership of had seen and done a lot more than I.

It’s an uncomfortable position to be in, needing to hire people with strength, yet not so strong that I couldn’t control them. You don’t always want to hire someone better than you, and you certainly don’t want to hire someone who wants your job. I had interviewed people much more mature than I, people who, once they realized the position I was in, decided they wanted to have no part of it. I also interviewed people much my senior that had, in the past, turned me down for jobs where they had the power. They probably didn’t remember me, but I remembered them and enjoyed a quiet little chuckle to myself at how small the city is, and how things tend to come full circle.

It was a strange email to get from my boss, who basically told me that “tomorrow’s the day”. I think more than a few of us had seen this coming for a couple of months, and certainly a ‘plan B’ had been formulated, the details of which were none of my business.

We had that awkward exchange that probably takes place whenever the baton is passed – “what should I ask for? How much do you make? What’s going to be expected of me? Should I say yes?”. Most of the answers were pretty murky, or downright evasive as much of it was really none of my damned business. At the end of it all, sitting with the GM while she smoked nervously, we hammered out a deal and the ball kept rolling. Turns out I was plan B.

Bumping into the big boss later that day, who had probably just learned my last name, asked if I was nervous. I figured he was being polite, as he must have known the answer, for I had not been in this position before and we both knew there was a certain element of sink or swim happening.

I sunk.

For a little while at least. I thought I had known about 90% of the position, and big deal, I can figure out the other 10% pretty quick. I have a tendency to be apprehensive whenever starting a new job (position or place) but history proves that I learn fast on my feet and adapt. It’s one thing to go from entremetier to saucier, but it’s quite another to go from sous chef to chef. So much of it was over my head and that 10% turned out to be the hardest to grapple with.

There were many people who left the kitchen at that time, some of it related to me, most of it not. I’ve seen it before, that mass exodus. In fact, I’d even been part of it before. I didn’t understand the effects it had on the people left behind at that time, and it’s not something I’d ever do again out of respect for my friends and co-workers. A pretty dick move.

One cook got the job he wanted before he came to work for me, one cook was just straight up burnt out and vowed he’d not work for another chef, the other sous I worked with took a promotion to chef at another restaurant. One I had just hired after a lengthy interview turned out to have a lot of baggage and even more attitude. He was sold on the gig at first, and even spent a couple of hours on the line with me, but when he started to get his hands dirty he realized there was more going on than he wanted, so he pulled the chute. Last I heard, he was working in a noodle shop. Good for him.

Another cook I hired, hired as sous chef, came with a good resume, good interview and good references and whole lot of other shit that didn’t become apparent until a month or so into the role. He didn’t make it through his probation. The rest of the cooks I hired have worked out well and although it took about six months for everyone to find their groove, things really came together and now I can stop worrying about staff so much.

I had secretly made a deal with myself, to allow one full year of learning on the job, to see everything for the first time and allow the room to make those mistakes. I am very fortunate that my predecessor had a great run and was able to lay the groundwork for my eventual success, and despite all those false starts and rookie mistakes, I’ve managed to keep a handle on the place and eventually turn that sinking into swimming.

I’ve got a few more months to go, and then I have to figure out that last 10%.

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