Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve staged at a few places. I actually applied for two pastry externships that I thought would be interesting. I’m not going to use the names of the restaurants. But, here’s a little something I will share about them.
The 1st one was ok, and I mean just ok – I was told I would be doing something completely different on the phone and when I got there…I made muffins! I don’t know about you, but I’ve made a ton of muffins in my life – and I can follow a recipe, when it is right! That’s right; I found a mistake on their recipe! I got to mix muffins with a hand whisk, a medium size mixer and the mac daddy mixer…that should have been on wheels (my back is still suffering!) The kitchen was unorganized – that’s not a good thing for anyone that suffers from OCD. I had to move my bowls several times to different tables during the four long hours I was there. Why? Well, because I don’t work there and I was in the way. I wasn’t impressed with this bakery – actually I was horrified!
And the 2nd place is a well known restaurant here – everyone wants to stage or extern with them. That is everyone but me; I will not be intimidated! I was told by the person I was staging with that “they don’t like to see you leave on time!” - Well excuse me, I was asked if I could be there from 9am-1pm. Not, can you be here 9am until the sun goes down. He also went on to say, “you need to show more of a commitment, before they’ll accept you as the extern!” That translates to…you need to stage here every day for the next three weeks and they still may not accept you as the extern. And yes, as you may have guessed, when you stage, it is free work for that restaurant. And this extern was an unpaid externship, too! And the icing on the top of this stage was when it was time for me to leave, and the person I was staging with says, “Let me see if the chef wants to talk to you before you leave” – but – “stay here, he’s weird about people approaching him?” Ok, so now the “chef” doesn’t want to be approached. The person I’m working with says, “No, he’s good!” I walk over there to pick my bag up, and I say good bye to him – and I wanted to add KMA. Maybe someday I’ll tell you who this person is –
So, that is two different stages I did – and I feel like I wasted my time! Oh, I didn’t waste their time, because they got a lot of work out of me for free. I’ll never see those hours again! ha
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