It has been 35 days since I started working at a hotel in Ortigas as an intern. I was initially assigned at the Omelet Station during the breakfast buffet and at the Live Station during the lunch buffet. I could now say I am an Eggspert! Haha I’ll be making a separate post about that experience. It has been in my drafts for a week now. I’m really just THAT busy and tired when I get home from work.
Anyhooo, I could say that I take much pride in the way I work. I am a “fast worker” in basically everything I do. I easily get bored when I’m idle so I find other things to do when there’s free time during the buffets, like cleaning my station, or even asking for extra tasks.
This week, I was assigned at the Cold Station (inside the kitchen). Having to see and prepare for the lunch buffet for over a month, I have memorized all the things to set up: veggies, dressings, condiments, etc. It’s not rocket science!
I have always wondered why the other interns before me who were assigned in the Cold Station couldn’t deliver or finish on time when it’s the same things being done everyday. On my first day, I was able to finish preparing everything including the food needed for the Live Station at least an hour and a half before the breakfast buffet was over. And that’s just an estimate!
Today was a different story. There are 2 regular Chefs at the Cold Station plus 2 trainees including me. One Chef makes the complex salads for the lunch buffet and the other prepares the food to be cooked at the Live Station. My classmate and I prepared the ingredients for the make-your-own salad station.
When we arrived, I automatically got all the vegetables we needed from the walk-in chiller. My classmate and I also worked together at the Omelet Station so we know we work well together – and really fast! I peeled all the vegetables while she used her mandolin to julienne them. The mandolin basically cuts almost everything for us! Takes half the time! I prepared all the other vegetables which cannot be cut using the mandolin, the dressings, the condiments and the leafy greens. We were done in less than an hour. We were asking for more stuff to do in no time.
I also had to slice the fruits for the buffet, which is one of the tasks at the Omelet Station and refilled the toppings for the omelet. And I am doing these simultaneously.
Towards the end of our shift, we were already preparing the ingredients for tomorrow’s functions. The only break I had was a 20-minute lunch break and 2-minute water breaks when I feel really parched!
This other Chef – the one in charge for the prep of Live Station, for some weird reason, couldn’t and have never finished prepping on time. Even when I was still assigned at the Omelet Station, we were already taking out the food for the lunch buffet and she’s still working. Sometimes, we had to remind her that she still lacks this and that.
For someone who has done this a little longer and on a recurring basis, she still forgets what ingredients goes with which food. To think that she already has the menu in front of her!
I cannot stress out how disorganised she is when she works. She leaves a certain thing unfinished and starts a new task. That’s based on my observation. Maybe that’s also one of the reasons why she forgets. The taste of the food she cooks is another story. Lol
When we left the kitchen earlier, she was still working on the crepes she needed for tomorrow. Someone had already dictated the recipe to her and she still couldn’t get the crepe to form properly. Someone had to make adjustments to the batter for it to somehow work! Gosh. I honestly don’t know how she made it as a chef!
Just needed to rant. 🙂
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