New Summer Job

Tuesday I started working at a new restaurant that is going to open on Monday named Aggy's.  I know, I thought it should be spelled Aggie's as well, but this restaurant is in the same location as a restaurant that recently closed named "Iggy's".  "Iggy's" was a sports grill and it actually did very well in Logan and the one time I went, it was very crowded, but due to poor ownership and management in Idaho, they had to close it down here.  The owner of the building that Iggy's was renting from decided to get together with a few other people and they decided to start Aggy's.  I think it is a great idea because Logan is definitely a college town and who wouldn't want to go to a place named after our mascot?

My current position at Aggy's is as a prep cook (click here to learn what a prep cook is) / dish washer.  Seems like a pretty easy job, but so far over the past three days that I have been working, I have had to do a grip of things including prepare food to be served or cooked and cleaning the dishes.  I was really excited to start this job because of my interest in food and I always wondered how a restaurant operated.  I am currently witnessing it first hand as we prepare for our VIP opening today (Friday) and Saturday and then the grand opening on Monday.

This is not us...but you get the idea.

One of the most interesting things is the separation and division between the people in the kitchen and then the servers and hostesses.  It is actually incredibly interesting to me.  I don't know how many of you have ever been to wal-mart past midnight, but the same people working their at midnight are definitely not the friendly faces that you see in the commercials on tv when they are rolling back prices.  The thought the night crew at walmart was working in the kitchen the first time I stepped back there. ;) One prerequisite about working in the back kitchen is that you need to have a tattoo, piercing, or addiction to cigarettes.  All three is an extra bonus.  I just tell everyone I got an Aggie tattooed on my bum so that I can work in the back.  ;)  In all honesty though, the kitchen crew are the nicest people that I have met at the restaurant.  I am really enjoying to get to know em and work together with them.  Each person seems to have their own story.  Today I was setting up prime rib into servings with a 28 year old dude from Panama that everyone calls "Eh Ooh" (well at least its pronounced like that) and he was telling me about his dream to open up a restaurant of his own.  I want to be the first one to eat at it the day it opens.  These people on the outside seriously might look unfriendly to some, but have started to become a fun new group of friends that I have at work and its been sweet.

On the opposite spectrum of the restaurant, there is the glam of the servers and hostesses.  Its amazing what putting on an apron and standing in the back of a kitchen will do to your image and how people stereotype you.  My housemate Mike also works in the back with me, and it is hilarious to us at how the servers have little respect for us or pay very little attention just because we are workers in the back.  It's so interesting to me and I'm gonna do a little social experiment and see how they treat me as a customer when I walk in the front doors in normal clothes, as compared to how they treat me when I am in the back working as a prep cook / dish washer.

One of the nicer servers today though said something I really liked.  He basically said that the success of a restaurant and nearly everything relies on the productivity, quality, and speed of the kitchen.  It's so true.  How many times do we tip well as a place we just ate because we get our food fast or because its dang tastayyyy.

I have so much to say about this new job.  I am enjoying it because I feel like I am learning a lot about a plethra of things and it's kinda humbling being maybe the lowest ranking job at Aggy's haha, I don't even think management will look me straight in the eyes cause I'm that low. ;) Hopefully later in life I can come back to the restaurant to eat as a more successful business man and relate my stories to a server, and tell him/her about tarting off there when it opened as just a dude in the kitchen.  hahah ;)