PROLOGUE
I've been
asked so many times about my professional life. Also many questions
about pros and cons of a chef’s career, especially from young
people who would like to cook for a living. This is
not an easy task to explain, what it takes to devote yourself to
become a service oriented person.
I think I should start with the pros!
You will have a lot of joy, recognition, and satisfaction in
pleasing, surprising, and overwhelming your guests. One of my main
reasons to become a chef was the adventure of traveling. You can find yourself a job anywhere in the world. (Most other jobs are limited to
countries and special regions). You have a chance to see other
cultures and learn foreign languages. It made me very proud being
able to communicate in 5 different languages in my life as a chef, especially after being one of the worst pupils in school in learning
French! One great thing, once you are established, everybody in the hotel business knows you and you never have to look for a
job again. You will always get lots of offers and it will be up to you to
make the right decision. Beside, you will probably have that dream and
good feeling to one day build your own establishment.
On the
negative side:
There
a lot of cons to this profession, starting with your willingness to
work ungodly hours and most every holiday and being daily under
pressure to timely serve your hungry costumers. You will not get
wealthy either. Yes, you can make a descent living but unless you go
into television you never will pass middle class. You will have to get very lucky like me to find a special partner in life, if you desire to start a family. She or he has to be ready to
relocate any time a new job offer comes around and if you have children it
will even get harder. Believe me, if you like to be successful you
have to relocate quite often.
I will give it my best effort and jot down all my memories starting with my first food service experience in my early teens all the way to the end of my chef's career. I guess it could be bit boring to some, so just ignore it and don't judge me, after all, I am not a writer. Expect a new entry every few weeks in the near future.
We been in this together since 1976
