Learn While You Earn

The help-wanted ad I submitted yesterday became sort of ironic this morning after I entered my weekly FaceBook posting.  There was a note from a past employee that said "The other day a guy from the place that I work at was standing next to me when I was chopping vegetables and he was like "You chop vegetables good, I like your cuts." And I had to think of you and tell you and Kevin thanks. I can still hear Kevin "No, you are holding your fingers wrong. No, stop cutting. No, it's not like that!" :) I think that I might have got it down pat now. :)"

We have had a lot of employees come and go (especially go, it seems) in the kitchen, and we can probably count on one hand the number who really, really took it seriously and "got it".  Got that the job they did was important to the success of the restaurant, got that Kevin could teach them a skill for a lifetime of employment, got that practice and repetition and more practice was a constant in the kitchen.  A job working under Chef McKinney is an opportunity to learn from a professional and get paid for it.  We aren't the easiest people to work for, and we don't pretend we are, but do you remember who your best teacher was in high school?  It wasn't the one who showed movies every other day, it wasn't the one that let you talk and carry on during class.  It was the teacher who made you do the work, the one who worked with you, the one that you might have complained about but respected for the results they got out of you. Once in a great while Kevin gets a pat on the back, and a "thanks!" like the note above.  It made his day.  

Thanks Danae!