Kitchen drama

Finding my third internship was not easy. For starters, I am much pickier than I was four months ago when I was looking for my first internship; at that time I just looked at a list of top Marseille restaurants from a NY Times article and went to the one which appealed to me most; I was hired on the spot. For my second stint, I visited one restaurant where I felt the chef welcomed me hesitatingly before suggesting the Sofitel, which is where I ended up. Having worked at two fine-dining (or “restaurants gastronomiques” as they call them here), with large kitchen crews, I thought it would be nice to try a smaller restaurant, to work more closely with the chef and get a more intimate feel.
A classmate had been interning at a medium-sized restaurant not too far from my house, and when she told me she was too tired to work extra hours one Saturday morning I told her I would fill in for her (her chef had seen me and asked about me a few days before), which I did. Not to enter into too much detail, but I realized that I had probably been spoiled by my first two experiences with the beautiful, spotless kitchens and all the top of the line toys, and I knew from the moment I stepped in that I could not work there.
Next I ventured into another restaurant in my neighborhood and told them I was looking for an internship in a small kitchen. The chef offered me to try out one lunch service which I did – that didn’t work out either (cf. my entry on the smoking chef).
I also tried a small restaurant with one Michelin star and left my contact info with them; they never called me back, which I take as not an encouraging sign, so I did not really follow up.
Then I contacted two highly-rated restaurants along the coastline, though that implied that I would be back in the fine-dining/large crew mode, but both were closed for one week in February in the middle of my internship! I really felt like I was running out of luck.
Finally I called a restaurant which also has one Michelin star near my house… spoke to the chef a few minutes after I was taken. I guess it was meant to be. The reason I didn’t want to work at this place to begin with is that I heard a few negative things from several people about chaos reigning in the kitchen because there are two chefs instead of one…
My first day was bitter-sweet; sweet because I like the food I saw and the way the kitchen was laid out; all in one room (except for the pastry and fish shop), so that everyone gets a feel of what is going on. Also the view from the kitchen is amazing, with windows all along and the Mediterranean right below. The bitter part came as a result of the drama I was indirectly caught in on my first day.
Though I had mentioned to the chef who interviewed me that I was interested in working the fish station (the request was bold, but my cooking instructor had suggested I mention it, since did not want to spend a week in pastry and garde-manger again), the fish guy was not in and I was paired with the “garnitures” guy. His job is to prepare all the sides for the dishes, which requires constant coordination and perfect timing with the guys on the hot line. So Garnitures Guy, as I will call him, seemed really stressed out and unsatisfied with his job. In a few minutes he had told me all about himself, that his wife was Korean, that he had three kids and his eldest was fluent in four languages, that he had worked with Ducasse in Paris, etc. This guy was quite a piece of work. As the morning went on I saw that he was getting more and more stressed (he couldn’t even get family meal out on time), exhausted and overwhelmed and generally unhappy. Meanwhile I was just doing what I was told, namely peeling and chopping vegetables. At one point I was asked to prepare the salsifis (oyster plants) which are a bit tricky to handle, so the chef came and showed me what to do. A few minutes later, GG came to see me (I was stationed at the empty fish post at this time, a little bit removed from the main kitchen) and showed me his way to do it, which was slightly different from the chef’s. Of course this put me in a very embarrassing situation, and I just continued doing what I thought was the best way, half-way between the two instructions. A few minutes later I hear the chef shout my name, so I go to see him and he asks me: “Did you understand my instructions?” I hesistantly reply in the positive… “So why did GG have to explain it to you again?” I knew I was not in a good place at that point. I sort of mumble something and quickly went back to what I was doing. I realized that he was not angry towards me but towards GG. Apparently they had been experiencing some tension lately. After lunch everyone was cleaning up but GG was not in the kitchen. He was talking with the chef. At one point I heard him shout “What am I gonna tell my wife?” That was on Valentine’s Day.
The following day GG was no longer there – of course I didn’t dare ask if he had been fired. I checked the work schedule and he was indeed on leave that day and the following day. I ended up with someone else, still at the same station. Everything was fine until lunch time. I was chopping away by the window, with my back to the stove, thinking how distractingly beautiful the view was, when I suddenly felt like I was about to pass out. I had felt a bit under the weather for the past two days but could not afford not to show up on my first day… nor my second. Of course feeling a bit under the weather and going to work and sitting in front of your computer (which is what I did at my former job) is not the same as feeling that way and going to a kitchen where you are standing all day, cutting and lifting heavy containers and alternating between the cold of the walk-in refrigerator and the violent heat of the hot line. So I started feeling feverish and nauseated and I rushed to the basement to cool off in the walk-in. I did this twice before I started to feel better, at this point I didn’t care if they wondered where I was off to in the middle of the service. I don’t know how I managed the rest of the day but after work I went straight to the doctor and sure enough I had an angine or a throat infection. She prescribed me some antibiotics and told me to stay home for two days. Tomorrow I’ll be back in the kitchen, insh’allah.