Week 10 EOC: Plans for the Future

In the future, I plan on owning my own sushi restaurant. I want to participate in at least 20 culinary competition, mostly non-pastry since I don't specialize in pastry. I want to create menus for 10 different newly developed restaurants that I know will become a success based off of my vision. I want friends and family to mention my name and have people tell them, "I think I've heard that name before." Of course, that would make me a part-time celebrity, and being famous isn't what I set out to be, but I want my name recognized for my skill for what I became good at, not even knowing the difference between hollandaise and mayonnaise.

When I do own my own restaurant, I want to build a team that I know I can rely on. Having an eye for potential or talent, I know that I can put together people who can reproduce what I want done. I want to bring in enough revenue so that I can pay off the next month to keep my restaurant running open, and I know that I can keep my employees happy, and the people that matter most to me happy and feel secure. I want to bring in enough money for my restaurant that whenever I decide to make a change and it fails, I can revert back and not hinder the fact that I can still make the next month's rent to keep my restaurant running.

I want my friends and family to constantly ask me "When are you going to cook for us?" It already happens now, but I still want this in the future. I want to be pestered until I give in and finally make them eggs benedict, I want to make a croque-madame, I want to make them sushi, I want to make them shrimp fettuccine that no restaurant can recreate so they keep asking me to come back and make it again for my friends. I just want the simple things in life that make me, my friends, and family happy.

Week 9 EOC: The Apartment

In The Apartment, workplace harassment is shown when you see Baxter having to deal with all the executives asking him for his apartment key to fool around with girls when they need a secret spot ti hide from the wives, which is just plain disgusting. Another form of harassment is when Baxter is subjected to "Quid Pro Quo." Quid Pro Quo is one act in exchange for an incentive, such as a promotion, or a raise. A more refined definition comes from the book, "quid pro quo harassment occurs when one person asks for either expressly or implied sexual favors from another person as a condition of that person’s employment or advancement or to prevent a tangible employment detriment."  

Another form of sexual harassment in The Apartment was when Baxter was misusing company resources, by not only using the phone to call the executives making plans for the times the apartment is available, but when he used company resources to look up information on Fran. He got her address, her social security number, he could probably even get her wages, telephone number, where she went to school, etc. All that information because he was using company resources to stalk an employee. "The harasser can be the victim’s manager, supervisor, a supervisor in another area, an agent of the employer, a coworker, or even a nonemployee." Fran was an elevator operator, Baxter was a salesperson of sorts, eventually getting higher up to get his own office. This quote is relevant in that respect.

Another example of workplace harassment is when you see all of those people at the office party making out. That would be quite awkward. This could also set up a hostile environment if coming to work just seems to be unbearable. From the book, Hostile Environment is "atmosphere that is characterized by unwanted sexually demeaning or intimidating behaviors in which a person is treated poorly or feels uncomfortable." 

Week 8 EOC: Nine to Five Workplace Harassment

There are so many parts in this movie that display workplace harassment. First off, when the boss calls the women in the office "his girls," they aren't his girls. They are his employees. They way he looks at his assistant shows a strong influence of harassment in the workplace. He buys her gifts, asks her to turn around, looks down her shirt, touches her inappropriately, and just says things you should never ask a co-worker, whether female or male.

The assistant is mainly targeted because of rumors that spread around about her. The boss tells the other male workers how him and his assistant do sexual acts, and when rumors like that spread around, she'll either be shunned or avoided in the workplace. When she asked the new employee to go out for dinner or lunch, the new employee refused because she already knew about the rumors that spread around the office.

Working in a hostile environment can be seen as harassment. Roz was the eyes and ears for the boss. She recorded everything that happened in the bathrooms, where all the gossip happened. In the movie, ladies were talking about how much they got paid and one of them actually got fired. To work in a place that you can't simply talk about your pay checks to make sure that everyone is being paid fairly, that seems absolutely crazy to me. The 3 main ladies went into the bathroom to talk privately about what had happened after almost killing the boss, but Roz was sitting in the toilet the entire time listening on their private conversation. Of course this topic of listening in on something on what's right or wrong is a controversial topic on whether or not you should be able to listen in on something that could potentially hurt someone's life, but you shouldn't listen in on someone's private conversation.

Week 8 BOC: Five Plus Five Soft Skills

      1. Show your skills, don't tell
On Monster.com, it tells you how you should not tell your soft skills, but to show it. Like when you hand an employer your resume, you shouldn't show any typos in your resume. It shows that you're well educated, you can read and write.

      2. Communication
3 years of being in the hospitality industry serving customers welcomely inviting them with a sense that they belong here.

       3. Adaptability
There is always a change to the menu, how we get our shipment, change in management within 3 months after another change has been made.

       4. High forward drive
When managers are supposed to be working, but want to sit in the back on their phones, I take the initiative to say something about it, or to just push harder in finishing what needs to be done.

       5. Teamwork
Working with multiple people on the job and different people each shift, you must know how everyone else works and at different paces.

Week 7 EOC: Profile Statements

Culinary professional who is quick on their feet always on the ready for a new challenge, a new task, and advancement in knowledge.  Goals need to be met quickly and efficiently and there is no greater challenge than that.

 Goal-oriented culinary professional directly from harsh instructors determined to unleash their student’s potential to gain respect and recognition through taste, aroma, and mouth-feel through Indian, Japanese, and Italian cuisine.

Through friendly competition with friends and co-workers, showing off the skills and heart of what it means to cook. Cooking is far more than who can make the best dishes, it’s finding yourself through the passion of what you love to do.

Week 6 EOC: Job Analysis

http://www.careerbuilder.com/job/J900VV65JRMPJ8CLHXB?ipath=JRG3&searchid=2fda1dc4-1c75-4f0a-9509-f799686bacf5&siteid=ns_us_g

Executive Chef

Blue Plate Restaurant Co, Minniapolis, MN

Job Description

The Executive Chef (Chef) is responsible for leadership, culinary focus, hiring, training and development of BOH team members, managing profitable financial operations, and ensuring and supporting marketing initiatives.

BENEFITS/PERKS
Enjoy 2 days off per week
Medical, Dental, Life Insurance, 401 K 
Paid Vacation 
Meal Discounts for you and up to 3 guests
Performance Reviews 2 x year
5 Weeks of Training 
Bonus Eligibility 

Accountabilities and Responsibilities

Leadership - Lead by example in all areas. Enthusiastic dedication, professionalism and positive leadership have the greatest impact on the team. The Chef must organize, energize, develop and lead a diverse work group with BPRC’s Mission Statement and Core Values as the guiding principles.

Culinary Focus - Understand, support and maintain Executive Team expectations and guidelines. Continuously support and build the culture behind the BPRC’s culinary vision. Keep the menu fresh and relevant through features and bi-annual menu changes. Maintain food quality and sanitary practices for food handling and cleanliness. Always look for culinary opportunities and ways to improve. Uphold all ServSafe guidelines both FOH and BOH. Work with the GM to maintain the entire facilities of the store; ensure cleanliness and consistent operation of the restaurant including sanitation, equipment, safety and health standards, and interior and exterior cleanliness.

Hiring, Training & Development of Sous Chef and Team Members – Training, development and cohesiveness of sous chefs and BOH team members. Interview, hire and train team members to ensure all aspects of the position are reviewed, demonstrated and validated. Coach, mentor and provide constructive feedback. Measure and document team member’s successes and opportunities. Identify opportunities and taking swift action to correct behavior.

Profitable Financial Operations - Accountable to the store being a profitable operation. Key areas include understanding of P&L, financial statements, budgets, sales reporting, inventory, costs, labor, etc. Order from BPRC’s primary vendors and build relationships ensuring best cost and service. Maintain product levels without over ordering or running out of products, is an integral part of the position. Understand productive scheduling and write schedules to budgeted labor percentage, manage and review opportunities and take action to correct shortcomings.

Marketing Initiatives - Work closely with the General Manager to ensure all initiatives involving food are planned, developed and executed to align with the store and company brand standards. It is crucial that the Chef understands the importance of marketing initiatives and supports them accordingly.

Job Requirements

Qualifications:

• College degree is preferred. Bachelor of Science degree in hotel/restaurant management is desirable. A combination of practical experience and education will be considered as an alternative.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Knowledge of computers (MS Office-experience and Google Platform a plus).
• Must have reliable transportation.
• ServSafe Certification recommended.

The book says "Current and accurate job descriptions inform job applicants about what they would do if they worked in the position. This information will impact their interest in the job, so managers must develop it carefully." This job description shows everything that is needed for this job. It involves the leadership aspect, which is very important especially for an executive chef position. Some of the qualifications are no-brainers, but it's good that they even thought of including the easily forgettable qualifications such as excellent communication skills. Excellent communication skills is key to being an executive chef because you need everyone under you to be able to listen to you. Not only your employees, but your customers too. Some customers love to chat it up with the executive chef of an establishment, especially those that are well known in the community, locally or non-locals.

Week 5 EOC: 3 Tweets

"How The Cheesecake Factory Works http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/cheesecake-factory_n_1748604.html … Cheesecake Factory uses a system to cut down on food cost, an already tedious task"
I chose this article on Cheesecake Factory saving the cost of its food because some companies fail to realize just how important saving their money is. Food waste is already a cost that no one likes, but it's a big portion of money when you see how much trimming you throw out, especially when it's not done correctly. "By offering low-cost trial to prospective customers, managers offer two things of value to their customers. First, Managers show that they are confident in the value being offered." By minimizing food waste, you can maximize profits.

"Tableware as Sensorial Stimuli by Jinhyun Jeon http://www.dezeen.com/2012/11/18/tableware-as-sensorial-stimuli-cutlery-by-jinhyun-jeon/ … via @dezeen #Synesthesia new way to eat with touch and color." I saw this in a video a few years back. This is a very innovative way to eat. The new textures in utensils really stand out. When you really get into food, it goes beyond tastes and flavoring. It goes into textures, viscosity, temperature, the list goes on. "The level of customer service provided is a major factor that sets apart competing restaurant and foodservice establishments. Therefore, the higher the quality of customer service, the better for the establishment and the customer." Just think of how many people would come back to your restaurant if you went even above and beyond to not only make sure the taste is great, but to offer a whole new experience to how they eat and what they feel while eating.

"The food industry is vulnerable to #litigation http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-human-resources-food-industry-60456.html …" This article is very important. This tells you that your Human Resources depends on how your staff is trained. If you are serving low-quality food and prevent potential lawsuits that could end your business. "When training is focused and done well, it improves the quality of employee work, promotes employee growth, keeps employees challenged and satisfied ,and creats talent to help the organization grow." This quote from the book 100% backs up my claim on training your staff members, it's a no brainer. You don't hire someone and expect them to know everything right off the bat.

Week 4 EOC: Physical Attractiveness

As a business owner, I would prefer to have my employees more attractive looking to attract customers. Employees that may appear to be more intimidating may not be the most suited for working in an establishment. Now, how I'm going about the hiring process, I'd have to be careful what I tell the person I'm interviewing, just like in the book says, "It is always important to be careful what is said, how things are said, and when things are said throughout the screening process." Minor scars, tattoos, or piercing aren't a big issue, those can be allowed as long as it's not noticeable upon first encounter, or if for tattoos, those can easily be covered up with either clothing material, or with long-sleeved shirts.
As far as meeting up with the standards of Nevada, I don't know too much, but when it comes to having tuberculosis, having generally poor hygiene, the book has something regarding this, "All restaurant and foodservice employees work around food. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all employees meet all applicable health requirements of the job." One worker that worked at my current job, he's no longer there, he had the poorest hygiene. The hair on his back was sticking out from the collar of his shirt and I wanted to barf, and his odor was the worst, and his facial hair made me cringe.
"This message of identity takes many forms, including the way an establishment looks on the outside, its décor, the items it serves on its menu, the prices it charges, and even the appearance of its staff. Brand is the single term owners and managers use to describe an establishment’s distinguishing features." Very important in terms of hiring people. You'd want to keep up good competition between other competitors, especially with the appearance of the staff. If all your staff members seem attractive to the consumer, it'll keep them coming back for more. Attractive meaning more than just appearance, but how they are socially and their cleanliness.

Week 3 EOC: This Charming Man

In the movie, there are strong messages about racism and prejudice. Some examples include when the printshop owner refused to hire the man from Iran, or when the names were switched, and he refused to hire El Hassan regardless of the fake identity. Another example is when the barman made a racist joke about when is it okay to spit on a middle eastern woman. When the response being "when she's on fire," the actual answer went ever farther when the answer was "it's always okay to spit on them." Whether it's funny or not depends on your taste.
Signs of prejudice shows when Lars Hansen revealed when we found out that Lars bullied Amanda for being a peasant woman. When he showed his true colors again at the building when he called the receptionist a peasant woman for not being able to operate a phone correctly on her first day of work.
Watching the movie gave some perspective on what to look for in people. Seeing that the bartender approached Amanda, it was clear that he had a relationship prior, and she told Lars how she got out of a long relationship. The Barman tries to talk to her, but Amanda just isn't interested, probably from the blatant racism he displays in the movie.
There are so many unseen significance in the movie that can easily go unseen, mainly by how little it shows us and how short the film is, but the Little Mermaid shows itself in the bar and how important it is, but when Lars hit the barman with it, it showed its comedic relief.

Week 2 EOC: Sweet Charity What She Did Right and Wrong

In the movie Sweet Charity, Charity was going in for an interview. Here is what she did right, because you should always start with the positives, then we will go into the negatives of what she did wrong.
First, she went in there with great attitude, made herself look clean and even went as far to make sure her hair was on point. It was a way of Charity advertising herself. "Advertising also must compete for attention. The public is selective about what it will respond to or pay attention to since it is bombarded with advertising..." (130.) To add to her dress code, she didn't dress the some as all the other females in the office with shirts and blazers, but she knew she couldn't dress very skimpy-like as she did in her old job. For someone who never graduated from school, it's quite impressive to know that you should dress to impress, she just didn't know the how-to for dressing in that environment.
What Charity didn't do right was ask the questions. She could have asked questions on how to get the experience in filing papers, working a type writer, or maybe even start off being an intern for a company. She could have asked how to get started. I couldn't help but laugh at the interviewer who saw that she possessed absolutely no skills, it had to be a complete joke set up by other co-workers. Cruel, but hilarious. Which is one thing to laugh at if it was a complete joke saying you want to get into a high position with no experience whatsoever, but in this case, Charity truly had no experience. "The conflict can occur because of communication problems, how the team is organized, or personal differences, among other reasons." (336.)
If the man had taken this a different way, he could've helped her a little bit more by providing ways so she can get a job so she can get out of her current job being a taxi-girl. "Members of high-performance teams trust, respect, and support each other. Managers who trust respect, and support employees provide opportunities for staff to become motivated." (335.) The trust, respect and support are what would have really pushed Charity to find opportunity.

Week 1 EOC: My Best and Worst Jobs

My worst job is the job I currently work at. It is a ice cream shop, it’s easy work, get paid $8.25 per hour. What I can’t handle is the new boss. He is cutting our hours, adding stuff to the menu, won’t call maintenance for our machines, so they constantly break down, won’t order supplies when we need them, and we get low on ingredients. This makes our job all the more harder and I want to cry.

My best job, wasn’t a job. It was a volunteer opportunity in a warehouse where I was a runner for the appetizers, entrees, and desserts. I got to work with many chefs in the kitchen, plate extravagant looking dishes. Serving less than 100 people at the same time definitely became a challenge, especially with all the hot foods because we had to get it out in time before the entire dish became cold. It was a truly remarkable experience.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

Cooking came easy to me as soon as I read my first recipe: Chili. Seeing all the other cohorts struggle, I looked at them and questioned “how and why is this so difficult.”  Seeing as how cooking came natural to me and how I breezed through the recipe, I knew at that moment that this is going to be my passion and something that I can make my profession. Over the years I have been cooking, I’ve truly escalated through the skills after starting from little to none. What I see coming into the culinary world is a lot of stress, screaming, anger, and many barriers to go over. This is something I can do and I look forward to it. As a culinarian of the future, and technology advances, there might be even more challenges, or make the job even easier to perform, but when it comes down to what will actually be used in the kitchen might be a different story. Sometimes technology can’t perform what humans can, or machines will take our duties, making finding a job that much more difficult. All of that, to me, just means I have to work that much harder to combat the unknown. We have to push ourselves beyond the limit, break down, and try harder next time. I wouldn’t have it any other way.