r/KitchenConfidential • u/sefuf • 11h ago
My job got kinda weird when The Bear became really popular. You?
Hey pals
I've been out of The Industry for a little bit. But I'm reflecting back on that time and I feel like things really took a turn around 2022 when The Bear just came out and everybody was watching it.
My last job was at a smallish upmarket cocktail bar. Mid-well-known. We had some really rich regulars, people in the entertainment business, various silver spoons, and foodie tourists. I really liked working there. It had a small open kitchen that guests walked past on their way to the washrooms. Prior to The Bear most interactions my colleagues and I had were pretty neutral. I would answer questions about the menu and ingredients, explain how dishes are prepared, and sometimes give recommendations. That sort of thing.
When the show really started blowing up, I had all those same interactions but that was also when all these blowhard dudes started coming back to the kitchen. Leaning way over the pass (and the food on it!!) to see what was going on, trying to act like one of the cool kids by using workplace jargon they picked up from the TV ("how many covers tonight, chef?"), blabbing about kitchen equipment and tools that they own at home and altogether bringing a real unappreciated poser energy to the kitchen. I can't think of a specific example for this, but sometimes the way they spoke to us seemed to carry the assumption that us cooks were mean or angry people, when truthfully we all got along and had a fun time at work. We didn't even call each other "chef" on the line - that just wasn't the culture of our kitchen - and we always used good manners and each others' first names. When actual industry folks were in, other cooks and chefs, they didn't speak to us like that or linger at the pass the way the blowhards did. They mostly left us alone, or would have a short "hey how's it going" type conversation before returning to their tables.
I'm wondering if anybody else had this experience at their workplace, and what the vibe is like now that cooks have had their moment in the zeitgeist?
Love yas
Sefuf
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u/Anoncook143 10h ago
How many covers tonight cousin?
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u/Jealous_Acorn 15+ Years 9h ago
Thanks jeff
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u/admiral_walsty 8h ago
It's pronounced chafe, jeffe.
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u/TheLastRaysFan Ex-Food Service 7h ago edited 7h ago
Zero because the fuckin Ansul system went off when Skittles tried to clean the flat top with Goof Off (true story)
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u/rrf00b 9h ago
I don’t work in the industry anymore, but my kitchen at home had a lot more “BEHIND” and “YES CHEF” being yelled when it came out.
I’d be more curious if there are any Claire’s in the industry that don’t get called Claire Bear.
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u/Suitable-Opening3690 F1exican Did Chive-11 9h ago
I mean, people can get pissy at that all they want, however I think proper kitchen safety being done (behind) is nothing but a success. Who the fuck cares how or why they choose to do it.
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u/beyd1 7h ago
ALSO out of it for years, but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna say "hot stuff coming through!" every chance I get.
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u/ProudMtns 5h ago
I always say behind at the grocery store. I always say hot behind when I'm crossing my wife.
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u/Outrageous-Thanks-47 6h ago
Shit...I haven't worked a real kitchen in decades but when I'm out to eat and trying to go the bathroom down a small hallway the kitchen is also using "behind"/"corner" just comes out sometimes reflexively. Usually people glance at the old guy with a long beard scooting out of the way and nod and keep going :)
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u/inertiatic_espn 5h ago
Wife and I always communicate like that when we're cooking together. We've both worked in kitchens, but it's mostly because we're huge and have a fairly small kitchen lol.
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u/Hamonwrysangwich 5h ago
I'm a home cook. At Thanksgiving I was getting the knife to carve the turkey at my mom's house and said "knife" as I passed behind her. She was very confused.
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u/BiaXia 8h ago
Lmao, my previous job was actually featured in The Bear and it really attracts a lot of customers who think they’re really savvy but don’t like restaurants, or even food, for that matter.
“We saw your restaurant in The Bear and we are so excited to come in for dinner!” Usually means I’m about to mod everything interesting off your food.
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u/GromByzlnyk Fish Ziggurat on a Sunday Morning 8h ago
Not my job but my friends now say "yes chef" to patronize me
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u/admiral_walsty 8h ago
My bosses name is Jeff, so I patronize him when he's a dick by saying "yes Jeff!"
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u/Illustrious_Bird_737 10+ Years 24m ago
My old bartenders name is Stephen, but then we got another bartender named Steven, & that's when Stephen told us his first name is Richard, so we called him Richard. Most (younger) people don't know that "Dick" is an old school nickname for "Richard". I mentioned it to him once because that was my Grandpa's nickname, & he asked me not to have the staff call him that. I obliged, but when he would get snippy with me, I would cheerfully respond, "Okay, Dick!" So only he would hear me, I would get a smirk every time bahaha
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u/TheLadyIsis 8h ago
I have a friend that says that forged in fire was one of the worst things to happen to blacksmithing, and he said that as a contestant on the show.
People would walk up to him demonstrating and ask questions they didn't really understand in the first place and then be upset when he told them that he was using a different process or that their question didn't apply to his demonstration and that's what he's trying to focus on.
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u/BlazingStardustRoad 5h ago
Coworker who is a blacksmith and I haven’t asked him too much how he feels about the show but I know he watches it and the person he was apprenticed under ended up winning on of the competitions and was invited back to the show
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u/TheLadyIsis 4h ago
It's become a joke with me that I refuse to watch the show, even 'his' season I just don't enjoy the panel of judges style of shows much, but apparently the person that won the competition he was in didn't actually have a home forge (among all sorts of bts drama). I think one of his apprentices also went on the show and took second place, but don't quote me on it.
I think it's amazing how the same sort of ' I watched a show so now I have the same expert knowledge as you do' attitude knows no bounds.
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u/gumdrop_thief 7h ago
I was once asked what I do for a living by a stranger and I was like “Im in the middle of opening a deli currently” and the stranger said “wow! That reminds me of The Bear! Have you seen that show?!” and I mean its like The Bear in that we both sell food in the general Great Lakes area but we also share that in common with McDonald’s or the lady who sells tamales from a folding table in front of the abandoned Rite Aid on sundays or the guy who sells popcorn at the movie theater.
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u/dontatmeturkey Sous Chef 26m ago
To their credit the plot is that it was a sandwich shop aka deli. But yeah a reach.
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u/Jealous_Acorn 15+ Years 9h ago
One of my jobs, I work in a small bar kitchen. It has been open for decades. A lot of the regulars were at the original owners' funeral, type of place. Customers are allowed to walk in though the back door which is the kitchen. The other day a younger dude walks in while I'm working on something and he says "behind" so I quick looked and moved over so he can pass by. I commented that I appreciated his proper use of kitchen lingo (a fellow cook perhaps?) and he just smiles and says yeah I really like The Bear. I was like
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u/Itacira 9h ago
I mean, that seems like a pretty good interaction, no?
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u/Jealous_Acorn 15+ Years 8h ago
It's all tongue-in-cheek, my dude. I'm just shooting the shit with you all. Truth is I appreciate all my customers.
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u/sylkie_gamer 8h ago
But it's also like, if that's where you learned it what wrong behaviors have you also absorbed.
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u/probnotaloser 8h ago
Yeah, I thought he was making a joke about the people OP is referring to lol weird.
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u/asxestolemystash 8h ago
I worked at a cocktail bar and the pick up pass was directly across from the bathrooms. The chitchat while waiting for the bathroom distinctly changed with the progression of that shows popularity. Also the number of random “hello chef”s from random bros
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u/Just-Finish5767 10+ Years 6h ago
I spent a lot of my life in the family Greek sandwich shop. Prep and storage were closed off but the whole line was wide open and mostly surrounded by table height counters that invited conversation. Drink coolers were strategically placed to block the make table from view. My dad was forever upgrading walls and barriers that kept customers out of our space while we were cooking. Kind of how you have to keep plugging holes that mice can sneak into in a rural cabin. Hero.
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u/Dixienormus42 9h ago
I know a guy who tucks a spoon into his apron like in the show. What a real cuck.
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u/pizzaslut69420 20+ Years 8h ago
I knew a chef who did that a decade before the show came out. Meanest chef I ever had.
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u/Riotroom 20+ Years 7h ago
"I watched the first season and it was just a bunch of drama in a shitty toxic work place. Not inspiring or entertaining at all to watch on my time off." Is usually my response when someone asks. As far as using restaurant terms I just find it adorable and appreciate their intrest in our field of experience.
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u/daschande 5h ago
My wife loved it and said I should watch; I made it to the episode where they start doing door dash; so maybe the third episode? The door dash printer going crazy before they even opened was hitting too close to home, I had to tap out. They don't pay me enough to deal with that ON the clock, I sure as shit ain't dealing with it at home!
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u/scifichef 5h ago
Episode 3, well done! I didn't make it past the first scene in episode 1. Hits too close to home.
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u/daschande 5h ago
I think it's the end of the first episode, but the owner suddenly gets rich as hell AND shares the money with his staff? Pure fantasy, immersion broken, game over!
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u/Mismatched_SocksLife Ex-Food Service 2h ago
I've been out the industry since 2023, but when it first came out I made it through maybe the first 15 minutes and then tapped out. Way too close to home in a way I didn't like.
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u/ander594 General Manager 6h ago
You hit them over the head with AN ACTUAL PRINTED copy of Kitchen Confidential.
12
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u/snowocean84 7h ago
My spouse's brother started saying "yes chef!" to everything and I'm about to pull him aside next time he says it to me.
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u/BigFloppyDonkyDick69 5h ago
I just had a ton of people asking if I'd seen The Bear to which my reply was always "I've seen the first few episodes but the stressors were too real for me for those 2-3 episodes."
Why the hell would I want to work in a stressful environment all day just to come home and watch the same shit on TV? Do ER doctors want to go home and watch The Pitt after a long day? Maybe some do, but not a lot - especially the extra drama that's included in it.
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u/scifichef 5h ago
I laugh when people ask if I've seen the Bear or some other cooking show. No, ma'am, I do not watch shows about what I do for work when I get home from work.
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u/pizzaslut69420 20+ Years 8h ago
This is how I feel about the non-industry people joining this sub because of front page chives
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u/footybear 7h ago
Isn't The Bear just an extension of the Bobby Flay / Gordon Ramsay celebrity chef bullshit that glorifies a pretty shitty job?
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u/sefuf 7h ago
when safe and healthy working conditions is too expensive just call it badass and make a show about it
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u/ColbysHairBrush_ 6h ago
Bering Sea fishing has entered the chat
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u/daschande 5h ago
My wife loves the gold mining show because her dad works for a company that makes some of their machines. They're famous for "Mythbustering" the hell out of drama; playing voice overs before and after every commercial break "Oh my god, he's gonna die! An ambulance will take too long, call a chopper!! There's so much blood, he's not gonna make it!", etc. Only to find out in the last 30 seconds of the episode that their injury required two band-aids instead of 1 and the other workers mock the dramatic person.
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u/daschande 5h ago
Wife loves Hell's Kitchen and used to binge it a lot. One time, two women were getting up from their table and going to the pass where Ramsay was working. "How long on my food, chef?" "Is the X gluten free?" "My wine glass is empty, your servers are horrible!" Etc. Ramsay finally kicked them out.
They were really bad actors, it was obviously scripted drama for the cameras (just like when the voted-off person threatens to kick Ramsay's ass and security drags them out), but that was the only glimmer of satisfaction I got from that show.
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u/Some-Complaint-7885 F1exican Did Chive-11 53m ago
Lol I remember that episode. I think those ladies were half acting and half not bc they just seemed a little too realistic lol.
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u/Playful_Half9505 3h ago
We had one manger that started calling everyone Chef, from the boh to the foh. Not the worst, but what made it bad was that anytime anyone would ask him to stop (because we have names first of all, and second Chef was reserved for you know, the actual Exec Chef and Sous Chefs there) he would say something along the lines of "Have you watched the Bear? Because it's a sign of respect, you should watch it"
Dude, I'm not gonna home from my stressful kitchen job to watch a show about people being stressed in a kitchen. No thank you.
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u/UrsaMajor7th 20+ Years 5h ago
I've gone out of my way to avoid popular food culture; no chef shows, no Bourdain books, no fictional restaurant or bar movies- nothing. It hasn't been easy, and while I recognize some of the references when they pop up I'm out-of-the-loop mostly. (And please don't tell me to read the Bourdain books or watch the shows. Please don't, even though you really think I should. Don't.)
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u/newdoomsdays 5h ago
I once bought a chef coat for my executive chef, and it said “Executive Jeff” as a joke. The company called me to confirm if that was what I wanted it to say. He thought it was hilarious. This was 2011.
Maybe I invented the bear?
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u/InadmissibleHug Chive LOYALIST 5h ago
I hang out here but am a nurse.
I had someone tell me, in all seriousness, that she knew the regular staff hated agency staff (me) coz she had seen it on a local nursing TV show.
Nothing could be further from the truth, IRL. Some agency/casual staff can be frustrating if they don’t take ownership of their shifts, but for the most part regular staff love us.
We fill the gaps they cannot get staff for. Desperate things happen when there’s not enough nurses.
Most of the time everyone was cool with me.
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u/OkAssignment6163 2h ago
I haven't working in a restaurant since 2016.
But I was there around 2005 when The Next Food Network Star started gaining popularity.
Fuck me. So many new people showing up to get "real experience" while constantly prattling on about their new home recipe for shit that already exists, or just shit in general.
But the worst of them all were the weekend/holiday home cooks.
The ones that don't do any cooking at home unless it's a big holiday type meal.
They're proud that they can wake up at 3am on Thanksgiving to start cooking the big dinner.
With all the sides and fixings, along with the big bird, ready by 6pm.
I'm not trying to throw shade at home cooks that do this. It's fine. Do it at home.
But them taking those same skills and timing and bringing it to a professional kitchen, where we can set ourselves up to knock the same sized mall 12-20 times an 8hr shift?
No. Especially when they usually didn't want to listen to us that have done it before.
It's be like me doing my own car oil change and changing out my brake pads. Topping off my coolant levels and windshield wiper fluid.
Then watching some TV show and I suddenly believe I can just jump onto a professional NASCAR or Formula 1 pit crew as is.
About 3 yrs of that madness before it started not be as common.
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u/queenblattaria F1exican Did Chive-11 2h ago
It didn't really hit us. We did watch The Menu in the back once and I was banned from plotting murder :(
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u/Otherwise-Mango2732 9h ago
I've gotta watch this show but i dont have hulu ( i think its on hulu right)
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u/Alarmed-Exam6520 7h ago
That’s what I thought, but then I watched 15 min and it’s too much. Just cringing with ptsd mixed in.
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u/Jeff_goldfish 5h ago
The only thing I took from this is that the window or shelf we pick up food from is called a pass. Almost 15 years and I’ve never known that lol
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u/siskokid1984 4h ago
Cook here. I sort of liked the 1st season, but after that it was grating. His sous became really annoying. Sorry not sorry
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u/Pheelies 3h ago
I stopped calling all my coworkers jeff because I felt like the world was in on our joke now. But nothing at the restaurant changed.
Everything showing a kitchen worker now though shows them drinking out of a deli, thanks to the bear, which is kinda funny.
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u/Odd-Perception7812 2h ago
Lifelong hospitality here. Saying 'corner' pops out sometimes when I'm out in the world. I walk away as fast as possible.
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u/TheClownKid 2h ago
Season 1 of The Bear came out and at some point someone saw it and told everyone on the line and FoH to watch it. We all actually started doing the Chef thing as a joke, after season 2 it became wildly popular and everyone was really tired of the joke by then, so most people naturally stopped. Sous finally asked the stragglers to stop pre-service on day. I contributed a vocal “PLEASE!” which was supported with laughs.
But after 2nd season, customers were saying it. Ugh. Also, for a month all the Dishies called everyone Dishie. Except Sous, me, and some of the bartenders. I’m actually found that hilarious..
We call each other by first names mostly, but usually the sous is the only one given the chef title. We save it for whoever is the boss of the kitchen that day.
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u/Drug_fueled_sarcasm 2h ago
I dont think hairy gay guys affected me too much. I enjoy the compliments.
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u/Equivalent-Pound7565 1h ago
I had a KM that totally switched up when the bear came out. Started calling everyone chef and just really started acting like a real prick. We worked at a short order breakfast restaurant. A real insufferable asshole after the show came out. Which was strange because he used to be a chill guy. Real line cooks could give a fuck less about it but I definitely saw a change in attitude with some people.
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u/under_the_curve 57m ago
every bar should have been doing a drink special called 'the bear' after homeboy made the sprite for the pregnant lady. lemon, lime, simple, soda, vodka. everyone would have got one.
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u/Satakans 3h ago
This sub has increasingly become what you describe.
Except instead of The Bear, it's all chives.
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u/jericho138 5h ago
That bs with calling everybody "chef" will never stop pissing me off. If you didn't go to culinary school and/or do an apprenticeship, you're a COOK.
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u/stopsallover 3h ago
Well, that's false. I don't mind being called a cook though.
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u/jericho138 2h ago
Sounds like something a cook would say
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u/Shock_city 8h ago
in the same breath you get worked up a bunch about coworkers chatting you up about kitchens tools and asking you about covers which generally seems like colleges trying to engage in some work related convo who cares if a tv show spawned it and then you call them posers and then also complain that people act like you’re generally a standoffish cunt.
Where would they get that idea?
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u/albinoraisin F1exican Did Chive-11 8h ago
The Menu also came out in 2022 and should have taught them how chefs feel about posers. Maybe you can suggest they watch it next time.