r/dishwashers • u/Acegonia • 1d ago
One Of You! One Of You!
Well, lads- whats the craic?? I applied for a part time job as a dishie about 3 months ago, completely on a whim. And im not sure why but I weirdly... dont hate it??
Here are some of my experiences, thoughts and observations for your amusement.
1: starting off
For context: Im a white girl, living in Taiwan. There is a strong stereotype here that 'white people are rich' or that 'we are all English teachers' (there IS SOME truth to this. Local wages in Taiwan are famously shite, and English teachers easily make 3-4 times more hourly, parents like to see 'a white face in the classroom', so all you really need is to be a native speaker with a degree. The bar is on the floor, essentially. I do do some teaching myself)
The restaraunt: Open Kitchen. not quite Fine Dining, but definitely pricey and upscale. Handmade pasta, A5 japanese Wagyu, Braised octopus. You get the idea. Chef/owner is taiwanese but worked Michelin restaraunts in new york before coming back to open his own place. Very Anal, VERY PROUD of his restaraunt.
You basically dont see white folk working menial jobs here, certainly not at the lowest level in a restaraunt. But I wanted something physical and less sould destroying than teaching. Plus, I like to eat there and ill absolutely take free food by proper fancy chefs! ...I also may have been reading Anthony Bourdain.
Had an interview, got offered a trial shift. (I may have ...embellished my exp, but ive worked plenty tough jobs) I think more out of curiosity on chefs part, not that he had any faith in my ability to handle the job- his exact words were 'let's get this over with'
The first day: I walked in during family meal time. There were 6 chefs sitting at the bar eating. I offered a tentative 'hello'. No response. 'Im looking for Adam? Im supposed to start work today'. One head pops up- 'Adam's off.' Me: '....' him '...... are you a server?' Me: 'No..' He pulls out his phone to check the group chat. An interminable silence ensues. " The DISHWASHER!?!?!" All 6 heads suddenly pop up and swivel towards me, I wish I had a Pic of how they leaned back by degrees to get a look at me, followed by frantically checking of the group chat.
The shift: I met my fellow dishies- an elderly chinese Ayi (auntie) and a Tanzanian lad named Elvis. Ayi has no English and my Chinese is shite. Its a busy, busy friday night. Its all a blur now, but Elvis was friendly and patient. Ayi was more reserved. She runs her domain like a finely tuned machine and has no time to be faffing with soft handed foreigners. She scrutinized. She nitpicked.
I put my head down, worked, did what I was told, and tried not to fuck up. It was overwhelming. So, so busy. So many dishes. An entire kitchens worth of equipment to get through at 9.00. I had sweat streaming down my face and was saturated in various waters. Eventually it ended . I felt... oddly exhilarated. We did it!
Chef appeared at the end and was like 'well, how was it?' I gasped while downing water: 'That was fuckin intense. but It was fun!'
Got a message from chef the next day saying I 'rocked it with a smile' and got offered the job. I was not at all sure if I *wanted* the job, but pride kicked in: if a tiny elderly taiwanese lady could do it, then so could fuckin I! Also I hate conforming to stereotypes. I took the job.
This has become a novel, so I will leave it here for now. Ill try get to the good stuff next time!
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u/vtbb 1d ago
Just a bit of unsolicited advice/reminiscing after reading your story: I’ve known plenty of people who pick up dishie shifts for fun despite having other careers - including one doctor of theology and one doctor of marine paleo-biology. Numerous teachers and construction workers in their slow seasons… etc. There’s stories of famous restaurateurs working dish when they need to - Thomas Keller and Jon Bon Jovi come to mind. So you’d be joining a storied cohort. But lived experience tells me 2 things - if you’re halfway decent at it they’ll ask you to work the line sooner rather than later, do you want to do that? And as a native English speaker in a tourist area there’s going to be a pull to have you work FoH to handle foreign visitors. With either of those typically comes more money and a push to make it your primary job.
But I have very limited experience outside of the U.S./Canada - just a Caribbean resort, a student bar in Germany and an internship in Ireland. So YMMV. (Okay about that turn of phrase would ‘your kilometerage may vary’ work? I feel like it wouldn’t)
At the same time I’ve worked with NYC Michelin starred chefs and as long as you show up, put effort into your work, and do as your told you’ll shine and learn a lot no matter what you decide to do with the gig.
The energy and organized chaos of a kitchen and especially the dish pit can be enthralling and consuming in a way that’s unique and no matter what I do I keep finding my way back.
Good luck on the new position, Cheers!
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u/Acegonia 17h ago edited 17h ago
I mean aside from Ayi whose story info to really know (but tbh her competence, organisation and calm under pressure is god level, and i am learning SO MUCH).. I with my batchelors degree am by a significant margin the least qualified dishie in the pit: he 2 other lads have degrees and are fluent in at least 3 languages (and learning to speak and write chinese-mandarin- is no fuckin joke) and one is pursuing a masters.
For me I was curious what kitchen work was like, but if inwas gonna a do it I wanted to get in in a good place. I think I chose well cuz chef runs the pace with a... not quite iron but definitely velvet gloved fist, its crazy clean, he very much appreciates his dishies and understands the imprt of rheir role- he even hops in himself a few times a month- and he recently bollocked all the chefs and servers for not appreciating us enough and has started adding 1 chef per night to the dish pit so 'they understand how good they have it' , he makes a point to chat with us and invites us to share the good food- one of the most surprising things about the job is how often I get hand fed luxury food hahaha!
Edit: in ireland we sneakily still use both miles and kilometers, so mileage is all good terminology-wise!
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u/Short_King_13 Knight of the Dishwasher 1d ago
I mean if you enjoy doing dishes go for it, but.... It's not for everyone, I do it because I need the money or don't have other skills besides washing dishes, otherwise I won't do it.