Hiring, high volume style.

Don't get me wrong. I make quality food. I take a lot of pride in my food, and I take a lot of pride in the speed that my food goes out. We put out a high end culinary product, but we put it out at stunning speed.
This speed is a turnoff for your average culinary school garnish specialist. We tend to repel the pastry ring and puree types. My place is more for adrenaline junkies.
This said, we often have to look at people the average chef wouldn't consider, and ask ourselves "Can we turn this thing, this beast, this hideous human derelict into something with a sense of pride and craftsmanship in his work?". Most of the time, the answer is, "we have to try, because like every other kitchen in the country, we're fucked for staff."
Interviewing for me is one of the most interesting parts of my job. And the most amusing.
I play games with some of them. Like the kids that come in with their hats on backwards and gold chains hanging off of every possible undernourished oversedated appendage they have. "Where's your sense of professionalism? I'll tell you what...go home, dress like you actually want to get a job, then we'll talk."
Usually what I have to do is quickly get to the nature of why they're too fucked up to get a regular job. Generally it falls into one of 3 categories: addict, criminal or idiot. The criminals I'm happy to take in, the addicts are dependent on a number of things (did you catch the pun there?) and the idiots I can do without.
This week I had 2 staffing concerns that are typical and somewhat exclusive to kitchen work.
I had a nice quiet girl, with a passion for cooking that was looking for a job, so I hired her. She showed up on time everyday, put out beautiful food, was impressing us in every possible way. Then yesterday she called in sick. Today she called in again, to discuss why her past prevents her from working for us at this time. Apparently her probation offer won't let her work in a licensed establishment. So long to her.
The second interview was the friend of my sketchy schizo dishwasher, who has just turned 19. I told the kid I'd consider hiring his friend, but that if I did I didn't want any of the bullshit that goes along with having friends work together.
The friend turned out to be older than me. He had what first appeared to be acne marks all over his face, but what we later recognized as sores. The resume is the kind of resume that one frequently sees in this business. 10 years back he was a cook in one of the province's better golf and country clubs. From there he held, several positions in culinary management. Then the quality of job plummetted. From Assistant Manager of Burger King, to cook at Burger King, to part time oven guy in a take out pizza place, and finally laborer.
He had difficulty following our conversation, was shifty and constantly scratching, and visibly struggled to convert his thoughts to words.
My sous-chef and I (who appears to be backing me up by the way), went off to the side after telling him we'd be in touch, and both of us agreed instantly that he's obviously a meth-head.
It's one of the things I love about being in this industry. As an ex-downtown streetkid, I developed a lot of street level smarts. This business tends to run as close to the streets as possible. I've had 3 employees in and out of homelessness this year for example. I've hired drug dealers with the understanding that my sous chef and I will break their legs if we catch them selling or using. I can't think of another career (other than cop or outreach worker) that would allow me to use my streets as much as this one. I can spot the differences between a drunk, a junkie, a cokehead, a meth-head and a pot-head a mile out. And on a sad and simultaneously humorous note, I'd consider 2 of the aforementioned types as probable hires.
Just felt like discussing this today, because I find it amusing. Flip through my resume file, and rather than MBA, or Great Skills! you'll see notes like:
doper
sketchpad
burnout
alky
punkass gangsta
dealer
I love this biz.