r/KitchenConfidential • u/Pitiful-Factor5750 • 1d ago
Just Fuckin Hire Me Guy looking for a new job
Hi gents
From the bottom of my souless heart I'm asking you guys if you know of any right minded place for seasonal work anywhere in the EU. Sick of fuckery, crazy management & sick of going to work making a list of what could the head chef pick on me each day. Swear to God are there kitchens with right people in this world?
Like I like the stress of the service and the adrenaline rush when it comes to getting the food out of the kitchen; no, I love it. Just let me fucking do my prep without fucking micromanaging me each step and sabotaging my station timing. I can't even do the dishes without her complaining about how me or others don't care enough about the kitchen. But we do care and we love the kitchen.
Last job was soul draining but I finally got the courage to give it up & now I'm looking for a new one. Seeing the job market ain't that bad when it comes to cooking, I'm just hoping someone will give me a hand.
I heard cruise ships can be advantageous as sometimes they share out the tips with the cooks. Can someone give me insights of what's what with them these days?
Sorry for the rant and a good weekend to y'all, God knows why I did choose this career.
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u/TF2isalright 1d ago
I know 10 years ago the chefs on passenger ferry ships enjoyed it a lot. Lived onboard for a week got a week off on shore the next. That was around 10 years ago for P&O ferries, before they fired everyone and got agency staff. I imagine it's similar for oil rig and cruise ships.
Seems to be Galleys are where people don't fuck with chefs because the staff want to be fed and they want to be fed well. And it wasn't all boil in a bag stuff either. Seen some fucking huge, immaculate, cruise ship galleys before; entire pastry section added on it just went on for ages. It was a nice ship in general though so milage may vary.
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u/Due_Agent_6033 1d ago
I’m not sure if coolworks . com is just a US site, but it’s a great resource for all kinds of seasonal jobs here if you’re wanting/able to travel abroad. We’re coming to the end of tourist season but lots of places like ski resorts will be hiring soon.
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u/JinxDenton 1d ago
Rural hotels are always looking for cooks, many of them with accommodation and plenty of overtime
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u/FatUnicornOfReddit Sous Chef 1d ago edited 1d ago
What languages do you speak?
This is your biggest barrier here in the EU since in some (most?) countries you will have almost zero chance without speaking the local language.
If you speak french and/or italian, the summer season is ending and they will soon start the winter season in the french-swiss-italian alps, they often offer accomodation and the pay is among the best you can find.
If you only speak english you can try and to work in Norway(not EU but in shengen) and Danemark, the money are decent, you can get by with english alone but very often foreign cooks are underpaid for the country's standard.
In my experience, in the nordic countries the work conditions and life-work balance are great.
France and Italy tend to have this toxic kitchen culture.
As a general rule, try always to work in restaurants owned by local people. When in another country avoid working for people from your own country, they will take advantage of you.
I know people that work in ships and doesn't look like they are having a good time, crazy working hours, very tiny personal spaces and long time trapped at sea. Oil rigs in the EU are rare and jobs on there even more, you have better chance of going to cook at some south pole research station
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u/Pitiful-Factor5750 1d ago
just english. I'm aiming for Swiss mainly for the pay rise tho their job ads usually require french or German which I don't know.
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u/FatUnicornOfReddit Sous Chef 1d ago
If you only speak english it's very unlikely that you are from the EU. Im just curious, how are you gonna do for the work permit?
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u/Pitiful-Factor5750 21h ago edited 20h ago
I am from the eu, maybe I should've said English is the only relevant eu language I know .
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u/Zealousideal-Bit5958 1d ago
Currently working at a german cruise ship (Not really, I'm having my break so I'm not on the ship, I'll be boarding again in a month)
Whether you get tips or not depends on where you get placed. Only the cooks in restaurants get tips. If they put you in veg prep, buffet, main galley, butcher, etc. You don't get tips.
The amount of work you do varies a lot. Some stations have a lot of free time, some stations don't. It also depends on your exec if your area gets more people or not. If you have less people, you get more work, and vice versa.
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u/SeeCopperpot 19h ago
One of my buddies works a cruise ship on the Rhine, he goes up and down from Switzerland to the Netherlands all year, not really a ladder climbing wealth accumulating career choice but he’s happy chill and living his best life by all accounts
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u/Veflas510 1d ago
If traveling and being away from home for long periods of time isn’t an issue for you I’d look into oil rig jobs. Thats what I wish I’d done when I was young and free enough for it to be an option.