When I was in high school, we had to write a credo for English class. Mine was titled: Everything I learned in life, I learned the hard way. I was a freaking teenager, what the fuck did I know?  Mind you, I had been dealt my fair share of shit in life at that point. However, looking back perspective and hindsight change everything.

I read a post by the lovely Lindsay  and I get it & I dig it. It wouldn\’t make sense to just anyone. Why? Because being a woman in a kitchen is a special kind of hell.  Although sometimes it doesn\’t always suck and this post reminded me of that.  While I met Lindsay during her stint at Concordia, we also worked together briefly. We played together in the kitchen once or twice at said job. In any case, it sometimes astounds me just how much my career has shaped me into the person I am.  Starting almost 20 years ago I got a job at Preston Pizza and that\’s where it all started…

Since then working in the restaurant industry has taught me a lot about life in general, never mind cooking. Such as:

• How to have balls. Metaphorical one\’s.
• How much guys are utterly full of shit and bravado.
• How to be a complete and utter pervert.  Really, I\’m such a pig 😀
• How to fix the most random shit. Chef\’s can fix just about anything.
• That kick ass panties are pretty much the only reminder that you have left of being an actual woman.
• Most restaurant owners are cheap, grabby perv\’s.
• Adrenaline is your best friend.
• Not matter how many injuries you have, you suck it up and still work your ass off.
• Even though you think that you have nothing left, somehow, someway you manage to drag your ass through your shift.
• Free beer isn\’t so free.
• When it\’s appropriate to yell, scream and swear. Not cry. Ever.
• When you hear you can\’t, you give them the finger and say:\”Fuck you! I can and I will\” And I did just that.
• Humility. When to have it and when not to bother.
• Patience. Lot\’s and lot\’s of patience.
• That the higher end the place, the more people think it\’s burger king. I got news for you: You can\’t have it your way.

Among countless other things.

Sometimes I miss working on a line. Likely because I currently have a head injury but I miss the camaraderie.  As much as being a lone female among a bunch of testosterone fueled idiots sucks ass, it did have it\’s perks.  I found that guys who were threatened by yours truly were likely horribly inadequate in other ways.  I\’ve worked with my share of pansy ass bitches and upstaged my share of men.  I\’ve heard countless times that because i\’m a woman I would never make it in a kitchen and being a bitchy teenager, with something to prove; I became a Chef just to spite them all.  It added fuel to my fire and I found that most guys respected you for it, even if they secretly hated you for it.  Now that I work with an all female staff, I also discovered that I prefer working with a bunch of smelly dudes.  In spite of all the trials and tribulations that comes along with working in that kind of environment I have learned the kind of men that I don\’t want in my life and the one\’s that I do.

Even though being a Chef has fucked with me somewhat on an emotional level, I\’ve developed a thick skin. I can take criticism like a champ, and cook some bad ass food while I\’m at it.  The downfall of it all? Being a Chef sucks the girl right out of you.