So I have been in the new job for three weeks now and I’m starting to wonder if this job is a good fit for me. While I have had some positive feedback on the job I am doing there have been some comments like “you should be finished doing that now” or “this person will be watching your speed” and it’s these comments, not the positive ones that are causing me to question my choice of employers….. or Second Careers for that matter and I have to wonder if that is Paranoia or simply some Healthy Self Doubt if there is such a thing.
Now as my wonderfully insightful daughter has pointed out on a few occasions “Dad, you have done less than a dozen shifts. You can’t be expected to be as good or as fast as those who have done this for years” and since she got her smarts from me and her mother (she also got her good looks from her mother) I can’t fault her logic but this brings me to my point.
What is it with humans, especially Chefs and Aspiring Chefs, that make us so Paranoid?
I honestly think it’s really simple. We desire to create and cook the perfect meal and when it does not come out as we imagined in our head then we get down on ourselves and some of us even get depressed. No wonder the restaurant/bar industry has such a high degree of substance abuse.
So why do we do it if we know that bad results will send us into a funk? Well I liken this to something like GOLF. Golf is the game you love to hate…. especially after a lousy shot BUT make one really good one and you start to think you are the next Arnold Palmer. Cooking is very much like this. You make one lousy meal and you swear you will never cook again but when you make a really really good one all of a sudden you are the next SUSER LEE and you can’t wait for the next time you can get into the kitchen.
My next mission then, I guess, is to figure out “When does Self Doubt become Paranoia and how do we recognize the signs?”
The answer to that question will have to wait for another day but in the mean time I’ll concentrate on doing the best that I can at work and also dig up a “simple but tasty recipe for the grilling season and beyond”.
Until next time……..
BON APPETIT
gardensandgrills 