When I tell someone I attend culinary school, more often than not, that person conjures an image of a chef yelling at a student while flames are engulfing half the stovetop. (I blame this on food reality shows.)
How accurate is this? Yes, it does happen. Often? Not so much.
From one night at the French Culinary Institute's restaurant, L'Ecole: My group is working on searing some hangar steaks while the more advanced students are preparing some lamb chops. As the restaurant got busier, more orders for the lamb dish flew in.
"Why are you guys so slow?!" yells the other group's chef.
"Sorry, chef," one student replies under his breath.
The students start chopping a little faster, moving pans across the stove and their hands are maybe even a little shaky.
"I want you to work faster," the chef screams. "Do you want me to cook for you?"
OK, so this doesn't happen very often. I could tell you stories of chefs who praise you frequently, joke with you and display an endless amount of patience as they show you for the tenth time how to properly quarter a chicken.
My take on this is that the kitchen is a high pressure place. You will have chefs who have temperaments and others who could care less. I'm still figuring out the best way to deal with various personalities in the kitchen. The best I can do is focus on my work and just do what the chef tells me to. If you have advice, feel free to respond.
You are doing all you can do. Just keep your head down and work harder when the a-hole chef starts yelling. If you want to get a dig in on the sly just to help you deal, instead of saying "yes, chef" say "oui, chef" just a little extra loud. Usually gives them enough pause while they puzzle whether or not you are giving them shit that they move on. Use it sparingly though. I used it one too many times once on a chef and caught holy hell. The a-hole chefs are usually, though not always, in it for their own ego above and beyond their craft. The craft is simply a way to feed their overblown ego. More often than not their cuisine is limited and rely's heavily on the creativity of other chefs. I've worked for a few celebrity chefs who in actuality are little more than hacks ripping off the genuinely talented. On the other hand, the best chefs I've worked with have been genuinely nice guys. The best I had the pleasure of working with in my "formative years" was Normand Laprise at a then new New York restaurant. He was so nice, easy going and personable I didn't realize he was the Exec. Chef for nearly a week. The creativity of his dishes blew away the string of other screaming chefs I'd had the displeasure of working with in NYC. Anyway. Sorry I got so long winded. Bottom line. Keep your head down and bust your ass. When you get out of school get into the best restaurant you can and bust your ass some more. Its really the only way to learn.