I was talking on the phone to a friend recently who is in multiple facets of the foodservice business. One thing we have had in common in the past (many times) is the frustration and anger of being judged negatively by your 'bosses' personal taste buds, even though everyone else's taste buds are being satisfied every day.
Here's the scenario: You have a boss that eats some of your food and because he personally doesn't like the meal he feels like your 'heart' was not in the meal. But later your boss eats a meal that he really loves (you know the standard 'meat & potato' meal with no creativity) and he thinks you are doing 'better'. But really that was the least amount of work and thought you ever put into a meal, actually, it almost cooked itself.
It's really hard to be judged according to someone else's taste buds when their taste buds are inexperienced and offended at anything different. My friend is in a similar situation to me. He cooks by menu's he's developed to help accommodate some international 'taste' so it's quite easy to 'offend' the 'meat & potato' mouth. Especially when the 'meat & potato' mouth accuses you of not putting your 'heart' into your job. Frustrating. Wouldn't the boss like to know it took 'zilch' effort to cook the meal he liked the best?
I had a similar experience in the past...cooking a certain lunch crowd I pulled out the creativity and went a little 'Asian' style with some grilled chicken salads. Later a 'colleague' commented that the interim boss -a temporary boss- asked them (the colleague), if I was 'ok' or doing well because they felt like something was wrong with me AND THAT'S why my lunch chicken salad was not what he liked or expected (not the BIG BOSS that arranged the lunch who I have cooked for over & over again -- and they know and like my 'style'). He thought I made a poor lunch and questioned whether I did it on purpose because I didn't like my job. Does he not realize that everyone else doesn't enjoy the boring food he likes? Or even comes from the same country or cultural background?
Hello, the lunch was not for him or arranged by him. He was just a guest of the bigger boss.
I hate it when people judge our performance or 'welfare' based off of their BLAND NON-CREATIVE taste buds...Ah, but that was in the past, in a land far away...but it does really make me MAD for my friend because I recognize the 'mind-set' he is dealing with.
SORRY, my friend, I feel your pain and It makes me just as mad knowing you have to deal with it!
(End Tyrone's personal rant, sympathy, & empathy for a fellow Epicurean)
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