[Sca-cooks] Re: Very carefully not panicking...

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Gorgeous Muiredach:
>Well, I can't tell for Master Adamantius, but I can say that my comments
>flowed from reading the statement that Cooks do NOT do scullery.  Over the
>years I've bumped into many, many folks who were very clear about "I'm not
>gonna do dishes", or "I'm too good to peel the potatoes".  So when I read
>the statement, I got instant red flags going, and thought it important to
>remind people that it's important to be ready and willing to do all
>tasks.  Too many times the Cook, or head honcho is on some sort of power
>happy trip, and forgets that you just can't do it all on your own.  You
>have to treat your folks right.
>
>Note that this is not a judgement on how you run a feast, I don't know you,
>nor have I worked with you.  Just my reaction to a statement.
>
>Master A, anything else? :-)

No, that was exactly my reaction, too. Now that it's been made clear
that it was in fact a reference to dishwashing, it sets off somewhat
fewer chef-ly alarm bells in my head, at least. Although head cooks
do need to be prepared to do anything at all to get the job done,
certainly dishwashing is not the best job for someone who is supposed
to be supervising everybody else.

Isobel, this list, like many others, is the electronic equivalent of
being in a roomful of people, with the conversation bouncing around
like a ball. If someone disagrees with a _part_ of a statement, they
may throw out a semi-conflicting statement, but that isn't
necessarily intended to gainsay all of what you said, any more than
your comments were intended to negate what has been said before. It's
just that when more than one person with similar backgrounds are
similarly confused by the same statement, there's a good chance
there's been a misunderstanding, which, in this case, seems to have
been what happened.

If Muiredach and I felt obliged to add to or clarify the statement
about scullery work, it was much more a matter (speaking for myself,
but I'd bet Muiredach would agree) of concern that people would go
away from the conversation with the attitude as described above. Not
a matter of whose fault it was, just something that would be
potentially bad, that we both hoped to fix before it became a
problem. Which is another chefly virtue. ;-)

No diss intended.

Adamantius

--
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar."
	-DONALD FOSTER