MORALE OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING-2

Long days of yawning and fouling around have finally come to a halt.  My feelings are peaceful at the thought of leaving the training arena. 10weeks of training in Copthrone hotel was a period of strained eyes, squeaky eyeballs, marathoned legs and grooved fingers… a bit more of foul words, ungraceful stares and never-ending questions. Well the training can be summarized in three phases:

PHASE 1: F&B ($Terrace Bay) 12/07/10 - 09/08/10

It all began with the clearing of the tables and hurrying around in my heels. It killed me to stop despite the strain that was spreading all over my body. Gosh! I had to rush to the Gurney Plaza mall the next day to get a new pair of flats to make things better and faster for me. F&B was all about table setting, servicing the diners, taking orders, delivering the orders, room service and asking for cash. All it takes to be a pro is to be alert on the menu, item 86, fast service, a smiley face and be exact on the mode of payment. The peak season is really challenging with all sorts of guests- beautiful and not so beautiful ones, smart and stupid guests, calm and fussy guests….. blah blah… and the list goes on….  One bad aspect of buffet service is that the amount of wastage is unbearable. It sores my eye to see the beautiful food go in the trash. Millions are starving for a crumb of bread... can they not bear that in their mind?

PHASE 2: F&B (Kitchen) 10/08/10 – 18/09/10        

FINAL DAY OF KITCHEN....

My first day in the kitchen is one moment which I seem to hate the most. I was like wtf is going around coz nobody seems to care about the new mw! But the remaining days treated me fairly well. My days at the egg station were the worst but it was still fine, I guess. I hate being a food runner. So, cold kitchen is fun among all. Basically, kitchen is all about mis-en-place whether its morning shift or afternoon shifts. The bad thing that could happen to me was that I cut my finger more than thrice… pity the finger that got cut for the third time, the knife stuck in the middle tearing my fore-finger nail into half… leaving the front part devoid of nail… I hate myself for being such a day-dreamer… one thing why I liked kitchen was that I could eat a lot. He he he… me and my friend treated ourselves on ice-cream, pastry and all the buffet food. Plus the chefs were amiable and kind to us in that aspect. Butchery is cold and wild! Pastry is creamy but complicated. Cold kitchen is juicy and water-soluble. Hot kitchen is pretty hot and messy.

PHASE 3: Adventure and Friends

FIGHTING WITH THE GIANT BEETLE AT THE BUTTERFLY FARM

Friends and adventure accompanied my entire journey. I can call it a good friendship but scattered friends. The only reason being that I got to know many of them towards the end of my training and I never felt the same for everybody.  I never went out with them except my own college gals but they looked nice on the outside.

Mostly I enjoyed the ride with my own companion. Though she was not with me in the same hotel, we still met each-other and explore the depth of Penang together.  The Gurney drive was superb but the beach walk in Batu Ferranghi was awesome. The food was out of question! The huge map of Penang which we lost on our way was our only guide.