Job Training Activities EXPERIENCE AND OBSTACLES

commit to user Organization Chart of Kitchen Section

C. Job Training Activities

The first thing I did during the job training was doing an observation, my object observation was the kitchen section, because at the time I got chance to have experiences in the kitchen section as a cook helper. There are two working shifts in Sahid Jaya Hotel, the morning shift and the evening shift. During the job training activity, I have undertaken both the morning shift and the evening sift. The morning shift starts from 07.00 a.m. until 15.00 p.m. and the evening shift starts from 15.00 p.m. up to 23.00 p.m. The activities done in each shift are different. The activities that must be done in the morning shift were ten activities, first was cooking Ala carte menu such as oxtail soup a kind of soup made from Executive Chef Sous Chef Division Head Cook Cook Helper commit to user oxtail, chicken curry chicken broth mixed with some spices and vegetables, sambel goreng chili and chayote cooked with coconut milk, siam gourd vegetable soup cooked with secret ingredients, tum yam kung Thai ’s soup, soto ayam chicken soup with special spices, and rice. The second was cooking the food and beverage in coffee shop. The third was making omelets in coffee shop. The fourth was preparing the material for the lunch and dinner menu for certain event. The sixth was making inventory list. The seventh was making canape, appetizer such as small sandwich for the Sekar Jagad Pub at 15.00 p.m. already set up there. Meanwhile, there were four activities in the evening. The first was making Ala carte menu, wedang jahe a warm drink made of ginger and cooking rice. The second was helping the cook if there was an order from the Coffee Shop, Rooms, and Sekar Jagad Pub. The third was preparing the ingredients for breakfast and lunch menu if there was an event for the next day. The last was cleaning the kitchen. C.1. Briefing In my first day in kitchen section, I knew nothing related to the kitchen section. The first lesson I go t was “briefing”. The briefing should be attended by all kitchen staffs before starting to work in kitchen. What had been discussed in the briefing was to decide the menu that would be cooked based on the menu requested list. If there was a problem such as the ingredients had not been complete yet or some components had not arrived yet, the way to solve was commit to user modifying the requested menu with the available ingredients in the kitchen, but the price was still the same with the requested menu. Besides that, the function of the briefing was to listen the report from the staffs about any problem and obstacles coming out in the previous shift. It could be discussed and solved together in the briefing time, therefore any weakness could be minimized. Briefing activity was always done in every shift; morning shift, evening shift, and night shift. Such briefing was important to do and it should be attended by every staff to create well organized work among the staff. The main purpose of this briefing was to avoid possibly misunderstanding happened among the kitchen staffs while working. C.2. My activities in the morning shift. When I just arrived at morning shift, I tried to come earlier from the time scheduled. I did this because I wanted to help the kitchen staffs who got night shift or the previous shift. Before the night shifters went home, I expected to meet them and assist them to do their duties. Besides, I could make friend with the staff in the kitchen section so that I could create good relationship among the people. I realized that I was a new member there. By coming earlier, I could assist them to prepare breakfast and check whether there was a left over food in the restaurant and reload it. Even though, it was not my duty as I would work in the next shift, I had learned from the staff of the morning shift how to handle some works in the restaurant. After the breakfast had been already prepared, I joined with the other staffs to attend the briefing. The commit to user briefing was to discuss the menu for “the event and the lunch” and to organize the duties. At 10.30 a.m. I did “clear up”, I cleaned the left over food from the restaurant and brought them back to the kitchen. At 11.30 a.m. I prepared food for the event and the lunch, and at 12.00 a.m. up to 01.00 p.m. I took a rest and had lunch together with all kitchen staffs. At 1 o’clock I started to work again and continued working until 03.00 p.m. I prepared all ingredients that would be cooked for dinner menu. Before going home I should clean up the kitchen as it was required to keep the kitchen clean every time. C.3. My activity in the evening shift. I started my evening shift at 03.00 p.m. with a briefing to discuss and plan the menu for the event and the dinner, and also to share or rotate the duties. After that, all staffs went back to their section to do their duties. Then, at 04.00 p.m., I prepared the dinner for the guests. Meanwhile, at 07.00 p.m., I used to take some time for taking a rest before continuing to work. Then, I prepared the ingredients used for tomorrow morning breakfast menu. I stopped working at 11.00 p.m. and went home. As it was required, I should check that the kitchen was clean before leaving. Cleaning the kitchen was part of cook’s profession. Cleanliness in the kitchen was very important. It was one of the factors to keep the quality of the food. commit to user C.4. My activity in the night shift. On the night shift, the working activities started at 11.00 p.m.. As the other shift, the night shift was begun with briefing. After briefing, the first task to do was to cook porridge for breakfast, as cooking porridge needed a long time about 2 up to 3 hours. Therefore, by cooking porridge before doing the other meal, we could manage our time effectively to cook all menus. While cooking the porridge, I could prepare other ingredients that would be cooked. I took a break from 02.00 to 03.00 a.m. Then, I started to cook again for breakfast menu. All menu for breakfast must be ready at 05.00 a.m. After the breakfast was ready, I cleaned up the kitchen. When the clock showed 07.00 a.m. all night shifter were allowed to go home. C.5. The Obstacles I Faced 1. The lack of ingredients to cook Sometimes, various kinds of the ingredients did not arrive at the time. They were needed to cook. They were not available in the market, either locally or nationally and they must be imported. Sometimes, some ingredients were not available as the stock was used by another section like pastry section. In this case, the kitchen staffs have to wait until the next day. Such case was very annoying and it almost made the kitchen staffs frustrated. commit to user 2. The Anger of the Chef At the first time there, many chefs were angry to me because I did some mistakes while working with them. I did mistakes because I had not understood yet about what I had to do to assist the chefs in the kitchen. Sometimes, misunderstanding between me and the chefs happened. Working in the hotel kitchen was my new experience. Also, I was still nervous to do work in the kitchen. Such situation brought me into big problem. When I got nervous, I did more mistakes and it made the chefs angry. When he was angry, he shouted to me. At the time, I thought that I was in a big trouble as I had not adapted yet with them. Such problems made me down and unconfident in working. C.6. The Applied Solutions 1. Change the menu If the ingredients were not available at the time of cooking, I and other staffs had to be creative thinking to cook another menu to replace the menu order. Eventhough, the menu was changed, the taste should be similarly delicious as the ordered menu, and the cost spent for the replacing menu must be similar with the previous menu. So, the hotel would still get profit for this. 2. Focus and Learn Hard. To solve such problems, I began to do introspection. I found a way to release my nervous and build more confidence while working. I tried to have positive thinking. I tried to focus on what the chefs wanted and what the chefs did commit to user not want. I tried to understand him, and I learned hard from the mistakes I had made. I considered what he said in angry expression was valuable advice, guidance, knowledge, and experience to me. I said to my self what he did to me had positive purpose to increase my ability working in the kitchen. Time by time, I could understand the job and I did all the jobs given to me well, so that the chefs and other staffs liked my working. Keeping focus, learning hard, and being positive thinking are my ways to solve my problems in working. From my obstacles and problem solutions, I got valuable lesson and finally I could know directly what the real working experience was like. The important thing was what I and other staffs did still produce positive results. The guests enjoyed the best service whatever any situation happened in the kitchen for preparing the menu. commit to user

CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION