Making a change, one that should be for the better

Okay, by the time my boss is on Facebook, she'll know what's happening.

I gave my notice at Starbucks yesterday.  I've secured a position at the restaurant inside the Samsung campus here in Austin.  It's more hours, $1.75 more per hour, 8-4 Monday through Friday and it's in a kitchen.  A real kitchen.  Where I will get to work with food.  Where I will be applying what I learned at the Escoffier.  I won't be working directly for Samsung, but for the company that is contracted to do the catering. 

The Banging Barista is becoming the Cookin' cook.

I'm going to be learning to cook Korean.  I'll be assisting a Korean woman who makes authentic Korean food, which makes sense as Samsung is a Korean company. This is really exciting for me.  And, as The Husband was stationed in Korea for 3 years and learned he really liked the food, he's excited too. 

The trick now, is to make sure I don't freak myself out.  I keep flashing back to the crash and burn I had 2 years ago when I attempted to be a baker at a supermarket.  I loathe excuses, but I don't really have excuses for that, I have reasons.  The department was three people short.  I was given training doing the assistant baking job, which I was doing well, but was tossed in to doing the lead baker's job.  I didn't know how to do that.   The kitchen was filthy, I wasn't given a tour of it, shown how to work the dishwasher or where to find the supplies I needed.  The manager didn't shadow me to make sure I was doing things correctly, he just let me lose and then yelled when I didn't get things right.  I wasn't exactly set up for success.

My tendency is to remind myself of all this and tell myself to expect I'll crash and burn again.  The difference?  The executive chef and director of food service know exactly how much experience I have.  They know I'm coming in as a newbie, but I want to learn.   One of my strengths is that I learn quickly.  The kitchen is sparkling clean and organized. 

And I love food.  I love to work with food.  I love to learn about food.

I'm very excited about this.  This week:  Practicing my knife skills.

Amanda's beauty tip of the day:  You can save money on haircuts by getting them at your local school of cosmetology.