Student Drama…

I feel like I am in high school again. Except no acne and not in the closet this go around.

Just days before our demo, we found out that we had our first casualty. One of our classmates quit her externship, which means that she will not graduate from the program. She has returned none of our calls… very sad indeed to come so far and not finish. Not to mention a waste of several thousand dollars.

A few weeks after our group demo, we were still riding high from our success. For the four of us who went first, it was smooth sailing. For the second group – not so much.

Here is the gossip I learned…

The second group was not able to meet prior to the night before they were to go on because of scheduling conflicts. This is not good. From experience I can tell you that the group needs to know that demo kitchen inside and out – you need to know what equipment you need, how long it will take you to use it and finish your product and for God’s sake – you better make sure that you don’t pick the noisy mixer…

One of the students wasn’t even planning to show up the night before due to a massive hang over, causing a huge rift. And the student showed. finally. and drunk.

Apparently a drinking or substance abuse problem among chefs are as common as flip flops or… virginity at a Dungeon’s and Dragon gathering.

This student had to literally be dragged to school to complete the demonstration.

But they managed to do well. The presentation was great and the flavors were fanstatic. The only faults I noticed were that they finished way too early. Almost and hour, which cost them dearly in their evaluation. They also did not correctly write their recipes and I don’t know that they submitted a cost breakdown.

Later… I found out that one of my classmates is pregnant – with ANOTHER classmates baby!

We are also deep enough into this now that those classmates in romantic relationships are being strained to the limit. Breakups are possibly just around the corner.

This scares the crap out of me. The demmands of this lifestyle and career choice are very intense and the proof is all around me.