The state of the me
Oct. 3rd, 2009 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumBecause it's all about me (well, sort of, it's my blog, and I write about things of interest to me, and that's reflective of me; and I write about me, and what I do).
Money. I am still short of it, though I am not presently desperate. I made the trek to Oakland yesterday and got an advance against my GI Bill payments. It's a gamble. I am taking money now, against money owed. I have a statement from Muskogee telling me what I am entitled to, so I had information to base the decision on (someone objected to my referring to the GI Bill as extracting my pound of flesh; well it is. I made an offer [my time, service and self] they made a promise [educational benefits: they saw fit to increase the offer, but it was still part of the deal], and I, by God, am going to collect. As a Sergeant Major said, 16 years ago; if the Army offers something, take it; because they will never give back as much as they get, but I digress).
From converations with the GI Bill folks (the helpline is pretty well managed; not too much phone tree nonsense, and the people on the other end seem both knoweledgable about the program, and able to get at personal details with ease), I can expect my checks to start arriving not later than Nov. So I took 1 1/2 months worth of stipend, and trust that the worst I have to deal with is a couple of weeks of short rations.
Which, by virtue of good timing, and predeliction, I should be able to survive.
I, you see, have seasonal work. I landed a part-time job at Sur le Table CG spotted an ad for kitchen assistants, and I applied. It turns out I was fortunate. The Assistant Job isn't really what I needed (no matter how interesting it might be), because it doesn't guarantee more than 16 hours a month. But my app was reviewed by the sales side of the house, which needs people for the Nov/Dec period. As one might imagine, Thanksgiving is a big sales time for the chain.
I've long said all I needed was an interview. I got it.
It was a good interview. I had a few moments of, "Oh my god, what if blow this", because one is selling oneself at an interview, and going overboard is not the best thing, but underselling is worse.
Once the questions started, all worries were removed. I understand questions. I can follow leads, engage in attentive listening, and use my strengths. By the time we sorted out what job I was interviewing for we had a decent working relationship. By the time we got to the meat of the interview, I was comfortable with the level of me I was putting forward.
That's the me side of the interview. On the store side, it was one of the best set of specific questions I've seen in a long time. Really.
I'd say the real interview (apart from the attempts to see if the subject and the prospective employer can get on; which I was tolerable sure of from the three visits I'd made to the store in advance; one to buy some glassware with CG, one to get something I needed/get a better feel for this store (I've been in a number of Sur le Table, and always been favorably disposed to them as a store. The things they sell are of good quality; in a good range of prices, from inexpensive to top of the line. None of it looking shoddy) was three questions.
Which, in my professional capacity as one who teaches people to ask questions, were good questions.
1: If I gave you a $500 gift certificate to this store, what would you get?
Great question. It gets at a bunch of things. How well does the subject know what the store sells? Both diversity of product, and price. It also, in a place like this, shows the interests of the subject (I said, "A Shun filet knife; mid-range, a Le Crueset Casserole, some Bodum Thermal glasseware; because they are cool, and I like them, a mortar and pestle, a cutting board, a peel and some hot mitts).
2: "Ok, looking at this stuff, if I say you can only have one things, which do you take?"
No brainer, "The Shun knife".
To which the response was a knowing nod of the head, and I added, "If I couldn't take the knife it would be the casserole, because all the other things can be worked around, but if I need a specific knife, or pot, and I don't have it, I'm out of luck."
That was probably the riskiest thing I did in the interview; it was volunteering, and it was, slightly, breaking up the flow. I was, by this point, just following leads, and it seemed worth explaining. I don't think that the knife was less expensive than the pot actually made a difference.
This question is really good; because of the first question. That first one tested a whole lot of things. If it stood alone the sense of how well the store, the prices; and in this case the ways in which people (the customers, in a grand sense) use kitchens and value things, isn't as obvious.
3: "If a customer came in, looking to buy this knife, how would you sel it to them?"
Brilliant. It gets at the attitudes of the subject on sales, without leading them. I am sure Sur le Table, just as a car dealer, has a philosophy of sales/customer service. I am also sure each store has it's own subculture on how to do it. Getting a feel for how well a prospective employee fits inside that mold is tricky. A question like this one puts them in the position of explaining how they would sell something.
I got lucky. Knives are a tricky sale. The least expensive line (and very good knives they are, I bought a Shun utility knife in the "Classic" line) costs about $80 for the knife I mentioned. The "Elite" is about $225. There are more differences than just the steel, the handles aren't the same either.
So talking about how to sell them (which involves, the first question, "what do you want to do with it", and then the second step; letting them handle it, and other knives of similiar purpose, and then asking what they want to spend. Because I don't want someone to feel oversold. If they think I pushed a knife on them which was too pricey, they will either bring it back, or be annoyed with me; and the store, when they use it), was a good way to show what I know about sales (which I learned a lot about working in a used bookstore for four years), and about one of the more complicated subjects in a kitchen supply (about the only other thing I can think of, off the top of my head, which in the same level of specialised knowledge/complexity is coffee equipment, esp. when one gets to the various types of espresso makers; I am informed about what one desires them to do, I can't tell you which one is really better than another).
So that was my Thursday. Things which didn't hurt me; my asking wage. I figured Kitchen Assistant was in the "skilled labor" set of things, and asked for 12. I was offered 8, and that's fine. I don't think I'd have balked at State Minimum. No, I have no problem with seasonal work at State Minimum. I don't know that I'd have taken that for the Kitchen Assistant job, but they weren't offering that, so it's not an issue.
I go in this afternoon to fill out the I-99 paperwork, and start into the rotation. It's, oddly enough, not enough work to qualify me for food stamps, but with the tide-me-over from the VA, and the income from the job, I would probably be above the threshold anyway.
Money. I am still short of it, though I am not presently desperate. I made the trek to Oakland yesterday and got an advance against my GI Bill payments. It's a gamble. I am taking money now, against money owed. I have a statement from Muskogee telling me what I am entitled to, so I had information to base the decision on (someone objected to my referring to the GI Bill as extracting my pound of flesh; well it is. I made an offer [my time, service and self] they made a promise [educational benefits: they saw fit to increase the offer, but it was still part of the deal], and I, by God, am going to collect. As a Sergeant Major said, 16 years ago; if the Army offers something, take it; because they will never give back as much as they get, but I digress).
From converations with the GI Bill folks (the helpline is pretty well managed; not too much phone tree nonsense, and the people on the other end seem both knoweledgable about the program, and able to get at personal details with ease), I can expect my checks to start arriving not later than Nov. So I took 1 1/2 months worth of stipend, and trust that the worst I have to deal with is a couple of weeks of short rations.
Which, by virtue of good timing, and predeliction, I should be able to survive.
I, you see, have seasonal work. I landed a part-time job at Sur le Table CG spotted an ad for kitchen assistants, and I applied. It turns out I was fortunate. The Assistant Job isn't really what I needed (no matter how interesting it might be), because it doesn't guarantee more than 16 hours a month. But my app was reviewed by the sales side of the house, which needs people for the Nov/Dec period. As one might imagine, Thanksgiving is a big sales time for the chain.
I've long said all I needed was an interview. I got it.
It was a good interview. I had a few moments of, "Oh my god, what if blow this", because one is selling oneself at an interview, and going overboard is not the best thing, but underselling is worse.
Once the questions started, all worries were removed. I understand questions. I can follow leads, engage in attentive listening, and use my strengths. By the time we sorted out what job I was interviewing for we had a decent working relationship. By the time we got to the meat of the interview, I was comfortable with the level of me I was putting forward.
That's the me side of the interview. On the store side, it was one of the best set of specific questions I've seen in a long time. Really.
I'd say the real interview (apart from the attempts to see if the subject and the prospective employer can get on; which I was tolerable sure of from the three visits I'd made to the store in advance; one to buy some glassware with CG, one to get something I needed/get a better feel for this store (I've been in a number of Sur le Table, and always been favorably disposed to them as a store. The things they sell are of good quality; in a good range of prices, from inexpensive to top of the line. None of it looking shoddy) was three questions.
Which, in my professional capacity as one who teaches people to ask questions, were good questions.
1: If I gave you a $500 gift certificate to this store, what would you get?
Great question. It gets at a bunch of things. How well does the subject know what the store sells? Both diversity of product, and price. It also, in a place like this, shows the interests of the subject (I said, "A Shun filet knife; mid-range, a Le Crueset Casserole, some Bodum Thermal glasseware; because they are cool, and I like them, a mortar and pestle, a cutting board, a peel and some hot mitts).
2: "Ok, looking at this stuff, if I say you can only have one things, which do you take?"
No brainer, "The Shun knife".
To which the response was a knowing nod of the head, and I added, "If I couldn't take the knife it would be the casserole, because all the other things can be worked around, but if I need a specific knife, or pot, and I don't have it, I'm out of luck."
That was probably the riskiest thing I did in the interview; it was volunteering, and it was, slightly, breaking up the flow. I was, by this point, just following leads, and it seemed worth explaining. I don't think that the knife was less expensive than the pot actually made a difference.
This question is really good; because of the first question. That first one tested a whole lot of things. If it stood alone the sense of how well the store, the prices; and in this case the ways in which people (the customers, in a grand sense) use kitchens and value things, isn't as obvious.
3: "If a customer came in, looking to buy this knife, how would you sel it to them?"
Brilliant. It gets at the attitudes of the subject on sales, without leading them. I am sure Sur le Table, just as a car dealer, has a philosophy of sales/customer service. I am also sure each store has it's own subculture on how to do it. Getting a feel for how well a prospective employee fits inside that mold is tricky. A question like this one puts them in the position of explaining how they would sell something.
I got lucky. Knives are a tricky sale. The least expensive line (and very good knives they are, I bought a Shun utility knife in the "Classic" line) costs about $80 for the knife I mentioned. The "Elite" is about $225. There are more differences than just the steel, the handles aren't the same either.
So talking about how to sell them (which involves, the first question, "what do you want to do with it", and then the second step; letting them handle it, and other knives of similiar purpose, and then asking what they want to spend. Because I don't want someone to feel oversold. If they think I pushed a knife on them which was too pricey, they will either bring it back, or be annoyed with me; and the store, when they use it), was a good way to show what I know about sales (which I learned a lot about working in a used bookstore for four years), and about one of the more complicated subjects in a kitchen supply (about the only other thing I can think of, off the top of my head, which in the same level of specialised knowledge/complexity is coffee equipment, esp. when one gets to the various types of espresso makers; I am informed about what one desires them to do, I can't tell you which one is really better than another).
So that was my Thursday. Things which didn't hurt me; my asking wage. I figured Kitchen Assistant was in the "skilled labor" set of things, and asked for 12. I was offered 8, and that's fine. I don't think I'd have balked at State Minimum. No, I have no problem with seasonal work at State Minimum. I don't know that I'd have taken that for the Kitchen Assistant job, but they weren't offering that, so it's not an issue.
I go in this afternoon to fill out the I-99 paperwork, and start into the rotation. It's, oddly enough, not enough work to qualify me for food stamps, but with the tide-me-over from the VA, and the income from the job, I would probably be above the threshold anyway.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-03 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-03 07:01 pm (UTC)I'm having fun thinking about how'd I answer the first question. We registered at SLT for our wedding so we have everything I want. ... Lessee, first I'd hope that we registered there would be an excellent selling point. Then ... a japanese knife, better bread pans, and knife sharpening for life. (In fact, $500 wouldn't get you knife sharpening for life as they charge $1/inch, but I'd have fantastically sharp knives for a long time.)
PS: another excellent place to work is The Container Store. They always need more staff starting around now - a combination of Xmas and Elfa-then-shelving sale - and they place extremely high emphasis on people skills.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-03 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-03 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-04 02:39 am (UTC)I hope I'm not imposing with the next bit.
My bf works near one of those stores so I've been in there several times. The holiday season's coming up. He loves to cook. Our knives are shit. I was thinking of dropping some money on some knives but I don't know anything about them. If I have about $200 and I need a good basic set of kitchen prep knives (chopping veggies, slicing raw meat, cutting tomatoes), what would you suggest?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-04 04:08 am (UTC)In the short answer, you want a knife, or two, which is comfortable in the hand, not too heavy, and cuts what you want to cut.
I am not fond of "block sets" because it's almost impossible to find one in which all the knives are good for you.
I wrote a general post on knives a little while back. It's still a good place to start.
And no, asking me questions about cookery/cookware is never imposing.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-04 04:55 pm (UTC)Another county heard from
Date: 2009-10-05 02:33 pm (UTC)I do not second Our Host Pecunium's dislike of paring knives. In fact, the two knives I use constantly are my 8" chef's and my 4" paring. Those two will cost on the order of $150 so you're good there.
If you get good knives you need a good cutting board to go with. There are many good options. I like 2" thick end cut wood (ie, the cutting surface is cut end of the grain); opaque plastic and the new bamboo composite are also very good. One option that is not, I repeat not, good is a clear plastic board. These are too hard and cause your knife edge to splinter. Cook's Illustrated did a review in Jan 08.
You also need to think about how you're going to store the knives. You want something that protects the edge and your fingers. Again, many options. Knife blocks (best are the ones with horizontal slots but vertical slots are OK also), indrawer racks, and wall-mounted magnetic strips are all good choices.
Finally, remember that good knives need sharpening. You need a stone, a machine or a service to do this; the so-called sharpening steels don't actually sharpen, they align. Go here (http://forums.egullet.com/index.php?/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/) for a comprehensive explanation of sharpening. SLT does free knife sharpening once or twice a year, sign up for their email newsletter to learn when.
Re: Another county heard from
Date: 2009-10-05 06:12 pm (UTC)As to sharpening... I advocate against a machine/widget, esp if you have a knife with a bolster at the end, instead of a "snick" (that is to say the blank has a ridge at the edge of the knuckles, vs. a sharp corner where the edge runs to the end of the blade).
In bolstered knives the machine/widget will (in fairly short order) start to hollow the belly of the blade.
For blocks, I have no real preference in vertical/horizontal. What commend is learning to remove the knives without dragging the edge on the wood. For vertical blocks this means I keep them edge up. For horizonal ones it means learning to pull them straight out.
I dislike, as a rule, plastic cutting boards. I find they quickly become uneven, hard to clean; and abusive of sponges. Studies show they keep more bacteria as well (which is also true of wooden blocks which are sanded smooth to clean up wear; though they regain the anti-bacterial qualities in short order).
End-grain (also called butcher block) are my personal favorites, but they aren't always convenient to move about the kitchen. For small boards (or special purpose ones, say for garlic/onions/cheese), I like the bamboo. Attractive, and very durable.
Re: Another county heard from
Date: 2009-10-05 06:49 pm (UTC)1. Keep knives edge up so the edges don't dull against the wood.
2. If you keep knives edge up the tips will dull, from knocking against the top of the slot.
So I avoid the whole thing by using horizontal. YMMV.
People get almost fanatic about cutting boards, don't they? Particularly plastic v wood. Some say use plastic because it can be machine or soaked and therefore is more sanitary. Others say that wood can't be machine washed or soaked (true, if the wood soaks in water the glue dissolves and you have boards instead of a board) therefore use the plastic. Over the years studies have gone back and forth about which is better for your knives, hold less bacteria, etc, so I go with what I like: opaque plastic for meat, end-grain for everything else.
Myself, I don't find edge grain awkward to move about the kitchen but I don't have the 3" thick monsters that SLT and WS sell now. I have a 12" square for quick little jobs (bagel, carrot beheading) and a 18"x36" that I keep in the cabinet for actual cooking. I haven't tried a bamboo board yet but it'll happen when I need a new cutting board.
Re: Another county heard from
Date: 2009-10-05 07:23 pm (UTC)As to end-grain: I've never owned one less than 1 1/2 inches thick. I dont worry about the glue, because a good one won't be using water based glues, and when you get thicker than an inch the available surface area is small (to say nothing, having helped make some, of how tightly they have to be clamped when one does the glue-up). The same is not true of glued planks.
I like a heavy board for serious work, because I don't want it moving about. I have some lighter boards, but I tend to use shelf-liner under them when I am doing more than a really minor amount of stuff with them.
Re: Another county heard from
Date: 2009-10-05 10:12 pm (UTC)Do tell!
Re: Another county heard from
Date: 2009-10-06 05:23 am (UTC)Took them to the shop and had them planed parallel (we made three of them, just in case something went wrong).
Oiled them and voila, Christmas presents.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-04 03:50 am (UTC)