regarding you being a professional baker, what’s one advice you wish you were told as a beginner? on the other hand, what’s one advice you wish you weren’t told as a beginner?
So it takes me many months to answer asks, apparently. I know why. Anyway, apologies for the delay!
Advice I wish I was told? I've got a few.
If at all possible find somewhere to work that's close to where you live. While it's totally possible to commute, your mornings will be significantly easier if you don't have to drive thirty minutes into work, forcing you to be up an hour earlier when you already have to get up at god-fucking-damn-it-why-is-this-my-job o'clock. (Example: my first alarm on bread day Saturdays goes off at 3am.)
Be prepared to be the most difficult friend to organize around. If you want to NOT be like me and actually get a healthy amount of sleep and not be walking around like a zombie for the last three months then you're gonna be going to bed when everyone else is finishing up eating dinner/getting dessert. Invest in some blackout curtains and get ready to apologize to everyone for not being able to make their evening parties and late-night (literally only 7 or 8pm) events.
The first month (at least) is going to suck in terms of how tired you're gonna be. I collapsed onto the couch and took a three hour nap every single day after work for probably the first two months. Eventually your body will start to adjust, but even then, there's gonna be mornings where you're standing in the kitchen staring at your mixing bowl and wondering "why is this my life 99% of people in my time zone are still experiencing REM."
Congrats, you are now the de-facto baker of your entire extended family and friend group. Every birthday cake is now your problem. Every holiday dessert platter is your responsibility. And if you accept the job once, they probably won't ask again and will just expect you to do it. So unless you're like me and your job is also one of your primary special interests (yay autism), you're gonna want to set some boundaries with your friends and folks.
Your closet might just begin to only consist of oversized men's clearance t-shirts and drawstring sweatpants. Unless you're a fashion girly (gender-neutral), in which case you're probably safe. Otherwise you might have to make a conscious effort to keep "nicer" clothes in your closet just in case someone's party happens to end at 7pm in time for you to get home.
You will be at much higher risk for arthritis, tendonitis, etc. Working with your hands like that all day is a lot on your body, so make an extra effort to take care of yourself. I had an old coworker who practically lived in KT tape (though her being a fire acrobat circus performer didn't help).
Talk to your coworkers, ESPECIALLY if you work in a restaurant kitchen and not a pure bake shop. The scene in ratatouille where all the cooks have wild backstories? Fun fact that's real. The weirdos end up in the kitchen. Over half of them will be neurodivergent and all of them will have some crazy and likely concerning story to tell you about their early twenties. And this is the AVPD loser telling you to talk to people, so. Trust.
Advice I wish I wasn't told is harder. I think it would probably be "if you're not a morning person, don't choose this career" which I personally think is bull. Like I said earlier, you'll eventually adjust. Other than that there's not a whole lot of "bad advice" I've received.
Thanks for the question, this was fun to consider!
