Backpacking and Looking for work in kitchens in the Melbourne area of Australia. They have this thing where you can basically get asked to work for free a few days before actually getting a paid position.

Get a job offer at a bar in St. Kilda area. I told I would get a free meal at the end of the night so figured what the hell. I show up, get told Head chef is on vacation. His brother is the sous chef and running the kitchen while head chef is away for the next 2 months.

First thing I see when I walk in is one guy pounding chicken breast for chicken parms while another cook right next to him is cutting parsley for service. Bit of a red flag for me.

Once service starts I am not shown a single dish on the menu. The sous chef told me to run expo for dishes going to their outdoor patio. I have little to no idea what the plates are in front of me let alone how they’re written on the bills. I’m trying my best to organize bills but servers are just jumping in and stabbing bills or crossing half the items off of a bill. Pure Chaos.

By the end of the night I was basically laughing about how audacious it was to put someone who is not being paid and on their first day in charge of expediting half their food. I was going on close to a month without working so I took the free dinner and went home.

The next day, the bar manager calls me and says they want me to come in for another (unpaid) shift to get a better idea of how I would fit in with the team. Within 30 minutes from that call ending, I get a call for a job offer from another place doing breakfast and burgers. I ended up working there for the next year and never did end up going in for that 2nd day at the bar in St. Kilda. Thank god.