Life Lessons from the Omelet Station

Imagine making fifty omelets in a row as a line of sharp-eyed seniors watch your every move. My son Paul performs this amazing feat each Sunday as chef in an upscale retirement community. In doing so, he’s learned three valuable life lessons.

Allow yourself to make mistakes – The learning curve and pace have been steep in this huge, assisted living facility. However, despite putting out three hundred meals a day—including gourmet fare like Rack of Lamb and Osso Buco—nothing has felt more intimidating than manning the omelet station for Sunday brunch. In many French restaurants, they audition chefs by watching them make omelets. Even harder, you must be fast and efficient when cooking for dozens of people at a time.

Through trial and error, Paul learned the intricacies of cooking the eggs “just so” including that all important flip In the pan. And as the saying goes, to make an omelet you must break a few eggs. But in this case, management doesn’t want too many eggs broken and wasted. Paul had to learn quickly.

Keep going – Not only do you need a good memory as each senior orders their own combination of cheese, peppers, ham, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, and white onions, you need to do it with a smile as they stand in front of you. As Paul learned, some of the residents aren’t shy about pointing out any quibbles.

“I’d look up and see a line of customers ….waiting, some of them quite fussy.” Paul said. “I’ve learned to keep my head down, and just keep going. Don’t over-think it. Stay in the zone.” As we all learn in life, sometimes the hardest thing is just doing your best, especially when everyone is watching, and stomachs are growling.

Practice makes perfect – Paul soon became fast and efficient, thanks to making omelets over and over. Some of the toughest seniors now go out of their way to say hello and chat with him. Instead of giving into his fears and walking away, Paul proved to himself, and his bosses, that he could do this.

“I now enjoy making omelets since I’m able to relax more,” Paul said. Making this egg dish is just one of dozens of gourmet meals he whips up in this huge commercial kitchen every week. “Funny, how if we allow ourselves to learn and then keep going, we get better.”

I’m proud of my youngest son. Luck and pluck got him this wonderful job in a huge, high-end facility. But pluck—and a willingness to try–keeps him there.

Have you had a difficult task to learn, but kept going till you mastered it? Comments are always welcome and if you’d like posts sent to your mailbox, just press here.