When I was in California on my externship from the Culinary
Institute of America, the pastry chef told me that most of the students that
come through their kitchen did not stay in the industry. He hoped that I would be an exception
to this rule, as he felt I had talent.
I would not have predicted the path that would eventually land me in retail
management.
There are very few ideal ways to bake for a living and still
have an outside life. Working in a
bakery usually requires being up at 4AM and restaurant pastry chefs have to
work too many nights and weekends.
I did the early morning thing for a while when I lived in Boston but didn’t have a social life since I needed to be in bed by nine every night. I also decorated cakes when
I lived in Boston. The hours were
great, the pay was so-so and the boss was insane.
The last place I was working in Boston shut down without
warning, that owner was nuts too, and I ended up moving to Connecticut to work
in a casino bakery. That was a
decent job with tolerable hours.
We got to do things there that not many bakeries or restaurants
can afford to let you do, like making gingerbread villages and other display
only type items to decorate buffet tables. I would have stayed there if I thought I had an opportunity
to advance but I hit a wall or perhaps ceiling is a more common term for what I
was up against. I found another
job, at a local grocery store bakery and gave my notice.
At the grocery, we made some of our own stuff, did some
things from mixes and still others from frozen dough or par-baked items. I got to decorate cakes there to
exercise my creativity and keep things interesting. But my manager was nuts. I know it sounds like I might be the problem, if every
manager I ever was either crazy or not doing their job right. Guess you just have to trust me on
that. Suffice it to say, I was in
a pretty good place financially and had the luxury of not being overly
dependent on my place of work. I
knew I could find something else before I would have trouble covering the
bills. So, I quit without a plan.
I did not know that the something else I would find would be
Walmart. The area where I lived
then (CT shoreline) has a tourist driven job market, so after a summer of doing
odd jobs here and there, I decided it was time to get back to work before the
available jobs dried up. While
shopping at my local Walmart, I learned that they were expanding into a Super
Center and looking for bakery people.
I figured it was a least a job and I could always keep looking. I started there as a cake decorator,
moved up to Bakery Lead quickly and stayed there for a bit too long. I got to keep decorating and that I
liked but a lot of other parts of the job were frustrating. I eventually moved to Produce Lead, one
of my first giant steps away baking altogether. The next step was away from food and into the position of
Personnel Manager. From there it
was pretty easy to keep going in that direction and I shortly decided to take
the step to Assistant Manager.
Essentially, I thought, if I am going to be in retail I might as well
earn as much money as I could and do something that would look good on my
resume. Oh yeah, and I also
thought that most of the managers I was working with at that time were nuts,
and I could do better.
After going through a training program for management I
landed in a small general merchandise store. As a manager in a non-grocery Walmart, my life had come full
circle. When I was a caseworker
for the Otsego County DSS, I used to make cakes and cookies and other goodies
and take them to work for birthdays and holidays and people would always tell
me that I was missing my calling.
I followed that calling for a while and somehow ended up back at a job
where I took cookies and other goodies to work and people would tell me I
should be baking for a living. I
thought it was the end of my baking career but life had a few more twists and
turns in store for me and I am currently back in a position where I bake and
decorate cakes. Where will it end?
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