Hot take: That time a line cook told me my knife grip was wrong and I refused to change

I was working a busy Friday night at this Italian place in downtown Austin about 2 years ago, and a new kid on the line kept staring at my hands. Finally he walks over and says my pinch grip is too tight and I'm killing my wrist long term. I brushed him off cause I've been doing it this way for 15 years and never had issues. But then I noticed after a 12 hour shift my forearm was aching more than usual, so I tried loosening up just a little the next week. Honestly it felt awkward as hell at first, but after a month my wrist pain faded and I was actually faster on the prep. I still don't use his exact method but I adjusted a bit. Has anyone else had a younger cook call them out on something and it actually helped?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarahhart1mo ago

Oh man, nobody's talking about the real reason this stuff stings so bad. It's not just pride or ego. It's that a younger cook calling you out forces you to admit your muscle memory might be built on bad habits you picked up from some drunk line cook 15 years ago who learned from his uncle who lost two fingers to a deli slicer. I had a 22 year old tell me my knife angle on shallots was leaving too much root behind, and I wanted to laugh. But I checked my trim pile the next day and realized I was wasting about 15% of each onion. That little prick saved me money and time.

norag551mo ago

Same thing happened to me with a prep cook half my age pointing out my knife was getting dull way too fast. I had been sharpening it wrong for like a decade, using too coarse of a stone and not finishing the edge right. He showed me his method with a 1k grit stone and it felt like I was learning to walk again for two weeks. But my knives hold an edge twice as long now and I'm not fighting with tomatoes anymore.