Internship

Toward the end of my culinary arts program I was required to do some sort of internship. I could go just about anywhere. I was having a hard time finding someplace to go, but I ended up at a small new bakery. I won't say where I went.

I wasn't really sure what to expect to gain from my internship experience. And perhaps my boss didn't know either. I felt like for the most part I was just being used as free labor. I wanted to learn, and I guess I did learn a few things. They made custom cakes and I wanted to learn how to decorate, but my boss was reluctant to let me practice. I mostly helped the bakers, and the cake decorators would sometimes talk to me and explain what they were doing and why. Luckily I can learn just by watching, so what little I gleaned I managed to hang on to for later. I also learned to tolerate 10 hour shifts. Now I get paid to do that!

I'll also say that I learned that nobody is perfect, and inevitably you'll end up working for somebody who, for no reason, hates you. About halfway through my internship my boss became increasingly erratic in their behavior toward me and lashed out when I messed up. Like I said, they treated me as a regular employee, but I wasn't paid. I began to wonder how the other employees could put up with it. Maybe they learned to toughen up. Maybe they can handle angry people better than I can. Maybe they enjoy their jobs enough that even a poor boss can't dampen their days.

I was able to stay for the full internship period. I took some pictures of what I did, but there are a couple of note.