"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 18/05/2013 1:33 PM, notbob wrote:
>> On 2013-05-18, Dave Smith > wrote:
>>
>>> wear florescent jump suit and for Gordon Ramsey I envision an obnoxious
>>> jerk hurling profane insults.
>>
>> I find it amusing so many see GR as the villian.
>
> Maybe he has changed. I watched some of his programs a few years ago and
> found him to be profane and abusive. He reminded me of a situation I
> encountered many years ago when I helped out some friends who had opened
> up a restaurant. A bunch of us were helping out and were working her and
> there for free because we were good friends with one of them. The
> other.... was a little harder to deal with. I was helping out in the
> kitchen one night and he came n ranting and raving and carrying on
> abusively. I didn't have to quit because I wasn't getting paid anyway, but
> I walked out then and there.
>
Yes he very much has changed. At first, I preferred to watch Robert
Irvine's show over his because Irvine was nicer. But Ramsey is very much
toned down now at least on this show. Perhaps not on Hell's Kitchen but I
rarely seem to catch that one any more. Must be on at a time when I am not
home.

> It is really nothing more than a sort of "reality" show. They had
> incredible losers they were dealing with. They must have gone out of their
> way to find such bad operations, or else it was totally fictitious.

They're not always incredible losers. I saw one the other day, but it was
actually Irvine's where the food for the most part wasn't bad at all and
actually some of it was quite good. But the owners had no good business
sense. First they had been undercharging for the food. They then realized
this and kept raising the prices to the point where some of the items were
overpriced and some were still underpriced. They were also giving away
large portions of bread and huge salads for free and often these came back
uneaten. Robert said it wasn't a good business practice to give salad away
for free. Odd, because many places here do in fact do that. Tonight, I had
the choice of soup or salad. I had the soup and got a very small cup. Had
I opted for the salad (which I usually do) it would have been a small plate.
The place on the show was giving away salads five times that size! Some
places give away free desserts as well but someone posted on my Facebook
last night something about getting excited because you're getting free
dessert and then feeling letdown because the choices are Jell-O or rice
pudding. Usually when you do get a free thing like that it is a small
thing. But often in the case of the salad they will let you upgrade to a
larger one for a small price. Or... The salad is not free but you can add
it for an additional small price.

Anyway... This particular place didn't seem too off base. Just could use
some freshening up in the decor and a better understanding of what prices to
charge. Always astounds me to see people who open a restaurant but have no
clue of where to buy the food (have seen some where they buy retail on a
regular basis) or what prices to charge. I learned this sort of stuff in
high school.