COOK
Salary
Short-order cooks can make between $17,000 and $29,000 per year. The location of a restaurant or the number of patrons may directly affect the salary. The amount of business a restaurant does can often be reflected in the money its employees earn.
Diner Lingo
Part of the fun of going to a diner or luncheonette is listening to the waiters or waitresses yelling out their orders. Adam and Eve on a raft? Groundhog? What are they talking about?
Trying to decipher the shorthand slang between diner cooks and servers is sometimes more enjoyable than the food. Some terms like “short stack” and “BLT” have become part of our vocabulary. But others may have you scratching your head. Here are some of the more interesting substitutions:
| CODE | WHAT IT MEANS |
|---|---|
| Adam's ale | water |
| cow juice | milk |
| birdseed | cereal |
| bowl of red | bowl of chili |
| bowwow | hot dog |
| burn the British | toast an English muffin |
| breath | onion |
| deadeye | poached egg |
| dog biscuit | cracker |
| draw one | get some coffee |
| fifty-five | glass of root beer |
| houseboat | banana split |
| lumber | toothpick |
| java | coffee |
| on the hoof | meat cooked rare |
| no cow | without milk |
| wreck 'em | scramble some eggs |
Institutional cooks make slightly less than short-order cooks, but more experienced cooks can make more than $30,000. Also, a benefits package is often part of the deal.
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