A part-time chef and full-time student at Stirling University
At 22, Oscar is balancing life as a full-time student with shifts as a part-time chef at Corrieri’s, the long-established Italian restaurant beneath his flat in Stirling. Originally from Devon, he came to Scotland to study maths and biology at Stirling University. When he’s not in lectures or the kitchen, he’s on the hockey pitch – and sometimes, all three happen in the same day.
“My morning normally starts with my alarm going off at 7.30 for me to wake up, and then me hitting snooze multiple times until about like ten to eight when I really do have to get up and get changed to get down to work. Sometimes slightly hungover due to my flatmates being bad influences on me the night before, but most recently being quite fresh and ready to work.
“I go down the stairs, and luckily my commute is only like 30 seconds because I live above my work.
“A friend was working there. She heard they needed chefs and heard that I used to be a chef before university. And that’s kind of how I got the job. Went in just to interview – very light – just “Have I worked in kitchens before?” Yes. “Can I do like basic stuff?” Yes. I got the job, and I think they’re pretty happy with me so far.
“At the moment, my work is splits, which is pretty crazy with what I’m trying to fit in with hockey. So I work from 8 till 12, but I normally get all my prep done within like two or three hours. I normally get off a little bit early, which means that I can get to a hockey match, play a hockey match, and then normally come back, have a little break, and then go back to work from 5 till 9.
“I think it was a couple Saturdays ago, where I got off; I had to get in at 8 o’clock, finished at 10 past 10, got in a car, and we had to go down to the Borders to play a hockey match. The only problem is on the way to the Borders, we found out that we only had 10 men, so that was a very gruelling day for me. When I finally got back from the match, I got 15 minutes at home just to get changed again and then go back to work, so that was a pretty long day, but I don’t mind it.
“I’ve never been later than maybe nine or ten past nine to finish. It’s quite chill.
“I can kind of work all over, depends where I’m needed. On Sunday nights I normally work the back, but on Saturday mornings I’m more just prep-wise, rolling out pizza dough, prepping up tomatoes and just getting the kitchen ready for service throughout the day.
“In the evenings I’m normally on hatch or make-up, which is making the pizzas and then giving them to the person who’s on hatch, who would be putting them in the oven, making sure they’re cooking at the right temperature, moving them about so they cook evenly and serving them up on plates and stuff.
“I’m going down to just Sunday nights at the moment during exam season, but I’d normally be working Saturday morning, Saturday evening, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening on splits, and then sometimes I’d be filling in for someone on a Friday evening if need be.
“Saturday nights, again, I’ve got some very mischievous flatmates who try and convince me to go out even though they know that I’ve got a Sunday morning shift at 8 o’clock. So sometimes they get ahold of me and get me out. But yeah, that’s normally the case. If not, I’ll just go in and have an early night.
“The boss – he’s also my landlord – is very relaxed, a very good boss, and tries to give me time off when he can; he’s very lenient. I try and reciprocate that by doing a good job and being available when he needs it.
“When I was like 18, just left college, sixth form, after doing my A-levels, I didn’t want to go to uni straight away. I had a passion for food and then found a culinary course. And there was this Michelin-listed restaurant in my village that I already had a job at, so I went through them and did an apprenticeship and just worked my way up through that kitchen.
“I think fitting it all in sometimes can be quite a challenge. But I like to be busy.”
Words of Wisdom
Best Advice I Was Given:
“Always turn up to work; always turn up to shift no matter what state you’re in. I’ve never pulled a sickie. Even when my tooth got knocked out about six months ago – like, it was 12 hours before my shift – I came in the next day, wasn’t able to talk, but I still was able to do my shift and do my work. I’ve come in on various levels of hungover, but you kind of just get the work done, and then you can recover afterwards. It’s just part of the trade, I guess.”
Advice I Would Give:
“I guess for someone that’s wanting to try and get into both, it’s don’t try and spread yourself too thin. Do a few shifts here and there and try and focus on uni work.”
What I Wish I’d Known:
“There’s not really anything, I think. I wouldn’t want to know about cooking because I kind of learnt it all as I went through it, and you kind of just learn as you go. For Scotland, probably just how much you all like to drink, I would’ve come here sooner.”
Feature Image Credit: Dylan Burt
Current Gaming & Tech Editor
Instagram: @dylan.byline
Email: dylanburt2005@gmail.com
