Benihana Waiver

For my 50th birthday my family got me the opportunity to cook at Benihana.

I  eat there a  decent amount, so I was  excited about the opportunity.   In order to cook, you need to go in a couple of days ahead and practice.   As part of the practice, you are asked to sign a waiver.   Over time, I have signed a bunch of these and usually am amused by the boilerplate language.   However, there was a difference with this one.

The waiver included:

–  That I couldn’t throw food at anyone (such as throwing into someone’s mouth)

– That I couldn’t wear open toed shoes ( because the falling food can be hot)

– That I could try any food tricks I wanted,  but that I had to understand the utensils are sharp and the grill is hot.

–  That I am on my own,  despite there being a chef there to help.

The reasons I liked this one is because it explained what the reasons were,  it added practical warnings with the usual THIS IS HOT language,  and it seemed to treat the reader like someone who should understand what they are doing.

In the actual practice, it was clear that the trainer took his role as being much more than just being there.  He reminded me a couple of times about the sharpness of the knives and the heat of the grill.  So they again treated you like an adult,  but at the same time they understood that I was doing this for the first time.

What I hate about waivers is when you hear that the places really don’t care,  that they let the equipment get run down,  and they use the waiver as a giant shield to just provide a very unsafe product.   Dangerous activities should come with real instructors who can do their best to make sure that bad things don’t happen.   The greater the danger, the greater the need for this guidance.

I still have to do the actual cooking,  so hopefully I won’t hurt anyone.