Hunger Games... The "You Looked" challenge by Jason King

In the hot confines of a kitchen, even the surliest and seasoned cook, enjoys a distraction. I'm not talking about a hot young hostess, coming to the back for a drink cup either. I'm speaking of the jokes, games, and pranks that keep every kitchen on the lighter side of crazy.

I am going to assume for a moment, you the reader, have never worked in a kitchen. The most simple game some cooks play is the old, " you looked" game. Take the tip of ones index finger, and creating a circle, touch the tip of your thumb. Your three remaining fingers stay outstretched, the symbol for ok.

Place the finger configuration below the waist, this is really the only rule. Now ask someone near you any question... Like "Hey, did you prep more of these?" If the mark looks at the hand configuration, well, they looked.

Now a trained pro, would not look. With assassin like precision they would casually deflect the question, while thrusting their finger into and out of the index finger/thumb created circle. The originator's only hope then is to grab the targets finger. So three rules of play.

Then the game has variations of penalty ranging from a punch, to an insult, to whatever creative punishment the winner can sentence the violated to.

One kitchen I was in took the You Looked game serious. It was two bucks a look, finger poke, or catch. Three of us played the game with a level of dedication probably not seen since. One of us payed the most during the months we played: me.

The two bucks was collected and kept in the chef's office each night. The funds accumulated quick. A few I.O.U.'s here and there aside, by Christmas time we had over 800 dollars.

When we divided the pot, one participant bought a chef's knife, the other something else cool. I, however, didn't have that fiscal luxury.

At the time we cashed out, I was a little behind on bills, so I got a welcomed bonus to my weekly pay. Which I dutifully spent on either a past due notice or Jim Beam, I really can't recall.

To this day my eyes have an almost physical barrier to looking below the waist of a fellow cook.