This is so kind of you. Our son is 18 hours in a 26 hour pastry program and Gisslen is the text. So he does have some experience.
This internship is at a catering company and he is working 10, 12 hour days! It may well be because this is their busy season (graduations/weddings) that the sous chef is not giving him the instruction an internship would warrant.
Is it legitimate to ask for this instruction? We don't want to push the boundaries.
If he’s already in a pastry program then he should seek tutoring assistance on note taking taking from the school.
Yes it is appropriate for him to talk to the caterer, especially since he already got feedback from the caterer on his poor note-taking. The caterer is letting him know that he is missing a learning opportunity and possibly failing to follow through on instructions. He needs to ask what the caterer what specifically he means when he says the note taking is poor; how is this affecting his job performance; how can he improve his note-taking.
26 hours is not even a pastry program, it’s a equivalent to a four day workshop. Even a pastry specific program with no degree is going to be about 16 weeks full time. A degree program will be two years for an associate degree; four years for a bachelors degree.
Wedding season is always busy. And this year is out of the ordinary in that there’s more demand for wedding services and goods as many couples delayed their weddings due to the pandemic. But on the other hand it is good practice for him to experience wedding rush.