have never made omelets professionally, but have never had any problems with them. As the article said, the key is making sure the pan is hot enough. Never used a rubber scraper, though, since I always toss the omelets using the pan.
Sorry yo hear about the problems, PJ.
Gotta disagree with the tip for bacon: too much of a mess with the paper towels, and some bacon STICKS to the paper towels, besides (or maybe it has something to do with the paper towels, instead of the bacon). Otherwise, except when a recipe specifically calls for bacon to be fried in a frying pan I BAKE (not broil) bacon the way we did in the restaurante: line a backing sheet with parchment, fill the sheet with a single, non-overlapped layer of bacon, bake it at 350F until done. It's perfect every time and, once you've removed the bacon from the pan and allowed it to cool, you can refrigerate the fully cooked, perfectly flat slices in a ZipLoc bag (for home use; in the restaurant, we stored them in pans lined with slices of day-old bread to absorb the oil when they were initially draining). It's perfect for sandwiches and also reheats well for breakfast without your having to handle the raw bacon every day.