From the age if 12 I wanted to cook. Never wanted to be a Chef, not my vibe. Rather follow someone’s lead and hold the line. Did some corporate shit but I hate corporate, yeah they give some bennis but they’re never staffed with any talent. I like learning from other cooking styles. Been everything from a lunch lady (fun gig, horrible pay) food truck, pizza joints to actual farm to table. Locally sourced everything except salt/oil/chocolate. Cut all our proteins with a hack saw and knives. Catering/banquets/private chef. Worked on a few islands for rich people, few ski resorts, golf clubs, private clubs and some absolute garbage spots when I needed to reset my head. Throwing 600lbs of fries into a frier while baked out of my gourd is actually relaxing.
Chefs/Cooks don’t retire. They drop dead of an OD/Heart failure/Suicide or drunk driving. Not at an old age either. I’ve had 4 coworkers die, 2 chefs 2 cooks and all were solid workers. Stress kills but the coke probably didn’t help them either. It’s depressing, toxic, extremely taxing work in a hot/sharp/humid/stressful environment. No one gives any fucks about your feelings, wants, desires or needs. Standing/crouching all day on hard greasy uneven floors, carrying as much as you can up and down rickety ass stairs. While getting yelled at by everyone and told to work faster. Most fine dinning places don’t even give you a break. Unless you can sneak off unnoticed to rip a butt and chug some water, you’re ass is working on 17 prep projects, watching the line and running tickets. If you’re really dumb, you’re washing dishes too because your boss won’t pay a dishie. 12-16hr days are common. Especially during the holidays/summer/seasons when everyone is enjoying life, cooks are not.
Did I mention you get fucked on pay? Hours? Too much OT when it’s busy and barely 20hrs when it’s slow. No holiday/sick/vacation pay. Healthcare?! HA! In the last 5 years I stopped seeing holiday parties and getting fed, shift drinks have gone away but pay hasn’t gone up. Had my hours changed because my Chef felt I didn’t “work hard enough”. I quit on the spot, RI never responded to my complaint. You can complain about wage theft/retaliation but legit no one fucking cares. Because it’s a restaurant... Had another owner take our tip money from catering jobs because she felt she deserved it for allowing us the opportunity to work for her. $2,800.00 personal loss on that one, the state of MA told me tough shit. My buddy lost $5,000.00 and also never saw a dime of it.
Anyway. I got out at the beginning of this year and it hurts to listen to my friends after they get off shift. Everyone across the country is getting fucked over but they keep doing it because they believe they can’t do anything else. It’s part of the toxic culture. People say it’s the military/jail approach, break them down so you can rebuild them to what you want. It is how restaurants are profitable though, the margins are so small that you have to get everything you can out of the people you have.
Personally, I wish Covid wiped out more restaurants. There are too many shit ass owners preying on the weak and vulnerable while crying that no one wants to work. There are plenty of hard workers out there, they’re just not invincible and cannot maintain that level of workload forever.
19 years and I still chuckle at how useless it all was. That much experience in literally any other field would be $$$. Instead I probably gave myself cancer and shaved 35 yrs off my life.