So, since my Fortnite review is taking me a little bit longer than I first anticipated, I decided to give everyone an insight into what it is to work as a line cook full time.  I’ve worked at my current restaurant, Harry & Izzy’s, for around 5 years now.  Before that I has worked in various kitchens for Boy Scouts and even some fast food restaurants, so I believe that I have a decent grasp on the life in the food service industry.

Let me tell you, the job no matter how slow it is sometimes at the restaurant, is always a challenging one.  I have days where I work only four hours, but it will be more work than I put in at a full 40-hour week elsewhere.  The reason I wanted to share some of my thoughts on working a job like this is for all of you out there to understand why sometimes your food may take an extra minute or two and to hopefully allow you to have some sympathy for those that work in restaurants because they job is just rough.  As an example, this week and next we have a city-wide event called devour going on in which most restaurants participate.  Essentially the restaurants come up with a cheaper menu to get you to be able to try their foods at a reduced price.  For anyone going out to eat that is a great thing because you can eat at some pretty nice restaurants at a much more affordable price.  In the kitchen though we dread these weeks.  It is the busiest two weeks outside of December for us.  Worse yet you have a lot of people that don’t eat out that often and feel like they are entitled to the world now that they are.  I just got done working a Saturday night of Devour in which we served over 600 guests.  So, there were times during which I’d have 20 salads, 30 shrimp cocktails, and enough deserts to put my so far behind.  Some of the later things then of course took closer to ten minutes to be made.  The worse part being that didn’t happen just once, it was an almost constant thing for around 6 hours.  And once it is all said and done the whole kitchen has to essentially be cleaned top to bottom, every single night.

Cooks are impressive in this manner because yes, cooking is a very demanding job physically, but also to have that all pop up on your screen and not completely lose your shit just goes to show how mentally demanding that job is also.  That is why you will hear most people that are in the industry complain a lot about their jobs because it just completely exhausting on all levels.  Of all the jobs I’ve had through the years though it has also been one of the most rewarding ones.  The accomplishment you feel at the end of a long night when you make it out and you’ve had few or no mistakes, is just amazing.  All that being said I would say it is not a job you’d want to work unless you really enjoy hard work and cooking.

This was just a very short overview of my life in a restaurant but hopefully it makes you consider the next time you go out to eat and realize that there is a chance the cooks are getting their shit kicked and maybe give them the benefit of the doubt.  If it isn’t busy at all though and your food is still slow to come out, then they are just lazy, and you have my permission to complain.

-TheGuildmage