I was a chef for quite a while. I worked my way up from dishwasher to prep cook to line cook to running a dining area to banquet chef to running a program. I burned out because of a boss so fucking awful that I was suicidal for a while right around the time my mom died (it was a whole thing and there’s word vomit with more info in another comment here lol). I completely lost all joy in cooking. That motherfucker killed my passion to cook. It took years to get back to a point where I was excited to cook again.
The best thing I ever did for my passion to cook was quitting the industry to scrub fucking toilets. They say “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Those people don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about, they’re just miserable in a cubicle and speculating about some passion they wish they were capable of, or worse, out of touch wealthy assholes trying to give advice to people they have nothing in common with.
Agreed. Fuck that.
They say “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Those people don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about
Exactly. If you love something, making a career out of it will likely drain your passion. This is why I won’t turn my hobbies into a profession. I hate my job, and I don’t want to risk hating the things I love doing.
I feel this phrase is a pretty sinister one, a tool for the employer to exploit the passion of the employee until they burn out, and making them feel guilty if they don’t do unpaid overtime or something… I don’t know the actual originator of this saying, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes from a business owner who exploited their industry.
Totally agree. That pressure was definitely there in food. They thought they were punishing me when they sent me home early and treating me by keeping me there late. Towards the end I did just enough to not get fired and completely shut down once my two weeks notice was given. I now know that I absolutely should’ve just walked out in the middle of a busy moment and fucked that boss over at hard as possible, but I thought I was doing something honorable or some shit.
Everybody out there: you don’t owe your company or boss a goddamn thing. If you have nothing to actually gain from not burning that bridge, napalm the fuck out of it because they’d do the same thing to you the moment it benefited them to do so.
but I thought I was doing something honorable or some shit.
Years ago, when I gave the boss my resignation letter, she asked me to stay longer than the required two weeks so they would have enough time to train my replacement… I was a sucker who stayed for 4 weeks and didn’t even get my last paycheck. I now know this is illegal, but back then I thought if I complained they wouldn’t give me a reference and I would be stuck without a job (low self-esteem makes it really easy for others to exploit you).
Stories like that make me glad when I had the choice as a kid to go to Chef School or to get into Software Eng. I chose Software Eng. At the time it was down to the normal working hours being better for why I chose Tech, but as toxic and exploitive as Tech can be, it just seems to be nowhere near as bad as all of food service.
I still wonder what my life would be like if I had chosen to be a chef, and I still really enjoy cooking.
