When it comes to being a Chef, life is rough. The long hot hours combined with the work environment stress can lead to you levels of exhaustion that you didn’t even think were possible. With the constant pursuit of excellence and perfection comes a lot of heart ache and strain. Perfecting the newest dish combine with balancing the budget can make you go crazy.  Worrying about if all your employees are going to show up tonight or when your oven is going to inevitably break down again. Its all just a ticking time bomb.

Work-Life Balance

Don’t even get me started on the work-life balance. There’s no spouse out there that is happy to see their husband or wife working late nights, weekends, holidays, etc. Some might say “they’re providing for our family” or “they’re passionate about food.” So what, doesn’t change the fact that you aren’t there for big life moments cause your busy making crab cakes for some guest that probably won’t even appreciate them. On that rare occasion you do have some time to yourself, it’s going to be consumed with calls and texts from various people within the establishment.

Being able to wind down after a busy day is tough as well. Getting home late and everyone is already asleep, its time to pick your vice. Whether its food, drink, drugs, video games, music it will all suck you into the night and the next thing you know its 3:00am and you need to be up in four hours to help get the kids ready for school. Don’t worry, that four hours of sleep won’t ruin your day until its dinner service and your 20 tickets deep. Maybe life would be easier if you got a day job? Nah, remember “food is your passion.”