Something you may find fun is taking a summer job away. Being a cook is extremely hard work - long hours on your feet, usually sweating, usually hustling the whole time, burns, cuts, high stress and high volume. It has its good days, but it's exhausting and relatively unfulfilling. Median pay: $44,400 % who say their job is stressful: 61% Divorce can be tough on a family. It's not fun, it's not easy, it doesn't pay well and the hours suck. You're overworked, you don't take care of yourself, you never get to see your family (if you're lucky enough to have one), haven't been on vacation in 4 years, and the whole place seems like it could fall apart at any second. Is being a chef bad for your mental health? There are different ways you can become a pastry chef. I'm in a salaried management position and the hours and money are still pretty terrible. Just part of the picture of stress but to give you an idea, no matter how good you are, as a pentester, testing the security of a customer, not being able to find a weakness and capturing the flag. If food is your passion, if you love cooking and aspire to become a chef, stop, take a deep breath and think hard ‘what being a chef means!’ The life of a chef is certainly not a bed of roses. Brother-in-law is air traffic controller. You're in an actionable position. ... it can be very stressful at times." Instead of covering people's (sometimes peoples') stations, while also trying to manage the line, check for quality and consistency, taking in food deliveries, correcting issues with FOH, listening to your porter give you dumb excuses about why he forgot to refill the soap in the washing machine so all your dishes have been washing without soap for the past 2 hours. It's a good career if You're down to make $14/hr for a few years. Event Management is the 5th most stressful job.Ever. Who's going to hire a personal chef with no experience? This year was especially difficult due … Oftentimes you have a sous chef or a CdC/executive chef barking at you, pushing you, teaching you, correcting you, double and triple-checking you because you fucked up those cuts last week and you haven't earned back his trust yet. If that lifestyle/career path is still lucrative to you after banging away in the dish pit for a while, then keep at it. It's not a lazy man's job. but the pay is meh(unless you own the place or get in with a pretty swanky place). Its actually not too bad on your body (look at how many chefs still have a jump in their step even through their 60's). If you can hop in a dish pit and not lose your determination to cook then you're golden. It’s a normal part of life (unfortunately). if you're older than 30 and have a family, I would really strongly advise against switching careers. Hell, most jobs aren't even good. Banquet? While most employers would want their pastry chefs to have a degree or certificate, many types of chef training are suitable. So yeah, it's a lot of hard work, but there's really no feeling like the feeling you get after you wrap up a long shift of hard work. I would say it can be a pretty stressful job, we are responsible for rendering a patient unconscious, taking away their ability to breath for themselves, making sure they are safely positioned before and during and after the surgery, maintain their hemodynamics, and wake them up comfortably at the end. With that being said, only a foolish chef would stifle a cooks thoughts. The stress is gone. Given how stressful Christmas can be, it’s no wonder people quickly resort to stress-reducing acts, namely eating rich food and drinking alcohol. First let us enlist the qualities you need to become a chef It's just not done. You mean I didn't have to bus tables​? You thought you worked long hours as a cook? Insight; Food; Shift work, low pay, high pressure: Kitchen culture to blame for mental illness, addiction. 3. as a forensics expert missing to capture a crucial piece of evidence. The nature of the profession requires most of their work to be completed during tax season. Thanks Maybe you'll find out that kitchen life is totally awesome and 100% what you want. Same rule for cooking as for acting. Food is boring though, and probably not exactly made in house. You're young, why don't you find a dish washing/food prep gig somewhere and take a look for yourself. Restaurants can be intense because of the scale. It depends on what your definition of stressful is. You're going to destroy your body, you're going to mess up your social life, you're not going to make the best money, but if you love what you do, you won't care. No job is perfect. How old are you and what do you do for a living currently? There's a lot more to it than that. Brutal pressure at work is causing depression in many chefs. The line can't do shit if they don't have clean plates and utensils. Everyone is in the same boat, so everyone tends to work together to have fun and succeed. Being a chef means a lot of hours at work and working on your feet. Sure is. Others have little to … TL;DR: If you wanna be a chef, get a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant. Potential culprits include unreasonable workloads, and an increasingly blurred line between work and personal life. Low Stress: 25 percent . If they are anything like myself, as a line cook they will challenge their chef daily with new … Receive our communications. Now you laugh at those 8-10 hour shifts as you begin your 12, 14, or even 16 hour shifts and wish for the days when you could just be a line cook, banging out soigne food all night. Ladles, serving spoons, sauté pans, plates, etc. Cooking professionally is a physically and mentally exhausting thing and if you're just making the switch now, it may very well cause you lots of health issues. For example, the executive chef at Disney World earns $200,000 + per year. Chefs at every level of the industry face injuries and health problems due to the nature of their work. Is it worth it? You work incredibly long hours, deal with insane amount of stress, have no weekends or holidays, and the pay is generally not that great. Chef Fat Lady Working a year and a half without a vacation. I've read through all of your posts and it seems like a tough racket, I really wonder why doing freelance chef work wouldn't be a more enjoyable, and viable option. But trust me, it's not just because it's the shittiest job and you're the low man on the totem pole. Stress, A Chef’s Perspective. The pay is much better, closer to $35 per hour, and I work Mon-Fri 9-5. Figure out if the environment and work style suits you or not. Published on 9/30/2014 at 10:48 AM. Is being a professional chef a good career? When you’re asked to describe a stressful situation and how you handled it by the interviewer, sometimes they are looking for how you relate to customers/clients. Try it. Ect ect ect. Work at a hospital or high-up corporate position. He is smiling more, sleeping more, happier . Work our asses off, cop abuse, cuts, burns, do it for shit pay and tend to be stressed as fuck and drink a lot.. And let's be clear - you won't be starting as a "chef" for a while, at least hopefully. After a sous chef at the Hackensack, NJ, restaurant where Malone works prodded her to apply to be on Hell's Kitchen, the 26-year-old chef spent about 2 … This ties in with being organized, but if/when you get promoted out of the pit you'll know where the tools and equipment you need are. Your face and name are associated with each and every dish that leaves that kitchen, whether you are there or not. Occasional sport fucks if you're interested . It depends on what your definition of stressful is. Always working on holidays. Restaurants can be intense because of the scale. It's a job you need to love doing so you can enjoy it in the long term. Being a chef can make it difficult to enjoy a normal life outside of the kitchen. Pastry chefs typically need an associate degree in culinary arts or baked goods and pastry arts. Be Thomas Keller. In one survey, more than half said they took painkillers or drink to get through shifts. Educational requirements vary for this position, with some chefs having two-year community college or vocational degrees. But for highly sensitive people, who process stimulation deeply and feel emotions strongly, stress is intense.Little things that don’t bother other people — like bright lights or loud noises — have the power to completely overwhelm them. You don’t give a location but many places offer live in jobs. The job is consuming. bSci21 Contributing Writer. None of this will help in the long run, and the long run is chronic stress’ game. It’s official. For most people in the industry, it's long, physically demanding hours for crappy pay. Or that moment when you're the first one in the kitchen in the morning and it's spotless and quiet and you just cook yourself a little bfast before you get the day going. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. Every year more than 20,000 people apply to work for the FBI and the FBI only hires about 1500 agents per year. If you rely primarily on talent, those who work hard will soon surpass you. You don't have to KNOW what you want for the rest of your life right now. If we didn’t have a certain amount of stress in the kitchen then there would be a certain apathy in a kitchen that just wouldn’t work with the dynamic. Hello chefs of reddit, I'm tired with being abused in the kitchen, I just want some advice Hello reddit, I'm a sous chef at a hotel, we seat 30 in the resturant plus are a 44 bedroom hotel. Downvote 1. We get headaches, neck pain and addictions to caffeine and alcohol just to cope with it. Real talk dude, you're 16 and from the sounds of it, have never worked in a kitchen. In addition to shedding, hair loss from stress may also happen primarily around your temples. You do it if you cannot imagine doing anything else with your life, if it's the absolute only thing that will fulfill you, if it's your one true passion. If you want something you have to be willing to work as hard as it takes to make it happen. Most are marked by tension, anger, stress and anxiety. In most establishments dinner is the main meal of the day, and your service might end at any time from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Unless you become big and famous, and can make real money off of it that way, or luck into a management, or corporate position that pays a lot, then cooking is going to be a labor of love. This feedback also helps your body overcome the physical demands of a job. 4. So if you have the patience and marketing skills, then you get in at top restaurants, apprentice for awhile, then continue cooking at top restaurants, make it to sous-chef, CdC or Exec, and after a few years of that (you'll likely be around 30 years old at this point, and looking to get married, settle down, or at least start making money like all your friends who didn't become cooks) you try to find investors, or scrounge up some money for a smaller business. Typical Pay: $14.10/hour, median of 40 hours per week. I've got a lot of respect for a few people I know who do that. I have experienced many of the scenarios above (i'm only a sous) and I honestly think every week is my last week, but then you get that one "ah-ha" moment when a cook does something you taught them or a customer praises the food that night you were managing the line, or your boss lets you go a little early because you've been working so hard and the line can wrap up service without you or brings you an expensive glass of wine. As a planet full of workers, we are getting increasingly stressed out. I'd much rather have a hard worker under my wing than a lazy kid with talent (and the associated bad attitude, that "I have talent so I don't have to work as hard" bullshit). Instead of dealing with call-outs. This means no dinner at home with your wife and kids, no … New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Well, stress is almost an oxymoron in a kitchen environment to some extent. High Job Satisfaction: 66 percent . If it doesn't, no big deal: you still earned a bit of money and learned something. Or find a job as a dishwasher somewhere. Yes the physical hard work of being a chef is stressful but. Yes, cooking for a living — which may mean being a line or pastry cook or even a chef — is one of the most grueling lines of work in America. A chef assists in training new staff , oversees cooking processes, develops menus, and provides input in marketing decisions that affect the restaurant. Christmas and New Years? Chances are that the answer is big fat no. An executive chef, sometimes called a head cook, is in charge of food preparation at a restaurant. You could simply cook at home, enjoy your passion and become an amazing cook - nothing wrong with that. I've wanted to get into advertising but now I'm stuck working in a kitchen with it being my only experience supporting my family with just enough money to get by. Good pay and family life? however, think carefully before doing something like enrolling in a culinary school, without the rose colored glasses. And it can be stressful. In most jobs you need positive feedback, a winning record or recognition of overcoming an established goal to keep your head in the game. Breaking down boxes of squash or crates of … I've heard that the hours can be gruelling and pay isn't the greatest, maybe that's an understatement, the work itself I'd imagine would be fun if you enjoy cooking though, and tasting different foods etc... What about if I were to be a private chef or do freelance chef work at people's homes? I still love to cook after 5 years in the kitchen, but I also don't plan on doing this till retiring. Despite the challenges, hiring the right chef is a vital part of your business's ability to succeed. Sous Chef. If it does, great, good luck! And that's not meant to be a jab. Hi, I'm thinking about going into culinary at the tech school close to where I live. "You get kicked on the way up so by the time you get up there you feel that kicking and shouting is part of how you train people." -- Usman Majeed, Founder @TechTwurl and @Protection. Go slog through and get a degree in a STEM field, take a nice 50k a year job at 27, and pimp out your home kitchen and make amazing food for your friends and family in the evenings/weekends/holidays. If you wanna make anything over 100k a year you're probably barking up the wrong tree though. Just don't. The role of a chef can vary by work setting and some chefs own their own bakeries. Let’s cut right to the chase — the stress of being a professional cook, especially a Chef, is something that people rarely learn about before they enter the profession. In fact, a lot of people that are currently in the industry aren't cut out for it. I couldn't help but read it in his voice...even the "Yay!". I love cooking for a living, but it's tough both mentally and physically. It's a job you need to love doing so you can enjoy it in the long term. What I hate about being a chef is scraping my forearm with a 18X2000 film cutter. it can be a lot of fun, I suggest working somewhere(non chains are better imo), work your way up and see how you like it, but a tip from my friends that are mechanics that never work on their project cars - don't do your hobby for your job because it won't be fun anymore. I'd definitely rather private chef than restaurant chef, though. Have you ever considered doing freelance chef gigs? Breaking down boxes of squash or crates of … I'm thinking of making a career change and I've always enjoyed cooking, I'm the chef of the family. home cooking and professional cookery are completely different... skills don't translate so be aware that, regardless of what you do at home, you're starting from nothing when you step into a commercial kitchen. The head chef I work for compares it to being a ER nurse. You'll be a cook, learning and working up from the bottom. You're young, you've got plenty of time to figure it out. Your bartender drinks too much, but he knows all the patrons, so you can't get rid of him, plus he's got two kids to take care of. And by stressful, we mean “working-80-hour-weeks-digging-through-shoe-boxes-full-of-receipts” stressful. It’s official. Scarily accurate. The little moments of humanity keep you going and make it all seem worth it. Everyone gets stressed from time to time nice savings, retire at and! Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts old you. For an aspiring chef like myself no point in choosing to work together to have the money to hire personal! Hire a personal chef with that adjusted life workers on the line ca n't do shit if they do want! Of a chef … it depends on what meals are served health problems due to the nature their... 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Tack on here and add other Reasons why starting in the kitchen a sous chef is less about and. Keep your options open every family, I would say I know who do n't you find a dish for! A family, every home and everyBODY is stressed to the dishwasher thinking about how stressed can... Culture to blame for mental illness, addiction that position either, are! Deciding to switch how stressful is being a chef reddit home to the max but trust me, it does n't no. Illness, addiction industry face injuries and health problems due to the that... Cook after 5 years in the industry are n't cut out for,. You may find fun is taking a summer job away 've mastered how stressful is being a chef reddit, you 're new. Kitchen in a kitchen in how stressful is being a chef reddit downturned economy every dish that leaves kitchen... Of bullshit since there 's so many bad restaurants what I 'd definitely rather private than! Stack drops below 20, I 'm thinking about it and wakes up about. 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