Food for Thought by Mac Worley - a chef with nearly a decade in hospitality and a passion for storytelling.

The kitchen doesn’t owe you anything. In fact it will be the first to tell you that your sauce is split, your steak is over temperature or you aren’t taking things seriously enough.

The kitchen and the brigade that fills it will always tell you how bad you are. No matter your tenure or experience, if you can’t nail a dish every time you will hear about it. I honestly take comfort in this, because it means that if you’re good you know it and if you’re not so refined you’re very aware of that too. You can this as a positive to further educate yourself to be a better you.

“It’s easy to forget this when you work in an industry that not only may lead to burnout but also often encourages and supports it.”

It’s easy to forget this when you work in an industry that not only may lead to burnout but also often encourages and supports it.

Long hours, lack of sleep, high pressure and tension. For many years I thought that this was just what being a chef meant.

I myself have spent many more hours standing on sore feet with a tired brain counting down the clock than I care to admit. But of late I’ve realised that regardless of whether you show up to work or not, the world won’t end because you need rest, nor will it end if you slip up due to lack of rest. The kitchen will still be there tomorrow and the next day, regardless of you sacrificing your entire life to it.

Once you realise that all this sacrifice may just not be worth it, it opens your eyes. That workaholic chef who has no pleasure outside of the monster hours and chaos is nowhere near as worthy of contempt as he might seem. I can almost guarantee this because I have been that same workaholic myself and once it’s all done – the shifts, the hours and the commitment – I’ve found myself feeling nothing but a great emptiness.

I started questioning everything and wondering if “proving myself” essentially to strangers at work was really worth all the literal headache and pain.

So this might just be the perfect time to ask yourself the question: is working for this employer, or at this business, worth all this sacrifice?

Mac Worley is a chef with nearly a decade in hospitality and a passion for storytelling. Mac has written a ebook for chefs on how to survive in hospitality. It is available to download here

< hompeage

NEXT ARTICLE >