No Stupid Questions

No. That's like wanting to be a doctor and having to work on call at the ER. they are dues and need to be paid.

is it every aspiring game developers dream to work in a hectic, high-stress office? Being the best or just in the ranks of the best is a big draw in art.

I work at an events company, basically, in the back office but have worked some events - I get the appeal. Hospitality is grueling work but satisfying work, your customers are right in front of you and you are making them feel better about themselves (in our particular industry), or feeding them and also just pulling off such a ridiculously difficult task, nearly everything going right, it's amazing. And when I did work at a restaurant, I also enjoyed being part of the customers' going out night, right? You are there, building that experience, also getting an experience.

My husband doesn't get it really but I do - if I had fuck you money I would open a bar, with a dinner night each week as an event.

I enjoy home cooking and hosting parties too. Hospitality really is a human sort of endeavor and it is satisfying to make people feel good and comfortable.

I assume one become a chef because they have a love for food and cooking and the artistry involved.

Bwahahahahahahaahahahahzhahahhahah

Deep breath.. no seriously

Hahahahahahahahah

One becomes a chef because you need a pay check. All that shit about the artistry of cooking is marketing bullshit.

Imagine straddling the line between performing at your absolute best, pushed to the limit of your abilities, and living in a complete horror show of a shift. All your cylinders are firing, your brain is running 110%, your body is alive. It is up to you, and the crew you trained, to impose order onto chaos by performing a complex symphony of actions in a tightly coordinated team.

Yes, tensions are high, but everyone is digging in, summoning their grit, and working together to tackle any upset in the highly demanding flow of food. There is laughing, cursing, anger, worry, joy, comradery. It's a high drama marathon that challenges you, makes you perform at your best every day. You know the complete despair and panic when it falls apart and you know the sweet satisfaction as the rush dies down and you and your team did it, against all odds, once again.

When you look out the window and see the hordes of people eagerly awaiting to enjoy a great meal with their friends and family and you look over at the people already served and see the absolute bliss on their faces as they dig in...

You. You made that happen.

I left IT to become a chef and this was one of the reasons (of many) I did so. I absolutely hated the office environment; being cooped up in a tiny office, the dumb high school drama, sitting at a desk wasing time on projects that had no real value to anyone but a corporation... I was miserable, even despite the ok pay and lack of manual labor.

I work in a high profile kitchen now and I couldn't be happier. The fast pace and constant movement is definitely a lot of work and stress but it's so much more fun than mashing a keyboard in a soulless corporate prison. Plus I sometimes get to see the people enjoying the food, and it just seems a lot more personal and worth it than IT ever did. I guess it really depends on your personality and how well you handle and/or like pressure among other things

I don't work in the food industry, but I do have the flavor of ADHD that would absolutely LOVE the work environment. There really is a special kind of zen you achieve when everything is on fire and you have to think on your feet all day. Plus the working times are fucked up and your diet consists of cigarettes, energy drinks and coke. That might not sound like an upside but if your life already is like that it really must be quite nice to have a job that conforms to it.

There's certainly stuff like The Bear or Hell's Kitchen that present one view of things, but you might want to give Jiro Dreams of Sushi a watch sometime, which shows a alternate view. Guy runs a ten seat Michelin starred sushi joint that does a ~500 dollar tasting menu with 20 courses. He's not rushing things.

Not the field you're talking about, but I worked in television news broadcasting for a while, and yes, the goal was absolutely to get a job at a bigger station with more news and thus more work and faster pace.

Our production manager used to try to train us for the bigger markets as well, he described it as making sure the team could "think on their feet" and deal with unexpected scenarios calmly and quickly.

So at least in that industry, yes, the goal is to end up in a more high stress workplace.

Believe it or not, some people actually really thrive in high-stress environments and do terribly in low-stress environments because it's simply not exciting enough to keep them engaged with the work.

Probably not. And they find jobs in calmer setups or they get out of the kitchen. But for the rest, that isn't a deal breaker. If that's what you want to do then that's a likely way to have to do it.

The somewhat military order in a professional kitchen is by design. Order is important. I've gone through weeks of training in a fine dining kitchen and having worked in hotels I could look into busy kitchens from the sideline. Culture plays a big part. You can have a busy orderly kitchen without too much shouting and people not hating each other at the end of service.

A lot of the drama that happens between people, if it isn't stress, is the fact that advancement options are limited. The higher up you get in the hierarchy, the fewer jobs will be available to you.