r/Chefit • u/Mulberry_Short • 2d ago

Possibly regretting this career choice.

Hey yall, I’m a 20 year old guy that life cooking and even went to JWU for 2 years I’m now working in a restaurant full time and I love it , I get to create the special menu on weekends , manage events and everything but idk man . The lack of social life is ruining it for me and idk what should I do . Obviously I’m working when everyone is off and I knew that and thought I would be fine with it but now it’s getting to the point where I’m spending my off days (mondays, sum Tuesday and Wednesday) alone because all my friends are busy . And with Halloween coming up of course I gotta work on the night so I’m just questioning is it really worth it to sacrifice my enjoyment and fun with my friends in my 20s to work when in the future I’m most likely goin got have less time

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

10

u/wicked_crayfish 2d ago

Wait till you have kids brother.

8

u/MeaningfullySordid 1d ago

man that's the part nobody talks about when you're 20 and hyped on the rush. kitchen life is a jealous partner, it takes everything. i've seen guys ride it out and build their whole world around the weird hours, find their people in the industry. but you gotta ask yourself if you're cool with missing a lot of the normal world stuff. maybe try to carve out one sacred night, even if it's a tuesday, where you drag your friends out no matter what

1

u/Mulberry_Short 1d ago

Is it worth it bro?

1

u/dftons 1d ago

no vale la pena cambiar la vida por un trabajo. nunca

1

u/wicked_crayfish 1d ago

Meh haha. It's a living though.

4

u/ChefPneuma 1d ago

That’s the gig bro, you work while others play. There are jobs in the industry that don’t require nights and weekends, it just depends on what you want to do.

2

u/Curious_Chef850 1d ago

It wasn't a good fit for me and my life so I started a catering company because I thought I'd be able to set my own schedule. Guess when everyone wants to have catering done? I pivoted once again and started exclusively catering for business lunches other people during the week.

After my kids were grown and starting to move out, I opened my own diner.

There are plenty of opportunities out there as a chef but you've got to put the time in and really master the area your interested in.

2

u/AndrewG0NE 1d ago

You have to make friends with other people working weird hours

1

u/puppydawgblues 1d ago

Get into pasty operations and you could be an AM baker, show up at 4AM and leave at ~2PM. You'd have a pretty strict time you'd want to be in bed by so you don't hate your little next day but that's an option for having time after work

1

u/ThreeTreesForTheePls 1d ago

It’s not a career issue, but a restaurant format issue.

I did 12-12 shifts for years became pretty much a recluse outside of work.

Then one day I had a bagel in this little cafe/brunch restaurant hybrid, and now I work 6am to 3pm. Waking up after a social night out can be very, very rough, but I get to do homework with my kids, I get to go for birthday parties, read to them at bedtime, on and on and on.

Breakfast-Lunch cheffing is looked down on by fine dining, but it is the single best work life balance you will find in all of culinary.

1

u/TheKingkir0 1d ago

Most people who fit into our lifestyle are other service workers. If you have 9-5 friends with weekends off good luck. My boyfriend works normal hours and we literally kiss eachother good morning and good night most days.

1

u/freisbill 1d ago

if you want QOL, look at Compass, aramark, sodexo - not as glamorous, but solid culianry career if you go to the right places, AND much better hours.