I’m not even kidding I think food service jobs are the hardest customer service jobs that exist and if you have them on your resume long enough that it’s clear you could maintain them people should be begging on their hands and fucking knees for you to work for them.
Do you have any idea how much goes into any given food service job. Not only is it customer service, it’s usually heavy machinery operation and maintaining, sanitation work, handling of money, awareness of allergens and chemicals and EXACTLY where they are and where they go, intense memory games for menu items and all of their ingredients… You deal with some of the absolute worst rushes doing multiple tasks, you can basically never sit down, most of your cooking equipment is extremely dangerous and can hurt you very badly if you lose focus for any amount of time, you deal with insane temperature fluctuations constantly, food service is always understaffed because it’s less expensive to pay you to do the jobs of four people, everyone is incredibly mean to you all the time, and you get paid like absolute fucking shit because people think it’s “unskilled” entry level labor anyway.
Average sixteen year old working minimum wage at McDonald’s is actually a more respectable and skilled worker than any person working a salaried desk job on the planet.
Or just go to browse and hang out! I promise it will be inspiring :)
It’s also a lot easier to do research in a library; sure, it’s one thing to have internet access, but it’s another to have wifi access to databases and books on the topic an approximate two minute walk away.
the man who owns and runs the thai restaurant in my town knows me by name. he is one of the kindest and most thoughtful men i know. i started ordering from his place back in january, which was when i got my fibromyalgia diagnosis. back then i was using a walker, had limited mobility in my entire body but especially my hands, and was very visibly in pain. i always ordered the same thing: yellow curry with no meat, potatoes and carrots only (i have texture and other dietary issues). he always made it a point to make sure i could get out the door and carry the food safely. he had his workers package the food so that it was easier for me to open. as i kept coming back and i told him a little bit about my health status, he would always encourage me to keep going. he told me about how the spices he used were good for inflammation and began to edit the recipe just for me so that spices that were even better for fighting inflammation were used. he’d give me extra portions and despite the fact that i would tip every time, i realized later that he never charged my card for them. as time went on and my condition began to get better, he would make encouraging remarks and tell me how happy he was for me. the day i came in without my walker, he practically jumped for joy, and despite my insistence, he gave me my meal for free that day. i continue to make progress with my conditions and i continue to go to the thai place. this man who does not know me personally and who i hardly know anything about is one of my favorite people. it’s interactions with humans like these that make loving life easier. and his curry really does help my chronic condition. it’s comfort food taken to the next level.
This is a problem the writers of the Simpsons have had to deal with - the Simpsons are late 80s, early 90s poor. They have two clunker cars, they live in a house that’s old-fashioned and has crappy furniture because they can’t afford to redecorate. Their TV is ancient. Their neighbors have visibly better stuff than they do, and when they shop they have to buy the bargain brands.
But their lifestyle now seems wildly out of reach to most modern kids! They have two cars! A big three bedroom house! Only one of the parents has to work! They have 3 whole children who they can afford to feed and clothe on a single income! It’s an impossible dream life for most people today.
