A Day in the Life

I'd like to thank Courtney Page for the picture

      On Sundays at work we serve brunch from 8 until 2 in the afternoon.  Today was a pretty standard Sunday shift at the Okra Grill with the exception of one thing:  it's the first Sunday I've worked since a partially horrible co-worker left us.  It is amazing how different the day can be when you aren't having to resist the temptation to stab, burn or otherwise hurt someone with one of the many implements of destruction laying about.  Today, despite the fact that we served almost 900 people there was very little screaming and very few mess-ups.  The food went out in an orderly and timely fashion and everyone seemed pleased with their meal. Best of all there was a unity in the kitchen.  We were working together, not against each other and that makes for a nicer day for everyone. 
      Its funny, though,  the tricks your mind plays when you are tired.  Time slows down and speeds up at will.  Little snips of songs, or phrases begin to run through your head over and over until you forget what it was you were doing.  Something else happens too, slowly your sense of purpose begins to diminish, and any wit you might pretend to have blurs into stupid phrases like "your mom's a . . . pancake" (for example). But by that time everyone else is in the same state as you are, where you begin to get that goofy tired.  We are all cracked out on caffeine, or red bull.  Then the boss comes around with some sugary snack he picked up at the store, only really compounding the issue, but you're too tired and hungry to care what it might do to your diet or sugar level because that one piece of bacon 3 hours ago is not a meal.
      When you are finally done feeding the masses everyone takes a moment to rejoice before you realize that you've got cleaning to do.  Not just wrapping up and putting everything away but a deep cleaning.  All of those things that didn't get done the rest of the week.  Scrubbing walls, moving equipment and the like.  When you are done, and everyone gets to go home, it's like a dream.  You go home, rest, or go out to the beach.  Anything to get your mind off the day. 
      Everyone talks about it.  About the escape.  About being done.  But the truth is, we all love it.  Anthony Bourdain said in Kitchen Confidential that cooks are all like pirates.  We are the outcasts of society, the people who couldn't live in the grind of a normal job.  We spend our days armed to the teeth, making dirty jokes and torturing ourselves.  We are covered in scars, and a new cut or burn is more like a badge of courage than something to worry about.  There is something, though, about and adrenaline and the rush of a service completed and well done.  The pride of a beautiful plate or a delicious special, and the joy of creation.  Every perfect dish gets a little piece of your soul.  It might seem strange, but this is why we do it.  This job that most people think we are crazy for even considering, much less making a career of it.  It's the passion that drives us.