I wish it were possible for me to make a living working in a restaurant.

Not "moving up the chain," not buying a franchise, not going to the corporate office.

Just cooking food, for people. Taking pride in it. I'm /good/ at it, I enjoy it, people demand it.

But.

I can't work in a restaurant AND go to the doctor. I can't work in a restaurant AND save any money. I can't work in a restaurant AND start a family.

So instead of a person who's good at it, gives a shit, and takes pride in what they do making your food,

You get... whoever.

You get a revolving door of disposable kids, scraping by and just making enough to manage. You get people who don't have the skills to do anything else. You get people who work three jobs and keep going on gas station speed pills and spite.

I wish it were possible to do a thing that /everybody demands regularly/, a thing that I am good at, that definitely has value in any sense of the word, and survive.

The fact that it isn't means shit's broken.

It would still be a hard job, at double the pay. As a shift runner in Charlotte, I was making 11/hour. At 22/hour, with PTO, Sick Days, full health, dental, and 401k, I would still *have to think about* whether I would go back. It's not guaranteed.

12 hour days, on hard concrete/tile floors, without breaks. Intensive labor, a working knowledge of all relevant health and safety laws, grueling days dealing with "the public." A mind for sanitation. Quality control like a motherfucker.

It's not easy, at all.

I've worked harder in a kitchen than I ever did in the office job I just had, and in that office job I was told I had "a work ethic uncommon for my generation."

No. I don't.

That's just how we are.

Because it's how we need to be, to pay rent. Because we're in kitchens.

We're in shops and cashier stations and kitchens and car services, we're guilty when we're not "on our grind," we come home smelling like grease and degreaser and mop water and what have you, and we fall burnt-out to sleep.

That's us.

And that's fine.

If we can make a living.

Instead, folks demand the services we offer, and scoff at the idea that we should be able to afford a lower-middle-class existence on the outskirts of a major city.

One of the reasons I will always stand in solidarity with sex workers - work is work. https://twitter.com/joef_3/status/1340000264217120769

You can't demand porn, and then shun the people who make it. You can't demand burgers, and then use the word "burger flipper" to mean "person who doesn't deserve better." You can't shit on garbage men, and then expect the garbage to be picked up.

Society needs all sorts.

For nine years, I sold the use of my body to a kitchen for less than it was worth. I sold my lungs, my sleep, my good health, my knees, my feet, my hands. I enjoyed a lot of it, but wish it was better.

Nothing holier about that than anything else you could do with your body.

Anyway, I can't go out to a bar and drink with strippers and delivery drivers and nurses, and yell and commiserate and toast each other, so I guess I'm doing it here.

Thanks for coming to my ramble.

I wish things were better.