I don't really watch tv but so can't compare too well but yes it's stressful as hell and you get treated like shit a lot of the time. Some of it is just the nor

I don't really watch tv but so can't compare too well but yes it's stressful as hell and you get treated like shit a lot of the time. Some of it is just the normal dehumanizing situation of american wage labor eg no paid time off, no healthcare, etc. But the culture of cooking is particularly bad even within that. I understand this has improved somewhat since I left but from what I hear it is still not good. I only knew of one genuinely life changing injury in a kitchen I was in, a very bad burn to both the cook's feet. But I saw plenty of cuts that needed stitches, and a few graft-worthy burns. Quite a few concussions too, from slips or accidentally pulling down more than expected from a high shelf. IMO the real menace is just chronic health stuff: substance abuse and other mental illness are common and no one has the resources or support to deal with it adequately. You don't get even unpaid time off to recover from illness or injury and it really takes a toll over time. Most of those injuries I described, the person finished their shift and was back at work the next day. If they even went to the hospital in between, it was at the expense of their own rest and family responsibilities. Line cook was one of the most deadly jobs during covid, up there with frontline healthcare workers in the beginning. They only got overtaken by police & fire in the second half because so many cops refused to get vaccinated. Which, lmao.