My fast food experience * Worked ~9 months at a dunkin donuts * Start of shift generally 4 a.m. * End of shift generally 1 p.m. * 7 days per week although S

My fast food experience * Worked ~9 months at a dunkin donuts * Start of shift generally 4 a.m. * End of shift generally 1 p.m. * 7 days per week although Sunday would only work 3 hr - this was because my boss could provide much more compensation because we were paid 1.5x hourly above 40 hours. He would illegally manually adjust my hours downwards in the computer system to ensure it didn't get too much out of hand :) * Was promoted to "shift manager" after 6 months (meaningless title) I agree with nearly all of your points: * no breaks * boss monitors waste, quality (customer complaints), service time per order * regional competitions * cleaning in downtime * constant churn training new recruits who would suddenly quit Your conclusion fast food is difficult seems off to me. The work is repetitive so each individual step requires little thought. To make a sandwhich you put the bread in oven 1 and click button 2 then you put the patty in oven 2 and click button 7. When it comes out you wrap, bag, add napkins, and hand it to the customer. Crucially when your shift is done you go home and don't care. There are no objectives that line employees care about at a quarterly level. You were able to move around the entire day and interact with people rather than being sedentary behind a screen. You didn't have to have any education or work experience beyond completing ~9 grade (compared to CS where the most common path in the US is 3 years of highschool, 4 years of college). Most employees at my location were young, more social, less attached, and better looking than my colleagues in big tech (ok myself included). I would trade my new line of work for my old in a heartbeat if the compensation and career prospects were comparable.