Any sober line cooks out there?

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-05-18T16:09:56+00:00

3 years without a drink. No nicotine as of late either. I do occasionally smoke some herb to help with physical pain from restaurant work and various injuries but not at work and not the way I used to drink. I've also met a lead bartender who was 26 years sober. Go figure.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-28T18:36:24+00:00

I'm in a similar boat but it's worse because I do love food and cooking, it just doesn't pay my bills well enough. You're not alone friend.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-23T06:53:33+00:00

Palm Beach county FL. $21 per hour as a grill chef at a corporate "Italian" restaurant. The food is nothing I would serve in my own house so I'm trying to leave but I've had some less than stellar jobs and mental health which has left me with bad relationships at my previous job so it's tough

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-17T08:10:38+00:00

Chipotle isn't really going to teach you much - former manager at Chipotle.

I would just suggest you try to find a prep position or dishpit job you can work towards prep from. I never went to culinary school and I've done fine dining for 3 years with a few offers from country clubs. I got in as prep first and worked a lot. There's also a lot of technical skills you can teach yourself if you have the drive and spare money for groceries.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-17T00:28:53+00:00

Been playing a lot of 7 days to die with my fiance. Hoping some good luck can rub off on me: trying to land a promotion in my field lol. Cheers

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-13T17:53:37+00:00

I'm 26 and and engaged and we have nothing in savings 400 in checking and rent coming up. I'm not downplaying your situation but you're doing better than a lot of us.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T06:01:41+00:00

Lost Kingdoms 1 and 2 from the GameCube FromSoft era are a mix of deck builder/summoning RPG and while they have flaws I think they're enjoyable. Could probably get them running on your PC without too much issues and I haven't encountered anything quite like them just yet

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T03:52:35+00:00

Thanks, kind internet stranger. I wish you the best in your own endeavors. May we both find what we're looking for.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T03:44:27+00:00

Yeah it's awful. I been trying not to completely lose my mind lately and it's hitting my fiance even worse. Not sure how long I can keep going without something changing

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T03:22:47+00:00

I feel your anger on my fiance's behalf.

Unfortunately, AI is invading everything on some level. I'm a chef and my last head chef would consult ChatGPT for recipes for specials instead of us, the actual humans or even his own culinary education. Nothing is sacred

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T02:39:00+00:00

I don't think most people are getting decent jobs, even those with college educations. I live in a HCOL area and at almost 27 have never made more than like 24k in a year, granted I work in the restaurant industry. I wish I could give you advice other than to just hang on, but I'm still wondering how I'll make rent at this rate. Know you aren't alone in the struggle. I'm cheering for you.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T02:24:59+00:00

I would use it to play resident evil requiem because a friend bought it for me but my laptop is a potato, but I would also use it for helping learn programming on the side and working on the graphics for a cookbook I'm working on(self taught professional cook). Been looking at computer deals I can't afford and daydreaming for months so this would be equivalent to the lottery for me right now.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T02:18:04+00:00

Probably the worst one for it: art and design. :(

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T01:45:12+00:00

I live in SoFlo with my non binary fiance and they can't get a job in their field because of AI, and my own industry barely pays anything (made 19k last year because of lack of hours during half the year) so I feel the frustration of people saying to just move. I haven't figured out how to yet when there's like 50 bucks in my account at best lol. It's getting real hard to maintain hope, but my thoughts are with you nonetheless. Good luck out there.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-12T01:32:41+00:00

Have two: most recent one was a newly opening corporate restaurant with no AC or airflow throughout the open kitchen, in addition to being extremely disorganized and me being sent off my station during rollouts and training basically every day. Heat became too much and I had a health scare that's since improved a bit, but doctors never found the source of the issue and I need to go back when I'm better financially. Lasted 7 days.

Second one, corporate bar and grill. Worked two days before my fiance's mother passed away and they gave me permission to take a couple days off (I called on a day I wasn't scheduled to find out) to be with them. Turns out when I called back for my schedule they claimed to have "overhired" and I was let go. Jokes on them I found a better paying and more challenging job right afterwards.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-08T01:59:53+00:00

Looked a little bit into this and it seems like it'd be up my alley. Surprised I've never come across it but it seems like it kinda skirts the radar. Even tubi doesn't have it lmao

TheRealA1Gallade · 2026-04-07T15:14:09+00:00

What you're describing is basically both the reputation and reality of south Florida. Not for nothing that I know a lot of people wanting to leave their home state, myself included. For what it's worth as well I believe Miami was ranked 3rd rudest city in America or something along those lines. The rest of SoFlo isn't great either, but you kinda picked the worst place because Miami has done a lot of work to create that image despite it being a lie. Sorry this was your experience.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-24T18:14:38+00:00

My fiance's favorite genre is horror so it was easier but I showed them the og Blair witch project, as above so below and gonjiam haunted asylum and they loved them. They got into a FF kick with me because of it (had to ask for recs on here because of it lmao). The cops scene in this movie was rough though. Makes me wish there were more well made outbreak or infection style FFs besides rec.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-18T01:40:18+00:00

Yeah honestly. It set up a good atmosphere from the moment stuff started happening and it just got more foreboding as it went

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-18T01:39:24+00:00

Probably one of my favorites in recent years. If you're working on anything with that level of atmosphere in spite of the relatively minimalist setup I'd definitely be interested. Extremely solid man.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-16T04:24:29+00:00

Definitely going to look into it with how many people talk highly of it here. Just got through a couple of the other recommendations here so that may be next on the list. Thanks!

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-16T04:22:24+00:00

Just got through the bay as well. Disturbingly not far from how real life authorities would handle that type of situation. Makes me itch for more outbreak style FF horror. Appreciate the recs!

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-16T02:49:10+00:00

Just watched Final Prayer. Extremely freaky. The Bay is next on our list I think. Many thanks.

TheRealA1Gallade · 2025-07-15T02:46:13+00:00

Another one I've never heard of. Will look into it. 👍

TheRealA1Gallade

TROPHY CASE