Everyone who has worked food service can relate. What's the difference between fast-food and a sit-down restaurant really? Simply how long it takes to make the food. I have worked two food service jobs and it's the same M.O. People want their food as quickly as possible, so you work your tail off to do just that. At the end of the day, you're just plain exhausted. You live through so many struggles when you work in food service, it's not even funny. Here is a short list of those many, many struggles.

1. "I smell like food..."

You get home and like it or not, you smell like food. It's not just your clothes either. The smell has clung to your hair too.

2. You bring work home with you... literally

Not only do you smell like food, you're covered in it. I work at a pizza place. My family can tell when I've been working with flour. Did I mention I'm always covered in sauce?

3. You're always hungry

Think about it. You are constantly making food for other people. You smell it, and it makes your stomach rumble a little...but you can't eat it. This is probably the hardest part of the job.

4. Breaks don't always exist

They should, but that doesn't mean you have time for a break. Sometimes, you have to go into the cooler for a few minutes just so you can breathe.

5. You tend to bring food home

You buy food because you're hungry. No time to eat? Guess what? You're bringing it home. Don't feel like making more food when you get home? Might as well buy something on your way out. Whatever you manage to eat at work, you tend to scarf down like nobody's business.

6. You get tired of the food

You're there most days of the week, often enough that you are eating a lot of the same food. There are only so many menu options that you can make. It gets a little old fast. Hope you liked the food before you started working there. If not, you'll start to hate it.

7. Hangry customers

You'll find angry customers anywhere, but only in food service will you consistently find the hangry customers. They're hungry and want to eat. If they're unsatisfied with your service, they get angry a lot faster than in, oh say, a clothing store. Understandably, too.

8. You learn how to reach around people

I'm not kidding. I've learned how to reach around people with more ease since I started working in food service. You have to make food quickly, and you can't always wait for them to move.

9. Small kitchen

It's amazing how much space you need to have a good sized kitchen for a good sized crew. Usually, you have a good sized crew, but not enough space to work with. You quickly adapt to dancing around each other without running into each other.

10. Asking for help reaching things

If you're tall like me, you have no problem reaching things. At six feet tall, there's very little that I need a chair/ladder to reach. Because of that, my shorter co-workers tend to ask for help. You always know when they're going to ask too. If it's you who needs help, good luck.

11. Oven heat

If you work in the kitchen and have to put the food in or out of the oven/stove/fryer/what have you, you get used to the heat. You're not always able to use oven mitts. They'd be nice, but it doesn't always help.

12. Extra warm kitchen

Because of all the heat from the oven/fryers/whatever, there's more heat in the room than the dining room. It gets pretty hot back in the kitchen. You learn to cope, push up your glasses with your arm, things like that.

13. Constant hand washing

By constant, I mean constant. You are literally washing your hands like a crazy person. You have to in order to keep everything sanitary. Touch raw meat? Wash your hands. Touch raw fruits/veggies? Wash your hands. Go to the restroom? Wash your hands when you're done, then again when you return to the kitchen. Blink? Wash you hands.

14. Don't. Touch. Your Face.

You absolutely, positively, cannot touch your face. If you do, you have to rewash your hands and change your gloves. Again.

15. An absolute need for a clean kitchen

You are so used to working in an uber clean kitchen that you have to have a clean kitchen at home. It's not a bad thing to have anyway, but now you can't function without a clean kitchen.

16. Weird hours

Oh, you're scheduled from 4 to 9:30? Not enough customers, you leave earlier than that. Too busy around 9? You may not actually clock out until 10:30. It's always a gamble and you have no idea until you get there.

17. Phantom ringers... in your sleep

That's right. You hear those phones ringing non-stop at work then hear them again as you fall asleep or even in your dreams. You can't escape those phones. The sound follows you everywhere.