It’s something I have found myself talking about a lot recently. I have worked in kitchens since I was 14. I started just preparing and serving food at a local hunting club, and 5 years later I have worked in three other kitchens, two of them washing dishes and making salads and desserts for regular dinner service, and one preparing ready-made salads on my campus. I have met a countless number of people, worked with a number of different foods, learned an immeasurable amount, and in recently evaluating who I have become I can absolutely say that without the restaurant business, I wouldn’t be who I am today. For a number of reasons, I can absolutely say I believe everyone should work in a restaurant at some point.

Working in a restaurant you encounter people from all walks of life. Everyone has a different set of moral values, different set of humor, and different set of skills that all come together for 8-10 hours a day (sometimes more if there’s catering) with a similar goal: serve delicious and beautiful food. Everyone won’t always get along, but no matter what there’s an overall sense of respect for the other positions and everyone will have to interact at some point. But when the business is slow you’re going to interact on a more personal level and being with such a vastly diverse group of people will force you to open your mind to everyone’s opinions, mostly because people who work in a restaurant are the types of people who will make their opinions known. Working in several restaurants in a place as diverse as my home town has made me into a person who is able to acknowledge and accept new and different ideas, whether I agree with them or not.

People may deny it, but working in a restaurant is hard work. There is a lot of manual labor, heavy lifting, and getting down and dirty to make sure the restaurant is as clean and organized as possible. The restaurant business is a business run by perfectionists which in turn, breeds more perfectionists. One of my favorite tasks at work is stocking beer, because there is something extremely satisfying about taking a disorganized mess and reassembling it so that every case has its place. Beginning a shift with a sink full of dishes is hard, but it’s extremely rewarding when 45 minutes of hot water and soap and scrubbing results in a perfectly clean, sparkling sink. Working in a restaurant has made me a person who understands the value of a job well done, as well as a person who values a clean and organized workspace (although there is a reason I don’t do work in my room!).

The skills you learn working in a restaurant are universal. Whatever anyone is going to college for, no matter where you live or where your degree takes you, you can always find a job. Becoming proficient in restaurant skills and being able to demonstrate prior restaurant experience is useful in a modern, shaky job market. It’s not always the best job, and it’s not always the most fun, but no matter where you go there are restaurants looking for emergency help and at the end of the day, a paycheck is a paycheck. Restaurant shifts are almost always long hours too, so at the end of the week the pay is usually pretty fantastic too. No matter what, working in a restaurant will open doors for you.

It’s for these reasons why I love the restaurant industry. The lessons and skills you learn, both as a food worker and as a person, are invaluable and immeasurable. I know I won’t be working in restaurants forever, and I most certainly don’t have the personality to run a kitchen, but it doesn’t have to be a passion to be able to teach you more than you ever expected. I won’t be there forever, but I will never forget how working in a restaurant has shaped who I have become today. Even if they don’t stick with it, everyone should work in a restaurant at least once.