By Aleck Mann
You might have your own impression of the monolithic companies or the institutional-type foods you had to eat when you were a kid or the many times you had to dole from number ten cans the bulk contents—the peaces, the puddings, the pears. You might even associate the number tens with welfare food—which you still respect but balk at…having lived on peanut butter from the government or canned meat that you had to eat for days till it was gone.
But the food service industry is also about food jobs . That is, the food service industry is an area that will likely always give students, teachers, and many others work for their lives. This area or field is ideal, for example, for the student who doesn’t have the brain space for a more thinking job. He or she can wait tables, bus tables, even do dishes and pots and pans, make tips (plus a wage), and take off the uniform or apron and go home without having to “take the work with him/her”. The money is good even in coffee shops, so students can pay rent, buy books, even pay tuition and will have cash on a daily basis for bus fare, smokes, surprise expenses, etc..
But don’t believe it’s all menial work and that the food service industry is for the dumb waiter or waitress. The clever ones play a very smart game and make more money in 6 months than many of us do in a year.
There was a book published about twenty years ago that featured waitresses from all over the U.S. These featured waitresses had college degrees, were artists, and had families. They chose to continue working in the food service industry because of the set hours, the steady and ample income, and the freedom from intellectual pressures and burdens. So, teachers, artists, and other professionals who have part-time gigs outside of the food service industry (teachers who have summers off, for instance) also work in restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and the like…for the above reasons.
I put myself through college waiting tables. I have friends who worked in fine dining establishments who would work four or five tables a shift and come home with four or five hundred bucks. And I pass on to you the age-old wisdom of my elders, who used to say the best jobs to take were those in the food service industry, the grocery industry, or the funeral business…for, as they said, “People gotta eat and they gotta die.” |
You might hear some tales of drudgery and the doldrums concerning the food service industry or jobs in the food service industry, particularly the fast food jobs which are often referred to as the sweat shops of the 21 st century . 
