Battle scars? Too funny (ironic)......I roll outta bed every day....as well as carry on through the day and then attempt to sleep....... with a constant reminder of what almost 30 years did for me regarding battle scars.
I can say that after a while, you find yourself just looking at that sheet pan sized brand, the grill marks conveniently made on the knuckle side of a hand or silver dollar sized fryer oil splatter in the kitchen, if things happen often enough (as they do when you have an A&E work ethic..........) with more of a "Oh look what I just did......cool" and shluff it off. Can't say that was what the reaction was the first few years but toward the end...........it was the norm.
Just to share......there are two "scars" (besides the one I vaguely mentioned above) that were with-in my first two years of working in the business.
First was done while cutting salad mix for the Pizza place I got my first restaurant job at. Yes cutting.....it was a pizza place not Chez Paul.......
I cut the tip of my left thumb (more than a 1/2") completely off and had to have it sewn back on........
Even 32 years later you can see the seam where it was sewn back on.
Second was probably the second worst in my life/career....While emptying a pot of pasta in the sink......some maroon I was working with decided to screw around and slap me with a towel while I had the pot resting on the sink edge to dump. The whole pot of scalding water and pasta........fell back against me. Ended up with first degree burns on my left arm bicep and arm pit and second degree burns on my entire chest and stomach.