aspiringchef:
There is a distinction between cooking as an avocation vis-a-vis cooking as a vocation. When you cook at home, you do it because you enjoy it, and you do not have any time constraints, nor any nasty supervisors, kitchen managers, nor concern yourself with: Food Costs, Labor Costs, Inventory, Controlling Costs, Profit, Loss, Insurance, etc., not to mention, purchasing your own:
cutlery,
tools,
utensils,
cake decorating kits,
uniforms,
shoes, etc.
As a nurse, you might have to buy your own uniforms and shoes, but your livelihood does not depend on what you put on the plate, while everything is going wrong in the kitchen, such as the equipment malfunctioning, or breaking, especially when you needed it. You have a full-rack of tickets to cook, but you're out of food to cook with, but you don't have anyone to go to the grocery store to buy more food, nor call any purveyors to make a special delivery, nor any other chefs in the area willing to lend you their product until you can replace them.
Your Kitchen Manager is berating you for falling behind in your orders, and the wait-staff are impatient about not getting their tickets cooked in a timely manner, and to make matter worse, you've cut and burned yourself, and knocked your saute pan on the floor, and spilled that Pasta Alfredo on the floor, and covered your not so slip-resistant shoes, and the Alfredo sauce is seeping into your socks, but you also don't have another steak to replace the one you just ruined, because it was overcooked on the char-broiler, because you were distracted trying to do so many tasks simultaneously, that you forgot to check the steak so that it became charred, but you cannot un-cook it to medium-rare, or whatever scenario you can imagine.
Two tables walked out on you because you took too long to complete their orders, and now you have wasted plates of food under the heat lamp, your feet, knees, back, neck, and head aches, not to mention, you've already cut and burned yourself earlier, you want to go home, take a nice warm, bubble-bath[I know that women like to take bubble baths, but I don't take bubble baths, at least not since I was a small boy], and sleep, but you can't, because you must stay and finish your shift. Another cook didn't turn-up for work again because he was a no-call, no-show again. The dishwasher also suddenly quit because he was too lazy or inebriated to work, and would rather carouse with his friends. The dishwashing machine malfunctioned, and cannot be serviced because no one can reach the repair technician because it's a holiday, and he is away, and to make matters worse, not that you care at this point, there isn't any detergent, nor sanitizer, nor even liquid dish detergent[e.g.,
Dawn] either, and therefore, you have no clean plates to plate your food, and everything progresses from bad to worse, and you would rather have a
beer or a glass of nice
red wine, and forget about your menial job for a while, but you can't, because you need to repay those loans for your culinary education, car, etc. Your car needs repairs, you're behind in the rent, the bills are due, and the dog needs to be fed too. Remember, you work when everyone else is playing. You work weekends, holidays, and you might wonder if you ever will have any time off to relax, catch up on much needed sleep, or simply to do mundane household chores.
I have worked for 3 restaurants which have never paid me my back wages. Contacting the Department of Labor is an exercise in futility. They simply ignore them, or they are now defunct. Good luck in trying to locate them, or trying to get them to pay anything. You will meet many unscrupulous characters in this trade: criminals, alcoholics, drug-addicts, etc.
Now, if you see yourself working in that kind of environment, then consider doing an
ACF Apprenticeship. You would be working for 3 years, earn wages, and a 2-year A.S. degree in Culinary Arts at the community college. I recommend doing an apprenticeship at the
Broadmoor Hotel. As an apprentice, you would rotate throughout every station in the kitchen, and learn each station's duties. Afterwards, you could do a finishing apprenticeship at the
Greenbrier Resort. If an apprenticeship seems too rigorous for you, you could attend a community college. The
ACF and
Shaw's Guide both list many community colleges. See my post in this
thread. Feel free to PM me if you have anymore questions. Take stock in your life, and decide for certain if the cooking trade is really what you desire to do as a vocation. I have heard that R.N.s can earn $55,000/year. I don't know of any cooks earning that kind of wage. The entry-level food-service, restaurant jobs in my area pay $7-8/hour. Forget about the private, cookery schools. They are not worth the exorbitant tuition that they charge. Community colleges are a better value for the money.
So You Wanna Be a Chef by
Anthony Bourdain
Good luck. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/chef.gif