Over the course of the pandemic I decided to retire from a 15 year career as a chef and try to find something that suited my families time instead of some rich asshole that just wants me to help them get richer.
This was the final straw in why I hung it up for good.
I was an Executive Chef for a nationwide chain. The job required a ton of my time and overall being, I was barely home and when I was I was sleeping or working more. This company was bought out in a huge deal and overnight everything changed. Positions were eliminated, they kept trying to get me to take a pay cut, the list goes way fucking on. So, I started looking for a new gig. I got hooked up with a well known Chef and restaurant group looking to fill an executive position and it was a great fit, or so I thought.
I went through 5 months of interviews both in person and on the phone, I answered a 250 question personality test, met with every single important person that I could have possibly met with. I finally get the offer to come in and stage. For anybody who doesn't know, a “stage” is basically a cooking audition, you go in and make some shit and if they like it you typically get the job. I was asked to make 5 separate dishes. When I presented the dishes everyone was there, all the high up dicks. They ate it ALL and had good feedback with some normal critique as well but it was an overwhelmingly positive response. The chef tells me he will call within the next couple days to confirm an offer and starting date. He ghosts me for over a week. I finally call him and to see what's been happening and he says that I will need to apply again. I was very confused, I asked about all the interviews and the stage and also the application I had submitted months prior. Somewhere over the course of the week that he ghosted me they must have found someone cheaper because their opinion of me and my food had completely changed. He even said he wouldn't recommend me for any other positions. I was at an absolute loss for words. I just hung up the phone up and decided I would never again be taken advantage of.
I've experienced so much illegal shit working in the food industry, the wage theft and labor exploitation is just incredible. We should start a subreddit that everyone posts all the jobs they've had and the salaries they had. We need to turn this system on it's fucking head.
TL;DR: quit one job for another, went through 5 months of intense interviewing and salary negotiations only to be turned away at the last minute as if they had never met me.