Over many years I have had great opprotunities that alot of people just don't get; not all great and not all bad. Working in a professional kitchen is a culture unto itself, to explain it is difficult as it needs to be experienced to truly understand it. In alot of the bigger companies I have worked with there are always the same cast of characters albeit with different faces and names.
There is The Alcoholic, The Druggie, The Schmoozer, The Dick, The Wing-nut, The Angry One, The Meltdown, The Rockstar, The Rock, The Stoner, The Conspirator, and The Go-To. Granted all these characters may not work the same shift or be at the same place but most kitchen people know several of these people who fit the bill; and while these characters do exist in the kitchen they are all accepted for thier defaults no matter the role they play.
There is also a sub-culture of late nights, early mornings and long days, all the time sharing the work hard play hard mentality. Too many times have been apart of and/or witnessed work 12 or 14 hr shifts then go to the bar then after hours bars where you need to know a friend just to even find the place. these places you get buzzed in after being on camera and you are recognized for being with someone in the know or you are in the know already.
My first time at "The Mango Room" in Vancouver 20 years ago was one of these camera buzz in places. We pull up to this building that what seemed to be an "apartment" over a warehouse type place. it was an all open concept.. there was a bathroom, some chairs and couches, a couple pool tables, a kitchen that was make shifted into a bar with a bar counter; no bedrooms 1 tv and a cheap stereo unit that had cd/tapedeck/radio/record player all in one. Blain knew someone that got us in and i was taken aback by it all, it was bland but it had beer so we were cool with it. I walk up to the "bar" and order a bottle of bud and the next thing I knew a guy walked up beside me and ordered a drink and as i was about to pay the $5 for the beer (expensive for 1998 standards) buddy opens this little baggie of white powder dumps it on the counter and proceeds to sniff it.
The "bartender" was not impressed and told him to f -off but did not kick him out. I looked around again at where I was and who was there and got a clearer picture of where I was. While sure it was cool to be in an after hours "club" the reality was I was with some hard core partiers, some people whom surely had connections to some underworld gangster type people, and some people who just were lost in a haze of drugs and booze. This world was a shock to me as I always viewed it as only in movies did this exist. I thought that maybe in the big cities of LA and New York maybe this would exist but not Vancouver, I was wrong. I never went back there, it was something and someplace I did not want to end going to in later days or years nor a person who winds up being a regular at such a place. When I had taken my second look around the place and truly saw who was there and who they were in my eyes, I saw The Burnout, The Alcoholic, the Druggie, the Hanging-on-to-their Youth, the Bad Mistakes and still in Denial; I did not want to be any of these people.
For me it was all a reallity of what is it I truly want from my career, do i want to live the party scene and enjoy the excesses that can come with it or do I want to have more than that, do I want to have a solid career and build a reputation of being The Rock and the Go-To Guy.
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