“Why did you do that?” they might say, “You have to stay late tonight with no breaks and no food," or “Go box that.” These are all phrases your boss might say to you when you work in the food service business. Whether it’s at a fancy restaurant, a fast food restaurant, or a tiny burger stand, everyone tends to experience the same things when working within the food industry.

One of the greatest lessons you can teach your teenager or college student is one where you make them work in some part of the food industry. Everyone hates working that food industry job unless you are an owner of the restaurant or love cooking for a living, and even then it’s still stressful. I can guarantee though after you leave that job you will have so much more respect for the people that are working those jobs, when you go out to get your food or when you order over the phone.

What’s not so great about food jobs are that you work longer hours, you want to eat everything but you can’t, you are exhausted once you finally get off work, and it might be one of the most stressful times of your life. When you think about it, of course working in the food industry is stressful. Every restaurant, every fast food chain, every local food shop wants to be the best of the best. Every time you walk away from a place that sells food your mind is already programmed to tell you whether or not you enjoyed your time there as well as how good the food was and how fast it got to you. As people working in the food industry, this process is in your mind and you must do everything you can to have each and every customer leaving happy and satisfied. If the customer isn’t happy and satisfied, then you can be sure to have a pretty crummy rest of your work day once they have left because that will be all you can think about.

Working in the food industry is a tough business, but can offer the most rewarding experience, especially to those of younger age. Teenagers need to learn that if they don’t want to be working in this kind of environment forever, making a little money, then they need to do something to push themselves to succeed. However, for some, it might inspire them to succeed further into the industry so that maybe they might own a five-star restaurant, open the next big fast food restaurant, or become the most amazing chef. This is a lesson to inspire teenagers wherever they go from that job, but not only that, this job also helps these teenagers learn the value of patience and being kind to those who do work in the food industry. Some of the best memories they will remember from that job are when the customers are patient, polite, and easy on you. Do to others what you would want for you. The food industry business is hard, but with more people knowing the value of what it’s like on the other side, maybe the food business won’t be stressful after all.