The cafe I work at is in a death spiral. Overheads and ingredient costs are going up, so the only solution to break even is to raise the already high prices, or cut corners elsewhere. Essential maintenance is going undone. Our dishwasher has been leaking for months. The deep fryer will just randomly turn itself off and takes ages to come back to temp. The high pressure spray faucet failed and got replaced with a cheap standard faucet. Everything is taking longer, coming out worse, and morale is in the toilet. I can put up with a lot of bullshit if the team is solid; good comrades make a lot of things bearable. It isn’t though. They’re unreliable, inconsistent, and inconsiderate. I frequently start a shift to a sink absolutely overloaded with dishes that they haven’t even made the slightest effort to wash, or even stack.

Even the owner tell me he’s done. Place is shutting down for renovation soon and he’s likely going to sell up after that. I don’t want to waste my time looking for another fucking kitchen job, but I may have to just to pay the bills. I desperately need to get out of this industry. I didn’t get the position I interviewed for last week. I keep getting shortlisted then edged out by someone with more specifically relevant experience, or at least that’s what I keep getting told.

All I want to do is use my education and experience to help people. Gonna spend some time looking for volunteer positions in food relief this week. It’s just hard to stay positive and put myself out there when everything is such a fucking grind.