It’s 5 p.m. on a busy Friday night during the holiday season. A local restaurant is humming with activity. The hostess stand is swamped as people wait to be seated. Servers dart expertly in between tables dropping off cocktails and plates of food. Bussers follow behind quickly turning empty tables in preparation for the next party.
In the kitchen, the chef is calling out orders to the line cooks. The kitchen is hot with the mixture of body heat and cooking food. The mood is tense. There is a reason restaurant workers use the same lingo as those in the military. When you’re in the thick of service, it can feel like a battle.