The film industry loves to portray real-life professions in movies, just on their own terms. Filmmakers often take liberties with reality to make jobs work within the confines of their story. The restaurant industry is certainly one regularly gets portrayed incorrectly.
Whether it's the overall operation of the eatery or how the staff act behind the scenes, most movies give the wrong impression about restaurants. To people who have worked in food service, watching most movies that feature their jobs can be a bit of an eye-rolling experience, at the very least.
10 Chefs Don't Have Time To Wax Philosophical
Being a chef takes a lot of training, experience, and patience. Knowing how to prepare food that is both good and consistent is no easy feat. What it doesn't take is a degree in philosophy, which is what a lot of movies would have viewers believe.
Chefs do not have time to wax poetic about life's great mysteries and solve the problems of the world. Rushes are intense and prep work is never-ending. Most chefs are lucky if they get five minutes at the end of a lunch rush to take a breath before getting ready for dinner.
9 Cooks Aren't Mindless Thugs
When it comes to portraying the people that make the food in restaurants, the opposite is also true. A lot of movies depict cooks as mindless thugs who barely know how to flip a pancake. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
The range of people working the line in a kitchen is incredibly diverse. And a lot of those people are well educated and incredibly nice. There's no one type of person who cooks for a living, which is not something that comes across in most movies.
8 In-House Musicians Aren't All Just Depressed Has-Beens
A lot of restaurants, bars, and lounges have regular live music as another feature for their patrons. It's a nice touch that can set one establishment apart from another. Unfortunately, Hollywood hasn't exactly been kind to those musicians over the years.
They are often depicted as has-beens and failures who couldn't hack it in the big leagues. That might be true in some cases, but most musicians who play these venues are talented career performers who make a good living in the gig.
7 Servers Don't All Hate Their Jobs & Want Out
Any service industry position is hard, demanding work. But working in a restaurant can be brutal, particularly for servers. There's nothing like handling a difficult, demanding table as a sever. They keep having to go back with a smile on their faces and deal with it.
Despite that, most career servers still love what they do. Everyone has bad days at work and it would be absurd to suggest that all servers enjoy being servers. But there are a lot of people who do the job and genuinely enjoy it, not that movies ever seem to show that.
6 Staff Rarely Eat In The Dining Room With Friends
Everyone needs to take breaks, no matter what kind of job they're doing. That includes anyone working in a restaurant. But every restaurant has its own policies when it comes to when and where employees can take those breaks.
A lot of Hollywood movies show staff sitting down to eat with friends in the dining room alongside customers. Some restaurants allow that but many have a separate area for staff to eat. If staff do get to sit in the dining room, it's at the least busy times possible.
5 Bartenders Aren't Just Cheap Therapists
For years, Hollywood bartenders have been depicted as the type of people who are just waiting to listen to their patron's problems. It's a classic movie trope that has played out over and over again.
That might be true in some cases, but most bartenders are too busy to play therapist. And if they do spend a lot of time talking to a patron, it's often because already know the person or they're fishing for a better tip. It's certainly not to help a random customer fix their marriage.
4 The Customer Isn't Always Right
One of the most honored axioms in the service industry is that the customer is always right. Well, in Hollywood movies, at least. In truth, the customer is not always right. The reality of the situation is that customer frequently has no idea what in the world they're talking about.
Restaurant patrons make all kinds of requests that don't make any sense at all. A classic is asking for a steak cooked medium rare then asking why it's at all pink in the middle. And some of them are just plain rude. Restaurant staff do not have to take crap from customers just because they're paying.
3 Dining Room Staff Aren't All Minimum Wage Earners
While a lot of restaurant positions pay minimum wage plus tips, that doesn't make them any less valuable. A career in the restaurant industry can be rewarding and fulfilling. That's not always what films depict, though.
There are a variety of jobs in a restaurant. And there are also ways to advance and get promoted, though that's mostly in larger chain restaurants. Regardless, there's a lot more career potential in the restaurant industry than movies depict.
2 Kitchen Staff Don't Have Meltdowns Over Food Being Sent Back
Chefs and cooks are people and they make mistakes. Sometimes, food goes out wrong in some fashion and it gets sent back to the kitchen. It happens. But the way these scenes are depicted in movies, it would seem that this is the end of the world among the staff.
In truth, kitchen staff do get a little annoyed by food getting sent back. But for the most part, they suck it up and fix the problem. Simply put, they don't have time to freak out about nonsense like that. And that includes those "the customer is always right" situations that keep cropping up.
1 Most Kitchens Aren't Shiny & Pristine-Looking
Without question, the most unbelievable part of restaurants in the movies is how clean the kitchens are. It's not that an average restaurant kitchen is disgusting or filthy. But they certainly aren't all pristine and white.
Years of constant wear and tear after producing innumerable meals across thousands of rushes will start to show. Any kitchen that looks like it hasn't been cooked in is not believable in the least and probably isn't a place someone should be eating. Too clean can be as bad as too dirty.