Speak Up

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Chefs, Doctors, and Truck Drivers..Oh My

I've been thinking that since I'm not alone in the world of chefs' wives (thanks for that ladies) then there must be people like us dealing with the same issues only married to a different industry.

How would it feel being married to a truck driver? Not only do they work long hours but they can leave home for days even weeks at a time depending on their route. I remember asking my cousins when Uncle Mike would be home, they usually say, next Saturday night. Luckily now my Uncle drives a local route and he's home every night. But it's not always like that.

What about medical students and doctors? Hospitals don't close for holidays and they are open 24 hours a day. Plus doctors have those beepers and can get called into work at any time when they're on call.

Businessmen and women too. They put a tremendous amount of pressure on themselves to perform. I think of Nicholas Cage in The Family Man. He worked so hard and even worked on holidays but a la A Christmas Carol a ghost visited him and gave him a chance to see what life would be like if he stayed with his g/f/ wife Tea Leoni and their kids.

All these jobs have hard workers, long hours, holidays, and the opportunity to work yourself into the ground. There has got to be more jobs sharing the agonies of chefs. Can you think of any?
DCW_NYC
-Hilary-

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doctors, Lawyers, Stock Brokers... Anything that requires you to seriously pay your dues in order to receive the payoff in the end probably has wives who are left at home a lot.

And jobs like Police Officers, Fire Fighters, and the Military... Whose jobs not only require long hours, but also their lives are at risk. That's got to be hard, never having your husband home AND worrying about whether he will come home safe(or at all).

The difference is that with the aforementioned jobs, it is a well know fact that people married into those situations have it tough. I feel like the extent of the burden of the Chefwife is not understood (and in some cases glamorized) by most people. Thus making it harder to feel validated for how hard being married to a chef really is.

-Bing_NYC-

Hilary Battes said...

If they've got a show called Army Wives, then where's the show called Chefs' Wives?

Anonymous said...

Anyone even marginally involved in the entertainment industries (and I put food into this category now) is often called on to work when others are relaxing and celebrating.

I was an event and concert producer for years, and I never had birthdays and holidays off. I worked every New Year's Eve for a decade straight.

Stagehands, sound engineers, security guards, caterers...Most of them have people at home putting up with erratic hours and pay, and dealing with chronically overworked, underappreciated spouses.

You could probably write a great book about the archetypal ___wives out there... :)

Anonymous said...

This comment from Anonymous is so very true!
"I feel like the extent of the burden of the Chefwife is not understood (and in some cases glamorized) by most people. Thus making it harder to feel validated for how hard being married to a chef really is."
My Dad was in the oil business and traveled all over the world during my childhood. That was really hard for me….now I’m married to a man who works all the time. I do feel lucky he doesn’t spend half his time in another country like my Dad did.

ctina said...

architects... oh and i'm dating a restaurant manager = not much better than chef's hours!