Even when the chef was a sous chef he never worked past 2. And that didn't happen very often. He has moved up the ladder in the culinary world and his last two positions allowed him the freedom to leave way before 2 am. When he was Executive Chef at Parea he had a pretty constant schedule. The boy & I were alone alot of the time. However he never worked so late that he would have to sleep in (all morning) on his days off.
Now it's a different story.
Somehow he has managed to become Chef Partner at a restaurant that works him more and harder than any other restaurant has. Three days a week he closes the restaurant which means he gets home @ 4am. Most mornings he leaves for work at 9 and stays till at least midnight.
His schedule sucks. He will never admit this. But as a chef's widow, I sure as hell can.
He has been trying to make it better. Changing his days off and so forth. But all that really means is that those are now the days he will sleep in after closing. It's such a Catch 22. He has these new days which seem to work better but he spends the majority of them sleeping so it feels like we have a lot less time with him. And I am sure like he feels the same.
Lesson Learned:
Partnering, Owning, or having your name on the sign=more work for less money. At least less money right now. I know at some point someone's gotta realize how bad ass the chef is.
