Before I begin, this is gonna be a long read, I'll put a TL;DR version at the bottom but really, in order to truly grasp the situation please read the whole thing.
Well, for starters I am currently a 27 year old guy, living in Venezuela. Anyone who actually reads international news would know this place is an incredibly shitty place to live, quickly on its way to become either Cuba 2.0, or North Korea 2.0, frankly I can't decide which fate would be worse, but we can all agree both would suck.
Due to coming from a previously poor background, I never was able to go to college when I graduated from highschool, so I worked at a warehouse mostly. Pay was way below minimum wage, and they would not even give me 40 hours a week in order to avoid paying me benefits. Eventually my father got a better job, and was able to afford a higher education for me so I can have a better job as well, and now I am starting to think I chose poorly.
See, I love to cook, its one of my 3 passions (The other 2 being reading and playing/talking about videogames) so I went to a really nice culinary academy to be trained as a chef, or professional cook. Graduated at the top of my class. My goal was to get into a restaurant, get some work experience, and once I had accumulated enough money and experience (say...... 3 to 5 years) move to the United States.
Why the US? well...... why not? I have friends (That I've met through wow) and family there that love me a lot and could help me during the first few chaotic months, either with a roof on my head until I get a job etc. I'd like to clarify (just in case) that I'm not a leech, I want to be self-dependent instead of living off of someone else, no matter how well intentioned they are. Its one thing to accept their help at the start, and another entirely to continue to depend on them for the rest of my life.
Sadly, my plans have not gone as I imagined them to be for a couple of reasons. For starters, the food industry in venezuela is just horrible. I got a job at a really fancy restaurant on a yacht club, THE most expensive restaurant on the State of Zulia, only to find out that not only was the pay miserable (minimum wage for Kitchen assistant, slightly above minimum wage for line cook, and about double-minimum wage for their one chef) but the working conditions were horrible.
That kitchen was a safety hazzard, the job was unbelievably stressing, and physically exhausting beyond belief. I'd arrive home completely drained. Then there's the usual abuse of having to work unpaid overtime hours, and the fact that we had to work all year long, holidays included, we only get 1 week of vacation time per year and that's after working an entire year back-to-back. The job offered absolutely zero additional benefits. Just your paycheck and that's it.
I was constantly under pressure, and no matter how fast I did my job, I was constantly rushed to do it faster. Eventually the pressure and stress accumulated to a boiling point, and I briefly passed out in the kitchen, hitting my head on a stove getting a large burn on my face. The restaurant, unwilling to pay for the medical bills, elected to just fire me.
So, I got thinking, "is it THIS bad on the United States too?" so I did some googling, and found out that at least according to a couple of pages (that I can't link due to being new The name of the website is LivingWage) , being on the Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupational Area, are among the worst-paid jobs in the US.
So here I am, thinking that I made a poor choice of career, electing one that simply pays a pretty miserable wage (Who the hell can live on minimum wage and not starve? that's a universal truth in venezuela and everywhere else, Minimum Wage means having to work 2 jobs and pretty much have ZERO time for yourself. Ever. You wake up, go to job 1, finish shift, go to job 2, finish shift, arrive home more dead than alive, go to sleep. Wake up, Rinse&Repeat. That doesn't sound like a nice life. Here in Venezuela, as bad as things are, I have the safety net that are my parents, and as long as I live with them, minimum wage is still enough, since we pool together our 3 salaries. On the US I'm gonna be all alone, and I need to be able to support myself all alone)
Now, what's the point of telling this long story?
Mostly to ask 2 questions.
The first is addressed to anyone in these forums that works, or has worked, at the food industry in any way, be it as a cook, pastry cook, baker, etc. I'm mostly looking for other points of view. Anyone who's ever worked at a kitchen either in a fast food place, or a restaurant, or a hotel, or a bakery, or a deli, etc.
Is it really that bad? both in pay and in work conditions?
The second question is addressed to anyone else.
Should I seek to study another career? if so, which one should I choose? what jobs in the US offer a decent pay, and decent working conditions?
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and offered some insight.
TL;DR: Studied to become a chef, found out that the food industry on my country is awful, I'm trying to move to the US, having a crisis of faith regarding my career choice. Unsure if I should stay my course, or try to study something else. If I study something else, I'm unsure what to study. Basically I dunno what to do with my life T_T but I don't want to depend on my parents forever because I know they wont be with me forever, and furthermore, they're not gonna be there for me when I move to the US.