Awesome commentary - I've been working in the food industry on and off for 5 years now, and while it isn't glamorous, I have found the same sort of interesting communities you talk about here in restaurants. Everybody starts somewhere, and most of the time it's in food (or retail). I was lucky enough to have a boss that took the time to teach me to really work, respect coworkers, and deal with pressure in the workplace. My coworkers were nerds, gamers, jocks, stoners, musicians, you name it. The best part of working late night restaurants is the beers and the laughs after the shift. Thanks for inadvertently sending me down memory lane as well :)