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Comment by mtmail | Hacker News Reader

Michelin awards the whole experience in the dining room and doesn't check what went into creating it (they don't step into the kitchen). From documentaries I learned the low level kitchen staff gets a lot of pressure and many are only enduring it (low pay, longer hours) to have that on their CV. I'm not sure I'd call that "amazing and enriching experience", maybe it is later if they look back.

I would see https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/ as the tech equivalent award currently.

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> the low level kitchen staff gets a lot of pressure and many are only enduring it (low pay, longer hours)

This pretty much universally describes the work environment for kitchen staff in any mid to high end restaurant I know of.

This is interesting. I worked in a kitchen for a while after high school. People look down at kitchen workers but it takes a strong, well organize, calm person to do the job.

The pressure was high, the pay was low and you are constantly being told how to do your job. If you don't agree think about how you act when you're hungry.

The workers have to deal with people that are waiting for their meal. 99% good is a failure because there will always be someone that gets upset because their meal was wrong in some way. It has to be perfect and needs to be done in a timely manner. An to top it all, people get upset because it's too expensive.

When I compare those days to my IT career. IT is easy and I'm happy I never have to work a kitchen again.

I would say, from what I've heard, Amazon would take the 3 Michelin stars.

I have chefs in my family and worked at kitchen staff one summer and can relate. Everytime we meet they tell me I'm lucky to work in tech.

A related anecdote: a friend used to be a chef at a restaurant in London (not Michelin starred, but a very high-end, global brand). I was shocked to learn that there was no paid sick leave. So, not wanting to lose money, people come to work when they're unwell. And handle food.

I'm sure this happens at lower end places too, but given the enormously high prices I expected they would look after their staff better.

I suspect that as you get up the latter in the restaurant business it gets harder to cover the costs.

Chefs and the general staff expect higher pay, the restaurant needs to be in a high rent area, you need to make a very specialized meal, and you don't have the customer turn over that you have at a fast food place. Plus their's a limit as to how much you can charge. How many people can afford a $200-$300 meal? Not many... So taking care of the staff in terms of sick time is probably easier at a fast food shop.

I wasn't talking about the awards specifically, but rather about the state of mind. And I'm sure working in such a restaurant is not for everyone. But it's nice to see people who actually enjoy the challenge.

Are there companies that take quality, perfectionism, innovation, workmanship to that level in the tech industry? And do they succeed more than other companies?

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