Your ‘Best Before’ Date

I’ve always thought that we have an expiry date in the hospitality industry— where we finally throw in the towel and move on from the industry altogether — that one final straw with a customer pushing you over the edge, a staff member that didn’t turn up to their shift or simply dealing with the day to day unpredictable juggernaut that is the hospitality industry.

Is this just how it is in this industry or is it a reflection of the workforce overall?

I feel as if in our hospitality life we start strong, have our peak time of performance then slowly move in a downward spiral until we lose our shit, scream at a random customer and hang up the hat.

Sometimes we get out early; sometimes we stay past our best before date.

I think we all hit that proverbial ceiling where we say ‘enough is enough’. I often hear stories of people commenting that they got out of the industry years ago and never looked back.

Personally I’m a goal-orientated person. Put a target in front of me and I will commit to hitting it but I still have my days where I want to jump the counter and body slam the customer.

With all this being said, the question remains,

‘Is working day-to-day with customers, suppliers and our team pushing us over the edge faster than in other industries?’

How can we exercise resilience to push forward in the industry without breaking? Is there a method to the madness?