"No Reservations"

This isn't a posting about how bad I hate walk-ins, especially in the slow season when you can't prepare for what may not happen at all.
No, this is about the tv show: Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations. The episode name is "Into the Fire". It was by far the best representation of what it's like to be in a busy, real, kitchen.
A couple months ago I had lunch at Les Halles and it was so amazing sitting in a restaurant that the book "Kitchen Confidential" was written in, and then being able to see how things happen in the kitchen via the "Into the Fire" episode.
If you missed it, the show schedule can be seen here .
This episode hit home, a lot. I have nightmares (literally) about work a lot, and one of the reoccurring ones involves streams of tickets coming in that I can't read. This episode was like watching one of my own nightmares. I had waves of anxiety flowing over me just watching someone else go through it.
This episode has it all. "A day in the life of..." type of event. Feel what it's really like. Things like:
The Calm before the storm, prepping while tickets are coming in, what mise en place you need and how much of it, the feeling of a "full board", hitting a wall, the dance with your fellow workers with knives, the use of alcohol as a driving force and why, the other chefs in the "kitchens of make believe" with two or more line cooks per station, owners, being the FNG, the feeling of "holy shit" is this really happening, family meal, feeling your pulse in your temples through your hat (why I don't wear one), acting like a little kid after doing something you do everyday, feeling like you just battled for you life, "The board is clear", treating the covers as a personal score, relaxing near the garbage, and how friendships can withstand these type of days. Day after day.
If you want to know what it's really like to work in a real kitchen, this is the episode to watch.. Look it up and set up a reminder.
I watched it twice in a row.