Main cause of stress:
The long hours can be stressful. This morning I left for work at 7a.m., and I probably won't get home until about midnight. Between lunch and dinner, I get home for a few hours but it's still a long day. We have two young kids so it's unfair on them when you don't see them.
Trying to keep everything going is stressful. We have 36 people working in the restaurant, and not everyone will be firing on all cylinders all the time. People get sick, they go on holidays, so you are always trying to make up for it when there are staff shortages.
There's the added pressure that customers like to see you when they come into the restaurant, but it's just not possible to be there all the time.
Then everyone wants to eat at the same time. We try to spread it out, but everyone wants to eat at eight o'clock. Last night there was no one in the restaurant at 7.55p.m. and then by 8.05p.m. we had 110 people.
Coping with stress:
If things go wrong, I try to sort out one problem at a time, rather than looking at everything together.
I enjoy gardening at home and spending time with the kids. Giving up cigarettes was definitely the best thing I ever did to reduce stress. I don't know why, but smoking didn't relax me, it made me worse.
Difficult customers:
When you work in a service industry, you are going to get complaints. I would say that about 10 per cent of customers are hard to look after and need a lot of tender loving care.
Some people complain in the wrong way, and that makes things worse for everyone. They roar and shout, especially if there's drink involved, and that upsets everyone.
Restaurant work is fierce stressful but it's a job that's seldom mentioned when it comes to stress. At lunchtime, you work non-stop for three hours without a break or even a cup of tea. At night-time, it's four hours non-stop.
In conversation with Alison Healy