EPISODE 64

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Listen: ON SPOTIFY

Watch: ON YOUTUBE

For our final episode of the year, we settle in during the thick of December — that stretch of weeks where hospitality turns into its own kind of endurance sport. Shifts run long, tempers wear thin, and yet the camaraderie somehow grows stronger with the pressure.

This time, Peter reaches back to 2016 and reads a piece he wrote on the busiest day on the restaurant calendar. It’s raw, funny, and painfully accurate — a survival guide stitched together from chafed skin, spare socks, protein bars, and the reminder that the people beside you aren’t just coworkers, they’re your lifeline.

Nearly a decade later, the truth of it hasn’t dulled a bit. From that starting point, the conversation opens up to what this season really demands of the people who keep the country fed and watered — the emotional load, the family sacrifices, the long lists of obligations no one sees but everyone in the game feels.

We talk about the pressure to finish the year strong, the odd loneliness of serving celebration while missing out on your own, and how a simple “Merry Christmas” can land like a warm hand on the shoulder. The message, at its core, is simple: be kind. To staff, to strangers, to the people carrying plates or hauling deliveries in 40-degree heat.

This time of year hits hard, and a bit of grace goes a long way.

If this is the last episode before the break, then consider this our sign-off: Merry Christmas, be safe on the roads, look after each other, and we’ll see you next year.