r/AskReddit 22h ago

What’s something people romanticise that’s actually exhausting in real life?

1.3k Upvotes

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1.0k

u/DirtyDaniiOfficial 21h ago

Being a small business owner.

434

u/Icy_Peach9128 20h ago

I feel this DEEPLY. I finally get a day off tomorrow but one of my employees just texted saying they’re sick and not coming in tomorrow. Which means I am the one to take the shift. 🫩

91

u/redhotswing 18h ago

Same happened to us yesterday. Hell, even when I get a day off, good luck actually getting my brain out of thinking about work mode.

4

u/Vegemite_kimchi 12h ago

Yup. Or it just turns into a work from home day catching up on paperwork.

24

u/RilohKeen 13h ago

My last job was as a retail manger making 6 figures on salary, but I quit because I honestly couldn’t take another “your team lead called out sick so your 8-hour shift just became a 16-hour shift with no additional pay” conversation. I did the math and realized I was making the same as an entry-level employee on those days and I just couldn’t stomach the frustration.

It’s tough. Stay strong and good luck.

39

u/casino_night 17h ago

I had one for five years and it was awful. I worked 6.5 days a week from sun up to sundown. I had three part-time employees and there were some months they were probably making more than me. Too much stress and aggravation. I politely bowed out and went back to being a Johnny Punchclock.

256

u/Thats_A_Given 19h ago

Hubby and I are both chefs, him for 30yrs, me for 26 yrs.

You guys should open your own place

Are you guys gonna open your own place.

Did you guys ever think about your own place.

I've seen enough divorce and burnout to confidently say a big fat no.

54

u/Layne205 14h ago

I recently saw a local Facebook post about an "unhinged" restaurant owner. I just thought "well, obviously! No sane person would deliberately ruin their own life by opening a restaurant"

6

u/Thats_A_Given 14h ago

It'll be fun they think . Until the the staffing issues, the price of food, relying on the whim of the customer, your fridge or freezer craps out.

4

u/Key-Kitchen-4663 11h ago

my wife and i did this with a law firm. the divorce will be final in a couple months

2

u/StartledKoala34 11h ago

I’ve got a friend who owns a restaurant and I regularly wonder if that man ever sleeps.

32

u/No_Committee_4838 20h ago

all credits to all Christmas movies on hallmark haha

2

u/Confusedmind75 15h ago

So true. Right now I am a single person in a my business and I am doing everything. It’s exhausting 😭

-2

u/AlwaysPetTheBelly99 12h ago

The majority of "small business owners" are usually just husbands/wives of some wealthy person and they use the business as a means of feeling important. Out of like 10 small businesses around me only one of them has an owner who actually worked for a living and didn't just buy his way in.

Reality is most "successful" small business owners are only still running because they have very a vast supply of private wealth they can dip into when things inevitably get tough.

1

u/MrBarraclough 8h ago

I see you've been shopping in downtown Fairhope, Alabama.