Just finished "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Bought it long ago when it first came out. Doing some clearing of the shelves and re-read it before donating to a friend.
Not really a great story. Maybe New York restaurants operate the way he describes, but I can't imagine he's given an honest description of the industry in other areas.
Worked for a couple places in my early '20s to pay tuition bills. Nice decent businesses, nice owners and fellow employees, not at all what he describes. We were comped meals and the bar was open after we closed, employees only. Wonderful experience, but obviously not a full-time job I wanted as a career.