Well, actually... I publish economics papers. It's sort of a genre shift but it pays the same as cooking without all the BS. My last cooking job was as assistant pastry chef at a local hotel.

Butchers are a fun, macabre, weird sort of people. They tend to be large, squat, muscley people who think nothing of hauling around a half-side of beef and making puppets out of meat. Always get on the good side of your butcher. He/she probably won't actually carve you into bits, but since he/she will make no secret of the fact that he/she can, they're great persuaders when dealing with people who do not have butcher friends.

Do not piss off butchers. They wake up as early as bakers, and their practical jokes involve pig's blood.

Good times.