The Dishwasher by Stéphane Larue

In Montreal in 2002, a young music enthusiast with a gambling problem finds work as a dishwasher at a posh restaurant. In some ways, it's a simple notion, yet it's rife with the fears of modern-day youth. He is being pursued by his gambling debts, his falsehoods, and his failing grades. The pace is unrelenting as he finds himself immersed in a world of late-night personalities and coworkers, as he battles to keep up with both his work and the world around him, mind racing as he tries to escape his need to gamble.

As heard on The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright on CBC. It's October 2002 in Montreal, and winter is on its way. A graphic design student with a gambling problem goes for the first job that offers a paycheck: dishwasher at the elegant La Trattoria, despite being past due on his first freelancing contract and trapped in falsehoods to his family and friends. Though he feels out of place in the posh dining room, having been warned by the manager not to enter through the front and being assessed coolly by the waitstaff in their tailored shirts, nothing could have prepared him for the tension and noise of the kitchen, or the clamor and steam of the dish pit.