This is pretty obvious, even if you’ve never worked in the food service industry in your life. Roommates, aka nonemployees, are not allowed in the kitchen. When breadmaker Marcus (Lionel Boyce) had his roommate come hang out with him on the job, we lost it.
There are plenty of health code violations this infraction would break, as well as the general safety hazard having an extra person would cause. Businesses in most states, including Illinois (via The Hartford), are liable to give workman’s comp to anyone who gets injured on the job. This means having an extra person on the premises is a potential legal nightmare if they cause or are hurt in an accident.
Of all the little ways “The Bear” stretches the truth, this recurring detail is probably the most flagrant red flag to anyone who has worked in a kitchen. Given all the dangers of having Marcus’s roomie chilling in the kitchen, Carmy is pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. Maybe it speaks to how much Carmy has on his plate, but given his attitude about every other issue that comes up, you might expect the chef to yell at Marcus for being irresponsible and wasting time. Instead, he just kind of lets it happen — which a chef de cuisine would never do.