Thursday, September 5, 2013

Jobs; Out With The Old, Etc

  Last month I finally decided enough was enough; I had to get away from that awful job at that Greek restaurant I stuck it out as long as I did simply thinking the length of time would look good on a resume, but I sacrificed a lot just to have a "steady" job. I know I wrote about some of my experiences there before, and in reality I should have quit a whole lot sooner. I do not recommend working at a small family owned business unless they really have their business in order and know exactly what they're doing; not to mention are kind people, as opposed to abusive gay haters who will expect everything from you and tell you to your face your feelings don't matter as long as you just keep working for them.
  I want to keep this to a minimum, despite the fact that I could go on and on. My status there was indeed like having an abusive relationship. I became the only dependable employee with the most availability, and  even though they gave me weekends off my boss would not let me forget this and waved it over my head on several occasions. If no one else could come in on a weekend, it was unspoken that I was expected to. I felt so much pressure to do everything right all the time and took blame for things I didn't have to; worked alone most of the time and was witness to many screaming battles between the owner and his wife, who would leave in a fit even after offering to relieve me of my shift.
  Good days were good; when everything ran smoothly, there were no mistakes on my or the chef's (boss) part and we actually joked around once in a while. Although being a small business in a sketchy part of town I was lucky to make $50 bucks in a shift. I usually brought in roughly 30 a day from a seven to eight hour shift, two or three of which sometimes involved me doing absolutely nothing but waiting for customers. I went many extra miles and took care of as much as I could, making sure everything was stocked, cleaned, counted etc. I did whatever they asked, including making grocery lists and sometimes going to the store to get an ingredient the chef needed.
  Why all this for such little money? (Did I mention server wage here is 2.13/hr?) I really don't know sometimes. I guess I pitied the boss' wife, who was actually a really sweet woman intent on staying with this horrible sexist unappreciative man and sometimes reminded me of my mother. But the bad days were really bad. I got yelled at in front of customers, as did his wife; most employees quit in the first few days, most leaving in tears, and I was left to pick up their too-soon scheduled shifts. I suppose I learned a lot. I learned the job itself quickly. I learned how to talk to strangers and get them exactly what they need and want to eat. And yet I kept putting up with being treated badly. I stuck it out out of some sort of twisted pity or something.
  When the bad days started outweighing the good, I realized I had to get out whether or not I had another job. However, I started looking immediately, and waited about a week after applying for a handful of jobs before putting in my notice. My boss called me into his office and, with minimal eye contact, did his best to apologize and asked me to stay and "start over." In no way was it tempting. I almost laughed. But I wanted to quit with dignity. I wanted to be kind where he hadn't and I didn't want to storm out and leave things badly. So I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to learn so much, but told him I had to move on.
  I believe it was the same day or shortly after when I got a call from Olive Garden and had landed an interview. My boss had been making comments he thought appropriate or somehow comical, like "you're not going to get hired right away" or "you'll come back, you'll see." So, on the day of the interview, when the GM shook my hand and offered me the job, I went straight to the Greek house and handed in my shirt. It felt fantastic. I made it, I got another job and left this horrible one as smoothly as I could.
  Olive Garden training was extensive. But finally, I'm in a place with many people I get along with, and managers who are humans and treat employees as such. There's always someone to turn to for help who is willing, and everyone knows what I'm going through just starting out. It was of course a shock to go from a small time restaurant to a big one, but the environment really makes up for the chaos of the job. I feel safe. I'm already making more money in fewer shifts and hours than I was at my last job, and I'm still not on a full section yet. I'm hoping to work here for a long time, probably transfer when we move home again, and not have to quit unless I'm unchallenged and unhappy again. I'll be going back to school one day and working towards a career of course, but in the meantime I hope to make this a steady long term thing!

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