Message 14807 of 39188 in General Discussion

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> I'm not sure this is a fair question to ask in a forumm where 
> international borders mingle and tips are concerned.
> 
> I make mad money where I work, more money than the managers do and do 
> it in less than 30 hours per week, but I hate the job.  I hate the 
> drunks, I hate the rudeness of people, I hate the smoke being blown 
> in my face, I hate the sore feet at the end of the shift, the aching 
> back, and the list could go on and on.  But as anyone who knows gets 
> accustomed to the money, it's hard to turn away from it.  I'd love to 
> have a job that offers health insurance, vacation pay, sick leave and 
> a 401K.  But to do that, I'd have to take a job offering me $35k per 
> year at best!  
> 
> In short, I guess my answer would have to be money.  Everyone has a 
> price though Gidwick.  What's yours?
> 


I love the money.  I echo what most have said that making coworker friends is 
nice, but simply not necessary.  I've worked (and do currenty work) within a 
large staff and inevitably, there will be one or two that you can barely stand 
to look at for whatever reasons (lazy, scammers, etc.).  But being able to 
work with them as well as working with those you do enjoy being around is a 
good measure of professionalism, which I find is quite similar in dealing with 
the regular that gets on one's nerves or a bunch of folks that are considered 
to be friends that come in for some food or drink.  Guess the time I spent at 
Hard Rock really hammered this into all of us worker bees.  Their motto:  
"Love all.  Serve all."

Perhaps I've done this long enough not to care about the drunks to the point 
of hating them, or the hours, physical exhaustion or lack of bennies.  I'm 
thrilled I've found a gig that indulges my need for more, or less, scheduled 
hours of work.  We do have health care, vacation pay and a bunch of us (with 
our bookkeeper) have started the 401K.  Even if I didn't have those options I 
figure who is going to take care of me?  Me!  Those items need not be offered 
by the employer and one may have the need to investigate those options -- such 
as we did with setting up 401Ks.

As for the aching back and feet -- that too I can control with wise investment 
in a wonderful pair of shoes and luckily we have ample rubber matting.  :0)

I thoroughly enjoy the biz.  However not enough to remain at a "fun" job with 
sucky pay/tips.  During our grand opening at Hard Rock we barely cleared $100 
tips per tender, per 8+ hour shift.  The expectations with the cash registers 
were ridiculous! (The designated service bartender "cashed in" all of the 
18-20 servers from the shift with their cash and credit card check outs which 
could be in the very high thousands; balance to the penny and then re-par the 
drawer to x amount of loose pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters, x amount of 
rolled change and x amount of singles and fives.  No thanks!)  We always had 
four tenders on duty in a tight and poorly designed space and our stock was in 
the basement of course not allowing us use of the elevator.  Even our 
corporate trainers (tenders from another location) fessed up on one of their 
last nights with us that they were really working hard to clear $100 in tip 
out as well.

I have bills to pay and life to live outside of work, so changes needed to be 
made.  ;0)  I guess I've come to the point that if I'm not making money where 
I'm at, then I'm wasting time and need to move on.

Lastly, looking back, I've made more working as a tender than I did as a legal 
assistant or retail store manager.  And I don't have to put up with ego-maniac 
lawyers working me until 4:30 a.m. on a project while under salary.

Good luck, I hope you find your happy medium of the two worlds or what you are 
willing to put up with yourself Gidwick.


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"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them ...
well, I have others."  -Groucho Marx