STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

kenzie · Chanel

I think I've lost my mind...

FashionPrincess · Hermes

Are you nuts? Maybe, but what do you have to lose? If you really want to go for it, if you hate it you could always quit, it's not like you need it for your resume. And you could work for a nicer restaurant to maybe avoid the drama of less selective places (and get better pay).

HeatherLynn · Gucci

One thing to consider or look into is if your current full-time job will allow you to have a part time job. Some won't, like mine. I think it would be a great way to meet people although you need to pick the location wisely because you may end up with a younger college crowd instead of individuals your own age.

NCshopper · Hermes

HeatherLynn wrote:

One thing to consider or look into is if your current full-time job will allow you to have a part time job. Some won't, like mine. I think it would be a great way to meet people although you need to pick the location wisely because you may end up with a younger college crowd instead of individuals your own age.

Ditto. My company has a very strict policy about this, for reasons that I think are understandable. What happens if you have to unexpectedly work late and your primary job? Do you cut out and go to your serving job? Or do you not go to the serving job and end up with people there that think you're flaky? Or maybe you could just structure it so you're only working at the restaurant on weekends to avoid time conflicts. Whatever the case, definitely check with HR and your boss first to see if there's a policy against it.

kenzie · Chanel

NCshopper wrote:

HeatherLynn wrote: One thing to consider or look into is if your current full-time job will allow you to have a part time job. Some won't, like mine. I think it would be a great way to meet people although you need to pick the location wisely because you may end up with a younger college crowd instead of individuals your own age. Ditto. My company has a very strict policy about this, for reasons that I think are understandable. What happens if you have to unexpectedly work late and your primary job? Do you cut out and go to your serving job? Or do you not go to the serving job and end up with people there that think you're flaky? Or maybe you could just structure it so you're only working at the restaurant on weekends to avoid time conflicts. Whatever the case, definitely check with HR and your boss first to see if there's a policy against it.

There's no policy against it at my job. And my hours are so flexible that it doesn't matter. I basically can set my own hours (as long as I work at least 40) and I can even work from home.There are other people there who have second jobs.

Honestly, at this point, it's either get a new job entirely that will pay me what I should be getting paid (my company is notorious for underpaying) or get a second job so that I can save money to move to another city/state within the next few years. I have no problem paying bills with my current job, but I do have issues with saving as much as I want to, so it's really more of a necessity at this point.

-- Edited by kenzie at 07:13, 2006-07-06

-- Edited by kenzie at 07:14, 2006-07-06

poptart · Coach

I would do it. It would be a great way to meet people and save money. Even if you'll hate it after six months, then you can quit and your objective of meeting people will be accomplished, and you'll have been at your day job long enough that if you left for a higher-paying day job it wouldn't look bad on your resume.

laken1 · Hermes

poptart wrote:

I would do it. It would be a great way to meet people and save money. Even if you'll hate it after six months, then you can quit and your objective of meeting people will be accomplished, and you'll have been at your day job long enough that if you left for a higher-paying day job it wouldn't look bad on your resume.

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ITA. I think it might be fun & in the interest of saving for future goals - I think it's smart.

relrel · Marc Jacobs

FashionPrincess wrote:

Are you nuts? Maybe, but what do you have to lose? If you really want to go for it, if you hate it you could always quit, it's not like you need it for your resume. And you could work for a nicer restaurant to maybe avoid the drama of less selective places (and get better pay).

I agree with FP on this one..you don't really have much to lose. It's not like you need the money but it would be nice to start saving more. I would make sure that the money doesn't go directly to new clothes though

. And definitely try for nice places...no TGIFridays or Applebees or places where you might have to deal with drunk a**es or people skipping out on the bill. You're in Etown, right? I would also try to stay away from places that have a large college crowd because they're most likely to tip poorly (seeing as how college kids are poor!) Something upscale but not too fancy. It's worth a shot, right?

sephorablue · Marc Jacobs

yeah I think it's definitely a good idea! the key thing is that you're not counting on it for your only source of income, so you can quit if you hate it--that will make a big difference.

shopgirl82 · Chanel

i waitressed for 3 months during the summer between my sophomore and junior year and i still have friendships today with some of the people. i went out every night after work with those people and it was really fun (i was a lot younger than most of them though). you really have nothing to lose. like relrel said, just try to make sure the $$ doesn't go to shopping (or for me, it was going out with everyone after work).

Kitty · Hermes

I've thought about doing something similar to this as well, mostly as a social outlet and a way to make a few extra bucks.

However, I always seem to just THINK about it and I never actually do it.

kenzie · Chanel

Kitty wrote:

I've thought about doing something similar to this as well, mostly as a social outlet and a way to make a few extra bucks. However, I always seem to just THINK about it and I never actually do it.

Yeah, I just remember serving for 5 years through college and full-time for the year I took off in between my sophomore and junior years and how much I hated it. But I think it was just because it was my only source of income and it was irritating how erratic that could be.

I definitely know from experience what kinds of restaurants to work in, so that's not an issue. I'm just trying to figure out if it's something that I actually want to do again, since I did a jig of joy when I quit my last serving job. Buuuut, I did manage to work in retail part-time before even after my hideous experience as a retail manager, so maybe it would be possible for me to be a server again.