[Headless Chicken]

...but I literally had it put together when I was covering someone's 30mins.

Story Starts (FYI, this may be a bit of a long rant)
Since our new director started, I've been put in charge of all caterings and took charge of inventory. Add to that I'm usually the chef's right hand man, I stock all our orders by myself, plus whatever little duties that nobody likes to do for whatever reason. Add to that, the chef is neck deep in stuff to do (all the baking, 5 soups, 4 entrees plus 3-4 sides, then all the prep for all that and all the ordering but usually by my numbers). Now, I'm earning a meager $11/hour pulling whats suppose to be 40 hours per week which is really 45hours at the least. Now, I'm overdue for a raise by like 8 months and I've pushed/asked about my raise since the end of last year only to hear today that it won't be happening. So I'm going to call it quits and I do mean it this time...I don't wanna stick around to see what more they'll add to my repatoire of responsibilities for free. Before, I had some prospects under the previous management but this new guy has put up a brick wall in front of me and I know I ain't gonna go anywhere.

So far, heres my exit strategy:
I'll stay till after my 2 weeks vacation, I totally need it and 2 weeks is the most they'll give me. It won't happen until maybe late April to early May though. Upon my return, I'll hand in my letter of resignation. But before going on vacation, I want to flex my internal options first. I've only been around this company for shy of 3 years but I've made friends who are in manager positions and they've asked for my help on many occasions on slow days and special events. Plus the chef wants to leave as well and wants to take me along with him, back to his old account thats apparently been fighting for his return. If nothing internally works out, I'll post my resume to as many places as I can find plus whatever contacts I can exhaust for about 4-5 weeks after putting in my resignation. If I don't get any bites after 5 weeks maximum, I'll work for my uncles who are into the high end a/v custom work and setups until December and return to school. By then, I should have enough money saved up to go back for a refresher in chef training and then full time culinary management.

I'm done with this place screwing with me and thinking I'm only worth $11/hour to them. Its long overdue that I moved on but now circumstances has allowed me to actually have a place to move on to and I'm going to open that door and the chef knows it. Till then, I'll just save up every penny I got and make changes to this plan on the way.

BTW, I do all this for Chartwells/Compass Food Services.

[LeCuisson]

This sounds like a smart, thought out plan. I'm actually doing something extremely similar, although my responsibilities aren't like yours, my exit strategy is. I'm planning to go back into the industry. I support your plan, as much as that means coming from some anonymous online dude.

[Headless Chicken]

I don't doubt the opinions and suggestions I hear on this forum since most I see on here regularly are vets in the industry with a lot of insight. And don't be quick to say my plan seems well thought out, I literally planned this out in 30mins covering someone else's break. Thats also why I stuck this on here, hoping to hear from the more seasoned food service worker's opinions.

[Montelago]

My only suggetion would be to post your resume sooner. The best bargaining position you can be in when looking for a job is when you are already employed. Try to have something waiting when your notice is up. Getting out of the business, even for a short time can spook some chefs when you are trying to break back in.

Good Luck.

[the_seraphim]

i agree with montelago... my chef almost didnt hire my good friend (my old sous) because he had been out of work for just 2 weeks... he said and i quote "a chef out of work aint worth his salt"

luckily i persuaded him with all of my might and my friend has 2 weeks trial alongside the head chef... best i could do, but i know he is worth it so **** get the job... anyway... bargaining chips are good... may even get you the payrise to stay if they realise your about ready to leave... a position waiting for you makes it very realistic to them

[Headless Chicken]

Originally Posted by the_seraphim

bargaining chips are good... may even get you the payrise to stay if they realise your about ready to leave... a position waiting for you makes it very realistic to them

The threat of me leaving won't spook the company enough to pay me fair wages, at least, not immediately until its too late and stuck short handed. I've already seen it happen. I also spoke to my manager and said shes trying to talk the guy down to get us all the pay raise (everyone else is getting 1 because of the raise in minimum wages from $8.75 to $10) but she even said what I was expecting "it won't be much to write home about" which I knew from the beginning. Most of my plan really depends on my finances within the next few months too so I'm adjusting as the situation changes. For instance, I finally paid off the CPAP and Christmas spending but I'm now broke so leaving now is out of the question.

I do agree with sending out resumes earlier, in fact, I'm updating it now but I'm trying to narrow down whats been my duties here for the past 3 years. I may have a few new contacts but I'm going to research them first before calling them up. I wish I could have done this a year ago but after leaving, I literally had nowhere to go. I just realized how much has changed over the past year.