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Job advice. Torn between 3 different possibilities.

816 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  chefbillyb 
#1 ·
Thanks in advance for reading this post. I am a 36 yo female with a 10 year old boy and married. I have had a bad string of luck with jobs in the last year.

Trying to make this short...
I left my job of 2 years as a Sous of a 5star fine dining restaurant a year ago. The Exec was the owner so I was never going to move up further. I was also underpaid and taken advantage of and I think the Exec was threatened by me as she was a lawyer turned Chef and never went to culinary school. She always would make it a point to tell me that you don't have to go to school to cook, but I was the one teaching her stuff lol. I left that job to double the pay at a high volume seafood restaurant that I had waitressed at several years before. They were having major issues in the kitchen and said they needed help turning it around. Well, I think I bit off more then I could chew. I tried to impliment structure and turn over the staff of old dogs with bad habits but was met with a lot of resistance saying I was too harsh or too nice or didn't know what I was doing. They were in major financial trouble too that I wasn't aware of when I started. My first paycheck bounced. My vendor account checks bounced. Finally 5 months later they let me go and then went bankrupt 1 month later.

2 months after this I get this awesome job as head chef at a large catering company with a monthly supper club. 1 month later I break my leg outside of work and they forced unpaid medical leave on me even though I had a note to return to work with restrictions. Well, they ended up filling my spot since they wanted me to be 100% recovered which I think is rediculous.

This brings me to the present. Cast has been off for 3 weeks. I have 3 job opportunities. I've been unemployed for quite some time so I'm behind on all my bills very much so.

Job 1 is with my friend helping him open his second seafood restaurant and I'd just be a kitchen manager and there is no room for creativity. They pay is not good. 600/wk but I know it would be a fun job but I wouldn't be creating recipes and trying new things which I love. I'll also be broke.

Job 2 is a chef de partie at a Forbes 5 star resort. Pay is ok, not great, but room for growth and creativity.

Job 3 is a very well paying job at Panda Express as a GM with benefits. Obviously no room for creativity. Room for growth.

What do I do???? [emoji]128563[/emoji]
 
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#2 ·
No one can tell you what you should do.  I can tell you what I would do.  I would go for the money with benefits.  I would feel a responsibility to add stability to my ten year old.  This might not be as much fun but more responsible. The ten year old will be out of the nest before you know it and then you can think about only yourself and go for self satisfaction.  Do what you want to and good luck with whatever you do.
 
#3 ·
I don't know you at all; but as an objective outsider, let me play devil's advocate and as Jimyra says, tell you want I would do with those options in front of me:

Job 1: You can still help your friend on weekends if you really want to. You're already broke, so this helps you in no way, shape or form.  You'll still be friends if you don't take the job, but you might not be friends if you DO take the job and it doesn't work out.

Job 2:  Is there benefits with this job?  Stable hours? Or are you likely to be pulling doubles and working every holiday, weekend, etc....?  If it's a resort, will you not be able to enjoy the summer with your family because you'll be working constantly?

Job 3:  the pay gets your bills paid and maybe even allow you to build a cushion so you can take a chance later on ....You can experiment and create recipes at home, and this job allows you the $ and time to do that.  I'd pick door #3 for right now; it might be a boring job by comparison, but a balanced life is too good to pass up, right?
 
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