Post Punk Kitchen Forum

As some of you may know, I have three jobs, one of which is waiting tables. The other two are assisting at a gallery and teaching for a museum. Between these three, I'm working 50 or so hours a week, which I might not normally care about if it were just one place, but bouncing from job to job (sometimes all three in one day) is exhausting. I definitely want to keep both of the art-related jobs, not only because they pay well, but because they are in my field and I love them. I wait tables three nights a week for extra money (about $250 extra per week, depending...which is part of the problem). But I hate it. I really dislike everyone I work with except for 2 or 3 people, the kitchen is a disaster, the customers drive me up the wall, and the not knowing how much I'm going to earn on any given shift makes me anxious, and then sometimes really angry. Also, my ex is my manager there, as if that isn't reason enough to quit.

So quit, right? If money gets too tight, I can get another table waiting job, right? But what if I can't? Also, I would really like to just quit it indefinitely, but my other two jobs have summer breaks. The museum gig has me assisting and teaching at camps, but I would have the entire month of June off. I mean...I know that only I know my finances and whatnot, but is it completely stupid to quit this job that makes my brain explode every time I go in there at the expense of...well, my expenses? I'm good at living poor, but I don't have much in the way of savings if something wacky happened.

Which stresser would you choose? The awful job or the loss of your spending money?

Like you said, only you know your financial situation. But I would pick less stress in the job form over having spending money. Maybe try to save up a bit with waiting tables, so you have a little padding in savings? If that's not an option, you could always try to get another waiting job before leaving your current one. That way you wouldn't miss the income and another restaurant might cause you less stress. Hope you get it figured out soon. Best wishes!

In my experience getting rid of the evil job has always opened up better opportunities. So I say, drop the evil job.

Being miserable sucks more than not having spending money. For me. Unless that job were my only source of income and I felt like I couldn't survive without it, I would quit.

What's the least you need for summer months? Save up that much,mthen quit.

Look at your 10 month income as 12 month and set aside enough to equal two paychecks innansavings account. I have mine directly deducted from my paychecks, so it's like not having it,at all.

This is so hard. I agree, quitting see.s like the obvious choice, but there's always the possibility you won't find something else when you need it. Do you have leads on any other waiting jobs?

I have thought long and hard about this option, but I think that I really hate having three jobs almost as much as I just hate that particular job. I think that I can save enough in the next couple of weeks (just from the table waiting) to pay rent for one month...

You guys, I think I'm going to put in my 2 week (plus a couple days) notice tomorrow, seriously.

I don't know how dire your financial situation is, but under most circumstances I would probably leave the terrible job and pinch pennies. I was in a shitty work situation a while back, decided to quit, decided to work a couple extra weeks before giving notice to build up more of a cash cushion, then quit. Those final weeks go by pretty quickly when the end is near. How badly do you need the money? If you think you can get by for that month of unemployment if you scrimp, do it. And do your best to find another, less stressful source of income.

I live in a college town where a ton of people (especially ones who wait tables) go home in the summer and have 4+ years of serving experience, so I think I would be ok finding something else, although you never know.

Oh, dude, that sounds like you're golden! Quit already.

I'd quit the terrible job. What good is extra money if you don't have the time or energy to enjoy it?

Well, savings, but I'm pretty sure I'm leaning towards quitting. Officially. As in, I am totally psyched about the prospect of it.