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There are plenty of restaurants that don't have enough workers. It's not 2019 anymore.
I wanted to learn about the restaurant industry and waited tables once. The place I worked was very very busy and I made up a reference and experience to get in. I was not good at the job. I'm not saying it's the rarest skill set, but there is a skill set there that not everyone has. I didn't have it.
That wasn't to say I wasn't valuable though. I was perfect for the trash tables everyone secretly wished would leave and never come back. Side note: Don't screw with waitstaff if you ever want to go back again.
Once you get into the fine dining establishments where tips are nice....then there's a skill set, mastery and experience required.
I wanted to learn about the restaurant industry and waited tables once. The place I worked was very very busy and I made up a reference and experience to get in. I was not good at the job. I'm not saying it's the rarest skill set, but there is a skill set there that not everyone has. I didn't have it.
That wasn't to say I wasn't valuable though. I was perfect for the trash tables everyone secretly wished would leave and never come back. Side note: Don't screw with waitstaff if you ever want to go back again.
Once you get into the fine dining establishments where tips are nice....then there's a skill set, mastery and experience required.
Tips can be just as "nice" at non-fine dining restaurants. It's just more about quantity over quality, of course.
After 2 decades FOH, I think you're vastly overstating the difference in skill set. Fine dining generally does require a little more knowledge retention, frequently dining "rules" and wine, but it's also generally more slower-paced and less physically/emotionally demanding.
One positive though, is that if my job did let me go, that would be a pretty clear indication that my specialty is no longer a main focus of theirs and may make it difficult to enforce the non-compete.
Speaking from experience, as a practical matter, I very much doubt your employer would hire attorneys to enforce the non-compete anyway. They might have a lawyer write you a threatening letter, but that is about it. If you were still employed there moonlighting for competitors, they would definitely fire you, but they won't spend the $$$ to initiate an follow-through with litigation.
If you think you're sick of hearing people complain about making $150k and "can't live" (which is bull, unless they're in CA or NYC or something), how do you think I feel making that - far more than I ever expected / set out to - and having to tell my kids "sorry, we can't afford to order pizza this week, and we can't go see the Monster Truck show because it's too expensive"
All of us as parents want to provide a great childhood to our children, and yes sometimes it breaks our collective hearts to be the bad guy telling kids we can't afford this or that, especially if it is something they have their hearts set on.
BUT -- and this is huge -- doing so is part of your job description as a parent, and reinforcing with your kids the connections between affording X or not affording X, spending money on X or not spending money on X, and having a job/career are extremely important life lessons that will help your children make wise economic choices once they are teens, 20-somethings, and full-on adults.
So I tip my hat to you when you do enforce budget discipline and explain it to your kids. You're doing the right thing to help them grow up to be financially responsible adults.
When our daughter was in elementary school, it turned into a bit of a game:
WHY do I have to do my homework?
So you can learn your subjects.
WHY do I have to learn my subjects?
So you can get good grades.
WHY do I have to get good grades?
So you can get into a good college.
WHY do I have to get into a good college?
So you can get a good high-paying job.
WHY do I have to get a good high-paying job?
So you can buy nice things when you're a grown-up
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsamon
$150k sounds like a lot, but it's really not that much to support a family of 5 with pets, cars, an aging home, etc., especially after the recent inflation and rising insurance costs.
You say your profession is in software, but you didn't mention your educational background. You might have an engineering degree. IF you are an engineer working in software (in contrast to a lit major who found his way into software), the following might be possible.
Companies sometimes hire engineers to independently purchase competitor products, disassemble them, photograph all components, create bills-of-materials, perform research on the commercially available components (all the way down to the individual semiconductor chips attached to circuit boards), perform research on custom chips/ASICs, etc etc.
The reason companies do this is the hiring company is looking for evidence of patent infringement. For a variety of reasons, the company doesn't want to purchase the product & disassemble it themselves; they just want the report, and they'll gladly pay top dollar (and I do mean top dollar) to get at that information.
I'm retired now, but when I was working in the patent field (the last 8 or so years of my career prior to retiring early), I sometimes paid a solid six figures to get that work done, of which about 2/3 was funding the purchase of the gear and 1/3 was professional services and the ultimate report.
In highly specialized instances - I suspect outside your wheelhouse - I even hired a company to slice open semiconductor chips from the top surface, a layer at a time, to photograph what was happening inside a that chip, again so I could separately have scientists and engineers look for patent infringement.
***
Other related areas are being hired to perform vendor analysis & qualification - as a consultant, you might be hired to compare, say, 3 separate software packages for suitability for your client. I've seen this done quite a bit.
High end/best shifts aren't likely to look for an inexperienced person. I've seen that where I live. Shortages are elsewhere.
As I mentioned above, I've got 2 decades in the industry. Maybe it's different where you live, but there are still plenty of places keeping sections shutdown on even Friday/Saturday nights. Trust me, they'd love to open those up.
A used Prius? You can't just show up at a nursing home and offer to transport elders around on errands. All kinds of liabilities there, and one would need to be established as an legitimate business with insurance, etc. You can do this privately by word of mouth, but honestly it sounds like a PITA. Believe me, I love older folks, but the requests and demands are often more than the typical person is equipped to handle. You have to experience it first hand to understand.
I chose a Prius for a couple reasons.
1. The doors open wide for limited mobility people. (Think wheelchair/walker transitioning.)
2. You spend $30 a day in fuel, instead of $150 a day. (Yes, compared to a Crown Vic, THAT's the difference during a 9-hour shift.)
3. Prius are quite reliable.
Now, about going into an assisted-living place, like, for instance, a "Brookdale" (that I used to work at,) yes, it's very possible to do exactly as I stated prior. (Naturally, you're going to want to have the correct business insurance, as you'll be your own entity.) Play your cards right, and you might even become an employee of a place like Brookdale, and drive their shuttle buses. (Again, you'd need a "PASSENGER" endorsement on your CDL.) But then, what do I know...?
Honestly, I had no idea I'd have to lead someone to water on this, but ok, whatever.
Prius is not the problem here, it was the idea in general. You can't just show up at a nursing home, in any type of vehicle, and offer to shuttle their residents around. I doubt the facility would even release them unless you were set up as a legitimate business and experienced with geriatric care.
Anyway, the OP was asking about doing something after hours, like evenings or weekends. I would think most seniors travel needs would be during weekdays, like for medical appointments, etc.
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