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My advice is that you stop loving your job so much.
I'm guessing you work at a Hooters? Here's a tip from someone who was in your shoes 15 years ago, who can look at this with a long term view: don't keep that job for more than a year, two years max. You are probably making more money than your peers and that's very seductive. But what happens is, if you stay in it too long, you miss your prime years of doing entry level work in a career of actual interest to you. The longer you continue in the restaraunt biz, the larger the pay cut you'll have to take to do something else, and the more competition you will have waiting for you to enter another field. You don't want to lock yourself into waiting tables either, because there is a really harsh end to it: breakfast waitress at a diner. You current job should be about socking away as much money as possible, not love. Because I guarantee they don't love you.
Now that I've said that, I realize I am assuming you would be like me and want to have a career. Maybe you don't, in which case my advice probably sucks.
Already too late, I've been working there (though at several different locations) for three and a half years...although only recently I've started saving money. I think the first two years I figured I was making so much money that I would buy things and take other people out and I didn't have to save because I didn't need to. Now I'm in a situation that I have to move out of a house owned by my ex and reality is slapping me in the face like a cold wet towel. I've never really been independent.
Your points are well taken. I think this move and transition to being more independent makes me more aware of things I need to get done in my life. Additionally turning 25 soon.
Try not to get too wrapped up with benchmark years...25, 30, 40, 50 etc. All they do is generate unnecessary anxiety. It's not bad to take a short inventory of your life at 30 or 40 to perhaps re-evaluate your goals and accomplishments, but don't let yourself get into a panic over it. Focus on finding something that makes you happy and being able to earn a living at it. You may have to sacrifice one for the other for awhile, but you can balance your life out in other ways.
Already too late, I've been working there (though at several different locations) for three and a half years...although only recently I've started saving money. I think the first two years I figured I was making so much money that I would buy things and take other people out and I didn't have to save because I didn't need to. Now I'm in a situation that I have to move out of a house owned by my ex and reality is slapping me in the face like a cold wet towel. I've never really been independent.
Your points are well taken. I think this move and transition to being more independent makes me more aware of things I need to get done in my life. Additionally turning 25 soon.
Glad to hear you are thinking along these lines because it is so, so important. Crucial really! I think you should living your life in financial crisis mode, Start socking away every dime you can and keep one eye on the door at all times. At 24 you still have a little while, but it is time for you to put a plan together. Good luck, the fact that you have been thinking about it lately means you will certainly pull through.
I manage a hotel in San Francisco's Union Square, and my GM just went out on longterm sick leave... over the last 4 months I've had to deal with high season as people have quit or been fired... staved off an attempted hostile takeover from some scumbag investors... my workload has exploded, and I often find myself working 12, 14, 16 hour days. One memorable night I worked 35 hours straight.
Last night, my graveyard houseman called in sick, so I had to haul an entire Saturday's worth of trash down to the dumpster and haul over 900 lbs of linens (in separate bundles, of course) while wearing a custom-tailored suit. I walked in the door at 9am, and didn't walk out till 1.30am.
Despite this, I still feel I have a social life. I've got friends in different parts of the city, whom I do different things with, who keep different schedules. This week, I entertained a friend visiting from Seattle; asked a girl on a date, she said yes, I took her on the date; went on another date with another girl; saw a show; got my laundry done; read a book. And I still have had time to sleep and enjoy a cold one and a smoke. It takes effort, but it's by no means impossible.
You can't shy away from what makes you happy, you really can't. It's the most surefire way to ensure that you burn the hell out. I need to go lay a couple tracks of rubber on a lonely canyon road in my S2000, plug in my Telecaster and rock out, do some illustration and go hang out with my friends to be myself, because the work "me" and the rest of the world "me" are most certainly intertwined, but they're different. If one element falls out of line, bad things happen: I get depressed. I feel like I have no direction. I start drinking more, going out less, doing less, and before I know it, I've entered a self-defeating cycle where it feels like the sun never rises or sets.
Know when to step back from work, know how to leave it behind when you leave for the night, and budget your time in a way that makes you happy. That's really all there is to it.
Ahhhh...no. I'm a college drop out, after three years of school. And I'm sick in general of people telling me what I should do with my life, even if they are well-intentioned.
If that is the case, why are you on this forum asking for advice?
Life is what you make it. Everyone has to eat and have a roof over their head, that is why we work. Being desperate isn't a good thing, it causes people to make lousy choices in life. Look around you, you could always be worse off. You could be in a terrible marriage and be pregnant on top of that. There is no magic way to get ahead unless you are very smart and very lucky at the same time. You ultimately are resposible for your own life and how good or bad it is.
Is this like a stock reply to various threads of various topics?
Like no.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xxbabeechick
I love when people enjoy skimming, but not really paying attention.
I don't.
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