I went through my blog last night making sure everything still worked, and editing a few posts for spelling and to remove some odd characters that somehow snuck in there. In doing so I realized that there is a gap of about a year where I never posted anything. I think that would be around the time I started posting to Facebook and this blog kinda got forgotten.
I think the last job-related posting was around the time I said I was going back to Stonebridge. I spent the summer there, met some new great people, and had a good time for the most part. Unfortunately, as with the first season, the sous-chef got way too full of herself and made my life miserable. She was under very close scrutiny after Chef Pete left, and she wanted the owners to believe that she was the right person to run the kitchen. This means that any time something went wrong, I got thrown under the bus.
The final straw was Labor Day – she and I were scheduled to work the day alone, but I wasn’t feeling well. I was determined to bull my way through it though, and would have been just fine, but she saw this as an opportunity to really show off to the owners and I was threatening her image of perfection. So she sent me home and said she was going to do the day solo. Labor Day is the last holiday weekend of the season, and was likely to be very busy, but she couldn’t be swayed, so I left. She spent the rest of the afternoon harassing me via text message about how busy it was, how she was doing 6-tops and 12-tops alone, how I had ruined her life, and how worthless I was as a friend. Mind you, she and I were good friends, and we started out the season as 2/3 of an awesome team on league nights (the third person being Tracy, the best damn waitress I ever worked with.) Now that the pressure was on, she suddenly forgot how much she used to rely on others. She had a temper about her, and when it flared up, you were best off staying away.
She really said some terrible things, culminating with “a real friend would have come back and helped me,” “don’t bother to come in tomorrow” and “lose my number, we’re not friends.” Fine. I went in the next day and told the manager that I was quitting on the spot. I was not going to be abused like that by someone who basically dug her own grave. (She ended up being fired the following season for exactly that kind of behavior.)
I worked at the Weare Towne Grille for, oh, a month and a half. The owners there were your typical clueless business owners, and I am honestly surprised that the place is still in business. They made me all kinds of promises to get me in the door, then changed everything once I started working. I was hired to be a kitchen manager for $12/hour, but they immediately changed their mind, saying they didn’t need a “manager,” and I would be starting out at $10/hour. What I think happened is the guy who had been working there complained that someone was being brought in and put in charge instead of offering the job to him, so rather than lose him they changed the terms of my employment.
This was the tiniest kitchen I had ever worked in. Cramped and poorly organized, with almost no convenient storage or work space. I stuck with it though, determined to make something of it, and for a while everyone kept saying how great I was. My first Sunday working solo (well, solo plus one useless assistant) we got slammed harder than expected. I held up my end though, and never once got stuck in the weeds. I was given pats on the back, congratulations, and free drinks because of the fantastic job I did.
Funny how people develop amnesia so quickly.
All throughout, I kept asking for more hours. I was promised 40+ but they kept me at 20. They had another guy there who was working six days a week, and kept saying how he wanted to spend more time with his family (especially since the holidays were coming.) I kept saying I would take some of his shifts, but he needed the money and the owners didn’t want to cut his hours. Well then stop complaining about it, I figured. Don’t tell me someone’s overworked and then refuse to give the hours to someone else. I had more than proven I could handle that line myself, they just didn’t want to take hours from the guy who had been there longer. (This was one big happy family, and I just never was able to become a part of it.)
Saturday night I was working the line, and I managed to pick something up the wrong way. I tweaked my back something awful, but I stayed with it. Sunday, however, I could barely get out of bed and had to call out for my shift. They ended up calling the other guy, who had to work on his only day off. Naturally he wasn’t happy about it, but I maintain, if you really want the time off, give your hours to me! I was more than willing to work them, but no, don’t want “family” members to suffer… sigh. So I took a doctor’s note in on Tuesday, showing that I had pulled a lumbar muscle and was on light duty for a few days. The owner was pissed off at me (I injured myself on the job, after all) and told me she’d call me on Thursday. Thursday rolls around, and as I expected she told me I “wasn’t working out.” She made up all kinds of bullshit about how I wasn’t meeting their expectations, even though at no time had anyone ever said anything negative about my performance. She was just upset because I made her favorite cook work on his day off.
I spent the next three months fighting for unemployment, but because the owners of the Grille purposely kept me at 20 hours, I didn’t qualify. Oh well, considering how little I made there, I suppose it’s for the best. If you like microwaved, poorly cooked food, by all means check the place out. If you want a decent meal, there are much better places to go.
I went back to Pizza Mia as a cook, but because they already had a full staff I was only part time. I wasn’t able to find any other work, since it was winter and most restaurants cut back during the slow months. Then in February I got a call from Jay asking me to come in, and said “I hope you’re ready for full time work.” The previous night a couple employees (including Jay’s right hand man) went out partying, ended up at Mia’s around 3am, and drained a keg of Coors. Cops noticed someone inside the building and called in reinforcements. After maybe a 2 hour standoff, everyone was arrested and fired. I was promoted to the management spot, where I spent the next year. I ended up on salary, and stayed there until October 2010 when I took a job at Small Dog Electronics fixing Mac computers.
Small Dog is an interesting story. I bought my MacBook Pro from Small Dog in August 2006. I had a few issues with the computer (it was a refurb so I guess it had some quirks about it.) It had got to the point where it was unreliable, so I stopped playing WoW on it. One of the guys on my WoW raiding team (Carl) said that he worked for Small Dog, so I asked him if he could help me get my MBP repaired – since it was out of warranty, seemed like no one would talk to me unless I paid for the support call, and since the problem was intermittent I was never able to duplicate it to show someone what was happening. He said I could send it in and get it fixed for a $400 flat rate, which I did, and it’s been fine ever since.
Last June, Carl tells me that a store was opening in Manchester, and if I was still looking for work I should apply. I immediately sent off a resume but never heard back. I waited all summer, finally in September I asked Carl if they were still hiring or did I miss my shot? He said no, they were still hiring, send another e-mail to the service manager. I did, and two days later had a phone screening interview. During the next two weeks I met with the head of IT, the service manager, and finally the owner of the company, and was hired. I started working on October 3rd.
I felt bad leaving Mia’s, since I was taking 2 years of experience with me, but Jay was selling the place to a guy who was going to change everything around anyway. I guess if there was a good time to leave, that was it. I am still amazed at how well the timing worked out for that transition.
Small Dog is working out well for me. It took a few weeks to get up to speed, learning how they do things and remembering the stuff about computer troubleshooting that I had forgotten over the years. I went for a couple certification tests and got to attend a Sales Seminar at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. I worked a few days in one of the Vermont stores, where I finally got to meet Carl in person (odd to “know” someone for three years and never actually meet them.) I work with great people and things are going well.