If finding a part-time summer job is this difficult, my chances of post-grad employment seem even bleaker than before – something I didn’t think was even possible. The real bitch is that I thought I had a fun, easy-going, well-paying job all lined up for the summer when I came home. I was supposed to have a gig for a local bar working the beer tub they set up outside for the nights when it gets really busy. It was going to be straight cash, no hourly wage but I was supposedly going to make $80 for 4 hours of “work”, and that was on a slow night. Unfortunately, no one warned me that bar managers may technically be 30 or 40 years old, but they have the communication skills of a 14-year-old apathetic boy.
I constantly had to text the manager to see when they wanted me to work, he would never let me know ahead of time. If it was raining he’d cancel the beer tub and not tell me until maybe 2 hours before I was supposed to show up. He’d say “I really need to get you in for bartender training, but the weathers been so shitty” and then not text me or mention it again for 2 weeks straight. Eventually I said “fuck it” and decided that if he texted me to do beer tub I’d probably do it just for the cash, but I definitely wasn’t going to be able to bar-tend for him since I’d have no time to train and he obviously wasn’t going to try to figure out how to make it work.
So, thanks to that lovely experience I had made a total of $37 in 1 month and wasted valuable time I could have been applying, training, or even already working at another job. Part of me blames the manager for leading me to believe I had a guaranteed job, but mostly I’m angry with myself for waiting around so long hoping he’d tell me when to come in. Now I feel like anywhere I apply is either not going to get me enough money to make it worthwhile, or it’s going to take too long for the training and by the time I’d be able to actually work I’d have to leave to go back to school again.
I’ve applied to a bookstore, and I’m looking for at least a babysitting gig so hopefully I can make enough money to at least cover one months rent by the time I go back. Then I get to start the process of finding a job at school to cover food and rent. I guess it won’t seem as difficult in comparison to what I’m dealing with now because of the time constraint (this is me desperately trying to see the silver lining). I’m just extremely lucky to have a mom that can help me out for a bit while I try to figure everything out.
God Bless Good Moms & God Damn Shitty Bar Managers
thelavenderhours 