Huffy Flounce

Current Mixed Feelings:
Because of the nature of my new job, I get to look at pictures of vaginas quite frequently. Also because of the nature of my new job, all of these vaginas are diseased.

If it's any consolation, a decent number of the vaginas you see when you look at pornography are probably diseased.

At least you can't visibly tell that they are.

Did you know vaginas can bruise?

Dalty taught me about that the other day.

Mal Shot First wrote:Current Mixed Feelings:
Because of the nature of my new job, I get to look at pictures of vaginas quite frequently. Also because of the nature of my new job, all of these vaginas are diseased.

I see a lot of unhealthy cunts in my line of work, too. However in my case they're alcoholic contractors.

Current Mixed Feelings

I've been offered a two weekends per month, office work type job with my landlord. As it stands, my weekends are spent working at Whole Foods. I generally work 30 hours or so per week there and 35 hours or so per week at the chiropractor's office. I also mow two lawns per week for a couple elderly relatives.

Suffice it to say, I'm exhausted, but it's been nice having money for things for once. I've also made a sizable dent in my student loans over the past two years of doing this.

I badly want that job with the landlord. The thought of being off at 6 on Saturdays and 5 on Sundays twice per month is heavenly to me. Not to mention getting to walk 200 feet to my job instead of driving twenty minutes each way. The thing is, while the pay is better than the grocery store, trimming from 16 days per month to 4 days per month would hurt a little bit. The chiropractor's office is set to expand sometime next month, and I'd like to take a small amount of credit for that. Actually, I've been told to take a small amount of credit for that, and my pay and weekly hours are due to expand in kind.

I've got an email out to my boss at Whole Foods in the hopes that she'll be willing to work with my working for the landlord four days per month. Ideally, I want three jobs. Because, y'know, half my rent paid in exchange for 4 days of work is a pretty awesome trade in my book.

But if they say no....do I quit the grocery store and take the landlord job anyway? I'm very very torn on this.

I'd say to quit the Whole Foods job. There's a lot of cool stuff there, and the workers are generally nice, but half the people who shop there are the kinds of people I like least. Seriously. I'd rather spend the weekend with a dog-kicking, Gadsden Flag-flying, creationist redneck than spend five seconds in the presence of some of the people who shop at Whole Foods. (Part of this may have to do with my being close friends with a couple of dog-kicking, Gadsden Flag-flying, creationist rednecks. One of them even fucked his cousin. It was his cousin by marriage, but it was still his cousin.) The idea of seeing them daily turns my stomach. (This is not an exaggeration. While typing this, I briefly imagined working at Whole Foods and became honest-to-goodness nauseated.)

Also, the pluses you mentioned for the job with the landlord are just too good to pass up.

The biggest downside to quitting a job is having to quit the job. That shit's awkward.

At this point, I should perhaps also mention that I work almost exclusively inside of the dairy refrigerator. Alone with an earbud in for almost the entire shift.

And the snooty shoppers you described....I'd call them maybe 1 of every 100 who shop there, but they absolutely exist and I abhor them with every fiber of my being.

Hence my request to be moved into the dairy refrigerator, quite frankly.

The dairy refrigerator? That actually sounds pretty sweet. I'd love a job in the cool and away from people. Now that I know this, I'm as torn as you.

One out of one hundred is probably right. That one sticks out so damn far in front of the others, though, that it seems like more.

Oh yeah, it's great. They moved me back there 2-3 months ago by my request and I've basically thrived at it. Tuesday mornings I work in the bulk section, but that's a six hour shift, two hours of which are before the store opens on a slow day. So it's tolerable.

Ideally, my boss is going to write me back and say "Yeah, I can work with that" and this will all be a moot point and I won't have to even think about a pay cut. Like you say, the dairy is pretty great, my coworkers are largely fantastic and I'm content there. Plus the 20% off groceries helps a lot too.

But maaaaan....not driving. Free time. Rent discount. That's very hard to pass up.

Do any of them come with discounted wrestling tickets?

No, but if I need a replacement third job, I could probably find work at the place that would.

Ever thought about getting a single, better paid job? I don't mean that as a fatuous comment. I am genuinely interested but I know nothing about employment where you are etc. etc.

Oh, no worries. It's a fair question. I've certainly thought about it a great deal and am getting close to that point, but two things stop me from looking too hard. First, I have a *great* boss. She's been a life saver to me and I'm excited that I've helped her business grow and am awfully loyal to her. I want to at least get the expansion up and running before I move on. Second, I'm still only three years out of college and this could arguably be called my first "real" post-college job. While Minnesota's unemployment rate is quite low compared to the rest of the country and we're definitely adding jobs, it's still a pretty fierce market for people in my demographic. Honestly, that's another reason why the landlord's job is so appealing. Looks more like "real" job experience than a grocery store, no?

But yeah, I definitely can't keep doing seven days a week forever. It's exhausting.

Plus, y'know, those health insurance companies don't complain about themselves.

A single, better-paid job can be tough as shit to come by. Jubbers and I put in over seventy job applications from January to July. It feels like the market's set up to encourage part-time jobbing when- and wherever possible. Maybe it's not that way, though, and Jubbers and I just suck at life.

Once again, I feel compelled to share this:

That too. The entire structure of the economy has changed since 2007. I've felt very fortunate the past two years to have & hold onto two good, albeit low paying 3/4 time jobs.

I generally find Whole Foods annoying (thanks in large part to those particular shoppers already mentioned - and the graduate students I associate with the place), but I have to say, I now appreciate its existence. Thanks to them, I know of the existence of very delicious non-dairy dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

I think the market is set up to encourage part-time jobs. The job market is rather demoralizing these days. A few years ago I was applying to everything that I could think of, even jobs for which I was overqualified. I couldn't find anything (but it was also NYC, so the competition was ridiculous).

Eventually, I just said "fuck it" and started freelancing until something better came along. Now, I have no interest in "something better," because freelancing is awesome. It has its drawbacks, certainly, but I think it's the best situation that I could be in at the moment.

Unfortunately, freelancing isn't an option for most people.

Did I already tell the story about how I almost got a job working at a video store earlier in the year? I probably did.

The Whole Foods boss has written back.

"Hi Adam,

At this point in time I’m going to have to say I’m sorry, but that’s just not going to work out for the best interest of the team.

This summer has been loaded with time off requests as well as new team members, so for now I need all hands on deck. If the opportunity comes up again a couple months down the road, I wouldn’t be opposed to revisiting the idea. Again, I do apologize."

The opportunity isn't going to come up again in a couple months. It comes up roughly once every year and a half.

So....quit there and take a moderate to large paycut?

Stay on, hate it, but continue making decent money (for what it is)?

Moment of truth time.

There's more to consider than money and whether or not you hate/like the work. You need to think about which job offers the largest opportunity.

What are the long-term benefits of staying at Whole Foods? How likely is that you will move up in the company?

Likewise, what are the long-term benefits of the other job? Will it open up any solid opportunities for you?

The landlord called back and I do believe made things a lot easier for me. I'll find out for sure tomorrow, but it sounds like they could actually bring me on *every* weekend during the warmer/busier months, which makes this a no brainer. Whole Foods is great for a retail job, I love my coworkers to death, but I just can't pass this up. Especially if it's every weekend.

I do not know about growth opportunities with this place, but I imagine they exist. They're part of a relatively large property management company.

This day is surreal and I'll know more in the morning. Thanks for putting up with me on here today, kiddos. <3

Adam54 wrote:I do not know about growth opportunities with this place, but I imagine they exist.

You may eventually get to bang the landlord.