Hooray! I have no job! [LONG, slight language], Advice Requested

[MMATM]

This thread can go either here or perhaps in the GWC section, since it contains characteristics of both. Mods, do what you will with it.

I'm done with working at Bagel Hell. Yesterday was my last day. In the short-term, because I'm going back to school (200 miles away) and in the long term because I just cannot stand the people who own the place.
So, the advice I seek is on what type of job I am likely to have customers that do not suck quite as much as I've been hearing about. Next fall I'll be applying for a Resident Assistant position, so my customers will be my classmates, but until then I have plenty of options, so anyone that has (or has had) a job that exposed you to fewer SC's than the norm, please speak up!
NOTE: I am not in treacherous financial straits, at least not until the end of the semester, as the current semester is already paid off. After that, though, it's anyone's ballgame.

Now the sucky part. Besides the fact that our store is expanding into the pizza business and I'd love to be around to see all the disasters caused by that...

Gripes and Groans at no one in particular:
These are the things that just get to me where I used to (yay!) work. Sad part is, they happened every... single... day. Feel free to add to the list your own things in reply, if you don't have any job suggestions.
1.) There are two trash barrels. If the one on the left (it's always the one on the left) is full, just put your trash into the one that's right next to it! Don't continue to pile stuff on if the right trash is nearly empty!
2.) If a bagel just came out of the oven, it is very hot. Therefore toasting it will make no difference except for it being then too hot to handle. It will not get crispy, either. Trust me. Do not ask me to toast your fresh-out-of-the-oven bagel or I will grab another one that's not piping hot already, and is probably about two hours old.
3.) Part-timers do not lie. The management lies. The owners lie. They are more concerned with you making a sale than with you not coming back to bitch at us for selling you something that isn't fresh.
4.) If you call in an order and say you will be in before close, be in before close. (One lady regularly comes in 10 or 15 minutes after close because she always "gets stuck in more traffic" than she expected.
5.) We do not slice some breads. This is because our slicers only cut straight lines and these breads are made to be sliced radially. Do not ask us to slice all 7 of your cinnamon swirl bread loaves by hand.
6.) You may not request samples. Especially not when you're going to take the whole plate. That's called stealing.
7.) Coffee refills are $0.50. That's not too shabby considering you're getting an additional 20 ounces of coffee. Don't steal coffee just because the pots aren't facing us, we can still see you.
8.) We do not care what anything is priced at EVERYWHERE ELSE. So do not quote prices from the supermarket to our cashiers.
9.) When I say I can help you on another register, don't ignore me. Especially if I'm standing two feet away and talking right to your face.
10.) Always order toasted items first. They necessitate being put in the toaster, and if they're the last item we bagel slaves have to stand around twiddling our thumbs until they're done. If you'd give us more stuff to make for you during that time, we'd be infinitely happier.
11.) Please please please tell us how much stuff you're ordering before you start rattling off sandwich ingredients. If you're going to order 11 sandwiches, it'd be nice to grab a coworker to help before I've spent 45 minutes on your order alone.
12.) (To coworkers) Just because you want to go out one night, doesn't mean I'll cover for you and sacrifice my own going out that same night. Especially if I work 30-40 hours a week and you might break 10.
13.) (Again to coworkers) If your girlfriend/friend with benefits shows up, that does not mean you can just waltz out the back door and [imaginations everyone!] in the parking lot for 20 minutes. Especially if you expect a break later.
14.) (To owners) My break time is my break time. I should not have to go home to get paint thinner, run to the bank to get change, or perform any other work-related (even if it's not my job to do any of this) task. This is the problem with paid 15 minute breaks and living 2 minutes away.
15.) (To owners once more)If you're going to invest in new equipment, learn how to use it. Don't buy a $1000 Evil James Bond Machine of Death to slice bread when your 20-year-old slicers work just fine. Especially if you're then just going to break it after two weeks.

(to be continued)

[MMATM]

continued...

Sorry, it was too long for one post (shame shame)

16.) (To managers) Don't assume that just because I'm a part-timer I don't know how to use the grill/make complex sandwiches/take an order/etc. Especially don't call me out for doing your job in front of customers, only to find out that I did everything correctly.
17.) If the door is locked, we are closed. You may not come in to buy stuff because the registers are off. This is not an excuse for us to give you freebies.
18.) Don't hang on/touch/reach over/under/around the sneeze guard. If your child is doing so, please tell them to stop.
19.) (To owners) I applied to to a job that pays a certain amount. Don't tell me to do the job of someone else who makes triple (or more) my pay, just because it's cheaper for you and I know how to do it.
20.) (Owners again) Restocking and other heavy lifting is not a "guy job" and wrapping cookies or breads is not a "girl job" so don't divide up work unfairly due to gender.
21.) You do not have an "elderly friend" who eats about 9 muffins a day. We know this because you never mentioned her until the one time we gave you a free muffin when you were in the store during closing.
22.) Samples are there for you to taste, not to replace whatever it was you were going to buy. Do not take any of the sample plates. If you insist on being a jerk and taking an entire sample pastry (all 12 slices) then you must do so without the aid of a plate.
23.) Your coffee is only cold because you added too much milk or cream. We change the coffees very frequently and all of the pots are essentially thermoses.
24.) DO NOT EVER dump your unfinished coffee (or, God forbid, your excess boiling tea water) into the trash! Those are plastic bags and WILL MELT!
25.) Asiago cheese bagels are delicious, but disgusting to handle. Do not have us toast them (especially right out of the oven, see #2) because they will drip boiling hot oil all over our hands and arms.
26.) Lox spread and lox are not the same thing. One is cream cheese with smoked salmon in it, the other is just smoked salmon. Do not ask for one when you mean the other.
27.) An "egg bagel with plain" and a "breakfast bagel on plain" are not the same thing. A breakfast bagel on plain is scrambled eggs on a plain bagel.
28.) Yes, despite the name, we do make breakfast bagels until close. Do not say that it is "stupid" especially if you're going to order one.
29.) We have no yellow mustard. Period. Nor do we have American cheese. I cannot run next door to the supermarket and buy them for you.
30.) (Owners) We do not need 6 cases of Nutella at 12 jars per case. Nobody gets Nutella on their bagels/sandwiches other than once in a blue moon (haha that's punny).

There are probably more, but these are a few gripes I deal with almost daily. And my coworkers would agree to them.

However, I still need that advice on what job to try for once I get back to school. As nearly everyone who works up there is a student, there are lots of part-time opportunities ranging from supermarket to coffeeshop to record store to waiting tables. Any suggestions on what to try for or what to avoid? Thanks.
~Mark

[toolbert]

oh man, if you're planning to become an RA then you'll be waist deep in SCs. I tried for that job, then realized what it called for. I ended up doing something with student activities that let me be an RA without the responsiblity of watching the kiddies and making sure they don't party/fight/start stuff with the people in the house. All in all, every job is going to have its share of SCs, just the ones with higher volume tend to have more of them. I would almost say the job with the least SCs is the one that you'd enjoy the most. For me, it'd totally be a record store job. I love music and no idjit could keep me from that love.

[captainvegetable02]

Out of all the jobs I've had, I've found that smaller specialty stores have the least SC's. The worst for SC's were a grocery store, Target, and a bank. The best were a tanning salon and the beauty supply store I currently work at. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I genuinely enjoy the work I do now, as opposed to most of my previous jobs.

[Teysa]

You might consider getting a job in the receiving department somewhere. You generally don't have to deal with customers at all or at least very little and the atmosphere is a bit more laid back compared to being on the front lines with the customers. You'll still have to work hard of course, but you won't have the added stress of needing to sell x amount or sign people up for credit cards they don't want. It's also a good way to work out some frustrations if you had a tough day at school and get paid for doing so.

[Gawdzillers]

You guys (used to) put Nutella on bagels?
Hot damn!

[MMATM]

We (they) still do. I can't say "they" officially yet since the last day I'm eligible to be called in is tomorrow, but after that I'm home free. They'll send my last two paychecks (they're a week slow on payment and payday is Thursday) in the mail to my parent's house and they'll deposit em for me.
I'm not sure working in a beauty salon would suit me, but I know what you mean about liking what you do. I'll have to look around Amherst and see what's available when I get back (Friday woo!).
Thanks for the advice.

[AFpheonix]

Overnight stocker at a grocery store would be a good, fairly SC gig, and at least at the stores around me, they don't really have to wear uniforms.

My job not only involve SCs, but SCs that come and cough on you and don't understand complicated things like "insurance" or "no refills on their pills" or "no, we're not going to let you have more Xanax when you just bought a month's supply 2 days ago without checking with your doctor first".

The horse training gig I had through college wasn't bad, neither was the stall cleaning part before that (well, the time I got tossed into a gate sucked....) but the customers, except for a few crazy ones that are endemic to all animal-related trades, were pretty fun.

[SCSlave]

I can tell you the absolute worst SC job I had was with the cable company. People take their cable wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too seriously. I also worked in a call center for Health Insurance...I was amazed how people were a LOT more calmer about their Health Insurance than with their cable. "Oh you don't cover that procedure? And I owe the hospital $15,000? OK that's fine. Thanks!" <<and with the cable company>> "MY CHANNEL 4 is fuzzy!! I want a refund!!!!!! I'm not paying until my channel 4 is CLEAR!! You hear me?? I will KILL you!!" (yes....we got death threats....a lot)

So I'd steer clear of anything involving entertainment....Maybe try a hotel? You get your share of SC's...but they weren't as bad in comparison to the others.

As for the RA position....I dated a guy that was an RA. He hated it. He said he couldn't get any studying done because he was too busy 'babysitting'. That would get on my last nerve.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I can apply toolbert's record store logic to bookstores. They get their share of SCs but you get to see all the books that come out and if you're like me that's just heaven . Receiving's cool too, you get to wear whatever you want and don't have to worry about looking decent. Though it can get frustrating when you run out of room! Plus books are relatively easy to straighten up at the end of the night (especially if no one's looking too closely but you didn't hear that from me ) I want to get a part time job but I don't know what cuz I'm kinda spoiled from the bookstore, but I still work for the company so I can't work in the store .

[MMATM]

There's a hotel on campus, but I'm pretty sure only Hotel Management majors and the like have any hope of being employed there. As an ME, I don't think I'd have much chance. The RA job's biggest perk is that I would not have to pay for room and board (which is more expensive than renting an off-campus apartment) but from the sound of it, other students could be the suckiest customers.
I like the bookstore idea. I used to read a lot more than was probably healthy (read: Angels and Demons and one of the old Star Wars novels in a day). I suppose there are many worse opportunities than getting a job that offers access to the newest books... but the closest bookstores to campus of course focus on textbooks... Which might be an advantage, come to think of it.
Thanks again to everyone who's left input.
~Mark

[Jester]

Maybe try a hotel? You get your share of SC's...but they weren't as bad in comparison to the others.

I dare say that many of the posters on CS.com would have something to say about the suckiness of hotel SC's!

but the closest bookstores to campus of course focus on textbooks... Which might be an advantage, come to think of it.

Two words: employee discount. Very useful for texts when you are a student.


I know I am a food service ho, so I am biased, but I would like to point out the advantages of working in the restaurant/bar industry:

Flexible scheduling. They are used to people having other jobs and/or being students, and they can work around those schedules more often than not. And most restaurants will NOT schedule you in conflict with your classes, period.
Good pay. Far more than at most retail stores. The pay itself sucks, but the tips, your real pay, rocks. And a good news/bad news thing: you don't have to wait for your pay....you get paid nightly. This is bad news if you have trouble budgeting, of course.
Variety. No day is ever the same.
Exercise. You will get plenty of it waiting on tables, I guarantee.
Food. Always in short supply as a student. The vast majority of restaurants offer discounts on their food to employees, sometimes even free food.
Socializing. Most of your coworkers will probably also be students....great way to meet people. Ditto with customers.

Yes, there are many, many, many SC's in this biz. I won't lie to you. But they are generally outnumbered by the cool people, and more importantly, the good tippers, especially if you are any good at the job.

A little side note here: sounds like the place you worked for was run by a bunch of idiots. I wonder if it was the same company that ran the hotel I just recently resigned from?

[MMATM]

A little side note here: sounds like the place you worked for was run by a bunch of idiots. I wonder if it was the same company that ran the hotel I just recently resigned from?

Worse. It was a privately-owned business in smalltown MA. The owner was also one of the bosses (his wife was the other), as well as the head baker. He knew next to nothing about running the store successfully, and relied heavily on his managers to do most of the "let's not f**k something up today" work.
On the other hand, they allowed employees to eat some things for free (bagels, cream cheese, bread, Nutella , coffee) but had the worst habits of giving away free stuff to certain customers that they knew from wherever... in front of other customers who got nothing. They also relied on employees to train the new people while everyone involved was on the clock. Which in my case worked out fine, since my trainer was one of my best friends and he and I (until 6:30pm) have more seniority there than anyone other than one of the managers, one of the bakers, and the dishwasher (the baker and dishwasher are the Men, by the way

But the food industry seems to be the place to go, especially around campus. Aside from competing with 10,000 other people who want the job, how hard is it to get a job as a bartender? I've heard that it's a lot of OJT initially but that's also from my uncle who has been out of school for about thirty years...
I got a hot tip that working at a gay bar (whether you are straight or not) is actually an easier job to get and that the customers are nicer. Anyone that's worked at a gay bar have any input?
~Mark

[Jester]

Most places will hire bartenders from within. As in, you have to start as a server first. There are exceptions, but usually only if your experienced. Sounds like you aren't. Sorry.

As for gay bars, I have never worked at one, but I have interviewed for a position at one. The interviewer seemed to have a (fair and reasonable) issue with hiring straight men to work there. Apparently many of them did not work out for various reasons, one major one being that many of them went out of their way to tell the clientele that they were straight. Not always the best idea for that situation.

[tollbaby]

Good pay. Far more than at most retail stores. The pay itself sucks, but the tips, your real pay, rocks. And a good news/bad news thing: you don't have to wait for your pay....you get paid nightly. This is bad news if you have trouble budgeting, of course.

Unless you're talking about tips, that sounds an awful lot like being paid under the table, which is against the law.