Little work advice?

[Lits]

I stupidly went to an interview today for job #3 and got it. They're having me start tonight. There goes my first day off in 8 days . Looks like my next day off will be when I have that nervous breakdown I've been looking foreward to, lol.

I don't even know WHY I wanted three jobs, cause now I'm gonna have to pick one to drop and they all have GREAT things about them and they all have really BAD things about them. So my question is: which would you drop?

#1 Waiting tables at La Grande Orange:
-five mins drive time from home
-Saturday and Sunday only 9am-4pm
-$8/hr + (avg) $60 in tips
-nice people, nice food
-possibility for health insurance in 5 months
-annoyingly corporate (I had to sign a statement when I was late for work one day and list things I could do in the future to prevent it.... seriously?)

#2 Receptionist at the Kush Clubhouse
-walking distance from home
-$9.50/hr + tips when I work the hash bar
-full time job M-F... my biggest source of income
-really pretty view of the beach and boardwalk all day
-great discount on inventory
-learning all sorts of things for when marijuana is completely legalized in November, going to be the fastest growing market for employment in California.
-the owner is insane and yells at everyone for no damned reason (needs to smoke a little LESS of his own product) I've thankfully escaped his rampages so far but I don't know how long I can stay under the radar. Any of us could get fired any day for any non-existant reason.
-terribly unorganized, sometimes we don't even have a manager scheduled
-possibility of being shut down completly next month due to proximity to public spaces
-ridiculously long hours: 10:30am-8:30pm with only a 1/2 hour for lunch
-when i'm not busy, they want me to go on the boardwalk and promote...something I swore I'd never do again (HATEIT!)

#3 Swing Shift/foodrunning at Rick's Tavern
-walking distance from home
-short shifts... the longest is only 5 hours (unless I'm waitressing, then 8-9 hour shifts)
-two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday 6-10 (or whenever I get there coming straight from the Clubhouse)
-possibility for moving up to permenant position
Don't know enough about it yet for anything else.


So as you can see, I've set myself up for insanity. If I ditch on the Clubhouse I'll lose my greatest source of income, and only work four days a week, but they may close down next month anyway. If I ditch on LGO I'll lose the possibility of health insurance and all the tips that come with running my ass off for 7 hours and getting yelled at four times a day. But I feel like if I don't have a backup (Rick's) I'm going to be SOL when/if the Clubhouse closes down, and to get into Rick's even on the lowest ground floor is amazing. The turnover there doesn't exist. These are all career waitresses and bartenders who've been there for 10 years, some of them almost 20. But if I'm only working four days a week then I'll be much happier, but way below the money budget I'm comfortable with. It'll be enough to scrape by, but barely.


And keep in mind I'm only doing this till I turn 24 and can get back to school, anyway.

So what would you do? I'd appreciate any advice. If you've ever been in this situation, or can image it, it'd be helpful.
Thanks

[Subb]

Personally, I don't know how things are in L.A. (I think you live there, right?) but even though the olde Mary-Jay ain't the most potent of drugs; you may still (and most probably) get hassled the fuck out of major long time potheads. That can't be healthy for the mind at all. It's illegal over here and I still get at least one verbal abuse of a patient on a weekly basis - can't imagine what it's gonna be like when they legalise it. Plus, the fact that the establishment's future is in question also throws a major spanner in the works. So, even though it's a decent wage I, personally, wuld drop it - like you said; what would you rather, a breakdown or a lower budget? From what I've seen in other threads, you've got some good artistic talent - maybe you can get some small time cash for that? Only an idea

I can't really imagine the situation you're in at the moment, but I do know that it's a toughie. Sorry for my less than helpful help :p

[Tbone]

If the receptionist job is your money maker, you gotta keep it until you find a job that could replace it. Neither of your two-day a week jobs could fill the void. After that, it comes down to which of the other two jobs you're more happy with and whether you'd like to have your weekends off or not.

If you like to party hard on Friday and Saturday nights, having a 9 a.m. job on the weekend that fills up every day of your week may not be a good idea. However, if you are completely exhausted after working the receptionist job, you may not have the energy to do Rick's on Tues and Thurs.

Looking closely at your schedule, though, it looks like Rick's conflicts directly with the receptionist job. If Rick's starts at 6 and goes to 10, and you don't get off work until 8:30, either you are gonna have to take time off from the receptionist or time off from Rick's. Either way you aren't really gaining much additional money (you are simply extending the hours of that day by an hour and a half), so I don't see why you would logically have that second job that just seems to cause conflicts. So following this logic, you should keep the receptionist job and the weekend job.

I personally try to keep a day job and a night and weekend job. If you can find ones that mix up their schedule a bit (it isn't consistent), then you can kind of try and schedule a day off every now and again. For instance, my Signature theatre job is nights and weekends, but some weeks I have more shifts than others, so sometimes I get a part of my weekend off and sometimes I don't. My day job sometimes has days off, so I might get a day off in the middle of the week. I know these type of "flexible" jobs aren't easy to find, but they help me keep my sanity as much as I'm working.

[Fuse]

I wouldn't ever consider dropping a job that offers healthcare.  If #1 can offer healthcare and #2 parts your bills, then drop #3. If the situation changes where you cant work one of them, adapt at that time.

Really wish I could help you...

[SirSpam28]

Don't drop Rick's, I love that place(waffle fries = heaven).  But in all seriousness, it sounds like Kush is the crappiest, but also your primary income.  I cant really tell you what to drop, but if you are looking for a replacement for Kush, just let me know what kind of work your are looking for.  I grew Up in Orange County and lived in LA for 4 years (went to UCLA), and I still have tons of friends living and working there, and I can have them keep their eyes and ears open is you want.  Hell most of them are job hunting themselves, and sharing resources is never a bad thing.

[Lits]

Wow that's actually amazingly helpful, thank you all! Makes perfect sense. I just called Rick's and told them the scheduling wasn't going to work out (they were going to split the shift on the days I couldn't be there till 8:30).

Seriously, thanks guys
*phew* a little back up always makes for a sigh of relief

[Lits]

here's a funny little epilogue....

after turning down Rick's three days earlier, the Kush Clubhouse fired me for "walking off the job" which is to say, getting someone to cover me and making sure they were there before I left. Fucking potheads... I'm all about letting go at 5pm, but these guys seriously need to lay off the chronic during the 9-5.

I'm going in tomorrow to be like "f^&* you, good luck getting by without me to cover your ass, and if you don't give me the check you 'lost' from 6 weeks ago I quit anyway."

And if nothing else, tourist season is literally a week away so plenty of places are hiring!