Real Life in the Second City

So now that I'm out of the blessed state of college... I figure I should document it all.

Technically I graduated January 19th, but I didn't move away from my college town of Boston until August 30th. January-April was a taste of real life. I was supposed to have continued working at the Tsai Performance Center as an outside contractor, but because of the crash of the economy, BU couldn't afford to hire anyone that wasn't a student for student jobs. So I spent those 4 months dirt dirt dirt dirt poor looking for a real job... then any job that would pay me. It didn't help that I lived with 2 rich girls. They were off at class, eating at the GSU (student union), going out, or whatever. I spent my days walking or busing over to Harvard or MIT doing as many psychology or consumer studies as possible, usually at $10 a pop. Still, they were good times. I still did Theater for Everyone at BU, I still went to $1 draft night with my roomies, I watched a lot of ABDC with Paul :) , and I still had Sean over in Belmont, which helped a lot.

Then FINALLY in April, Tealuxe called me back! Because of my catering experience they said they would train me as a teatender (barista) and then as a server! That job ended up being my lifesaver. I made decent money as a teatender because of all the hours, but I made great money as a server. Summer at Tealuxe meant the patio was open, and all Newbury shoppers love to be seen, so we had a lot of foot traffic. (Despite June being the crappiest month of summer that I can ever remember). So summer ended up being great (jobs have a way of doing that for me).

But even so, after much debate I decided to move to Chicago with Sean. He wanted to move here because of the comedy scene. I didn't want to move here just for a boy, because that's so cliche... but that's what I ended up doing anyway. Ah well... Although, The Chicago School has a decent graduate program, and best of all the Chicago Botanic Gardens has a therapy program that I really really really really really want to intern for starting in the spring. They didn't accept me last summer, but I'm hoping by visiting a couple times, even volunteering if they'll let me, that I might have a better chance of getting the internship, especially since my address is of Chicago, and not Boston. So I have those two things that I will hopefully/eventually do.

However, it's only September.

So I've started looking for a serving job in Chicago. However, my only experience as a server in an actual restaurant is at Tealuxe which didn't serve alcohol, and no one has heard of it in Chicago. And my only alcohol experience has been in catering. So I'm already at a huge disadvantage. Also, there are thousands of people looking for the same job. I've been to over 30 restaurants already, and each time I go there's already 5 people filling out applications, and when I leave there's at least 2 new people. And then at the open applications -- where restaurants have set hours to have everyone come all at once and then they interview on the spot -- there have been 50 people (at least), all my age, all with my experience, or better. Shit.

And what sucks is that I know that I'm a better worker than 90% of those people. I'm serious. I don't screw around; I don't chitchat when I have customers to take care of; I work well with other; I don't cut corners; I'm constantly moving; I always try to help out other servers or coworkers if I have any down time; I'm thorough; I don't clock in until I'm dressed, prepped and ready to go; I'm honest; I'm friendly; I'm great with people and usually remember everything everyone ordered (usually); I get food service -- a lot of people work in food, but they don't know how to work well in it, even though people still continue to hire them (they're the servers or bartenders that suck).

*sigh*

It would be so much easier if people just knew me. I mean, I'm Kay Knight!

And what's worse is that I applied to a theater and I immediately got an offer to participate in an internship. What's "worse" about it is that it's unpaid. Lame. But I think I'm going to do it, even though I need money. They sound pretty flexible, so even if I do get a restaurant job (::knock on wood:: PLEASE GOD!), I think they will be able to schedule my hours around it... We'll see. Maybe with this internship I can forget food service all together and get a real job doing theater! That'd be kick. ass.

So this week is just another week of pounding the pavement, going from restaurant to bar to cafe, looking for anyone to pay me. And I'll probably get back to the theater this week about interning.

Yay for real life in the Second City!