Do you have any bizarre stories from when you were working those part-time jobs in your late teens to your early twenties??
BECAUSE I SURE DO!! One super bizarre story that has to do more with the actual places that I worked, rather than with me (I think???) or with the jobs themselves. Wait ‘til you hear – – it’s a pretty good one. 😬
OR you may be pretty impressed with me!
It really could go either way so it’s hard to say what you’ll think! You’ll have to hear the story and then let me know. 😉
So, I started to reflect on my part-time jobs because an amazing person that I know recently became a bartender. And he was telling me about making his fabulous tips and how he was feeling about the job so far…and it got me thinking about my own experience in the restaurant world!
I worked in restaurants for about 5-6 years, at the end of high school, all throughout college, and even after college until I landed my very first professional dance gig. 💃🏻
I began as a hostess, but when I realized that the REALLY good money came from serving and tips, I switched over to being a server, with occasional hostessing duties, and I loved it. It was a great part-time job that offered excellent money in minimal hours – – as long as you were on top of your customer service game, personable, efficient, and fantastic at multi-tasking, that is! And it was like a fun timing game for me, plus I do love people, so I was able to do all of the above and make that 💵 💵 💵!!!!!
Only, this is a total side story. I DID reflect on my serving days, thanks to this fancy new bartender that I know; however, THEN it made me think of THE story. The massive story that has to do with more than just my server experiences. Yup, it actually has to do with the collection of part-time jobs that I used to have!! Sometimes I had one part-time job, and then sometimes two or even three at one time! And every single one of them were customer service jobs.
Here is my list, in a semi-orderly fashion: Cashier at a grocery store; Hostess and Server at an Irish restaurant; Hostess and Server at a Greek restaurant; Baker at a bakery; Cashier at a media retail store; Server at a different Irish pub; Caterer with Holiday Inn; Secretary at a medical office; and Secretary at an engineering office. For the most part, this was all of them BUT the first six jobs are the most important to the story. 🧐
Ready to hear something crazy?? OKAY!! I’m gonna briefly tell you what happened and then I will go back with some details and context.
SO……. ⬇️
I worked as a cashier at a grocery store for my first ever part-time job for a little over a year. I then switched to work as a hostess and then as a server at a new Irish restaurant that had opened in my area. I stayed there for about 8 months and then I changed to a Greek restaurant as mainly a server with 1-2 days as a hostess. While I was there, the Irish restaurant closed down.
(that is “Bye Bye” in Irish)
I stayed at the Greek restaurant for about 1.5 years and then I chose to switch to a different Irish pub/restaurant. I also began to work at a bakery, baking the scones and muffins and helping to roll and bake the fresh bread. While I was working at the Irish pub and this bakery, the Greek restaurant had to close down….
(that is “See ya” in Greek)
Along the way, while working at the Irish Pub and bakery, I applied for a temporary position at a media retail store during the late fall. It was supposed to be from early November and then well into January of the New Year, but while I was working there we all received word that this media retail store was going under. So, I worked there right to the tail end of December…..and then the media retail store closed down shortly after.
Are you noticing a theme??? 🤔😳
I continued to work at the Irish pub and the bakery, but the bakery’s hours were starting to get too overwhelming. After about a year and a half getting to work by 3:30am for every shift, I decided that I had had enough of the bakery scene. So I made my leave and only worked at the Irish pub. And eventually, that bakery shut down, too.
Even the grocery story, where I was a cashier for my first part-time job, had a period of time where it went bankrupt!! I thought, “are you serious???? Not another one!!!” But that grocery store is still there and it managed to stay afloat. And as far as I know, that Irish pub is still there as well, though I’m not sure if it took a beating from the pandemic and from the overall insanity of 2020. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you….😬
And that is the very brief story of my part-time jobs. Isn’t that 🥜🥜 ????!! Wild and crazy, right??!! Now, one could look at this and think, “this girl is clearly the Black Widow Spider of jobs!!!!”
“She must be an awful worker, she clearly leaves each place in chaos and disarray, and then once she moves on to a new part-time job, the previous place has no choice but to close down!!!!!” 👿
OR you could see this as: I was SUCH a stellar worker and that as soon as I moved on to another part-time job, the previous location was lost without me, everything fell apart, and they just couldn’t make it without me!! 😉🤓
See??? You could be appalled by me and this story OR be extremely impressed!!! 😁
When, in reality, it was just the WEIRDEST timing ever and all the reasons for these workplace closings were due to outside factors and totally out of my control. I just happened to work at all of these places before unfortunate events and/or corruption happened and closed these places down.
Here are the short-and-sweet stories behind the closings of my four part-time jobs that I worked. And some of them are tragic and awful, so I will be respectful and give abridged details, but enough so that you understand. Plus, I shall continue to keep restaurants and people’s names out of the story.
First, the Irish restaurant. This one is heart-wrenching and tragic. One night, a couple was enjoying dinner and wine at the restaurant. While driving home under an overpass, they didn’t see four teenagers that were running across the street in dark colors. I believe three out of the four teenagers were hit and two of them lost their lives. (Please excuse me if I’m off on the facts – – I just remember that it was so devastating). Because the wine consumed by the driver was tracked to this Irish restaurant, the heavy lawsuits were too much for the restaurant to handle and it had to close down. 💔💔
Second, the Greek restaurant. It turned out that they were being sneaky and were caught for something like Tax Evasion or Insurance Fraud. So, they also had no choice but to shut down. 😔👎🏼
Third, the media retail store. Well, the shift away from CD’s and DVD’s began around this time and they weren’t getting the same amount of business. So, they didn’t know how long they could keep going and they decided to close their doors right after the winter holidays ended. 💿💔
Fourth and finally, the bakery. It actually was bought out by another bakery. And then the second bakery lasted a couple of years and then they had to close down as well. Whether it was the locations of these bakeries, (because they were in multiple locations, they all changed over to the new bakery, and then all locations of this second bakery had to close down), the expense of running a bakery, insufficient business…maybe a blend of them all, who knows???? Very sad, regardless. 🥖🍪😣
And now you know. I am the Black Widow Spider of jobs in a very indirect way! 🕷 Wild stories, though, right???!!! 😲 Kind of unbelievable, if you ask me! I’ll never forget that feeling of moving on from job to job, only to hear that my previous work locations kept closing down, one by one. It was so eerie!!!
And it still is….I just remembered RIGHT NOW that the first company that I worked with as a professional dancer was VEE Corporation and they also had to close down – – about 6-ish years after I stopped working for them!! OMG!!!! 😳😳😳 The CEO passed away and the company’s shows were transferred to another company called VStar Entertainment Group. Whoa, I can’t believe that I forgot about that…..😧
Well, my beautiful readers, if Carnival Cruise Lines ever goes under, you can remember this conversation, that I also used to work for them, and you can say “the Black Widow Spider has struck again!!” 😵
And I promise, this only happens with jobs!! If you know me or you meet me, you are completely safe, I assure you!!!!!!! 😇😁😍
Be safe and enjoy these mid-June days!!! Until next time. ❤️☀️❤️☀️❤️☀️❤️