The story of *my* Two Weeks Notice
So, I fell off the face of livejournal for a few weeks there. Yikes, but when real life hits, it hits HARD.
What was I up to? Well, I'm so glad you asked.
In short, I was working three jobs as I gave notice at one restaurant job, started training at another, and worked to build a show at the theatre in two weeks instead of three.
The nitty-gritty details:
Four weeks ago, Wednesday: I was told that the Italian restaurant where I also work would not train me as a server. I'd been asking about it for several months, and had been unable to get a straight answer out of anyone. When I reached the end of my rope and asked, flat out, "Will you train me as a server or not?" the manager finally said, "No, we won't. The owner doesn't think you could handle it." So I said, "Thank you for letting me know," while thinking, 'See ya.' I walked out of the building, pulled out my phone, and put in a call to my friend who works as a General Manager at the local Red Robin.
I asked if he had any server positions available, he said come fill out an application and we'll see what we can do.
That Friday: Filled out application, set up interview for Monday.
----
Three weeks ago, Monday: The interview went really well, and the hiring manager said, "Training starts Saturday morning, we'll see you at 7:30."
That Friday: I gave my two weeks notice at the Italian Restaurant.
----
After that Friday it was basically go, go, go, non-stop for two weeks. I think there were only a few days where I didn't work ten to twelve hours, and I usually fell into bed around 11 pm every night and up by 7 am every morning.
What made it especially difficult is that, normally, we have at least two weeks to build a show before the "Tech Week." To those of you uninitiated in the ways of theatre, "Tech Week" is the week during which the sound and lights are all figured out in conjunction with the acting. In a perfect world, the set is complete before Tech Week, or with only a few minor details to finish, so that everything else can fall into place.
For Marvin's Room, which is the show that we were working on, we had two weeks, total, including Tech Week. One week is not very much time to finish a set, especially if you only have yourself and maybe one other person at a time to help put it all together.
The two weeks of crazy:
Friday, 4/24: 4.5 hours
Saturday, 5/2: 11.25 hours
Total hours worked: 140.75
It was pretty intense, and after two weeks of three jobs and going non-stop for ten to twelve hours a day, I am freaking sore.
What was I up to? Well, I'm so glad you asked.
In short, I was working three jobs as I gave notice at one restaurant job, started training at another, and worked to build a show at the theatre in two weeks instead of three.
The nitty-gritty details:
Four weeks ago, Wednesday: I was told that the Italian restaurant where I also work would not train me as a server. I'd been asking about it for several months, and had been unable to get a straight answer out of anyone. When I reached the end of my rope and asked, flat out, "Will you train me as a server or not?" the manager finally said, "No, we won't. The owner doesn't think you could handle it." So I said, "Thank you for letting me know," while thinking, 'See ya.' I walked out of the building, pulled out my phone, and put in a call to my friend who works as a General Manager at the local Red Robin.
I asked if he had any server positions available, he said come fill out an application and we'll see what we can do.
That Friday: Filled out application, set up interview for Monday.
----
Three weeks ago, Monday: The interview went really well, and the hiring manager said, "Training starts Saturday morning, we'll see you at 7:30."
That Friday: I gave my two weeks notice at the Italian Restaurant.
----
After that Friday it was basically go, go, go, non-stop for two weeks. I think there were only a few days where I didn't work ten to twelve hours, and I usually fell into bed around 11 pm every night and up by 7 am every morning.
What made it especially difficult is that, normally, we have at least two weeks to build a show before the "Tech Week." To those of you uninitiated in the ways of theatre, "Tech Week" is the week during which the sound and lights are all figured out in conjunction with the acting. In a perfect world, the set is complete before Tech Week, or with only a few minor details to finish, so that everything else can fall into place.
For Marvin's Room, which is the show that we were working on, we had two weeks, total, including Tech Week. One week is not very much time to finish a set, especially if you only have yourself and maybe one other person at a time to help put it all together.
The two weeks of crazy:
Friday, 4/24: 4.5 hours
- 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Bus at Italian place (Gave two weeks notice.)
- 7:30 am - 1:00 pm - Training at Red Robin
- 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Work at the Italian place
- 11:00 am - 2:00 pm - "Follow Shift" at Red Robin (where I follow a server to see how it works.)
- 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Hostess at Italian place (I was able to switch with someone, thankfully.)
- 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm - Training Class at Red Robin
- 10:30 pm - 12:30 am - Jane Eyre Strike at the Theatre
- 9:00 am - 1:30 pm - Build at Theatre
- 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm - Training Class at Red Robin
- 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm - Hostess at the Italian place
- 9:00 am - 4:30 pm - Build at the Theatre
- 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Follow Shift at Red Robin
- 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Training Class at Red Robin
- 9:00 am - 3:30 pm - Build at the Theatre
- 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Follow Shift at Red Robin
- 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Training Class at Red Robin
- 8:00 am - 10:30 am - Build at the Theatre
- 11:00 am - 3:00 pm - Follow Shift at Red Robin
- 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Training Class at Red Robin
- 9:00 am - 6:30 pm - Build at the Theatre
- 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Bus at Italian place (They called me off, thank god.)
Saturday, 5/2: 11.25 hours
- 10:00 am - 10:45 - Shopping for the Theatre
- 11:00 am - 2:30 pm - Server Readiness Test at Red Robin (To see if I'm ready, after a week of training, to actually serve.)
- 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Build at the Theatre
- 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Bus at Italian place
- 9:00 am - 12:00 pm - Build at the Theatre (Only one place to be, and only for a few hours; it was almost like a day off.)
- 9:00 am - 5:30 pm - Build and paint at the Theatre
- 9:00 am - 6:00 pm - Build and paint at the Theatre
- 11:30 am - 3:00 pm - Serve at Red Robin
- 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Paint at the Theatre
- 9:00 am - 4:30 pm - Paint and finish work at the Theatre
- 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm - Serve at Red Robin
- 9:00 pm - 12:30 am - Build and finish work at the Theatre
- 8:30 am - 5:30 pm - Finish work at the Theatre, show opened at 8:00 pm (I didn't think we'd get it all done, honestly)
- 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm - Bus at the Italian place (Last day!)
Total hours worked: 140.75
It was pretty intense, and after two weeks of three jobs and going non-stop for ten to twelve hours a day, I am freaking sore.