« ‘Tis the Season…FOR PAIN! | Main | What the New Year Means to Me »

Loan Me $50

I realized I don’t have any money. I barely have enough to scrape by through the next month, and I’ve already made some foolish purchases, so technically I’m in the hole some. Hopefully I can get a temp job for the bizarre four-week mid-January-to-mid-February break. If not, I’m screwed. I may have to — shudder — borrow money from my parents. Or — double shudder — get a real (well, semi-real…) job again.

If only I hadn’t been so royally screwed so consistently by Starbucks…I really did like working there. I actually miss it. It was the most fun I’ve ever had working, which probably has something to do with the fact that every day wasn’t the same. Sure, the recipes and chores never changed, but every day was a new and baffling adventure full of new customers and regulars alike.

I guess what I’m implying is that, rather than temping (teh horrar…), I’d like another job like that. Problem is, a job like that is difficult to get. Sure, I could get a job at any of the 93 Starbucks’ in the area. The problem is, they’d run my name and discover that I’ve already worked at Starbucks, and it ended badly. I might be able to get my foot in the door by explaining the situation with school and the bad hours and the crazy manager, but they probably wouldn’t buy it. And even if they did, I probably wouldn’t get the job.

I could go to a different area of the food-service industry, but the problem is that I’d argue that Starbucks is the least disgusting of them all. There was never really an excessive amount of disgusting stuff floating around Starbucks. Other than occasional spillage of frap mix (usually my fault), the job was pretty clean. And the preparation was surprisingly clean, as well.

I might be able to find a job at another local coffee shop. I’ve been told by others who work at non-Starbucks coffee shops that they’re all pretty much the same, at least where preparation and clean-up are concerned. But the hurdle I’d need to leap around is my prior job experience. I could lie and say I’ve never done this kind of work before, but that would hurt my chances of getting the job. Or I could tell the truth, admit my experience at Starbucks, but tell them that they can’t be used as a reference because I quit badly. This would probably hurt my chances more.

I dread temping again, and that’s assuming I even get a possible job to dread. Let’s just hope one of my auditions goes well in the next few months. Then, my pockets will be lined with gold pieces and crack pipes, and I’ll be able to climb my way out of my $47 worth of debt and maybe get an iBook.

…but that’s a long way off…

Tags: coffee shops, debt, temping, unemployment

Posted by Stan on December 26, 2002 9:51 PM  | Permalink  | Print-Friendly  | Money Troubles | Digg It