Comments on: Friday Happy Hour: Seismic Career Changes

By: Mina

Mina — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:43:00 +0000

Three friends of mine had these job changes:
1) Dental hygenist to tattoo artist and piercing specialist
2) Chemical engineer to 3D animator
3) High school teacher to bouncer to stock broker

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:24:00 +0000

1. My former boss was all set to be an English teacher after college, but after having her first child, went into accounting and has been a tax accountant ever since. Similarly, my Aunt started out in English/writing, but became a Social Worker instead. Almost 30 years later, she is still dreaming of becoming a writer…

3. Ahh..tipping. How I detest tipping!!! One of the greatest things about moving to New Zealand is the lack of tipping. We don’t tip anyone for ANYTHING. Why? Because the minimum wage is a fair wage. And services/meals cost just a bit more. Tips are not expected, and there are no ‘tip’ lines on CC slips. It’s incredibly refreshing to walk out of the salon after a haircut/manicure/massage without a tip on top of the expensive service. Same for meals, cab rides (they even give exact change without irony), and bell hops.

Tipping for take-out is ridiculous. In fact – here – there is actually a standard 10% discount for takeout orders!

By: aaron

aaron — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:59:00 +0000

all of you people who don’t tip for takeout are jerks, especially at a sitdown restaurant where servers who would normally be working tables for tips are on takeout duty that night, they have to pay taxes based on the estimated tips from their sales (8%), they’re also payed half minimum wage by their restaurant because it’s assumed that the majority of their income will come from tips. in addition, it’s all of the same work as waiting tables, taking orders, noting special requirements (no mayo on that double whamburger, i’m allergic to peanuts), placing the order, packaging the order including condements (takes the place of clearing your plates, except it’s a bigger hassle), quality control (that burger’s cooked right and has no mayo, your soda’s not flat), bringing it out to you, making change or processing your credit card, oh and by the way, be nice to people who may not pay them for their hard work, heck, they’re more likely to take them for granted, oh and do all of it faster because they won’t have 45 minutes to spread all of that work over, they’ve got to have it done in 20.
if you want mcdonalds go to mcdonalds, if you want quality food, expect to pay gratuity, getting it in your car doesn’t change the work the people who take care of your lazy butt do one bit.

By: Julia

Julia — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:46:00 +0000

1. I worked in retail for several years and now am a librarian. It’s pretty much the same thing: customer service.

3. I tip for take out, and for coffee if I’m paying cash. These people working for crap wages in the food service industry.

I didn’t know that anyone ever tipped the cable guy. That seems crazy to me.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I worked as a biological illustrator for 12 years (mostly freelance but I was also a university staff illustrator for a 4 year stretch). I’m dang good at the art part but loathed the self-promotion/business part. I was always under-bidding on projects which meant I worked way too hard for way too little.

5 years ago I starting working as an admin at the local university’s facilities department(campus construction). I found I loved being part of construction projects and in time discovered that my visual skills were quite useful in spotting problems/discrepancies in contract drawings or job sites. Unfortunately, the nation wide construction slow-down has hit colleges & universities hard and I will be laid-off at the end of the fiscal year (in two months).

By: Jen Pen

Jen Pen — Sat, 09 May 2009 11:14:00 +0000

2. a. “No, not Flapjack…nope, can’t watch Charmed…Nah, not Star Trek: Voyager…hey, Chowder! Woof!”

b. “Where the heck’s the food, jerkface?!”

c. “Please, be Star Trek, please be Star Trek! WHAT?! It’s Superman?!”

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:04:00 +0000

Does an almost major change count?

I have been a cop for 12 years. I had a bad breakup where my ex cheated on me with my partner at work. It was enough to drive me away from “the Job”; I got accepted to a very nice culinary academy and was going to be a chef. It came down to one last police job I had applied for or becoming a chef.

I’m still a cop – but sometimes I really wish I had become a chef.

By: Shandi

Shandi — Sat, 09 May 2009 03:51:00 +0000

3. I tip for togo orders most of the time. (Excluding places that do take out only) I’ve worked in restaurants for years, and many of these places have a person there specifically to do the togo orders. That person usually does a LOT more than just putting food in bags. Many times it was a lot more work that waiting on tables! I don’t tip for coffee or anything like that, but I do tip at least a couple of bucks when I go pick up something from a “sit down” restaurant.

By: C

Sat, 09 May 2009 02:14:00 +0000

3. What if the cable company REALLY screws up your installation and have to come out seven, count ‘em SEVEN times?

recaptcha – russet GINIGER

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:30:00 +0000

1. I worked for years as an office manager – when I was laid off I took a job as a forklift driver at another company just to get my foot in the door – I have since worked my way back into the office but i kind of miss the physical labor.

2. He is thinking “if that cat gets one step closer to my food dish i am going after him”

3. I never tip for takeout except for one place i love and am friends with the owners and want to help them stay in business.

4. When i was 14 we were staying at a cabin on the beach for mother’s day weekend and my father had been bragging all week about the fabulous “strawberries flambe” breakfast he was going to make for my mom on Sunday. We were awoken at 4:00 am Sunday and told that our family home had burned to the ground. We were thankful we were not at home at the time, but needless to say the flaming breakfast was cancelled.