HEY! Lux, I represent that remark!!
matt, I really sympathize! I arrived in Oregon in 1989, my newly earned Bachelor’s degree still drying in my hand, and found work at… Pizza Hut! And THEN Dairy Queen!!
Been there, done that!
I don’t know your situation (are you a student? a working-class person? etc.) but please keep a positive attitude, and ALWAYS keep looking for something better! There’s nothing at all wrong with the service industry, if that’s what you like (I didn’t)… you can (eventually through promotions, etc. make a decent living at it), but if you’re not happy there, keep on the lookout for better opportunities!
It may take a long time… it did in my case! But if you take every opportunity that presents itself, you can’t fail but to better your lot in life…
In my case (making a long-ass story really, really short!): I graduated with a BA in English Lit. (minors in education, creative writing, and psych.) worked in a hotel doing the books at night for a few months. Moved to the west coast on a whim, and took the only job I could find; the aforementioned pizza-cooking job at Pizza Hut. Quit there after several months (new manager who was an asshole), and found work as a cook at Dairy Queen. Did that for several months, eventually quit to begin working at another hotel, which lead to another job at a different hotel. At this hotel, I worked for almost a year until a subordinate was promoted over me because he had just earned a bachelor’s in business (fair enough, I thought… but obviously I’m getting nowhere here)! I quit. I stumbled into a temp job in mental health (which paid almost 3 times as much as the hotel job… I got lucky!), which lead to a full-time job in mental health. I worked there for a year or so until I realized one day (after being attacked by an autistic patient for the third time in an hour) that I absolutely HATED this job, and would rather die than come to work here for the rest of my life! I quit. What to do next? I had heard of people going to Asia to teach English… and the thought intrigued me… I drove home, and convinced my best friend/roommate to quit his job and fly to Korea with me (took 3 days, but he caved eventually!). Flew to Korea, had a few adventures, but eventually landed jobs teaching at a hagwon (private institute) in Seoul. After a year, my best friend opted to go back to the US; I stayed in Korea (met Astrogirl, and I wasn’t going anywhere without her!) I signed up at the hagwon for a second year, and a few months into that second year, the Academic Director was fired (long story). I was given the Academic Director’s position… after completing my contract as Academic Director (BTW: the worst job I have ever had! I no longer fear Hell!), I accepted a position as a teacher at Hanyang University in Seoul… 3 years later, I am still here, engaged to Astrogirl, and have saved enough money to allow me to go back to school when we go to the US (and also have enough impressive crap on my resume to allow me to find a decent job, should I decide to just return to work).
My point is: keep looking! You never know where life is gonna lead you!
This was long, and may or may not be relevant, but I’m drunk as a mofo right now (dinner and drinks with Astrogirl), so the you have it!
Good luck, matt!
