I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Today is one of those days where you think you know what you are going to write.  Then you sit down at the computer and NADA.  Nothing.  

It might be because I’m tired.  Not exhausted.  Not wiped out.  Just tired. 

I haven’t written about it yet, but after 7 months, of looking, I finally found a job.  It was a very long 7 months.  As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, there are few things more daunting than entering the job market as a 60 year-old.  

I had too many first interviews to count.  But none of them seemed to land a second interview.  I can assure you my answers to the questions haven’t changed that much in the 15 years I’ve been doing this, when a second interview was almost a given.  

What was really frustrating was that every first interview I went on, and I do mean every one, I was promised a second interview.  

“Thank you for coming in.  I’ll reach out to my team and set up a second interview for you at the beginning of next week.”  

Then silence.  

There were several prospects that I was excited about.  There were many more that would have just been a way to pay the mortgage.   But alas, the choice was not mine.  

The job I finally got was handed to me on a silver platter.  Adam and I were sitting on the couch one night around 10:00 when his phone dinged.  It was a former co-worker asking him if he knew anyone looking for a management position.  He showed me the text and asked what I thought.  I said sure.  Less than a week later I was given an offer.  

Fun fact.  I interviewed with this company in 2019.  Was given an offer, and turned it down because the company I was working for at the time, gave me a big raise and a promotion to stay.  I wonder now what would have happened if I’d made the jump.  

I hate to jinx it, but I’m really liking it a lot.  The team is incredible.  There is so much laughing, and playfulness from everyone.  It’s clear they all like going to work.  That they all like the company they work for.  

It is a seasonal restaurant.   We are only open from May to October.  Right now, we are prepping to open.  With a seasonal restaurant, it’s like opening a new restaurant every year.  There are orders to place.  Employees to hire.  Training to coordinate.  Beverage lists to curate.   My friend Laura, who I love dearly, and I call this “playing restaurant.”  It’s all theoretical until the first employee clocks in and the first guest gets their martini.  Then it’s real.  

So here I am at 8:00 and I’m tired.  And the reason for this is, because we are not currently open, my schedule is 9 to 4.  It’s a more mainstream schedule, that allows for us all to be in the room together and “play restaurant.”  

Here’s the deal.  I’m not a morning person.  Adam is not a morning person.  And after 6 weeks, we have not figured out how to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  We’ve been getting to bed around 12:30, and by the time the lights are off its pushing 1:30.  I have to be up and out the door by 8:45, so that’s not a lot of time for sleep.  

I make it to work just fine, and do great, until around 4:30, and then I crash.  The first few weeks I had to take a nap when I got home.  These days I push through to bedtime, because I sleep better.  But boy, oh boy, am I tired.  

Everyone who knows me, knows that I don’t like mornings.  

But.

My first job out of college required me to be at work at 7:00 a.m.  

And I taught at the Lexington, School for Creative and Performing Arts one year and our classes started at 6:30.  My alarm would go off at 5:30, I’d shower and drive across town and be ready to teach at 6:30.  

Fun fact:  NO ONE is creative at 6:30 in the morning.  Especially not high school students.  And, there was very little heat in the theater where we taught, so imagine doing scene work with kids in parkas and hats.    

I have my current 9 to 4 schedule for 4 more weeks.  Then I go to a regular restaurant schedule with weekends, and nights and I’ll be able to sleep a little later.  

However, while I don’t like being tired, I do like being free in the evenings.  I get to have drinks and dinner with friends.  I have been able to see local theater that only plays on Friday, Saturday and Sundays.  I’ve gone to the movies.  I have dinner at home with Adam.  

It’s well worth the price of being tired to have a little more flexibility with my schedule and to have a job that I really like.   

But please don’t give me a hard time if I fall asleep watching TV tonight after dinner.  

Tonight’s prompt was tire.