Oh, yeah. I forgot about that one. That might be the worst red flag... the ones who arrive fully formed and comfortable on their first day. I don't mind confident, but comfortable? No way, Jose. If you're not scared to death on your first day, watch out! I'm confident as hell but I'm never comfortable. Even in my main restaurant--the one I built and used to run before I moved upstairs--I'm still nervous as hell every time I have to cover a shift. Best way to get run over by a dump truck is to forget to look both ways before crossing the street. We have PTSD over that one. One of those robbed $5K from the safe on day three. Another "died" in the bathroom from heroin before being revived with Narcan on like day four. A third had 4 domestic restraining orders on their record with one pending (that was under the old regime who didn't bother checking the public judiciary). A fourth made multiple passes at multiple hostesses that would have ended in lawsuits if I hadn't let the parents of one of them hang my guts from the ceiling before my apology was accepted. Another--who was an amazing chef--said he had to leave for a minute pre-shift to pick his mother up at the train station around the corner and we never heard from him again... until, allegedly, he was arrested for drug trafficking in Tennessee, which might be bullshit, but somebody who knew him swore it was true.
Well, Homer, that information on hiring for the restaurant business was about as fascinating as anything I've read lately. Put the cap on what I've always suspected: I'd rather be nibbled to death by ducks in December than work in a restaurant.
Guilty as charged. But I'm also unfailingly pragmatic and generally optimistic. Despite the lack of faith in people's intentions. Or so you say until you want to make $2000 in cash for 30 hours of work, have four days off to raise your kids, pay off your mortgage 10 years early with a little weekend side hustle, not need to take out high interest student loans, pay cash for cars, have your choice of jobs in 5 minutes in any city in the US, or learn everything you need to know about teamwork and dealing with people from all walks of life. Besides that, hell no. I don't recommend anyone do it despite my acute self-interest. I tell all my worker-kids that want to be chefs or owners someday to go be a plumber, locksmith, or electrician. Drive a Ferrari and retire at 40 years old. The ladies won't mind the grease or the stink if you clean up okay.
Damn, I'm glad I live in a nice quiet little town/small city. Nothing like the big cities, with all that debauchery and that level of nastiness. Of course, that stuff has been on the rise here too, like it is everywhere. But I have the consolation of knowing that however bad it is here, it's way worse in the big cities. When I say I worked in resaruants it was mostly fast food joints, and a couple of 'real' restaurants. The bigger places, the 'sit-down' restaurants where people leave tips (before they started pushing for people to pay tips even in fast food joints) probably did have some level of that suff going on, there were a lot more employees and a lot more real estate. And I heard rumors. I never lasted long enough in one of those (sounds like I was lucky) to really find out.
Lol I remember when I worked at a Churches Fried Chicken once. I got on the bus to head home after work and some lady said "Damn, you smell good!" All I could smell was grease. I smelled like that most of the time I worked there, unless I had a couple days off in a row.
True that. But these poor kids are staring at $500K starter homes at 8.5% APR with AI eliminating however big a slice of the job market it wants to consume.
What the fudge. 500k for a house???? That better have a jacuzzi, six bedrooms, and a bathroom to go for each one.
It's worse here in Canada. The average selling price of a home in my town is over a million dollars. It's a real crisis for those wanting to get into the market. Here's what 5 million will buy you in Toronto. (But I don't think they'll get it, it's overpriced) https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/26163430/45-strath-ave-toronto-kingsway-south?PageSlideIn=true&_=1697165038716
The prices where we live have doubled over the last eighteen months which has had a knock-on effect on the rental market. Local bars, shops and restaurants cannot get staff as accommodation is unaffordable on a basic wage. I feel so sorry for those trying to get on the housing ladder.
That's crazy. I mean, it looks really good, but the price is... 5 million is a incomprehensible to me. Greece has an average salary of around 730 euros a month. Well, at least homes aren't anywhere near as expensive, but oh my God.
Try walls, floor, doors, and a roof that might need replacing. Supply and demand. $500K will get you something good, no doubt, but that's like $3K a month Prime with $100K down. But you'll be paying that for rent for a 2 bedroom apartment. 3 bedrooms if you live in the hood.
Huh. Merciless. Mother paid 125k for a three bedroom house in 2020. The US sounds like a wild place to live.
If I had even say, $20K when I moved here to use as a down payment, I could've bought a $200K bungalow that'd be worth double, possibly triple that now. That's just in 9 years. But unfortunately, I was broke as shit, and I'm still in the same apartment. It kinda sucks, but now I am starting to wonder if I am sort of lucky that I am stuck here indefinitely. Well, as long as the landlord company doesn't find some creative way to "renovict" me. Because of the rent control laws here, which my building (thank the gods) falls under, My rent has only been going up 2-3% a year. I'd just really like a small home with a yard, though. A basement to jam in, and a little garden for growing things.
I worked at Pinocchio's Pizza briefly when I was about 17. I thought the grossest was washing my hands before a break but still somehow forming translucent grease spots on my cigarette. That shit wouldn't wash off easily. Also at Pinocchio's, my manager told me while I was being hired that if he ever suspected I was doing any drugs that slowed me down or fucked up his kitchen, he'd drug test me and fire me, but if I did anything that sped up my work, he didn't want to know about it.
You mean the "Try that again and your ass is grass" look that I perfected while dancing in dubious venues about half a century ago?
I broke a tooth last night. A rather important one, right up front too. I can’t get into my dentist’s office til Wednesday morning, so now I have two days of facing customers looking like I just went ten rounds and lost.
My wife and I paid $120K for a 1924 Craftsman bungalow in 2008. Since then, we’ve had to replace the roof, rewire the entire building, I’m in the process of rebuilding the down stairs bathroom, and the next project is to replace the gutters. The upside to home ownership is having your own space; no landlord telling you what you can or cannot do in your own home, and eventual equity value. The down side is you’re stuck there for the foreseeable future of the mortgage, the potential equity value is at the mercy and whim of the market, and you will never be in want of a repair or update project.
