So... I've been working at EA for... well, almost a whole month now, out on the floor. It's pretty nice. Would be a perfect job if it paid better, honestly. I think I'm doing fairly well. But that's not what this is about. It's about Ivar's. My other job.

So, you all know that Blake is long gone. Well Chad hired three more people. THREE. Taylor, Melissa, and Chris. I trained all three of them. I had actually written up a guide to the kitchen to help things. They ended up calling it "The Book of Todd." This was about a month ago, like late September. I was kind of proud of it, honestly.

Thing was... the day I started my night shifts at EA Chad tells me he cant have me work from 9-3. I had told him thats what I needed on DAY ONE back in AUGUST. Not once in the nearly two month period did he say fucking anything about this. So now Im kind of fucked on hours at Ivar's. I will admit that miscommunication is never one person's fault, but honestly. So, for pretty much the entire month of October, all I worked was a double shift on Sundays (10am - 10pm). It sounds brutal, but Sundays are generally fairly slow. This also reduced my number of days off in the week from 2 to 1, which I have since gotten fairly used to (I even tolerated the idea of working at Ivar's Saturdays and Sundays because honestly, working at EA is a vacation by comparison. But I decided I needed at least one day off to just be me). So I was only working 12 hours a week at Ivar's

Now, let's think about this. I have two jobs, right? One I really like, that gives me as many hours as I want, and one that, while I dont like it, Im at least only working one day a week and know it like the back of my hand. Shouldnt be a problem, right?

Every.
Single.
FUCKING.
Week.
I had to convince myself not to just walk out.

There is a broken fryer that is absolutely filthy that has just been SITTING there waiting to get replaced for SIX FUCKING WEEKS. The big freezer is busted but its been sitting there since DAY ONE. Do we need it? No, but it could at least get thrown out. The kitchen is absolutely filthy, no one but me seems to give a shit about cleaning up after themselves and Im only in there one day a week. So I essentially spent a whole month wishing I could just... quit.

Last Sunday I finally made a decision. I can be indecisive, I know this. I was either going to a) get the hours I want at IVar's so I can make a difference in how things go and make the kind of money I want or b) get another goddamn job. Last week I applied at four other places nearby. Places that really have their shit together and are much fucking nicer than Ivar's. But I'm reluctant to just switch, because I didn't want to be at the bottom rung, making next to nothing. But something had to give.

So I spent Friday and Saturday psyching myself up for this scenario. I was going to talk to Chad, and tell him I needed to work nights. If he said no, then I was going to give notice. I was also going to give notice if he gave me his usual sort of hedging bullshit.

I ended up walking out.

I came in, prepared to work the whole day. I got the whole kitchen set up for the day, checked the inventory, etc. My usual routine. I didn't actually expect Chad to show up, or have time for me. Was going to call him if I had to. But he did show up, and I walked right up and said I needed to talk about the schedule. He said okay and I asked if I could start working 5-11 Monday through Friday. I had brought up the fact that I was thinking of switching to days at EA (a fifty cent pay cut I could live with if I got nights at Ivar's) to Edwin last week, since Chad had ninja'd his way out of talking to me about it last week.

Chad just said he already had someone working nights. My heart sank at this. I actually, honestly prayed last night for this to work out, for him to just say something like "yes please I hate [insert night shift worker]." I tried to sell him on the idea a bit, but I was not about to beg for anything. I finally just put up my hands and said "okay, this is my two weeks notice."

Now...

If Chad had just said, what I think any ordinary human being in that position SHOULD have fucking said, and said, "okay, Im sorry this isn't working out for you, Dude, but I understand you have to do what's best for you." (Pat would have said that...) Then I would be at Ivar's until... the 16th, which would be my last shift. I was prepared to do that unless one of my other applied-for jobs had wanted otherwise.

Chad did say "okay" and for a moment I thought that was the end of it. But then, much like Blake, he quickly realized he had lost the upper hand with me and tried desparately to re-establish dominance. He whirled on me and started shouting and swearing and all but shaking the cash drawers in his hands. He kept asking me "what do you want me to do? Fire Chris? " etc etc etc. I didnt WANT him to fire ANYONE, but my needs come before the needs of someone I barely know, Chad included. Maybe before he HIRED anyone, he could have talked to ME first, and I could have tried to get days back THEN instead.

He kept insisting that I should order my life around my job. Uh, no. It's the other way around. He kept talking, yelling, arguing with me, and Im just like. No, I'm not working here another minute. I make my way over to my jacket and just say, "I'm out of here." Chad kept insisting he needed people who could work around his schedule. In my head Im like "thats a slave. You want slaves. A person who has no voice over their employment, even if they are paid, is still a form of slave. I'm not a slave." I tried to at least let him finish his crazy spiel. He even tried to establish that he was a better person then me by talking about how big his bills were and how he works all the time and all I could do was shake my head and walk out the door...

So that was that.
I worked there eight years. Closer to nine, really... And good riddance. Once Pat left that place, I should have just left right along with him...

But it's over now. I'm done with that place, and now I'm free to pursue something even better.

Thank you all for braving my cuss-filled wall of text. I love you all. Stay tuned.