drewinator

Well where to begin, I have been working at a small local restaurant for the past 7 years, since I was 15 years old, over the years i have gotten promoted, and I have now just been given a major promotion as the managing partner of our first expansion store.

For the past two years I have been the full time manager of our first location, at a base salary of $24,000(this is Canadian $ by the way.)

I am very close with the owners of the restaurant, don't really have a choice when you have been the face of the organization for at least the past 4 to 5 years. So the only reason that we were able to proceed with this expansion that we have been trying to get going for the past 2 years was because I said that I will trust them to make there best judgments, and be patient with them.

So when we agreed on all the terms that my new contract provides I was a little put off that I was only given a $2,000 salary increase, I mentioned to them that I was expecting this to be a bit higher but they said that I will be compensated by a $4,000 bonus at the end of every year, starting at the end of 2010, as well once we figure out the legal part of how to include myself into profit sharing, which was supposed to have been worked out with the lawyers 3 weeks ago, but I am still waiting.

So my store has been open for 2 months as of Feb.5, and in my opinion we are doing an amazing job, customers are happy, staff is happy, food is coming out perfect, the place is clean at all times.

I have been going hard trying to get my store ready to open as well as running the old store all at the same time for about three months before we opened, I haven't had time to myself to relax for about 2 years now because im always the one that put work before myself and never took my holidays and the last time I did was when I broke my ankle/leg and took one week off, and then straight back to work hopping around on one foot.

I am feeling burnt out from the stress of everything being on my shoulders now(and I handle stress very well, I am the calmest and most patient person that i have ever met), I am feeling very under paid, and under appreciated for the amount of work I do.

My main question that I am getting at here is that I have the feeling that I want to get out, I dont want to end on bad terms with the owners who I consider family, I dont have any university degrees, or any schooling past the high school level because of this job, and I do not really want to stay in this industry any longer.

I have no idea on where to take my life, and im feeling like im trapped in a hole and cant build that ladder to get myself out. what can I do?

I am 22 and im still living at home, my debt is piling up because I cant pay my bills all off at once, my girlfriend wants me to move out with her and I know i cant with the money I make now.

I thought I was so far ahead in life then my friends, and now i feel like im the one thats at the back of the pack.

Please help,
Andrew

radu_rd2

24k after so many years is a joke.. especially for someone who manages a restaurant

i would definitely get out and explore other possibilities. i would try to look at what kind of opportunities to get a higher degree are open to you. if you would find an way to go to college (even if it's a 2-year college or course or anything), I would go for it. It would be a nice break from all the stress and will likely benefit you in the future

Stocker

Running a business is huge stress on you. Running it for someone else and not even getting rich off it is 10x worse. Burnout = normal.

If you don't like it, push back. You're on track to be running yourself ragged for low wages. A dude at a cinderblock factory will work his ass off and never get rich. Do you want to be that guy? $28k is decent money if you live in a rat hole and have a raggedy car and no family, pets, or bills. If you get $24k and maybe $4k at the end of the year, you're sucking wind pretty bad.

22 is a great time of life to pick a new direction, if you're going to. Too bad for your generation that mine and our parents' and theirs all f*cked up the economy for you. You have to remember that, even when it looks bad, you always have more than one choice. If you are willing to consider them, you probably have lots of choices. Here are a few options.

Bold: strike out on your own with either the same type of deal for yourself or something entirely new
Safe: stay and suck it up, hope to amount to something down the road
Sucky: take on more debt and knock your brains out working and studying, and get a degree in something you LIKE. Not something profitable, something you like to do.

Every change is highly likely to be short-term painful either money- or mental- wise, no matter how profitable it ends up.
Being a grown-up in your own right is highly inconvenient sometimes eh? wink1.gif

Professor Jeff Ward sez: "If you are not making $100k/yr. by the time you're 30, either you don't really want to, or you are a complete loser"

UrS0NvS

$24,000 can as exchange rates are right now = $22528.88 USD

$22,528.88/2080 hrs per year (40hrs/wk) = $10.83/hr

I am more than positive to believe that you are putting in more than 40hrs/wk being a manager, correct?

depending on the total net amount both restaurants would make in a year this seems really low.

Hell, even the pizza joint i worked at in high school that had ONLY 4 stores the manager their made $26,000/yr. and hardly had to work, just did paperwork. that was back in the late 80's,lol.

but...

you say you have increasing debt and as of right now a job is better than no job. hard one to judge unless you are willing to brin in some other kind of income I.E. second job.

trust me, you want very little debt hanging over your shoulders besides student loans, when you go to college.

drewinator

thanks guys,

being an adult really does suck. yes I do work over 40hrs a week close to 60 and I do EVERYTHING. the main problem I have right now is figuring out what else I can do, as this is all I know. I wouldn't be able to go back to school until the rest of my debt is paid off. Im just stuck at the cross roads of life right now, and it really sucks since I thought I had everything planned out for me already, and I let myself get screwed over big time.

Stocker

If you are working 60hrs/wk they need to hire an ass't manager. Thats dumb. If you are trying to figure out what you can do, consider:

Is there anything you WANT to do but don't know how?
Is there anyone working in your area that does that?
See if they will let you hang around and pick up the trade. Read any books on the subject you can find. If you turn out to be worth their time, they might let you join their team.

majik

It sounds to me like they're taking advantage of you. You're a young, hard worker and you're cheap.

Sit down with them and explain the extra $2,000 to do all their shit isn't worth it to you (say it in a nice way). Their options are to either give you a lot more money, or find someone else.

Is your contract finalized? Does it keep you from leaving? Do you have to pay them to leave?

Just be nice and straight forward with them. Since you're all on good terms, tell them you feel undervalued, and aren't going to put in 60 hour weeks for such little money. They've made promises and haven't come through on them, and you have bills to pay. Being nice doesn't pay the bills, and you're worth more than they're paying you.

If you decide to leave, work out a long arrangement (4-6 weeks) to roll you out of there so they have time to find a replacement. Since this is your only job history, you can't afford to burn any bridges. You need their blessing on future jobs (reference checks).

Who knows, they may give you $10,000 incentive to stay. It won't be easy to find a trustworthy replacement, and they know you're good at what you do.

Do you get anything besides your salary? Tips? Are they paying you $24,000/yr and giving you the opportunity to make another $20,000 in tips? If so, that's a different story.

drewinator

Well I had a whole bunch of stuff to say this morning that I thought had sent but i guess it doesn't matter at this point, as I'm even more frustrated.

Every Tuesday we have a afternoon meeting together(we only see each other this one Tuesday a week) last week Tuesday I was left hanging which I figured was going to happen because he was mad at me on the Monday for some stupid stuff.

so we are to have our meeting today and he doesn't show up again, I had just confirmed the meeting with him on Sunday, I really wanted to express my opinion about everything at this meeting but now I don't even have the chance to do that. I'm going to be sending him an email tonight explaining everything to him, and how everything will go down until my replacement is trained to my standards.

I know its probably the worst thing to do sending an email in this situation but I feel there is no other choice in the matter since I cant get together with him face to face< and knowing myself would probably back down in that situation.

Stocker

Write your email and take a 15 minute break

Read it again and edit as appropriate

Read it tomorrow and send it

NEVER send an important business email after only writing it. Proof read at least 2x and not in the same sitting.