Just changed careers and I think I did the wrong thing! Help!

[SamanthaX]

I used to be in marketing for a high-profile corporation and I have a undergraduate degree in business from a good school. I recently changed careers and went to culinary school for a culinary business degree. I paid the money, finished the school, took some time to travel, and am now starting my new job as a chef in a nice french place here in San Francisco. Here is the problem: I think I made the worst possible choice and I dont know if i can go back. I am having a serious panic attack. My mind is racing I cant help it. I work the worst hours, the physicality of the job is just too much, my boss is a coke head, and I just feel like I made a bad decision. Can I go back? What should I do? I have fun in the kitchen and I like my co-workers. I just cant stand my boss and it is only week 2. He is really hot and cold and I really think he has a drug problem. What should I do? I dont see a future in this line of work and miss the stability of a 9-5. But, I dont know if I am being hasty or what. My boyfriend tells me to take it easy and just see it out but i dont want to waste any more time. I am 28 and I want to be starting a long-time career not cooking for the rest of my life. I want to be my own boss but I want to find something I am good at and something with potential.

[dyermaker]

Is it the one on 4th near Pacbell, south of Market? Don't tell me. My curiosity threatens your anonymity.

 

I don't have the experience of the workplace to tell you how to handle this or where to go from here.

 

I do know that it's dumb to stick with something just because you don't think you should quit, even though you're unhappy. Being happy should be your priority, and the cokehead stands between you and happiness.

[amerikajin]

Two weeks?

 

Nah, give it some time - you've barely gotten your feet wet. Perhaps you underestimated the rigors of the job, which is common among career changers. You have to make sure you know exactly what you're getting into before you jump in. Everything I've ever read or observed for myself leads me to believe that the restaurant industry is big time stress - and it's probably ten-fold for one of the world's restaurant capitals like S.F.

 

Still, you've invested the time and money to go to culinary school, so I think you should tough it out for at least another couple of months. If you can't stand the job you're at, try and find a place that isn't so intense. If you've given it a few months and a turn at a different job, then yes, by all means, quit. I agree with the young sage, it's silly to stick with something you know hate.

[katie79]

try it for another 2 months or so, and if you don't like it, see if you can get your old job back. You'd probably have to get a new one being that your old position was probably replaced by someone who got out of college.

It sounds like the environment and the people bother you. Do you like the JOB? Would you like your job better if you worked in another place? Or had a boss that wasn't a coke-head?

Resturant industries, chefs, etc, are tough industries. The hours suck and the jobs are physically tiring.

Give your new career more time, but not too much. Get out of it in 3 months if you still feel the same. Perhaps you could go back to the 9-5 marketing job and work 2 or 3 nights a week as a chef in a resturant and feel it out for a while. The hours may blow, but at least you'll find your way.

Don't forget...there's always gonna be people you hate in the workplace, but you have no choie other than to work with them on a professional basis.

Also, at least where I live, most "9-5" jobs are not those hours. Where I work, the people work 13-14hour shifts each day and work most weekends for about 4-9 hours. I'm not even including the fact that they work from home after they are "out of the office".

You'll probably see this in my future thread in a few months to come b/c I dread working those hours. I'm am clearly a 9-5 person. You need weekends and evenings for family and to take care of personal issues. It's important.

[zara]

Didn't they send you on any real life work experience on this course? Didn't you realise that the job entails unsociable hours and being yelled? - sorry if this sounds as though i am chastising you, i just don't think you really thought things through.

 

The good news is, you absolutely can go ahead and quit. if you have realsuied that you don't want to wrok unsociable hours and in that pressured environment you can quit your job and go do something else - if people ask why at an interview you can make a virtue of the fact that you tried out one of your dreams and it was not quite all you thought it would be but you havelearnt from it a nd grown as a person and done something that many people always wish they had done.

 

If you like cooking but hate the restaurant trade you could consider setting up your own little cookery school, run classes for local kids and/ or parents, set up a service where you cater for dinner parties, birthdays etc. Or just do it for pleasure and think of it as an added talent.

 

Just remember that if you don't want to do it, you don't have to be a martyr.

[SamanthaX]

Hi there.

Thank you for the responses.

It has been a month now and I am still feeling the same way. I know I love the culinary industry but I cannot handle these hours, the enviornment, and the work. I want to fins something else in the industry but I dont know where to start. I just feel hopeless. I thought I had given this some thought but I really messed up. I am 28 and totakky lost. My boyfriend is sick of hearing me talk about it and my family is well, annoyed with the whole thing. Everyone just tells me they are disappointed in me. I feel so worthless.