Job Interview

Yesterday I had a job interview. It is a General Manager position at a well known restaurant with an upper echelon Zagat rating. The problem is that it is 5 days a week and 10 hour days. I would get home at 3am some nights, and work directly under self-professed "anal retentive stubborn control freaks."

M works days, Monday through Friday, so we would go back to our lives of not really spending a whole lot of time together. My writer's group meets bi-weekly during the work week, and I would have to negotiate that evening off. They have never had a manager, and admit that they do things "not exactly the right way." But they seem anything but eager beaver to change their ways.

They are owner/chefs. Some of the best food in restaurants comes from chef-owned establishments, but some of the worst places to work are the exact same places. Before owning this restaurant, they have never worked, let alone run, the front of the house (the dining area, ie waitstaff. The back of the house is obviously the kitchen). They have the stereotypical back of the house disdain for the waitstaff and have a high turnover. It pretty much looks like they run their waitstaff to the ground.

The restaurant has been open for a while and they cook every single day. To say they are overworked is an understatement. But they have to pay for a better quality of life and I am unsure if they realize was the going market rate is for that. Hell, I had to ring up a friend and ask him myself. The restaurant is a definite advancement from my last job. I'm supposed to think it over this weekend and call them on Monday. It is not a given that I will get the job, but if I said yes I think they would give it a whirl. I think I will run a couple of my suggestions by them, see how they react to advice from another, and let them know that I won't do it for under $70,000. It's an $80,000 a year job, and if I'm still around by year 2 that's what I want to make.

If they say yes, which there is a good change they won't, then I feel like I can't so no to the money. Especially right now. But I will be eliminating my life- my social life, my writing life... I just don't know. It will be a long weekend.