I was desperate to leave the food industry after working in it for almost 10 years and took the first office-like job (but still primarily customer service) that was willing to hire me. It was an adjustment, but there have been too many trade offs that don’t make it worth it for me anymore. As much as it hurts to say this, I think restaurants might be the lesser of two evils in my case.
I’m fortunate enough to have savings, live with my parents, have a fail safe restaurant job that I know I can go back to while job searching.
So I’ve resolved to quit mostly because I don’t really make significantly more than I did in food service (hourly it’s actually a lot less). I’m tired of adhering to “office rules.” I miss the schedule flexibility of working in a restaurant. And my commute is over twice as long.
Caveat is it’s not a particularly toxic environment and I also just finished a training where they paid for all of my travel expenses, so I’m scared I’ll chicken out. Lend me your strength, brothers.