tl;dr: I received a job offer for a decent position and put in my two weeks at my current spot . They then ghosted me for two weeks. I emailed twice within seven days, called the manager's cell two days later and left a voicemail, and got radio silence. I gave up and went back to my current job and asked if I could stay. Just last night I received an email with a slew of excuses and a confirmed start date. For reference, this is a small but notable restaurant group with multiple managers and I feel they should have at least acknowledged my acceptance earlier rather than ghosting, which left a bad taste in my mouth.
I need some advice on what to do!
First I was going to make this a rant because I still hadn't heard from them but they ended up reaching out to me later last evening with a slew of excuses, but now I need to hear some genuine advice because even though I think I know what the right choice will be, I seem to have have a history of making the wrong choices in my jobs and work life and I want to know whether or not I'm overreacting about this situation or if it is as big of a red flag as I think.
From the beginning: I currently work as a server/hostess in a large scale restaurant in a major city. I am a recent graduate and looking for work has been absolutely fruitless for me following the pandemic, as I had transferred schools right before COVID hit and ended up mostly remote with no network, no internships, no experience, and a B.S. in Psychology which is pretty useless by itself. I've spent my time working in restaurants for the past several years. It's flexible, pays the bills, and has worked with my schedule thus far but I'm getting restless in the industry and have realized that I'm not really cut out for sales.
I've been applying to jobs for months and hitting dead end after dead end, as my resume is essentially just super bland. It's been pretty demoralizing but I've felt lucky to have my jobs in the restaurant industry. Back in the beginning of December I found this full time administration position at a small but notable restaurant group. I would get paid a decent consistent hourly and I would have a consistent schedule, with Xmas and NYE off (uncommon for a restaurant). It would be stable and I would be able to work a routine into my life. I applied for the job and heard back a week later regarding an interview from the service manager.
I had a phone interview 5 days later and she said she had a few more interviews to conduct and would reach back out to me the next day regarding a second interview. I sent a thank you email that afternoon, didn't hear back. I ended up reaching out to follow up after I hadn't heard back for 7 days (this was starting to become a pattern). She emailed me the next day and asked if I could come in that evening for a second interview and a trail. I complied and it went well. She reached out to me on January 3rd and said that they were in the final stages and would make a decision the next day. After five days of silence I emailed again asking if a decision had been made. The next day I get a missed call from the GM as I was at work. I call back and it goes to voicemail and she calls me back 30 seconds later, offering me the job. It felt like a red flag to me that she offered it over the phone but everything prior had been done via email.
She said she'd be working through the weekend so to send her an email with my start date to begin the official process. I accepted the job and emailed her and the CC the service manager1.5 days later with my start date and a couple confirmation questions, and put in my two weeks at my current job that same evening. I hear nothing back. After five days of nothing I send a short and concise follow up email. I hear nothing back. The next day I call the manager's cell and leave a message inquiring about my start date and referencing my earlier emails. I hear nothing back. At this point I'm less than a week to go at my current job and starting to sweat about whether or not I'll have a job next week, so I decide to go to my current job and ask them to rescind my two weeks as this job was giving me massive red flags. They asked me to come in to meet with the GM in the next couple of days.
Last night I get an email with a bunch of excuses for the delayed response, citing training a new manager and dealing with a buyout (the restaurant holds about 40 people). She then continued to give me instructions for my first day.
At this point I've already approached my current job asking to stay and have yet to have a sit down meeting with the GM. I like my current job, I like the people and I feel supported and wouldn't mind staying, but I just wanted to dip my toes into something besides serving. I feel that while the new job would give me slightly more stability and consistency (but less flexibility), they disrespected my time and were really inconsiderate, and have been bad on the follow up since the beginning. I feel that they easily could've taken the time to acknowledge and confirm my acceptance/start date and tell me that they were busy but would get back to me and my questions more in depth at a later point.
My gut feeling is telling me to stay at my current job. Am I overreacting with how they went about this whole process?