I work at a popular restaurant in a nice part of town as a server and bartender. I've been here for about 2 years. What was once a fun and welcoming environment has changed dramatically, and I now dread going into work every day. From the new employees, to management, to some of the entitled customers, I am burnt out beyond belief. I am very aware of my capabilities and my skill in this field, I can do just about any job in the restaurant with ease. I feel like my abilities are taken advantage of by management on a regular basis. Some of the new people are just plain awful at their job, and they mess up orders constantly, forget to run their food and drinks to tables, and they call out whenever they please- and that leaves me (and some others) to pick up the slack. With no compensation or acknowledgment. We have an “Employee of the Month” board, and recently someone who's been there for less than a month has made the cut- but not someone like me, who works their ass off daily. I receive blatant disrespect from some newer people, and when I stand up for myself, I become the asshole and nothing is done about it. My GM had adopted a passive aggressive attitude in the past year, and often makes jokes about how I don't know how to do my job- when he can hardly handle plating food properly without going into a panic and knows next to nothing about bartending.
There's so much more, but it all chalks up to this place being a toxic environment for my mental health and wellbeing.
I've been searching for jobs for about 6 months now, and I've run into the issue of either not being qualified enough because I don't have a degree, or being over-looked for another potential candidate. The only jobs that are readily hiring are- you guessed it- service industry/retail jobs, which I'm already doing. And the place I'm already employed is one of the best service job in the area money-wise, despite the handful of assholes we get that don't tip.
I'm supporting myself and my partner while he's full time in college, and while he's also looking for a part-time job, he's having trouble finding something he can balance between 14 credit hours (I.e. something that's not serving).
I feel unbelievably stuck. What other jobs options are out there that I could explore? What do you guys recommend to make things more bearable until I can escape the service industry?