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basically using cupcakes to lure you into reading another angsty job-related post
When a friend's husband was in his final year of medical school, she told me he was so frustrated with the experience, so tired of all the work that he talked – seriously – about become a forest ranger. When another friend's boyfriend was finishing up business school, and also up to his eyeballs in stress, debt, and all the glory that comes with it, he became fixated with the idea of leveraging his track experience to train for the Olympics. When my former roommate was so tired of PR, about the time her ‘environmental’ firm took on an asbestos industry contract (giving them a good spin, you see), she quit and walked dogs for a year. When Alex works late for the fifth night in a row, he wonders why he never pursued becoming an architect.
And me – I just want to ice cupcakes. I’m quite good, you should know. I worked at a bakery throughout high school and discovered much talent in the area of cake decoration. (Like anything bad could happen when there are huge bowls of pink buttercream frosting at your workstation.)
I miss lifeguarding. Teaching swim lessons. Managing a record store. Running my college radio station. Working at a coffee shop. Making perfect roses on birthday cakes. I miss when I enjoyed my job; I wonder why I didn’t pursue other things. I wonder how I can without years more school, which I don’t have the heart for.
But mostly, I wonder if these urges are overcompensation for my level of frustration, boredom, and stagnancy in my daily endeavors. Then again, ask me if I could work in healthcare for another minute, even in another area, and you would hear my bloodcurdling scream. So every night the conversation goes something like this:
Me: Please please can I quit tomorrow?
Alex: Then you’d have even less money, baby.
Me: No, I’d have to give them three weeks notice according to my contract, then I’d get paid out 2-3 weeks for my unused vacation. That’s nearly six paid weeks where I can do nothing but find another job.
Alex: Or six weeks you could put away while you start another.
Me: Damn you and your reasonable logicalness. I have no place for this nonsense in my life.
Alex: But you like having health insurance don’t you?
Me: (Noises. Squeaks. Whines. Mopes.) I just want to ice cupcakes.
And, of course, go to the gym lots and lots.
comments (19)
let's do it. let's ice cupcakes. i was going to quit and freelance tutor, but cupcake icing is tastier than... children? that didn't come out right...
i want to open a coffee shop. or work at one. or be a temp at my mom's office. just not be working any more.
2 | dahl | May 13, 2004 10:06 AM
ugh... i so want to quit now and just move, but the job market sucks and reality has set in. i kind of just want to be a lunchtime bartender.
3 | mingaling | May 13, 2004 10:14 AM
It must be in the air. I went to school for theatre/acting and have spent the last 7 years in a soul-sucking office job. I would LOVE to do nothing but frost cupcakes all day. Ugh. I have to be here for another 7 hours. Waaaaah!
4 | carrster | May 13, 2004 10:37 AM
this sounds like me when I wanted to work at the cookie factory on Commercial Street (jills building) and get married to sandy who worked at the bodega and get really fat and make lots of babies.
it was a great dream for a simpler life--it only lasted a day before someone slapped some sense into me and reminded me I would be getting paid $8,000 a year an no insurance and Sandy wouldn't even be able to afford what i spent on products every month--much less anything else.
maybe alex will support you--and you can hang out at the gym with Alexis.
5 | Jocelyn | May 13, 2004 10:58 AM
take the leap..i just left a firm where i worked for 16+ years (and i generally liked working there) and am now starting something new. It is exciting, invigorating, challenging, FRESH. You have very little in terms of financial obligations (tuition bills, kids, etc...) and that provides you with enormous freedom.
Generally speaking, the worst case scenario is much better than we fear. Shut your eyes, hold your breath, and dive right in - the water is fine.
6 | Neal | May 13, 2004 11:16 AM
Ladies 1-4, et al - Anyone who wants to frost cupcakes for a living, meet me by the swings at recess. I see great things for us.
Joc - I cannot believe you went *there*. Priceless.
7 | deb | May 13, 2004 11:35 AM
Whatever happened to that offer someone made you to write something? Maybe you should start writing. Go freelance. Alex the Girl did it, after all. ;-)
8 | bond girl | May 13, 2004 11:39 AM
I knew someone was going to bring that up :) Well, I blanked. I never came up with something to write. I don't want to write The Great American Novel, nor a dating manual, nor ditties from the not-very SATC front. And I'm also going through my 'I'm not good enough to write proffessionally' phase. Just being honest.
So, um, cupcakes anyone?
9 | deb | May 13, 2004 11:45 AM
I could become a fabulous trophy wife -- I could take care of some rich daddy's checking account all day long... Although the cup cake icing is not a bad idea, except that I would eat half of the icing.
10 | ags | May 13, 2004 11:54 AM
i have given serious thought to what it would take to break into the adult film making industry. and by "serious" i mean "done research."
(short answer: you need a girl.)
11 | bryan | May 13, 2004 01:07 PM
Went where?
12 | Jocelyn | May 13, 2004 01:20 PM
I left the wonderful world of public relations and worked in a bike shop for two years. It was one of the most satifying jobs I ever had. However, things got a little too redneck (as they tend to do in Georgia) and I got the push I needed to go back into a career, albeit a new one.
p.s. my grandpa was a baker: cupcakes, wedding cakes, cookies. I loved seeing him come home in his bakers' whites smelling like a fresh donut.
p.s.s i'm an independent contractor who needs to break her current contract. If anyone has advice on how to do this, please email me ASAP!
13 | myrall | May 13, 2004 02:09 PM
The paid vacation is a bit of a scam. It gets taxed at an exorbitantly higher rate. If you know you're going to quit, then you're better off taking the paid vacation and then giving notice when you get back. The unused vacation is almost as high as the tax on money you take out of your 401(k) before you're 62 or whatever.
14 | Eddie D. | May 13, 2004 02:58 PM
Eddie! That's an awesome little tidbit of info. And just in time for me too, b/c I was just having the inner debate with myself over which scenario is better.
15 | bond girl | May 13, 2004 03:42 PM
don't they tax it at like 30%? great.
signed,
the girl with unused 300 pto hours
16 | mingaling | May 13, 2004 04:00 PM
Currently fed up and considering becoming a forest ranger as well. Or maybe a firefighter. An astronaut? Cupcakes?
17 | Matt | May 13, 2004 07:26 PM
Architecture?! Email me if you really think this is a career option. Seriously. I miss slinging espresso, personally.
18 | miss kat | May 14, 2004 04:00 PM
Do it! I just did. I quit my office job, giving only 2 days notice thus sacrificing my last 2 wks pay and my unused vacation. Now I'm working as a housepainter & already much happier.
19 | erin | May 16, 2004 03:30 PM