Tomorrow morning I will be giving notice to the restaurant I helped build… After being named one of the Top Ten new Restaurants in world in 2003 I am wondering if the owner will try to kill me tomorrow. I feel strange and mixed about this decision. I decided to quit the restaurant world and go into half year private chef stints… (hike half the year, work helf the year). Anyone else going thru this crap?
Aswah
Aswah
Work will always be there. When you get very old and look back, you will not remember and talk about the days you spent at work, but the days you spent on the AT hiking.
So work some, hike some.
I have always believed that in each and every situation, there is a win win win situation to be had. That is everybody wins.
In your situation, I would highly suggest that you try to do a win win thing. “I’ve loved working here. But there is something I must do. Something I need to do. Something that burns within me and must be satisfied. And after I do it, which will take a few months, I’d love to come back and work with you if you’d let me.”
In short, “don’t burn bridges”----you may need to cross that bridge somewhere down the road. Also “don’t make enemies”----better to have a good reference than an enemy.
People always need to be feed so chefs are always being needed. Las Vegas, Alantic City, place in Florida, etc are seasonal and need more folks certain times of the year than others. Maybe you can make that work for you. I know folks who do seasonal things, part season commerial fishing, etc, then something else, etc. Helps break up the year and the boredom of life. Hope all this helps.
See you out there.:cheers
Maintain
Asawh hello to you and little bit. Hope all is going well. Will I see you on the trail this year? Rambunny is hiking north to south.
EZ-DOES-IT:cheers
EZ-DOES-IT
Hey Aswah, I already went thru it. If your boss wants to kill you, pull Golden Pimp Boots move on him:pimp . Im sure they will get over it. Love ya man.
Chef
Seems the last four years have been me quitting jobs, hiking, working, quitting, hiking, working etc etc. It’s tough but I wouldn’t want it any other way, at this time of my life anyhow. If you enjoy what you do (workiwise) I guess that’s a bonus.
Oh yeah, from a “smiles not miles” hiking perspective, you’re my hero.
Ross - The Hiker/Worker/Quitter
Ross
Aswah you Frenchies make the bestest food ever. Best fries also, don’t worry be happy. :happy
Jumble Jowls
I gave my two week notice, well, two weeks ago. I had a big s**t-eating grin on my face all night. Tonight is my last night at that place. At one time, I hoped some kind terrorist soul would crash a plane into the side of the building, but no, that is too kind. A far worse thing would be for those to continue, day after day, wasting away in a painful slow dance of spiritual death, becoming emptied shells of once human soul and life. Yeah, that sounds good.
My hike starts in ~182 hours. 
See ya out there march 1st.
xtn
airferret
All I can say is: JOIN THE CROWD!!!
I’ve worked for the past 20 years as a network/project manager on various commercial and government contracts. Until about two years ago (economic slump) I was making great money. Times change.
The job market, in general, is starting to turn around. Good and better jobs should be even more plentiful six months from now (keep your fingers crossed - I know President Bush is doing so prior to the November elections).
Few people have the opportunity to take a six-month hiatus from working. I used to have a “pipe-dream” that I would retire soon and be financially independent. Sometimes life does not treat you so kindly. Sometimes you have to make your own opportunities. In about a week I will be making my own and taking my first step from Springer. It’s only a first step and there are plenty more to come!!!
Brutus
I have a meeting with my boss in about an hour to tell him I will be taking the summer off to do half the trail. I’ve decided I’m going to approach it as maintain suggests. Tell him that I love working here, and would love to come back in the fall, but this is important enough that if it means quitting and taking a new job I’ll just have to do that. I’d love to have a job to come back to…it would greatly reduce the stress out there if I know that I don’t have to come back and spend the next 2 or 3 months trying to find a job. I mean hell, it’s tough enough financially taking 4 months off to hike.
3D
wow… massive butterflies in my stomach… how strange… i also had weird dreams last night, though they could have been induced by too much red wine… i am re-reading desert solitaire and looking forward to stepping out into the real world… i thank all of you for your words and thoughts… today i will cast away the chains of the industrial world and become a butterfly in the green tunnel… very very liberating… i finish with a quote from one of my favorite authors… in 2000 this meant a lot to me…
“I heard them talking to one another in murmurs and whispers. They talked about illness, money, shabby domestic cares. Their talk painted the walls of a dismal prison in which men had locked themselves up. And suddenly I had a vision of the face of destiny.”
Antoine de Saint Exupery
Peace and Love to All that dare to truly live their lives
Aswah the Ignorant
aswah
I gave my notice earlier today. What a relief to have that over. For some odd reason, they seem to think I am quitting because INS is deporting me… Not sure what gave them THAT idea…
In any case, I have been smiling all day. Just one step closer to hitting those white blazes…
Peak-a-Boo
I thought my boss ight start crying… but now I am golden… i might have to hanmg out a week or two longer… but we will see…
aswah
aswah
“The fires of revolt may be rekindled -which means hope for us all”
-Ed, Desert Solitaire
Tha Wookie
Back in September of 2001, I took off a couple of weeks from work to hike a section of the Trail in the Shenandoah National Park. Stayed in several shelters and met some new friends. Everything as you would expect. I had arranged to be picked up by a friend on September 15th. When I got in the car, I just knew something was wrong and found out about 9/11 - four days after it happened.
I wonder what would have been different if I had been at work in Washington, D.C. - as normally I would have been. Or if I had been on an airplane instead of on the Trail. It makes you think, doesn’t it?
I guess you can extend the same thoughts to the next six months - during the time a number of us will be thru-hiking. Whether the things that happen in our lives are (as Forest Gump questionned) the results of fate or the results of our actions.
I believe in living life as we see fit at the time. Hindsight will always be “20-20” and we can always play “what-if” or “was I wrong” games later. There is plenty of time for worries or regrets later - why not enjoy things as they are for now?
Brutus
The process is a bear, but it feels good once it’s over.
Jeff and I just gave our own notices this month. We were smiling for days. Quitting is one step closer to freedom.
Chipper