I have 2 parttime jobs with inconsistent scheduling from both of them. What do?

[Ħ]

My first job is at a country club where they float me around as either a busser or running the cafe at the gym and spa. It's an awesome job that pays about $10-11/hour (depending on the service charge pool) with lots of perks. Plus the people are cool. But they have been given me terrible hours this summer averaging about 10-13 hours per week. (They say they'll give me more in the fall when there's more events.) I learn my schedule every Monday and there's no consistency in the hours.

My second job is at a juice bar and I'm a juicer. It sucks as it is fast paced and really loud. Plus the boss is on me and it's a really high pressure environment. It pays $8/hour BUT my boss says he has loads of hours to give me and can even work me full time. Unfortunately the scheduling and hours are really inconsistent. For example, last night at 10pm my online schedule was updated showing I had a morning shift the next day.

Unfortunately, my boss at the juice bar is peeved because I have been giving him the "leftover" hours that I have remaining after I receive them from my first boss.

So what do? I could just quit one of the jobs. I could keep both and limit my hours. (Say, give the juice bar boss my Mon-Fri and my country club boss Sat-Sun.) I do want to be able to work 20+ hours a week to qualify for food stamps.

[rumborak]

I have no idea about your situation otherwise or where you live, but why do you have to work such shoddy jobs? You're pretty young, no?

[Perpetual Change]

I think it depends what your needs are. If you're just working something for the summer and don't need full time hours, the country club gig sounds better. Looks like you'd get a lot of different experience there while you'd still have enough time to focus on school and stuff (you're still in school, right?)

If you need the full time hours, go with the juicer, but don't go right away. Let him be aware of what you're getting at the country club, and see if he'll give you a raise. That should tell whether he really values you or whether he just needs a body to cover schedules.

[theseoafs]

Let him be aware of what you're getting at the country club, and see if he'll give you a raise. That should tell whether he really values you or whether he just needs a body to cover schedules.

I think that's good advice, but not for the job H has.  He's a juicer making something like minimum wage.  How valued could he possibly be in that organization?

The rest of the post is good, though.  If full time hours aren't important, the country club gig sounds a thousand times better.

[Ħ]

Thanks for the comments so far.

I'm looking to be employed til January when I start grad school (I got my B.A. in the spring). I am currently working on completing the CBEST test which would allow me to be a substitute teacher which is way better than these jobs I have right now. I'll probably get that in October soonest.

I am actually pretty new to the juice bar job. I'm still within the two-week window where he can fire me with no repercussions. So I'm not really in a position to negotiate with him about my wage, unfortunately. This is a new problem.

[Perpetual Change]

Let him be aware of what you're getting at the country club, and see if he'll give you a raise. That should tell whether he really values you or whether he just needs a body to cover schedules.

I think that's good advice, but not for the job H has.  He's a juicer making something like minimum wage.  How valued could he possibly be in that organization?

The rest of the post is good, though.  If full time hours aren't important, the country club gig sounds a thousand times better.

In my experience, even minimum wage gigs will offer around $10 to people who they think are worth it and are going to be more reliable and perhaps supervisory. But that's obviously not H, since he's leaving in 4 months anyway.

[Ħ]

I have no idea about your situation otherwise or where you live, but why do you have to work such shoddy jobs? You're pretty young, no?

But...aren't shoddy jobs meant for young people?

I am OK with revealing where I'm at. I'm a fresh graduate. I'm living with my parents but paying them rent, so I'm an independent now. (It's way cheaper for all of us than if I get an apartment.) I need to optimize this next 4 months to save as much as I can for grad school. (It's inevitable that I'll have to take some loans from FAFSA, but I want to minimize that.) If I get at least 20 hours a week, I can get food stamps which would save lots of money. Problem, is, no one wants to schedule me for 30 hours a week because Obamacare makes them give me health benefits.

[bosk1]

Here is my two cents, for what it's worth:

I am generally of the mindset that you should work hard and try to treat every job as though you will work there until you retire, even if you know full well that it is only a temporary stepping stone.  That being said, these are both clearly temporary and have nothing to do whatsoever with what you will ultimately be doing for a living.  So even though earning as much money as possible for the next few months is important, the bottom line is that in the grand scheme of things, if you lost either or both of these jobs, it would not be the end of the world for you.  It might kind of screw up your short-term plans, but it is ultimately not going to have a huge impact on your life. 

With that in mind, do the math and figure out which job stands to earn you more money, given both the pay and the likely number of hours.  The one that stands to pay you the most is your primary.  The other is your secondary. 

Go to boss at primary job and say something along the lines of:  "I have another job temporarily because I need to earn a bit more money.  This job is more important to me, and you have my commitment.  But I need somewhat of a commitment on hours.  Can you give me a rough idea of the max hours you can schedule me?  If you can maximize my hours here and give me at least X hours, I will commit to working those hours and will make sure the other job doesn't schedule me to conflict with the hours you are giving me.  If they cannot accommodate that, I will leave that other job.  But that makes it all the more important that I have a commitment about the minimum number of hours from you."

Go to boss at secondary job and say something along the lines of:  "As I think you know, I am in a situation where I have to work two jobs to get by for now.  I am doing my best to juggle both schedules, and it would help me tremendously if either my schedule here were more consistent or regular, or if I had a better sense of how many hours per week I can expect to work.  Can you please help me with this?"

See what the feedback is.  One may be more willing to commit to you than the other.  If that is the case, then despite a difference in the number of hours worked, that factor may change which is your primary and which is your secondary.  But I think you have to have a heirarchy set in your mind so that if you are forced to choose at some point in time where there is a conflict, you know which way you have to go.

[Ħ]

Thanks bosk! If you don't mind, I am basically going to copypasta that into emails. One further question, though - should I let the primary job determine my availability or should I suggest times that would work for me (e.g. I prefer AM hours, Mon-Fri).

The thing that scares me is that I'll have to tell somebody "No, I can't work tomorrow b/c of my other job scheduling me last minute" at some point. And that sure sounds like something no employer wants to hear.

[bosk1]

One further question, though - should I let the primary job determine my availability or should I suggest times that would work for me (e.g. I prefer AM hours, Mon-Fri).

Hard to say.  I think it depends on how you think the boss would respond.  In the abstract, there's nothing wrong with you basically laying down your availability or preferences.  But the flipside is, in this kind of job, you are pretty expendable, so they may just do whatever they feel like doing with you.

The thing that scares me is that I'll have to tell somebody "No, I can't work tomorrow b/c of my other job scheduling me last minute" at some point. And that sure sounds like something no employer wants to hear.

Exactly.  That's why I think you have to prioritize which one is your primary in the event that happens.  And, hopefully, by being somewhat direct as I suggested above, they will take your scheduling needs into consideration so that that doesn't happen.  But I think you either have to be direct and take control of the situation or brace yourself for the fact that a conflict in schedule will happen sooner or later.

[theseoafs]

BTW, H, this isn't relevant to the parttime job question, but what are you doing after all this?  Master's or PHD?  Do you plan on going into academia?

[JayOctavarium]

I agree with Bosk.


And this thread makes me want to go to Blenders soon. lol

[Ħ]

@Jay - Nekter is where I work. Really healthy but really expensive and the wait is like 15 minutes for your drink. Try it.

Life plan in a nutshell: Right now I'm pretty set on getting an MA and later a doctorate, however difficult that is or however long that will take. My skill set is in analytic thinking, so I couldn't see myself anywhere else but academia. I'm very enamored with learning in an academic environment and never really want that to change. I'm going to grad school for an MA in Philosophy in January. Also I'm currently working for my certificate to be a substitute teacher because that teaching experience will greatly benefit me and future teaching prospects.

Ya I know you're probably thinking that if a wacko like me is going to be a teacher, you're gonna homeschool your kids. But I promise to give them jolly ranchers for raising their hand in class. And we'll watch intermittent episodes of Futurama a couple times a week.

[Ħ]

Well...I got axed from my juicer position.

Problem solved, I guess.

[jonnybaxy]

For no reason to do with this discussion? or was it because you asked about hours/wage/other job?

[Ħ]

Nah, I didn't get to talk to either boss at all.

[jonnybaxy]

What was it for then?

[Ħ]

Not being able to effectively work at a fast pace. Which sucks because I definitely put in an effort to hustle (and he even told me so) but I just wasn't cutting it.

[jonnybaxy]

Sucks, but at least you can now ask your other boss about full time/wage

[theseoafs]

Ouch!  Sorry to hear that H.  Hopefully that's not a huge deal for you.