Hi Sarita,
So I’m at a crossroads. I thought I’d use this email as a sounding board more than anything, since by the time you get this and have a chance to respond, my decision will probably already have been made. So here it goes.
First of all, I made the free trip to Tulsa last week to interview for the restaurant in Oklahoma. It wasn’t me. I don’t know how to describe it without sounding completely snobbish and egocentric, but they tout it as the best restaurant in town (Bartlesville, which it probably is), but it was atrocious. The servers were sloppy and disheveled. The service was mediocre. They were serving probably 30 covers that day…which is a busy lunch in their books, and they all looked like the ship was going down. The space itself was disorganized and poorly laid out. The menu is written by a corporate chef that visits quarterly to update it as well as coming in for special events, etc…however, he is based out of Dallas. The day to day kitchen is executed by 2 line cooks, who I’m sure do what the chef’s directive is, but it is not fine dining. We ordered the hummus at lunch, which is apparently the best-seller, and the presentation wasn’t bad, pita triangles lined each side of a square plate set on a diagonal and then a large dollop of hummus was at the top corner. On either side of that was a pile of cured olives. The huge dollop of hummus had a sprig of rosemary standing up out of it. Nice…
The entire interview, which lasted about 3 hours, including lunch, was basically these two corporate guys telling me all about the place and continually asking me if I was interested. I got the feeling that they were trying to fill a position that’s been open for too long and then here I come, with a nice education and some experience in the Napa Valley, but only in the industry for 4 years, so I’m still a little cheap, so I’m the perfect candidate.
I know what you’re thinking. All of this would be a great challenge and maybe I’m the one to come in there, bust some ass and turn it all around…show the people of Bartlesville what fine dining really is. But, honestly, I just had this sick feeling while I was in the building that I would be embarrassed to have my name attached to this place. Enter the snob I’ve become. Whatever. It didn’t feel right. All of this is also coming from knowing that they only budgeted mid-thirties for salary for this position and it is basically a GM position. Now, having said all of that, if they call tomorrow and come through with an offer like 50K, I’ll strongly consider it because, let’s face it…money talks.
The biggest bummer is that the entire time I was home I just had this huge sinking feeling because I knew I wasn’t really feeling it and I would have to tell my parents that this wasn’t the “Katie’s going to decide to move home” trip and I didn’t even want to tell them that I had an offer in San Francisco (I’ll get to those detail in a minute) because it would make me feel like the disappointment of the century. And when I did tell them, that was exactly the reaction I got. My mom spent the rest of that hour trying to drag all of the negative aspects of the job to light.
Now, that’s one hand...On the other hand, I received a job offer with La Boulange in San Francisco. This is the cute French Café/bakery chain in San Francisco. You remember the one on Union Street, I’m sure…tres adorable! Basically, you walk in and the length of the dining room has a large pastry case and counter. Behind the counter, mounted on the walls are chalkboard menus. Guests can come in and order breads to take home, or pastries of all sorts, additionally, there is a soup/salad/sandwich menu that you can order from. Once you order it, you get a number and the order goes to a little kitchen in the back. A cook prepares it and a staff member delivers it to the guest in the dining room. The place has another counter where a coffee station is set up, with self-serve organic coffee. The tables are minimal, wooden, simple with simple café chairs. The dining room is wired with wifi, so people can linger on their laptops, or they can take their items to go. It is a GM position and likely, they will place me in their new Hayes Valley location, slated to open near the end of August. Otherwise I would be in their North Beach location on Columbus Avenue, in which case, they would be firing the current manager in time for me to move in. I would prefer the Hayes Valley location.
The compensation package they offered is a little too low, unfortunately…but includes the opportunity for bonuses, but the first potential bonus would be 9 months away. This isn’t enough for me to move to San Francisco. I’ve done the math on paper and if I consolidate all of my non-student loan debt (credit cards, etc) then I could do it for a little more, so if tomorrow, when I speak to them and tell them this, and they offer me a slightly better number, then I will very likely be moving to San Francisco to be the GM of a small French Café/Bakery.
Here’s where it gets sticky….you know me, the chicken….the thought of taking the plunge and moving to SF absolutely terrifies me. I’m excited as well, but really really nervous. Plus, my family is completely unsupportive. Which I shouldn’t care about, but it really bothers me. And I keep having people react a little bit like I’m taking a step down by moving to a place with such casual service. Do you think it’s a step down? I mean, yes, it’s simpler service, but it’s a new experience for me. And also, part of what’s really appealing to me is that this is very similar in concept and execution to what I see myself owning someday…so why not learn on someone else’s dime?
Sigh….I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. Shouldn’t I know? Shouldn’t I have this strong gut feeling pulling me in one direction? I definitely am very interested in the café bakery, I really love the concept and I think it would be good experience and I could be happy, as long as the job doesn’t also make my financial ruins reach a catastrophic level, or keep me at work so much that I have no time to appreciate the quality of life in San Francisco, then I kinda want it. I’m completely self-assured, aren’t I?
Thank you, dear sounding board. Please don’t hold back any advice or other comments, as even though I think the decision will be made tomorrow, it may not be and then your voice would be most appreciated in further consideration.
much love,
Katie
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Another fabulous day of air travel…
So I recently took a little trip to Tulsa to interview for a potential job…I know…moving home to work in Bartlesville, Oklahoma…hardly something anyone would guess I would consider, but there I was. And the trip was so classically Katie that I had to share what I wrote while on my trip:
June 19
My day began at 5am…I closed the restaurant last night and came home and packed and crawled into bed at 1am. So four hours later, only about 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, the phone began ringing.
Groggy…I answered to an automated system telling me that I need to call the reservation system as my flight information has changed. So I call…another automated system. I’m pressing #s to navigate the menu and then their computer wants me to answer questions…the problem is that the computer can’t understand anything I’m saying and I’m getting angrier and angrier. After you scream AGENT into the phone about 4 times it seems to finally decide to go ahead and transfer you…
to Pakistan.
So now I’m talking to someone who has trouble hearing me and I’m having trouble understanding him and its 5:15am and I’m just loopy and pissed.
-My flight was cancelled.
-There is another flight that leaves at 2:30pm and will get me to Tulsa at 10:45pm….four and a half hours after my originally scheduled flight…would I like to book?
Do I have other options? No.
Yes, I’d like to book.
So I’m disappointed and frustrated--any loss of control over travel will do that to a person and this particular trip is only two nights anyway, so my time with the fam is getting cut short. However, this does afford me about 4 more hours of much needed sleep so I take a deep breath and snooze on.
Now, time has passed, I’m more rested, I drive to the airport and check in in plenty of time for my flight, which is now delayed.
Yup…delayed. Another hour, which means more waiting in Oakland, but I will still make my connection in Denver, so I’m okay…
3:30pm
We take off for Denver. Fairly normal flight…a few highlights include:
-TURBULENCE..not like I’ve felt before, it was as if the plane was sliding into a roll and then over-correcting to roll the other way. The passengers were gasping and my heart was racing. The captain explained that what had happened was that we were flying behind another plane (a safe distance, I assume) and our plane got caught in that plane’s gust.
-The flight went by fairly quickly. I befriended Karla, who was sitting next to me and had just had a girlfriend’s weekend in Calistoga with her longtime friends Bonnie and Barbara. They ate dinner at the CIA last night, and had a wonderful time.
Karla has a cocker spaniel named Morgen that she adores and walks on a leash that is more like a vest instead of a collar. “This way I am walking Morgen and Morgen isn’t walking me,” she explains. And Morgen is spelled with an “e” instead of an “a” because it is German, the word for ‘morning.’
And Karla’s father was in WWII and serviced the plane that carried the atomic bomb to Hiroshima.
Her daughter lives in Phoenix and her grandchildren are named Katelyn Morgen (Karla got to name her) and Ronnie, who is named after his dad. They have 2 pitbulls named Dino and Pebbles.
She is an artist-dabbles in oil painting since she retired.
Karla was cool.
Once we landed in Denver, I treated myself to 2 scoops of Dulce de Leche ice cream and waited to board the on time flight to Tulsa.
Once on, I found myself sitting next to a very sharp 6th grader who was on her way back from her first trip to Disneyland. Next to her was a woman who played piano for a singing group who performed for a rotary group in Salt Lake City, Utah.
If my first flight was turbulent, this flight was freakin’ rocking and rolling. Scary. We were flying on the outskirts of a massive thunderstorm and the captain apologized but said that it would likely be this way for the rest of the flight.
I was sipping Sprite and my stomach was turning but finally the ride smoothed out.
The captain came on again to inform us that the thunderstorm was parked over Tulsa and it’s a slow moving storm so we’ve been diverted to Springfield, Missouri.
Springfield, of course, wasn’t expecting us so as I write this we’re sitting on the tarmac with no place to park. This is how the last hour and a half has gone:
*Once on the ground, I call my parents to give them the update so far-we’re in Springfield. My Dad is currently driving in the bad weather towards the airport to come get me.
*I’ve relocated my seat to the row behind me where there are no passengers so I have a row to myself.
*I pick up a text message from Leah: “Umm. Did you 4get to tell me that j-lo is engaged?”
*I text her back that I totally forgot. Then, I use the airplane restroom. Consequently, this is my very first time in an airplane bathroom-and I cannot imagine two people fitting there, let alone having sex in one. My hat’s off to those nimble souls.
*Leah calls me,
“How could you forget something like that?!?!”
“Leah, I have a few other things on my mind at the moment…I’m in Springfield”
“Oh my God!” she screams and then bursts into laughter.
There really isn’t anything else to do. The captain comes on during this fit to update us. He explains that the storm is still hovering and the airport has no place to put us so we’re going to remain parked here, “we could end up sitting here for awhile…” he explains.
Leah can hear him on the speaker and begins a new fit of laughter all over again.
I talk with her awhile and then let her go to save battery juice.
*The sixth grader, who has been collected by her mother to sit up front somewhere has returned to show me photographs of her family on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. In both shots, this girl has ducked in fear during the ride so that only the top of her head is visible in the photos.
*New update from the captain…there seems to be a hole in the storm over Tulsa, so we are refueling and are going to attempt to fly in. They are making sure that there is plenty of fuel so that if we need to hover over the storm for a bit before it opens up we can do so. Also, this surplus of fuel will allow us to return to Denver in the event that the storm doesn’t open up.
*I decide to write.
We’ve now taken off and are in flight to Tulsa. The captain, who’s now good buddies with the Tulsa flight tower is very optimistic that we’ll be able to get in there.
Obviously, I’ll be typing this as a blog entry and will be able to report on the final outcome by the time I’m plugged in.
Will Katie get in to Tulsa?
Is this chaotic flight some sort of cosmic note that she should or shouldn’t be contemplating a move home?
Will she be fresh and on time for her 11am job interview?
Here comes the turbulence…
I’m putting the pen and paper away now…stay tuned.
~ ~ ~
We landed safe and sound in T-town around 1:30am.
June 19
My day began at 5am…I closed the restaurant last night and came home and packed and crawled into bed at 1am. So four hours later, only about 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, the phone began ringing.
Groggy…I answered to an automated system telling me that I need to call the reservation system as my flight information has changed. So I call…another automated system. I’m pressing #s to navigate the menu and then their computer wants me to answer questions…the problem is that the computer can’t understand anything I’m saying and I’m getting angrier and angrier. After you scream AGENT into the phone about 4 times it seems to finally decide to go ahead and transfer you…
to Pakistan.
So now I’m talking to someone who has trouble hearing me and I’m having trouble understanding him and its 5:15am and I’m just loopy and pissed.
-My flight was cancelled.
-There is another flight that leaves at 2:30pm and will get me to Tulsa at 10:45pm….four and a half hours after my originally scheduled flight…would I like to book?
Do I have other options? No.
Yes, I’d like to book.
So I’m disappointed and frustrated--any loss of control over travel will do that to a person and this particular trip is only two nights anyway, so my time with the fam is getting cut short. However, this does afford me about 4 more hours of much needed sleep so I take a deep breath and snooze on.
Now, time has passed, I’m more rested, I drive to the airport and check in in plenty of time for my flight, which is now delayed.
Yup…delayed. Another hour, which means more waiting in Oakland, but I will still make my connection in Denver, so I’m okay…
3:30pm
We take off for Denver. Fairly normal flight…a few highlights include:
-TURBULENCE..not like I’ve felt before, it was as if the plane was sliding into a roll and then over-correcting to roll the other way. The passengers were gasping and my heart was racing. The captain explained that what had happened was that we were flying behind another plane (a safe distance, I assume) and our plane got caught in that plane’s gust.
-The flight went by fairly quickly. I befriended Karla, who was sitting next to me and had just had a girlfriend’s weekend in Calistoga with her longtime friends Bonnie and Barbara. They ate dinner at the CIA last night, and had a wonderful time.
Karla has a cocker spaniel named Morgen that she adores and walks on a leash that is more like a vest instead of a collar. “This way I am walking Morgen and Morgen isn’t walking me,” she explains. And Morgen is spelled with an “e” instead of an “a” because it is German, the word for ‘morning.’
And Karla’s father was in WWII and serviced the plane that carried the atomic bomb to Hiroshima.
Her daughter lives in Phoenix and her grandchildren are named Katelyn Morgen (Karla got to name her) and Ronnie, who is named after his dad. They have 2 pitbulls named Dino and Pebbles.
She is an artist-dabbles in oil painting since she retired.
Karla was cool.
Once we landed in Denver, I treated myself to 2 scoops of Dulce de Leche ice cream and waited to board the on time flight to Tulsa.
Once on, I found myself sitting next to a very sharp 6th grader who was on her way back from her first trip to Disneyland. Next to her was a woman who played piano for a singing group who performed for a rotary group in Salt Lake City, Utah.
If my first flight was turbulent, this flight was freakin’ rocking and rolling. Scary. We were flying on the outskirts of a massive thunderstorm and the captain apologized but said that it would likely be this way for the rest of the flight.
I was sipping Sprite and my stomach was turning but finally the ride smoothed out.
The captain came on again to inform us that the thunderstorm was parked over Tulsa and it’s a slow moving storm so we’ve been diverted to Springfield, Missouri.
Springfield, of course, wasn’t expecting us so as I write this we’re sitting on the tarmac with no place to park. This is how the last hour and a half has gone:
*Once on the ground, I call my parents to give them the update so far-we’re in Springfield. My Dad is currently driving in the bad weather towards the airport to come get me.
*I’ve relocated my seat to the row behind me where there are no passengers so I have a row to myself.
*I pick up a text message from Leah: “Umm. Did you 4get to tell me that j-lo is engaged?”
*I text her back that I totally forgot. Then, I use the airplane restroom. Consequently, this is my very first time in an airplane bathroom-and I cannot imagine two people fitting there, let alone having sex in one. My hat’s off to those nimble souls.
*Leah calls me,
“How could you forget something like that?!?!”
“Leah, I have a few other things on my mind at the moment…I’m in Springfield”
“Oh my God!” she screams and then bursts into laughter.
There really isn’t anything else to do. The captain comes on during this fit to update us. He explains that the storm is still hovering and the airport has no place to put us so we’re going to remain parked here, “we could end up sitting here for awhile…” he explains.
Leah can hear him on the speaker and begins a new fit of laughter all over again.
I talk with her awhile and then let her go to save battery juice.
*The sixth grader, who has been collected by her mother to sit up front somewhere has returned to show me photographs of her family on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. In both shots, this girl has ducked in fear during the ride so that only the top of her head is visible in the photos.
*New update from the captain…there seems to be a hole in the storm over Tulsa, so we are refueling and are going to attempt to fly in. They are making sure that there is plenty of fuel so that if we need to hover over the storm for a bit before it opens up we can do so. Also, this surplus of fuel will allow us to return to Denver in the event that the storm doesn’t open up.
*I decide to write.
We’ve now taken off and are in flight to Tulsa. The captain, who’s now good buddies with the Tulsa flight tower is very optimistic that we’ll be able to get in there.
Obviously, I’ll be typing this as a blog entry and will be able to report on the final outcome by the time I’m plugged in.
Will Katie get in to Tulsa?
Is this chaotic flight some sort of cosmic note that she should or shouldn’t be contemplating a move home?
Will she be fresh and on time for her 11am job interview?
Here comes the turbulence…
I’m putting the pen and paper away now…stay tuned.
~ ~ ~
We landed safe and sound in T-town around 1:30am.
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