Nick and Tony’s Italian restaurant has been my antidote to the frustrating, not-enough-earnings-to-live-on experience I had at Carson’s Ribs. I spent ten months getting my basic training as a server at Carson’s and I’m grateful for that, but I really hit my stride at Nick and Tony’s. They have great clientele, great management, excellent tips and people I really, really enjoy working with. It’s also a very succesful business and one of the biggest money-makers for the company that owns it, Restaurants-America.
And that’s why they sold it. Restaurants-America will use the money they made selling Nick and Tony’s to seed several other restaurants and projects across the country and we can’t blame them. It’s just business and, I trust, good business.
But Nick and Tony’s is closing in two weeks! Damn it. This has been the best job I’ve had in a a long time. The last time I enjoyed a job this much and felt content to settle in for a good few years was three years ago. I loved working at Arthur Andersen and actually looked forward to Monday mornings, if you can believe it (and even if you can’t). Arthur Andersen was a wonderful place for me to be a secretary and I wanted to stay there for decades. But after I had spent just 14 months there, it went out of business in an ugly way.
At least Nick and Tony’s hasn’t been indicted by the federal government for obstruction of justice, and there are no news cameras to wade through when we go to work there. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I will no longer be working with some of my favorite co-workers at an ideal commuting location doing work I enjoy and earning exactly what I want. Damn it.
I have no doubt at all in my mind that I’ll find another job. I’m a very desireable employee with great experience and excellent references. In fact, incredibly, Restaurants-America is promising to find all of us jobs in their other locations, so I’m not worried about employment. I’m just feeling a bit cursed that my very favorite jobs, the ones I love more than any of the others (and I’ve had a LOT of jobs) disappear on me like this. Will the jobs I love the most always do this? The places I’ve worked and hated are still there. The places I’ve LONGED to see go out of business live on and on and on. Why? Why do my favorites disappear?
I want to work at a job I love, not one that’s “okay,” not one that I really don’t like but don’t feel like a have a choice. I’ve worked countless jobs in five different industries (academia, corporate, childcare, music, restaurant) but the number of jobs I’ve truly loved I can count on one hand. This is so sad and it pisses me off. It’s going to be a pink (slip) Christmas for us at Nick and Tony’s. If any of you wanted to eat there, you’ve got until December 30th.