A predicament: what would you do?

Soku39

Soku39

Well-Known Member
I need a bit of help making a decision, and I'll try to keep this story as short as possible. Basically I got two jobs at the same time one flight instructing, the other at starbucks. The boss at the flight school wants to get me to full time 9-5, however I'm being realistic and recognizing that winter is right around the corner, and I might honestly not be that busy. However the compensation is adequate at $20/hr. That same week I learned that I got hired at starbucks (at the time of hiring my availability was wide open, and i got a call back from the flight school later in the week). It seems that if I can't get the right availability (5 am - 2 pm) my boss at starbucks will fire me Saturday. It pays horribly at $7.40/hr but it would be consistent, full time, bill paying cash. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, but I know one thing is for damn sure... I did not get an aeronautics degree to make coffee, but a non-academy instructing job during an Ohio winter and using it to pay bills is nothing to screw around with.

After all that what would you do, stay the aviation course and not be miserable, or sell the ole' soul to starbucks, and hate life until March or April? (or longer if the boss at the flight school doesn't like my choice and I have to find yet another flying gig, in a beyond deadbeat economy).
 
mojo6911 said:
Neither one is very stable. Look for a Plan C ASAP.
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:yeahthat:

While you have the job already lined up, Starbucks is going to interfere with your career. I would see what I could do about other means of bill paying employment and fast. Also, have you talked with the starbucks manager about it? Most people are reasonable and if you tell them you got another job maybe they would be willing to work with your schedule.
 
having seen what flexibility working at Starbucks can offer, plus the tips, plus the stock I'd say work there. You'll probably get 2 days off and could CFI on the side and after your shift.
 
Do you plan on makeing coffe for the rest of your life, or flying airplanes. It's all about the sacrafices that, in theroy, should pay off in the end. Ditch the coffe jockey job, and start CFI'ing. If you have to , find a pizza delivery job at night or something.
 
Why is the boss wanting you to go full time at this time of year? Is there something he sees which you don't? It could be that you going F/T would be to make them more attractive to someone else. Gotta have a talk wid bossman.
 
Let me clarify, I have long term plans (non aviation masters, military etc etc) but no immediate plan C, just a 600 hour pilot wit a worthless piece of paper from a university.
She hired me at starbucsks when I said I could be there any time, and I've explained the situation to her twice, and it seems that she won't work with me on the mornings. I myself am shocked that its not a more flexible gig. The other boss wants me full time because he has no day CFIs right now, only guys with other jobs that fly after 5:00 and well when daylight savings hit and the sun goes down at 5:00 he'd be somewhat hosed, this however does not guarantee students are going to be flying dec-march, and believe me we've talked. I've explained the situation to him, and have been trying to pressure him to give me a real schedule by Friday, aka the starbucks ultimatum. One thing I do have going for me though, my fixed costs are low, I mean like 400-500 bucks/mo low, so I only need like 15-20 minimum wage hours a week to cover me, all other income is bar money ; ) . Boredom and brokeness however, you can not put a price on.

PS it took me 4 weeks to get the crap job at starbucks, finding even the slightest bit of night employment with so many people out of work is a full time chore in and of itself that can take months. It's not like I can just go into papa johns or the grocery store and demand employment, like I could 2 years ago, no one seems to need help right now.
 
Tell the boss you want salary or you will have to be part time until you can line up a third, evening job, so you can quit starbucks.

Edit: Find the minimum salary you can work with to pay the bills and up it by 20-30 percent, make that offer to him. You can hopefully haggle it out and walk away with 10 percent savings money over your bill paying.
 
I was in the same situation awhile back. My flight school wasn't getting enough business to allow me to survive so I got a second job. When I got the second job I flat out told them that flying was a career choice and that it came first. Since a did a good job, they were ok with that. They second me what I ask for and everything works out.

I would sit down and talk to both managers. Tell the one at the flight school that flying is your priority but you also have to make the bills. Tell the manager at Starbucks that you will work hard for them and would kindly ask them to work with you when it comes to a schedule. You will probably have to go part-time though.
 
shdw said:
Tell the boss you want salary or you will have to be part time until you can line up a third, evening job, so you can quit starbucks.

Edit: Find the minimum salary you can work with to pay the bills and up it by 20-30 percent, make that offer to him. You can hopefully haggle it out and walk away with 10 percent savings money over your bill paying.
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:yeahthat:

See if you can get the CFI boss to commit to a gaurentee of your minum monthly expenses, and then pay you at a reduced rate for every hour you work or something. Like a monthly gaurentee of $800 (you still need bar money you know) and then like $10-12 an hour for every hour that you work. But you have to make it appealing to both parties, like you'd have to work full time or something (8-5 mon.-sat). And then of course, the inevitable night flight would need to be worked in, mabey start that day at noon or 2 or something......
 
Soku39 said:
Let me clarify, I have long term plans (non aviation masters, military etc etc) but no immediate plan C, just a 600 hour pilot wit a worthless piece of paper from a university.
She hired me at starbucsks when I said I could be there any time, and I've explained the situation to her twice, and it seems that she won't work with me on the mornings. I myself am shocked that its not a more flexible gig. The other boss wants me full time because he has no day CFIs right now, only guys with other jobs that fly after 5:00 and well when daylight savings hit and the sun goes down at 5:00 he'd be somewhat hosed, this however does not guarantee students are going to be flying dec-march, and believe me we've talked. I've explained the situation to him, and have been trying to pressure him to give me a real schedule by Friday, aka the starbucks ultimatum. One thing I do have going for me though, my fixed costs are low, I mean like 400-500 bucks/mo low, so I only need like 15-20 minimum wage hours a week to cover me, all other income is bar money ; ) . Boredom and brokeness however, you can not put a price on.

PS it took me 4 weeks to get the crap job at starbucks, finding even the slightest bit of night employment with so many people out of work is a full time chore in and of itself that can take months. It's not like I can just go into papa johns or the grocery store and demand employment, like I could 2 years ago, no one seems to need help right now.
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Would the flight school be willing to let you come in after the Starbucks job? It would still be earlier than the others. If there are enough students you could always quit SB later.
 
Soku39 said:
She hired me at starbucsks when I said I could be there any time, and I've explained the situation to her twice, and it seems that she won't work with me on the mornings. I myself am shocked that its not a more flexible gig. The other boss wants me full time because he has no day CFIs right now, only guys with other jobs that fly after 5:00.
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2 thoughts and both say go with the full time CFI gig.

1. Any idiot can run a coffee machine. The fact that your Starbuxx boss is being a bizzoch is because your job there can be done by the next jerk off who comes in off the street looking for work. That's going to happen and it's only a matter of when, not if

2. If you're the only full time CFI, you'll probably be working 8 hour days every weekday and as many hours as you want on weekends- (depending on weather, of course). At both the flying club I belong to, and the place I'm doing my own CFI course, almost all of the airplanes get plenty of work during the weekday, during normal working hours. Airspace in the training areas gets pretty busy too, so this is not isolated to just a couple of local operations.

Good luck with whatever you decide
 
Which school in Akron? I taught for a couple in that area, one full-time then one part-time. Both where awhile ago though.

If the place you're going to be instructing for operates out of a single wide trailer a little bit north of town at a certain university airport and the owner is old as dirt- he's pretty miserable to work for BUT the airplanes are/were nice and he paid pretty fairly. I'm thinking it's not though, because when I worked there, he paid a minimum guarantee, not just hourly. And he'd want you there from more like 7am-7pm sitting in the office whether you have students booked or not. I'm not even actually sure if he's still in business (or alive for that matter)- most of the airplanes were for sale when I quit there in November '03.

If it's a school run by A WiFe And husband located on the same airport as a certain old blimp hangar, run like hell to Starbucks and don't look back.

As long as it's not the latter, my advice would be to do whatever you can to instruct. If Starbucks doesn't work out, keep looking for other part-time stuff. As the holidays approach, stores will be looking for seasonal help. UPS and FedEx also hire extra seasonal help when the holiday shipping volume is high- you could ride shotgun and help carry packages or work in the sort. Either one has different shifts available.

Good luck!
 
EatSleepFly said:
If the place you're going to be instructing for operates out of a single wide trailer a little bit north of town at a certain university airport and the owner is old as dirt- he's pretty miserable to work for BUT the airplanes are/were nice and he paid pretty fairly. I'm thinking it's not though, because when I worked there, he paid a minimum guarantee, not just hourly. And he'd want you there from more like 7am-7pm sitting in the office whether you have students booked or not.
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6 days a week, too. I interviewed with him and had to politely decline. Ridiculous.

I'm not even actually sure if he's still in business (or alive for that matter)- most of the airplanes were for sale when I quit there in November '03.
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He was still kickin in June '05...but still had planes for sale.

If it's a school run by A WiFe And husband located on the same airport as a certain old blimp hangar, run like hell to Starbucks and don't look back.
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Agreed. And I'll be happy to buy ya a beer when you do. Seriously. I interviewed there after I sold my flight school...they him-hawed about pay and finally after I drove out there 3 times (2 interviews and 1x for paperwork) they told me the ridiculous amount. I literally laughed my way back home. She's a joke and he's a walking heart attack waiting to happen. ...I'll probably end up being sued for that. Srsly.

Back to the OP.

I'm confused with your arrangement at the flight school. They want to make you "full time" (9-5) at $20/hr. By my count that's $800/week (40hours*$20). If they want you to be there those hours, they need to compensate you (legally) to be there. That means at least minimum wage. If he's not paying you (at least minimum wage) he can't force you to be there. That's not called employment, that's called slavery and is, in fact, frowned upon.

-mini
 
I can't believe someone hasn't said it already. Who says you needed to work at Starbucks? Try Wal Mart or any other place where you can work 4 to 8 hours a day, any day of the week any time combination.
 
Do you want to fly for a living? If you can eat, cfi is $20 an hour plus xx$ in flt time. It is a crappy deal, but that is how the FAA based system works.
 
Socal321 said:
I can't believe someone hasn't said it already. Who says you needed to work at Starbucks? Try Wal Mart or any other place where you can work 4 to 8 hours a day, any day of the week any time combination.
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Starbucks = benefits even for PT.

-mini
 
come on. even with a "worthless bachelors" from no-name university, you can find something a lot better than min wage at starbucks.

hell, even while i was in college i was working random office jobs from a temp agency for ~14 an hour and that was in 2003.

plan C. GO.

look into UPS/Fedex.

hard work, fair pay, good benefits. also decent scheds (~25 hours a week, early morning or afternoon) so you could CFI and work tossin boxes.
 
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