Sigh

I am seriously about to give up.

The following is a (partial) list of restaurants where I have inquired about employment (i.e. applied or called to see if they were hiring) over the course of the past five (5) weeks:

J. Alexander's
Fred Flemings
P.F. Chang's
Magianno's
The Cheesecake Factory
Dish
Samurai Blue
Macaroni Grill
Tia's
Longhorn Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse
Chili's
Roy's
Sam Seltzer's
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
Charley's
Miguel's
The Capital Grille
Gallery Eclectic Bistro
Bamboo Club
The Blue Martini
Bar Louie
Kahunaville
Café du Frain
Bennigan's
Banana Joe's
Bonefish Grill
The Melting Pot
The Palm Steakhouse

Where to start? J. Alexander's gave me one interview (on a Monday) during which they told me they'd call me back that same day to schedule an interview. Did they? No. A return call on Wednesday got me "[the manager] who interviewed [you] will be in on Friday"; a call Friday got the same run around. Cheesecake Factory gave me an hour long interview, and they claim they are making phone calls next week, so we'll see about that. Samurai Blue has had an ad in the paper for two weeks soliciting applications. I finally turned one in on Monday. They said they'd call me "in the next couple of days" for an interview. It's been a couple days, Blue.

Macaroni Grill is the one that enrages me most. Two weeks ago, I sat down with the general manager and interviewed. He told me that no positions were currently open, but that he liked what he saw, and to come back in a couple weeks and speak to him again. I returned on Monday. The GM (Tom) was not there; I instead spoke with the back-of-house manager, Jim, who told me to call back around three, thirty minutes from then, during which I turned in applications at both the Capital Grille and Bonefish, neither of whom have yet to call me back. Anyway, I called back and got a friendly server manager (Brian) who confirmed that they were indeed looking to bring on one to two more servers that next week, but that he hadn't worked with the GM in a while and thus had no idea who I was; he INSISTED that he wasn't giving me the run-around. Fair enough. He told me to call back on Wednesday after 2. I called at around 2:15 to avoid seeming desperate--although I am--and he told me at that point that the GM was stuck in traffic and to call back around 3:30. I called at 3:35 and was told by the hostess to call back in 15 minutes ("he's busy"). I called back, and was asked to give my number; she said "he'll call you back."

It's 4:35 and still no call back. I don't know what to do.

I guess the one positive thing I can say is that the remainder of the restaurants I listed weren't actively hiring when I turned in my applications, so it's not like I was (specifically) turned down. But it is kind of disheartening when you call a place, for example, Magianno's, and they inform you they are NOT hiring and then hear three days later that a friend of a friend was just hired as a server there, which further reinforces that the art of getting a job is in who you know, not what you know or who you are.

I just happen to know the roommate of the latest employee at the month of the Cheesecake Factory, who says he'll gladly give me a recommendation once he meets me, which will be as soon as he "works out the details", a process which has been going since SUNDAY night.

So I have a couple of options. I can try hammering on Macaroni Grill again tomorrow. I'll find out one way or another on Cheesecake Factory. I can call all of the places that have yet to turn me down flat every Monday until they start hiring. I can attempt to get a job at a lower paying (i.e. Retail) outlet, but I'm not THAT broke yet; I can currently still make minimum payments on my credit cards. I want to get a job to bank money and pay them off, and $7 an hour (X40 - tax = $200 a week) at Starbuck's ain't gonna cut that. Plus, with all due respect, I have way too much server experience to go work a 16 year old's job.

Sigh.