How doi you know it's time to leave an industry behind?

[gimmethesimplelife]

It's becoming clear to me, really clear, that I need to get out of food and beverage. Not just talk about it but do it. Recently the banquet business has been crazy busy in Phoenix as we had the Phoenix Open in town and also the Superbowl. I reached a point where I just couldn't work another shift.....I was so burnt out and so much like a deer in headlights that had I gone in I would have been utterly useless. I did something I am not proud of - no called no showed. I was across the street from the event, waiting in the library for the even to start across the street at the Art Museum and I found that I could just not do it. I chose to not walk over to the event and at least say that I was not up to working and would be going home as I know that they would have really tried to get me to stay and I would have felt guilty and done a horrible job.

So I just no called and no showed and once I made that decision, I did feel a little better. I then went down the street to Walgreens and checked my blood pressure at one of those free sit down blood pressure checker machines or whatever they are called and it was scary high. Didn't surprise me as I could feel that it was high. It took me three days to recover from the last banquet shift I worked, three days until I felt functional and somewhat human again. I'm of the opinion that life is short and losing three days like this is not a good way to spend my time here.

Right now I'm working the math and if I can figure this out, I am going to leave food and beverage for once and all. Rob

PS I guess I drifted a bit off the topic I intended. What are your signs you need to not just move on but get out of an industry period?

[Tradd]

What's the specific problem? Are there issues doing banquets /special events that are not present waiting tables in a regular restaurant?

[sweetana3]

Are you required to do each and every banquet requested? Sounds like you are good at what you do but have overscheduled yourself and hit the wall with energy deficit.

Can you just establish a better schedule around your other interests/education right now?

[TxZen]

For me, in healthcare, it was a series of events and people showing up in my life and causing me to literally HATE my job after 18 years.
1. Caustic boss- I am one of those with pretty good coping skills but this last boss pushed me to the end of my rope and when HR saw the blatant abuse and did nothing, flag one.
2. High Blood pressure- I am basically a healthy person but my blood pressure went so high one day, they wanted to put me in the hospital. Flag two.
3. Too many regulations in healthcare now, in my particular area, that every time something went wrong, I got blamed, though it was a collective mistake or actually someone else's fault but being I worked in compliance, it fell on me. I had educated the staff and can't be a watchdog 24/7- it's call self responsibility. I didn't want to lose MY certification because people wanted to cover up big mistakes they made and then they blamed me. Flag three.

I honestly tried to find the silver lining in my industry but I could not anymore. I literally was working on this for a year and just decided well dang I should just do it if I am going to do it or shut up about the whole thing. I just knew in my heart and bones that it was time to move on and for once, I was not afraid to make a huge change to a totally different industry. That is huge GOOD flag for me. I always tell people my job in healthcare was about my ego, my new career choice is coming from a place of just wanting to be creative and working in something I am truly interested in. :)

[pinkytoe]

My signs to finally retire other than being eligible are: I'm the oldest one there and it's time to let younger ones make things happen, I'm no longer into what I am doing, I look forward to weekends more than Mondays, the routine of getting there and back in heavy traffic is no longer something I wish to tolerate for a paycheck.

[Teacher Terry]

Rob, keep track of your BP 3x's/day over a period of 2 weeks & then take it to your doctor. YOu may need meds. They don't call it the silent killer for nothing. Take Care:))

[Kestra]

Well I think clearly for you the time is now. Do you have another industry in mind?
For myself I'm at that point as well. I'm so done with my pet insurance job, due to many things, but mostly corporate BS and lack of autonomy. I'm preparing to make the leap into my own business of money coaching. I'm planning to work 20 more weeks to have a bigger cash cushion and finish courses the company is paying for. Then I'm going to quit outright, even though I could continue to work part time. I want to be fully committed to the new business.
How do I know the time is right? Because I've been waking up all night to write down ideas for a presentation and it's super invigorating, even if I'm physically overtired.

[Yossarian]

Crap work in any industry is, well, going to be crappy. Just switching to some other new line of work may not improve things. As I've said before, the waiters I see in nice places are making good money. Maybe quit engaging in this self destructive bouncing around and try to find a job that actually requires some skills someone values?

[Teacher Terry]

My son worked in upscale restaurants for awhile & made a great living working just p.t.

[bae]

Sounds to me like it isn't the industry that's your problem, but rather your energy/scheduling/work habits/personal limits.

[SteveinMN]

I knew it was time to leave IT when it finally hit home that:

1) the steaming pile of software we'd been asked to use to do our work was the "industry standard" and that I was likely to end up using it no matter where I went;
2) there was nowhere else in the company I wanted to move, qualified for the job or not; and
3) no matter how much time was dumped into the job and how much we "worked smarter not harder", we were still threatened constantly with having our jobs outsourced to someplace where people can live on $20 a day.

IT in large companies has long been a race to the bottom, and I just wasn't up to it. Fortunately for me, I had another income in the house and some options.

Burnout is very real. But, Rob, you need to sit back long enough and ask yourself what role you played in getting to this point. Do you find it hard to say 'no' when asked to work? Is it just an job that does not come naturally to you (maybe an introvert in a public-facing job, not having sufficient innate talent, etc.)? A lack of self-confidence that keeps you at the grinding serving jobs and not at the better restaurants?

I don't know the business so I don't know all the aspects of it. But I'll echo Yossarian's comment that moving to another industry may not fix the issues you see now -- in fact, you likely will have to start at the bottom of that industry, with all the crap that entails. I think you really need to have a good idea of why you dislike what you're doing now and determine whether it is fixable before you toss it all for work for which you have no experience or seniority.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Hi everyone and thanks for your replies! I have been AWOL for a bit here, keeping up with classes and keeping up with my listing and selling things online. I have cut back on pretty much everything else for a bit and am only recently getting back into the swing of things - I just hit a point where it felt like my body hit a wall and I couldn't do anything that I didn't absolutely have to do. School is important and keeping up with bills is important - check, kept up with school and kept up with online income.

I have been reflecting on this a bit and I think many of you have a point. I certainly take on more than I can chew when it is offered to me - on some level it's guilt I think that I am not contributing more to society - very Austrian thinking I have chosen not to reject. I have to say my SO - I don't know what to call him as he has moved beyond boyfriend but is not in the extremely serious phase (yet) has been remarkably supportive of me and his family has been kind to me, too. Pretty much I am extremely lucky as the people closest to me have not given me flack about this but I have done the rock bottom minimum.

I believe there is more than one issue at play here but one thing I do know, the one thing that stands out - I am very much an introvert and the stress of facing the public has really taken a toll on me. Put me in a fast paced situation where I have no control over any of the variables and I am now like a deer in headlights and totally useless on the floor of a food and beverage operation. This I don't think is a bad thing - it just is and I'm of the opinion on this one there may be no going back.

Anyway, I'm up and around and starting to do better and am glad to be back here. Also I'm glad I'm in school and making the effort to find a way to break out of food and beverage. Hoping it's some self employed venture but time will tell. Rob