I need a job...well an education, and a job

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alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
for what its worth, i think you are on the right track to being successful and turning your life around. you admitted you made mistakes and you are trying to fix it...most people wont even admit it.

if it were me, i would take the dry cleaning job until i could afford to go to college with much less stress. the kids make this complicated. im sure you are wanting to be a good father, so dont forget to factor that into your decision. you could provide them with much more of your time and financial support if you had some for yourself to being with, i.e. the drycleaning business. your dad is doing you a favor by selling it to you. you should jump on that.

this is all from my perspective of course.

so when you go to college who runs the business? How much do they lift from it?
 

mAdMaLuDaWg

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2003
2,437
1
0
Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
for what its worth, i think you are on the right track to being successful and turning your life around. you admitted you made mistakes and you are trying to fix it...most people wont even admit it.

if it were me, i would take the dry cleaning job until i could afford to go to college with much less stress. the kids make this complicated. im sure you are wanting to be a good father, so dont forget to factor that into your decision. you could provide them with much more of your time and financial support if you had some for yourself to being with, i.e. the drycleaning business. your dad is doing you a favor by selling it to you. you should jump on that.

this is all from my perspective of course.

I agree, IMHO, your number one priority should be your kids. After that, comes everything else
 

Dr. Detroit

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2004
8,523
925
126
Your F'd! More so than what you can possibly think.

How do you prorse supporting 2kids while you attend college full time?>

Business degree's are very math oriented. Calculus, economics, and accounting are mandatory to get a business degree.

Hospitality manager, you will be working 60hr weeks. And very weird hours, people dine in the evenings and holidays, be prepared to work em!


Dry-Cleaning, yeah the road to a comforatable life and $100K a year! Stock with what you know, if you think happiness is gonna be found in another job your dead wrong. All work sucks, forutnately if your making $100K work doesnt duck so bad.




 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
my father would help pay tuition if i went to ECU, hes assured me of this and is clearly well-enough off that he could afford most, if not all, of the cost.

i dont want to go to a college far away from my kids, hence considering ECU. my ex lives in the same city, and would be keeping the kids (she makes about what i do, so this wouldnt cause any problems). so theyd be taken care of, and id be nearby to see them often. i will sooner take over the DC plant then move away from my children. thats for damn sure.

id prefer a job i liked, at a lower pay, than one i quite dislike, just for money. im not all about money, and ill spend 60 hours a week minimum working the place. the job i do now is 45-50 hours a week, add another 10-15 for managing the place (bills, accounting, etc). he has an excellent manager now, i could give her a raise and shed probably stay there as long as i did. but between that and kids, i really wont have the energy or time to go to college.

i dont like my family. alot. they bicker, fuss, fight, argue, whine, annoy, aggravate, manipulate and just, in general, suck. id like to have my own family that does not. all of my fathers family lives here, my mothers family isnt bad, but only her mother and one sister are around here.

college would allow me to find a career i wouldnt almost-hate. allow me to make some friends (i work almost exclusively with wimmin, and my high school buddies are way past gone, and since, until recently, i was married, and working, with 2 kids, finding guys to hang out with wasnt really a priority) and give me the opportunity to get the fvck out of this place.

alkemyst: the business is going to require 30k by the time i get it, i know he wont be spending that money. we need a modern POS system (12k + training) at least, by that time, probably 2 new presses or other misc eqipment (~15k+) and could use an efficient AC system (~20k or more) (that one runs nonstop, its undersized, and the ac bill/mo is about 1700 in the summer)

id recoup alot of wasted money, time and customer dissatisfaction with the POS system and a new AC would help lower the electric bill and save on labor by keeping people cool enough to work at a normal pace. there are other things, but id need to put 30k minimum into the place probably within 3 years of taking it to make things more efficient; and thus easier on myself. if i have to work there, id prefer to do it as little as possible.

the thing is, i dont care about drycleaning. its a business based heavily on vanity, and customers whom you have to educate. im good at the work, i know it well, but i dont care for vanity, and i dont care for having to lecture 3-5 customers a week because XX years of experience just isnt enough for me to know what im talking about when they have some problem with a wine stain *they* got on their $300 dress that they want *me* to buy because i couldnt remove the stain.

im not really sure how happy ill be here, doing this, the rest of my life. im not terribly happy now for a number of reasons, and id really like to change that and feel making some new kind of start would help significantly.

i could be wrong, though. it wouldnt be the first time.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
a/c in a laundry? my ex wife's family has a nice one. We are in S. Florida, there is no a/c except in the front.

I really dont understand you post, have you worked there regularly?
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
Originally posted by: alkemyst
a/c in a laundry? my ex wife's family has a nice one. We are in S. Florida, there is no a/c except in the front.

I really dont understand you post, have you worked there regularly?

ive done the drycleaning for 4 years

theres a few hundred linear feet of steam piping running through the place, its a drycleaning plant, NOT a laundromat.

heres the equipment we use:

1 drycleaning machine (washer/extractor)
1 drycleaning reclaimer (a special dryer that reclaims the solvent, which is about $16/gallon right now: you dont dump this like water) it is operated with air, and heats with steam
10 presses (they all require steam for heat, and air for operation) the steam is 80/psi on 5, 100/psi on the other 5
4 "puff" irons. they puff steam up from a standing iron-base to remove small wrinkles from garments.
1 *large* (i forget the capacity) boiler that keeps steam pressure around 105/psi. its 7 feet tall and probably 4.5ft in diameter. during the winter, even when its 35F outside, its a comfy 70something in the plant. theres alot of heat in there, its not pleasant the rest of the year.
2 air compressors, keeping air at ~130psi. one is for backup (they run harder than the boiler does, and are more prone to break down)

in the summer, with the AC ON, the temp in the plant hovers around 98F, humidity is astounding here in eastern NC anyway, nevermind with steam coming up from 10 presses.

plants WITHOUT an AC can reach temps over 120F. its very close to unbearable. better insulation on the steam lines and a properly sized AC unit should bring that down just over 90F, which means it wouldnt have to run for 9-12 hours a day without a break, 4-5 months out of the year, which would mean the help would be cooler, and thus work more efficiently. it should also reduce the AC bill. id have estimates done before doing the job, of course, to make sure itd be worth it, but im pretty sure it would after reading about other plants.

like i said, i know the job , the environment, the customer base and ive personally repaired every piece of equipment we use (excepting the DC washer, which has never had a problem, its a terribly simple piece of equipment that has relatively little stress put to it) ive helped manage payroll problems, work efficiency, inventory management, employee scheduling, customer service, and everything else in the place short of doing a significant amount of pressing.

another thing is that my boss is probably reporting only about 65-70k of his income, im not comfortable with that, and think i would probably restructure the books as best i could, gradually if necessary, to keep that from ever being a problem for me.

i just dont really care for the DC industry. i realize ive basically had 4 years of education in the place. before my ex left me, we had actually planned to spend the next year or so saving up and cutting back on things so i *could* go to school and we could go elsewhere.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: alkemyst
a/c in a laundry? my ex wife's family has a nice one. We are in S. Florida, there is no a/c except in the front.

I really dont understand you post, have you worked there regularly?

ive done the drycleaning for 4 years

theres a few hundred linear feet of steam piping running through the place, its a drycleaning plant, NOT a laundromat.

Right I wasn't taking laundromat either.

You are fighting a losing battle with large irons and steam.

If you want to cut into profits heavily you are going to be alright.
 

Zysoclaplem

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2003
8,799
0
0
Goodluck dude. I am 24 and will be going to college for the first time soon.
I would definately get your education before you forget everything from HS like I did.
 

Shyatic

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2004
2,164
34
91
Originally posted by: Naustica
History degree. Pretty worthless unless you plan on going to law school.

Hospitality management. I agree with stateofbeasley. Try to get into Cornell Hotel Management.

Any generic business degree. Pretty worthless.

My advice. Stick w/ the drycleaning business. Think the next four years as schooling and then you get to graduate by owning the business. 100k yr is not bad and will likely beat anything you can get coming out of school. Save much as you can. College will just put you in debt and make you worse off financially. I know money isn't everything but having money beats not having money.

Agreed. I have a 4 year degree from a good school and I'm not making that much. And finding a job is HARD. If you have something going that you can do and see a big future in (ala the eventual owning of it) then stick with it. It's not worth the money to go to college especially when you have a family that needs you making money in the here and now.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem
Goodluck dude. I am 24 and will be going to college for the first time soon.
I would definately get your education before you forget everything from HS like I did.

ive been out of high school for almost 5 years.

i remember little math, no chemistry, probably a decent amount of biology and earth science, enough english that i wouldnt be concerned, i can say "no habla espanol" in spanish, computer skills are of no concern, and i went to a christian school so i had to take a bible class, which was, im certain, staggeringly biased but is something i dont remember alot of because i usually slept through it.

i guess taking over the plant would be my best option. itd be 4 or 5 years before hed sell, and id prefer not to work a job i dont like for a boss thats a hassle making what i make with no benefits and generally crappy hours.

this is getting depressing :/
 

toekramp

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2001
8,426
2
0
Originally posted by: Rookie
1. get a degree while working for your father
2. take over the business... and improve it
3. don't like it, sell the business
4. profit

FTW
 

casper114

Senior member
Apr 25, 2005
814
0
0
So you want to move far far away from your kids?

You SCREWED UP WHEN YOU HAD KIDS you realize that, therefor your life belongs to there well being. What is best for them should be your main concern untill they are 18
 

mAdMaLuDaWg

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2003
2,437
1
0
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem
Goodluck dude. I am 24 and will be going to college for the first time soon.
I would definately get your education before you forget everything from HS like I did.

ive been out of high school for almost 5 years.

i remember little math, no chemistry, probably a decent amount of biology and earth science, enough english that i wouldnt be concerned, i can say "no habla espanol" in spanish, computer skills are of no concern, and i went to a christian school so i had to take a bible class, which was, im certain, staggeringly biased but is something i dont remember alot of because i usually slept through it.

i guess taking over the plant would be my best option. itd be 4 or 5 years before hed sell, and id prefer not to work a job i dont like for a boss thats a hassle making what i make with no benefits and generally crappy hours.

this is getting depressing :/

Just try out a semester taking one or two classes in the evenings and see how it goes. You can then adjust your course load the following semesters to see what you are capable of. Definitely go for it though, u've got nothing to lose.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
Originally posted by: casper114
So you want to move far far away from your kids?

You SCREWED UP WHEN YOU HAD KIDS

thanks, id forgotten, ill make a note of this :roll:

i dont want to move from them, hence considering ECU which is nearby. if i got a degree and a job, id be better off than my ex, and id be taking care of them wherever i go.

and id really like to get the hell out.
Originally posted by: toekramp
Originally posted by: Rookie
1. get a degree while working for your father
2. take over the business... and improve it
3. don't like it, sell the business
4. profit

FTW

ill look into nightschooling options and such, see whats available.

i feel like this.
 

Rickten

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2001
1,607
0
0
here's my opinion.

go talk to a career counselor at the local college about what people who are graduating have been finding with degrees that you are interested in. Talk to them about what you could do with such and such degree and see if this fits your goals. Explain to the career couselor exactly what you have posted on here. I wish I would have gone to the career center sooner than I did.

I would strongly discourage getting a history major if you are only interested in advancing your career and earnings potential. If you have a personal interest in history than by all means go for it, but don't anticipate it helping your job/earnings situation.

Goto a JC for all your lower division classes. Will be much cheaper and its really the same exact stuff that they would teach you at a university.

Last thing, do well. Get good grades. Shoot for 3.5+.

 

gotsmack

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2001
5,768
0
71
Originally posted by: xSauronx
Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem
Goodluck dude. I am 24 and will be going to college for the first time soon.
I would definately get your education before you forget everything from HS like I did.

ive been out of high school for almost 5 years.

i remember little math, no chemistry, probably a decent amount of biology and earth science, enough english that i wouldnt be concerned, i can say "no habla espanol" in spanish, computer skills are of no concern, and i went to a christian school so i had to take a bible class, which was, im certain, staggeringly biased but is something i dont remember alot of because i usually slept through it.

i guess taking over the plant would be my best option. itd be 4 or 5 years before hed sell, and id prefer not to work a job i dont like for a boss thats a hassle making what i make with no benefits and generally crappy hours.

this is getting depressing :/

Don't worry. I didn;t remember anything from HS when I entered college. You pick up everything in the basic courses. They assume you know nothing.
 

Reckoner

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
10,851
1
81
I have a Bachelor's Degree and make 22k a year (before taxes). Are you still sure you want to go now? :)