u/BigBookLover87

I’ve been working in medical administration at a busy hospital for the last 4 years. My coworkers & bosses are cool and I love interacting with the patients so technically it’s fine I suppose but being stuck inside all day on a computer is honestly draining the life out of me. I’m turning 40 next year and thinking deeply about how I want the next 30 years of my career to look.

I’ve narrowed it down to 3 options but would love some feedback.

1. Hospitality
   Prior to my current job I spent 15ish years waitressing and it was mostly great. I was with the same restaurant for the last 8 years and would probably still be there if it didn’t permanently close due to COVID.

Pros: I loved working nights, being active, the social interaction and I have a genuine passion for hospitality. The job makes me feel so energised.

Cons: The biggest cons are finances and stability. Being employed as a casual means higher hourly rate and penalties but no guarantee of hours and no sick leave/annual leave etc which is risky. Going full time provides more benefits but drops my hourly rate to substantially less than what I earn at my current job unless I move into management. I have the skills and experience for management but have very little interest in it.

2. Social Work
   I’m particularly interested in homeless support services or family violence case management. I actually did my first year of the diploma of community services a million years ago when I was 18 and really enjoyed both the study and placement but had to drop out as I needed to work full time (online study was not really a thing back then).

Pros: I think I would genuinely enjoy the work and dedicating my career to something meaningful instead of making some corporation richer is appealing. There are multiple different specialties (housing, youth & families, justice, addiction etc) so I’m not locked into one path. The job market in my area is fairly good and the pay is decent enough for my fairly low cost of living region. I can also start small by doing the cert 4 or diploma of community services online while keeping my current job which is necessary financially.

Cons: The potential for burnout is high and I’m concerned about ending up chained to a desk which is the biggest negative of my current job.

3. Non Emergency Patient Transport
   Not something I had ever considered/really knew existed but in my current job I interact with NEPT officers frequently.

Pros: It would fulfil my desire to be out and about rather than stuck in an office and I really do enjoy interacting with patients.

Cons: The money is kind of shit and there’s no real opportunity to increase your income. It’s roughly the same as I earn now which is ok but with the cost of living constantly going up I can’t see it being survivable in 10 years.

If you’ve made it though I really appreciate your patience and any feedback you can offer.

I have an appointment with Horizon Health tomorrow and was hoping to get some advice as I haven’t smoked weed since high school 20 years ago and I know basically nothing.

I have severe degenerative osteoarthritis in my lumbar spine and it’s gotten to the point where I’m struggling to walk, I’ve been taking a prescription anti inflammatory but it’s not really helping and I would like to avoid opioids. I’m looking for recommendations for something that will help manage pain during the day without impacting my work performance and due to a strong family history of lung cancer and COPD I would prefer to avoid smoking or vaping if possible. To be honest I don’t even know what my options are - smoking, edibles and some type of topical application i suppose??

I’m in the process of transitioning the restaurant I just started managing from order at the counter to full table service which is more in line with the higher price point of the menu. I’m hoping to get some feedback on how best to allocate sections so it’s fair to the staff.

The venue includes an indoor area and a deck overlooking the lake and we cater to a mix of both guests that are eating and others that are just drinking. I would prefer not to designate certain tables for food and others as drinks only because obviously if we can upsell the drinkers on food we want to do that and we also don’t want to turn away guests looking for just drinks if we only have food tables left.

My concern is that if I split sections simply based on number of tables I will end up with scenarios where one waitress has six tables that are all eating while another has only two that are eating and four that are drinks only which is far less work.

The best solution I can see is allocating larger sections (dividing the deck into two 9 table sections instead of three 6 table sections for example) and having the waitresses with lower maintenance sections assist the others by running food, clearing and resetting tables etc. If anyone has a better idea please let me know!

Disclaimer: I’m not American so tips are not a factor, all waitresses earn the same amount so this is purely about making the workload fair for them. We also don’t typically have bussers/runners.

Just curious for those who have lost weight how much did you lose in the first month and what percentage was that of your total body weight?

I’m trying to set some realistic weight loss goals for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months etc but the standard healthy weekly/monthly weight loss is comically tiny. Obviously as SMO we will lose weight faster initially because we have so much more to lose so I don’t want to aim too low but I also don’t want to set my target so high that I inevitably fail and feel discouraged.

I’ve been working in admin for the past two years after 15 years as a waitress/bartender and I hate it. The job itself is fine and I love most of my coworkers but it’s so sedate and I miss the frantic energised feeling I got from waitressing.

I would love to get back into the industry but I’m coming up on 40 years old and I really value the stability and benefits of my current job. I’ve had multiple people recommend sales as a good mix of mostly stable job with the high energy vibe of hospitality.

For people who have transitioned from serving to sales how transferable were the skills? Do you enjoy it? What is your day to day like? How similar/different is it to serving?

Right now I work in medical admin & I like it just fine but it’s kind of a dead end so I’ve been browsing the job ads periodically just keeping my eye out for opportunities.

This week I came across an ad for what sounds like my dream job. It’s a sales position in a media company, it has a lot of potential for growth and I think I would be really good at it. The only thing holding me back from applying is my weight.

My concerns are

1. What if I show up for an interview and don’t fit in the chair?

2. The ad specifies that they are looking for someone high energy that thrives in a fast paced environment. That’s me but I’m aware I definitely don’t look it.

3. What if they think I’m too fat to represent them well?

Should I just apply anyway or am I setting myself up for disappointment?

I’m coming up on 40 years old next year and I’m seriously thinking about how I want to spend the next 40 years of my working life.

Prior to 2020 I worked in hospitality for 15 year with the last 8 years as a casual waitress at a fancy steakhouse. I was netting approx $65,000 a year on 25 hours a week plus an extra $50-$150 per week tax free in tips. Unfortunately the restaurant I worked for closed during covid and despite trying a couple of different restaurants I couldn’t find one that was the right fit. I used my customer service skills to transition to medical reception/admin and I’ve been doing that ever since.

Everyone thinks I must be so much happier now that I have a ‘real’ job and don’t have to work nights/weekends/holidays. The truth is that while I don’t hate the job it’s just ok, I don’t have the same love or passion for it as I did for hospitality. Also while it’s nice to have holidays off I actually hate working days and vastly preferred my waitressing schedule of evenings only. As far as wage goes it’s kind of a wash, I work more hours for roughly the same net income but in return I get annual leave/sick leave etc.

Ideally I’d go back into hospitality but I’m wary about giving up a permanent job in this economy for a casual position. I could look for a full time gig in management however during my time in the industry I always turned down such roles because it’s more responsibility and more hours for less pay, it just doesn’t seem worth it. It may be important to note that I don’t live in a major city, the town I live in is quite isolated but it is a tourist hub with a population of roughly 70,000.

I don’t want to spend the next 40 years doing something I feel meh about and I don’t need to live extravagantly but I need to make a liveable wage (minimum $60,000 a year). Has anyone built a successful long term career in the industry? Any advice would be welcome.

The last 6 months or so I’ve been feeling the worst I ever have and I really want to commit to getting my health on track. I function best with rules and structure so I’ve decided to set myself a 10 week health challenge.

While I want (and need) to lose weight my goal is not an extreme 10 week crash diet, instead I am focusing on a more holistic health upgrade with realistic goals tailored to my specific health issues.

The rules I have set for myself are designed to address 3 key health pillars, obviously they are all interconnected so improvements in one area will flow into others. These are;

Metabolic Health & Nutrition:
Specifically high blood pressure, high cholesterol and low vitamin d.

Rules
• Follow a simple diet comprised of sardines, salmon, white fish, eggs, lentils, brown rice, potatoes, nuts & seeds and lots of fruit and vegetables.

• No dairy - I’m lactose intolerant but frequently ’cheat’ even though it makes me feel awful.

• Max 1500mg sodium daily - per DASH diet guidelines.

• Take blood pressure medication and vitamin d supplements everyday.

•Drink 8 glasses of water a day.

Physical Fitness:
Specifically chronic lower back pain, poor cardiovascular fitness and poor mobility.

Rules
• 5 minute mobility workout every morning.

•15 minute walk 3 times a day - before work, after work and after tea.

•Follow GP prescribed spine conditioning program every evening.

• Take prescription anti inflammatory consistently.

•Workout 3 times a week - mix of strength and pilates.

Mental Health:
Specifically depression and poor sleep schedule.

Rules
• Shower daily.

• 11pm bedtime daily - must actually go to bed, no sleeping on the couch.

• Limit tv/phone screen time to 4 hours per day.

• 20 minute evening home tidy - a clean and tidy home does wonders for my mental health.

I plan to check in with myself every 2 weeks to make adjustments as needed such as increasing walking time as fitness improves etc. I will also spend the final two weeks developing a plan for what comes next.

I’m not expecting miracles in such a short time frame but I’m excited for the challenge and the possibility of feeling so much better.

Huge TMI warning but I’m at my wits end.

For 25 years my period has been relatively short (3-4 days), light and only mildly uncomfortable but now at the ripe old age of 38 it’s gone completely off the fucking rails.

March I was bleeding on and off for 21 days out of the month, a mixture of light/spotting days and really heavy days. I had an ultrasound at the end of March and the results came back normal.

April I only had 18 days of bleeding but started getting big clots which hasn’t been a thing for me previously.

It’s only been a bit over 2 weeks since I finished my last period but I’ve already started on again and it’s the heaviest it’s ever been. For the last 2 days I’ve been going through a super tampon every 1-1.5 hours and even then I’m having to back up with a pad because of leakage. Every time I change my tampon there are huge jelly like clots and I can literally feel more falling out of me as I sit on the toilet.

Made the mistake of trying to stretch changing my tampon to 4 hours over night so at least I would only have to wake up once but that was a friggin disaster, not sure what I’m going to do tonight because waking up every hour sounds the opposite of restful but the alternative is a crime scene.

I’ve had the last two days off work but I have to go back tomorrow and it’s going to be a nightmare managing the niagara in my knickers while trying to concentrate on my job.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? What was the cause and how did you manage? The doctor who sent me for the ultrasound just kind of shrugged and blew me off when that showed nothing so I’ve made an appointment with a different doctor but that’s not until the 2nd June 🤦🏻‍♀️

I’ve been serving for nearly 20 years and I genuinely love it and the industry as a whole.

I have so many ideas of how I’d like to run things and I can definitely see a niche that’s not being filled in my town. I have been dreaming of opening my own bar and restaurant for the last decade but it’s such a risky venture and the thought of committing to it freaks me out.

I’m not rolling in cash so if I were to commit to this then I’d be taking money I’ve spent years saving for a house deposit and risking it on a business that statistically will be an abysmal failure.

Has anyone else ever seriously contemplated opening their own spot? Am I a complete moron?