Becoming a citizen again

I made the news on Wednesday! Okay, maybe you didn't actually see my name, but if you heard about a drop in the rate of unemployment, it was me they were talking about. Yup, after almost sixteen months of voluntary unemployment, I returned to the working world this past week. As I explained in my earlier post, I left the practice of law with an eye toward returning to the hospitality business. After taking time for myself, which I've documented pretty well here, I reevaluated my goal of opening my own place and realized it was a little premature.

While I've worked in many restaurants over the years, it has primarily been as a server and not on the management side. Therefore, I decided to seek out a position where I could re-acclimate myself to working in the hospitality industry while gaining more knowledge and experience on the business aspect of it. I began reaching out to anyone I know with contacts in the field in hopes of gaining a foothold with a restaurant management group or other similar company. After many meetings and interviews, I was offered and accepted the position as wine manager at Maloney and Porcelli in midtown Manhattan. My first day was Wednesday, hence the dip in unemployment this week. Just doing my part to help the economy.

I'm really excited for this job. On the one had it fits exactly what I was hoping to do by allowing me to be on the floor interacting with the servers and customers while bolstering my wine related knowledge, but also gives me the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of managing a business with an eye toward pursuing the eventual goal I had for myself when I left law. Indeed I don't think I could have hoped for a better fit. As part of Fourth Wall Restaurant Group, which includes other notable restaurants such as Smith and Wollensky, Post House, and The Hurricane Club, to name a few, I get to be part of an organization with an established history and reputation for exceptional service. (And in bit of poetic irony perhaps, the restaurant is named for a pair of lawyers who specialize in the industry.)

Only two days into my new job and I already know I made the right decision. Sure there are things that need getting used to, but as much as it is an adjustment starting work at 4 pm, ending at or after midnight, and being on my feet most of the time, the way I feel when I'm in the whirlwind that is a busy restaurant during evening service is unlike anything I ever felt in my prior profession. I feel comfortable, in control - even if sometimes that feeling is an illusion - and, most importantly, happy and in my element.

As I've come to starkly realize over the past years, no one can know what the future holds for them. I certainly could never have imagined the tragic turn my life would take nor conceive during those dark days that I would ever be where I am now. I can't say whether or not I'll reach the point when I have my own business or what other turns - good or bad - that my life will take, but for now I am once again paying taxes (hence the citizenship concept in the title) and doing something I really enjoy.