Need life advice about job offer from fellow drummers.

ToxiqIce

Junior Member
Hello everyone. I'm a long time browser first time poster. Right now I have a job that I really don't like. It's a parts and service job. Its in another town 40 miles away. I like all my coworkers but I'm just not into parts and service. Plus I hate dealing with customers. It's a weakness but I'm just very annoyed by redneck ignorance. But the job pays very well for me just being 18. I have been offered a job for an audio and sound install position at a local music store. It would be work I would enjoy much more. And I get a discount on gear! It would be the same hours As my job and I wouldn't have to drive out of town. The bad news is it pays about 500 a month less and doesn't have health insurance. Anyone care to give me advice on this matter? I would love you long time for it
 
Love me long time first lol. Geez man, you're 18 and concerned about health insurance. I'm 53 and never had it lol. You're more practical than I. Being's that you're a young man, I think you should do what you love. I think that in your 20's you should "go for it" whatever "it' is. If you don't "make it" by age 30, then perhaps it's time to learn how to make the money you need to be autonomous.

You need a plan. Knowing exactly what you want is a beautiful thing. Whereas if you go through life wherever the wind blows you....a plan is much better. You basically have to figure out how to earn money, so you can do what you love...in your own house.
 
Move to the UK and take advantage of the National Health Service ;) Failing that, do what you love and prepare to make some sacrifices elsewhere in your life in exchange for it. If you have any other skills, like teaching drums part time, use them to supplement your income. Assess the possibilities of going further in the music retail industry further down the line and focus on the skills required to advance in this admittedly difficult industry. Most importantly, follow your heart while your young enough to do so.
 
Hello everyone. I'm a long time browser first time poster. Right now I have a job that I really don't like. It's a parts and service job. Its in another town 40 miles away. I like all my coworkers but I'm just not into parts and service. Plus I hate dealing with customers. It's a weakness but I'm just very annoyed by redneck ignorance. But the job pays very well for me just being 18. I have been offered a job for an audio and sound install position at a local music store. It would be work I would enjoy much more. And I get a discount on gear! It would be the same hours As my job and I wouldn't have to drive out of town. The bad news is it pays about 500 a month less and doesn't have health insurance. Anyone care to give me advice on this matter? I would love you long time for it

The lack of health insurance isn't so great, but the loss of $500/month shouldn't really be that bad. Think about how much money you spend on gas with an 80 mile/day round trip to work! You will save a TON of money on gas if you work a lot closer to home, probably close to $300-$400 / month. I just moved closer to work and man is it nice to have a 2 mile/day round trip instead of 45!! I was spending upwards of $300 on gas per month, now I don't anticipate having to fill up more than 2 times in a single month.

Add in the discount on gear and it's a no brainer, just don't go crazy an buy stuff just because you get a discount on it. Make sure you budget your money and be smart about it. By asking the questions you asked, you sound like you are a pretty mature kid to me. :)
 
From my experience, the bad thing about having no health insurance is the lack of dental coverage. I went without from ages ~18-24 and overall I was fine, but my mouth went to shit and it took a lot of appts, time, and pain to get things back in order once I got a real job (w/ insurance).

Floss!

But aside from that I agree w/ BradGunner.
 
I'm going through a similar situation now with my oldest daughter, and also her boyfriend, so I'll give you my 2 cents, for what it's worth:

I know you are only 18, but you need to think more long term as to what your plan is. I assume you are out of high school, but not going to college? If not, what are the options for technical training? You may be making decent money for an 18-year old, but where will you be 5 or 10 years down the road?

Also, are you living with your parents? Eventually that may not be the case so you'll need to plan for additional costs moving forward. Rent is usually very expensive, along with associated costs such as insurance, food, utilities, etc.

Others may think healthcare is not a big issue, but it is to me. Maybe the odds are with you at this age, but one illness can crush you financially for years to come. Look at the whole package when comparing the two scenarios. Are there opportunities to advance or move on to another type of job or location within the company you work for now? If you switch to the lower paying job, how long will it take you to catch up? In general, I would never advise someone to reduce their pay, unless there were some really significant reasons to do so.

Don't discount the fact that you like your co-workers. In survey after survey of employees in my company, that is one item that ranks near the top in importance to them. Nothing can ruin a work experience quicker than having to deal with a bad co-worker, or even worse, a bad boss.

You need to work on your skills dealing with customers. Nearly all occupations require that one needs to deal with customers in one form or another. And it isn't always a pleasant experience, and you have to control your emotions and bite your tongue. It may suck that the customer is always right, but that's the way it is in business. Finding a great job where you don't have to deal with condescending jerks is nearly impossible. My youngest daughter (also 18) has a job at a store and she has to deal with customers all day long. When she first started, she would come home in tears because some customer was a pain in the rear and gave her grief about something or the other. She wanted to quit, but I told her she needed to stick it out and learn how to deal with people. No, it's not the perfect job, but she has learned some real life lessons by staying with the company.
 
I think you need to work out your long term goals first. If there is something you want to do that requires a large sum of money (eg travel) then maybe staying in the higher paying job is the way to go, and just nut it out for however long you need to. Otherwise if the drop in income isn't such a big deal then go for the job you'll enjoy. Either way you need to have a plan for what to do after it's time to move on to the next thing.
 
Well with this job I really wouldn't have to deal with customers because I would just be installing and setting up sound gear. I would pretty much be starting as an apprentice so there is defiently room to work up but I don't know how long it would take.
 
Where are you installing this sound gear that you don't have to deal with customers.?
 
My boss lady says: "everyone should work at least 1 retail job in their life".
Now that you got that behind you, save some gas money and do what
you love to do.

One thing I've learned in life is: no matter where you work, you will always find
something wrong with it. I enjoy waking up every day and saying "I get to work today".

I say go for it!
 
I say, take the gig closer to home. The savings in gas will help make up the wage difference. A car with decent gas mileage, you're probably spending $250 a month, commuting. If you drive a gas pig, more.​
Finding a job you like, to me, is worth a pay cut. I used to work for the Post Office (as a letter carrier) .... and the job sucked. I finally left it, after 11 years, took a 50% pay cut, and got a job (several) in music retail. The pace of mind in my head was well worth a $15K wage cut. I worked in record/CD/DVD shops for 15 years, sweet.​
Yes, as others have said, you need a plan. You don't necessarily have to stick to it, but you need to set goals. Figure out where you want to be 5 years from now. And 10. And 15. Of course, something comes by, just too good to pass up .... you jump on it. I know cats doing audio/video installations making boo-coo bank. If you're good, and you got your stuff together, it's good work.​
 
Hello everyone. I'm a long time browser first time poster. Right now I have a job that I really don't like. It's a parts and service job. Its in another town 40 miles away. I like all my coworkers but I'm just not into parts and service. Plus I hate dealing with customers. It's a weakness but I'm just very annoyed by redneck ignorance. But the job pays very well for me just being 18. I have been offered a job for an audio and sound install position at a local music store. It would be work I would enjoy much more. And I get a discount on gear! It would be the same hours As my job and I wouldn't have to drive out of town. The bad news is it pays about 500 a month less and doesn't have health insurance. Anyone care to give me advice on this matter? I would love you long time for it

Divergent answer here: Health Insurance is priceless. I am happy to hear some can make it many years and not need health insurance. I guess as a Registered Nurse, I don't get to meet those people, I get to meet the ones who are ravaged by illness and can't get procedures, transplants, antibiotics etc. because they don't have health insurance.

IMO, Health Insurance is worth at least 500 dollars per month. Cost it out, how much is health insurance on your own?

Health Insurance matters but obviously my perspective is different, I work in that industry. People without it who have a car accident, pnuemonnia, HIV, Cancer, a cold get creamed.

My vote is health insurance, I would not leave a job to take another one without it.

BUT my perspective is from sick people. and Sick people used to be well people until something happened.
 
In life, time is money. The time and gasoline $$$ you spend commuting 40 miles each way is priceless, in my opinion. I left jobs after a few months because the commutes were 1-2 hours each way, Now, thank the Lord God, I commute 15 minutes each way to work and I could never ever go back to those long drives again. No matter what anyone paid me.

Take the local job now! You'll enjoy it more. Don't worry about health insurance. I have it and never use it. I think staying healthy is the best health insurance. I think some people who have health insuracne can be lazier than those who don't. Insurance is just an excuse to go incessantly to the doctor for every little thing and have them shoot you up with dangerous vaccines and hand out prescriptions like they're candy. Go vegetarian, exercise and take that other job asap :) p.s. sorry for the rant..
 
If you could work at the fun job for 6 months and then relocate if necessary to a similar job with better pay and insurance, that would work.

I can tell stories all day about healthy people that wake up with some hideous shit. I woke up with a 104 fever one morning, took a cab to the hospital and spent 6 days there as they tried to figure it out. They couldn't. So for no reason, I was sick and maybe that would have cost $100K? More? That nice house you have? Goodbye.

Get a plan and look into other companies.for down the line.
 
I cannot imagine what it's like to live in a place where you need health insurance. So if you get hurt, and you're uninsured, you have to pay for treatment all on your own? How much does it cost if you have to buy your own insurance?





This ^

Depends if you smoke, how fat you are, and if you have any pre-existing conditions. In a nutshell, I'm screwed. Really, I just need the dental. That would be nice. I don't take any medications and I'm still alive. Go figure...guess I'm just lucky like our friend Larry.
 
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I cannot imagine what it's like to live in a place where you need health insurance. So if you get hurt, and you're uninsured, you have to pay for treatment all on your own? How much does it cost if you have to buy your own insurance?





This ^

I can't imagine living in a country where it's the government's responsibility to cover your health insurance. Although it's certainly moving in that direction here.....
 
You should move then, it's awesome.

Yep, no complaints about Medicare here either. Clunky, but ultimately helpful and humane.

Re: the thread ... I'm wondering that if you took the audio job maybe you could study sound engineering to open up more prospects in an area you like? Parts and service is not much of a career position anyway so you'd only be losing short term money but opening up new possibilities.
 
Yeah, just wait until all the 3rd world poor people start pouring into your country quicker than you can accommodate them. Look what's happening to Europe...can you say double-dip recession? What do you do with all these people? Do you know that California has a third of all the welfare cases in the entire USA? Los Angeles used to be a wonderful place to live. Now it's a 3rd World cesspool. Plus we get all the transplants from the East and Mid-west who bring their stupid politics with them.
 
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