What to do.
The interview yesterday went well. It was with two of the theatre managers. I've never been interviewed by two people at one time before and I wasn't sure who to look at. They asked me a whole bunch of questions about my work experience, what I wanted in a workplace, hypothetical situations and a few personal questions. We all got along great and were chatting easily throughout the whole thing. I learned that the theatre is funded by a trust and is non-profit, so all their proceeds go directly back into the theatre. There are education programs, acting classes and all sorts of shows. Working for a non-profit film/TV/theatre organization has always been at the top of my wish list so this news made me very happy. At the end of the question & answer part they gave me a worksheet to fill in and then left me for 15 minutes to finish it. There were some math questions, a couple of theatre business questions and three hypothetical logic questions. None of them were very difficult and I finished in about ten minutes. They came back, sat down and said they had discussed my application and would like to offer me the job. I was immediately ecstatic and relieved! I accepted the job and we all smiled at each other. Yay!

The happy feeling lasted during my walk home and then I remembered that I just started a new job that I would have to quit soon. The theatre job begins October 21 and will be around 30 hours per week to start. There are about 115 full-time employees at the theatre and when there are job openings they always offer them to the 30-hour-per-week people first. I feel there will be good opportunity to move up in the organization and possibly to other departments. And I LOVE being in the theatre environment. It feels like the film festival jobs I've had and loved. My problem is the Belgian Monk.

When I was hired (a whole week ago) at the Monk it was for a full-time position. They wanted someone who would stick around for awhile and wouldn't be looking for other work. As of today, I've had one week of training and have one more to go before I can work a shift on my own. There are no part-time spots open right now so it's either full-time or no-time. I originally thought that I would keep working at the Monk and not say anything to them about having a new job until a week before I needed to quit. But that doesn't feel right. I would feel so guilty every time I was there, knowing I was quitting and not telling them. This morning I knew I couldn't do it. I went in just before opening hours to talk to the manager. I told her exactly what happened and that my new job would be starting on Oct. 21 and after that I would not be able to work full-time. She was nice about it and was happy I told her. The person I am replacing doesn't leave for another 2 weeks and she has a stack of applications for full-time work on her desk so it is not a dire situation. We agreed that I would work tonight and then be done. That way she can pay me for a full week's work and then start training someone new next week. (By law only one person in training can be working at a time, so if I didn't leave she wouldn't be able to start someone new until October 3.) I felt guilty throughout the whole conversation and now, an hour later I still feel badly. Essentially I'm quitting before I even got started. I so wish that the theatre had called me a week earlier then I never would have taken the Monk job.
~K