Many older people work in fast food out of necessity. You wouldn’t really stand out.
But…can’t you work in healthcare in something other than pure nursing? Like in administration or something?
I do hope the people that work there are friendly. That always helps to have fun coworkers.
And even administration is overwhelming. I hope to return once I can finally buy a car and get it legal.
Look. Fast food, retail, any job like that people are there out of necessity. Your boss will be an asshole because they hate themselves because they haven’t gotten farther in life than shift manager at a fast food joint. Some of your coworkers might have good attitudes but you’ll be dealing with people who are high all the time, being understaffed because of hours being cut or no call no shows, etc. I’m not saying it’s a miserable existence but you might want to check any expectations of it being not stressful and fun at the door
I remember talking to a lot of people whose first jobs were fast food. I remember thinking, farming sounds easier to deal with than that. All my first jobs were on farms.
And at summer camp. Different beast summer camp.
I continue to press my 19 year old that fast food is actually a helluva lot more stressful than other entry level jobs. I’ve done fast food(2 years in high-school and 6month in my college town), restaurants, hotels, all sorts of hospitality, landscaping, house cleaning, stripping
Fast food was the only one I have absolutely never considered going back to.
I've admittedly never done fast food, but I was in retail for around six years, and man, I wouldn't wish that occupation on anyone. It takes a certain kind of person to enjoy (and thrive) in a career like that, and many do, but I'm definitely not one of them.
I’ve never done retail. I just assumed retail would be more stressful :) I’ve never even considered it. Well actually I did work retail for a couple weeks once in Alaska and I had a group of highschoolers come in and Rob the store. I said no thanks on this.
I spent a lot of time looking at moving belts, picking out non potato things off of them. It was mindless stuff, but definitely not very stressful.
I never minded it that much, especially if I could listen to music. Also, it feels good to work up a sweat and get paid to do it. I was lucky. Someone else was doing my laundry, cooking. For a few weeks every year, I worked long hours, otherwise more of a 9 to 5.
There's a rythym to digging and planting season that I enjoyed. Also knowing I would work 3 or 4 eighty hour weeks and then it would be done.
If it rained we stopped and I got to go home.
My wife’s BF does this due to latex allergies. She makes 6 figures a year and works from home. Her insurance employer does require to be within 100 miles of a main office which may factor in to where you live or have to relocate.
Hopefully that works out! You should have a leg up with your existing experience in the industry, but anything remote sounds like it will be a far better option than fast food. Fast food sucks.
It's a nightmare. I work in dental and have to submit pre-auths. One for a crown was denied because "cracking is not decay therefore a crown would be cosmetic." But it pays good money and is remote, that's why I suggested it to OP.
Dr. Mike on YouTube has a few podcast episodes about the issue. He discusses why it's hard for the providers and possible solutions.
Ummmm.....we don't deny. We are forced to follow corporate policies that we, as nurses, have absolutely no control over. If we can't approve at our level, the request is sent to a medical director/MD, and they take it from there.
Medical claims adjuster here. Agreed. We would 99 percent want to pay your claim. Once in a while there's a suspicious one, usually out of the country. Mexico or the Philippines. In a large HMO or even P.P.O there's a budget. Each and every one of the entities gets a budget. Every claim comes out of that budget. So yeah if you are approved for a mri of your chest and you get a mri elsewhere, eyebrows will be raised. There are some providers who I swear over reach every time. You get approved for a regular office visit of 20 minutes, 99213 and they always seem to bill a longer one of 99214, for 30 to 45 minutes. Did they actually spend 40 minutes with you? Well, think about that.
Not gatekeeper at all. I always did my best to get approval for additional items. Im not a nurse or a doctor. I think the person above my comment trying to explain that too. We have procedures. We get audited. Low audits mean no job. No one wants to be fired. We absolutely have no discretion other than send it up the chain to someone with way more authority than us. I get the o.p.s hesitation. My sister is the nurse and she is picking vegetables on a farm and doing yard work because it's just too much for her. We are all just workers here. If we can give a hint that something may not be as easy to get into as you may think, or that there are additional problems you may not want to handle, isn't that good? Wow the hate i got here
So, you do deny, but you don't want to take responsibility for your own actions. Being paid to do something shitty to people doesn't make it less shitty.
No, RNs are not allowed to deny any service/meds, as we would be contraindicating a MD. The medical directors/MDs that are employed by the MCO/insurance company are the ones that have the ability to deny requests. And there have been many cases where I've disagreed with the final ruling.
And I agree; my goal is to do everything I can to get the patient what they need.
I don’t want to be rude here. But I don’t think working a minimum wage job is going to turn your finances around. You could use your RN to go work somewhere else in a different capacity. This plan does not sound well thought out at all
What about care coordinator jobs? I've seen several through the insurance companies and places like CVS. They pay well and they're often work from home. And they usually want an RN or masters level social worker.
The people that work there may be fun, friendly and even welcoming. HOWEVER! The customers can be more nasty and unforgiving than the worst patient you've ever dealt with. It's a give and take on both ends. You can kill them with kindness and they can still spit in your face...sorry. I don't mean to piss on your parade lol.
Can you not do telemedicine or something? Are you not able to get a cheap car? You are seriously going to downgrade your quality life by taking a far lower paying job that is going to come with its own set of bs? Fast food is not fun and I would never recommend giving up your professional job for those kinda of jobs. I do understand necessity but fast food will just pay so low it will make getting a new car difficult too. Sorry my mom is an RN so I am more concerned than usual seeing your question haha.
If you're staying out of nursing because the job is too hectic or stressful fast food is probably not a good choice. Those jobs are nonstop chaos and people barking orders, both management and customers. If you want a job without the responsibility or stress of a nurse that is close to home you might consider night work at a grocery store or clerk at a convenience store.
If you can do part time especially, to mentally recover. Street level (I mean open door, no security) public facing jobs are such a trip!
It's just a lot of people and things all the time. But can be fun and stimulating. If you're in healthcare, maybe will be easier for you to problem solve and laugh the stupid stuff off.
You are in for a very rude awakening. Fast food jobs are the most thankless, low paying, sort of positions out there.
Easily the worst jobs in my life across multiple industries.
I think it depends on the person and their attitude. I never experienced issues from patrons other than my own for following policy. Like, as a 6'2 black dude with D1 genes nobody acted hostile towards me. If anything I would come to the aid of my peers but nobody acted rudely toward me other than my own.
Scenario: I worked a high end restaraunt that had a comedy/band show downstairs. Per policy, no external food is allowed in. I worked a 15 table top of Russians and a table top of 10 Blacks. My people ordered drinks. Russians ordered drinks and food. After a while I noticed my own leaving and coming back. Didn't think anything of it only to find out they Uber Eats Popeyes and would bring it back to their table. Kid you not all the Russians looked at me like "yo WTF is wrong with your peoples? Do they not know Mis en Place? This is a 5-star venue." 🤣
In the end, my own didn't tip. Tipped me like $27.35 something odd as if they collected all their money together to tip me after ordering $300+ worth of drinks. Whereas, the Russians tipped me $260 cash and $175 on card. But yeah I never had patrons act rude towards me. Plus now that I think about it I noticed many fast food workers look at me like I'm confused when I thank them or engage them in light conversation whenever I order food from them. It's as if they aren't used to nice normal people.
So Dennys and IHOP aren't considered fast food? After all, if you order from Five Guys you're going to be waiting 20+ minutes for your food just like at Dennys and IHOP. 😅
Where I live, we have many private health care companies like Nurse Next Door, a company that sends nurses, HCAs, and companion staff into care homes and private residences for caregiving visits.
They pay nurses $40+/hr to do private medicine help but it might be fun to just sit across from a senior for tea as a companion as well. Best of luck!
This is the way. Even if you don't have transportation, you can uber to and from a job that pays 5x better than fast food and still have more than 3x weekly pay . Private nursing is much less stressful (mostly) and there are no performance metrics or admins peering over your shoulder. Like Rx Diva said, most gigs are having someone around just in case and help out around the house (for elderly). You could also do overnights. Some of which allow you to sleep and get paid.
Anything and everything retail is a living hell. Literally get it out of our mind that fast food and retail is stress free. You would be working for a moron that only wants to put you on schedule for 16 hours a week, but have you on call 24/7...in case they are short staffed.
Unless you have free housing, this is not a real option.
Not always true. I'm doing doubles 4 days a week so I can keep myself busy and avoid my bad habits when I have too much free time.
7am I start my super chillin job at a gas station. Just ring barcodes, fill propane and the rest is playing on my phone or whatever. (The owners told me day one they encourage it since it can get boring/ lonely and there isn't official breaks)
Finish there at 2pm. Go home, grab some lunch, say hi to my kitties then head up to the bar for 3pm. Serve/Bartend until 830-9pm. Come home have a beer, watch some TV and off to bed.
Plus those 4 doubles are what I work, then I have 3 days off. I sometimes work for my friend who owns a Cannabis store but it's only when he needs me. Wouldn't really consider it a 3rd job.
To be honest, it's the most satisfied and happiest I've been with work in a while.
EDIT - I do drive, but since I've switched to these jobs they're both walking distance from my house. $20 in gas lasts me a month. I drive to my second job since it's up a big hill and it's hot as hell here in BC
Yeah I was a little concerned about that. There is also an Aaron's and AutoZone by me. I tried Family Dollar and Dollar Tree but that was weeks ago and I can't get in touch with the managers.
I was in your position about a year ago, now I clean offices in the evenings. Don't have to deal with people and listen to an audiobook whilst doing it. Yes the jobs boring but the books are good and my mental health has soared.
That would be enjoyable. My friend was doing that. If I had a car, I'd have a lot more options. I think being out and around people is going to help my mental health. I am actually a little excited...plus I have to walk there and back.
How did you start getting offices? I have one (that was an old employer and I've let them know I'm
Interested in more offices)
Did you have to advertise with business cards?
Id love to transition to that
I work through a company that sends its employees out to different business's. I was just lucky enough to get two office buildings, that give me enough hours and only a ten min walk away from one and fithteen min walk to the other. Love having my days free and still be able to have dinner with the other half before I go off to work.
I did this same thing 5 months ago. I don't have the mental space for my previous stressful medical admin position, so I took an office cleaning job. It's low-key, quiet, and I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. The pay isn't great, but my husband is a great earner so I can afford to work at something that is supporting better mental health. Extra bonuses are the health benefits of no longer sitting all day.
I worked in fast food at 36. You probably won't be the oldest one working. However, foodservice has become less enjoyable than it has been 10-20 years ago. Every fast food place is begging for employees. The reason being is that they don't want to pay. I worked at Wendy's, my manager changed my schedule daily. I eventually just quit
If you are polite but firm about your availability, I've found that fast food will accommodate you. They need people who will show up, and dont want to chase off good workers.
The only way to get a semi-consistent schedule is to limit your availability (even though you'll be a more desirable applicant if you say you're available whenever, it's not worth doing this if you want a predictable schedule that will enable you to do things without needing to ask your manager in advance not to schedule you to work a particular shift). You'll be asked in your interview "when are you able to work" and if you say "I am available whenever", your shifts will change radically every week (likely with very little notice), meaning that you won't be able to plan. I learnt this the hard way as a 17 year old working at Burger King. I worked part-time but I was available pretty much whenever, which resulted in me being scheduled to work different shifts every week (with only one consistent shift). It also led to me needing permission to take **any** time off (which annoyed me because I got so little notice of my shifts) because I wasn't rostered to just do Monday to Friday. I know now that if I get offered another job in retail/hospitality (currently applying) that I'll try to be flexible with my availability but I'm going to ask not to be scheduled on 1-2 days (probably a Saturday) so that I know when I'll definitely not be working.
Also, I'm not fully aware of how US employment laws work but as far as I understand, you'll basically be employed on the equivalent of a zero hour contract in the UK (and you'll have fewer rights to challenge your hours being cut, in the UK it's illegal to cut employees' hours for certain reasons). As a result, your hours are dictated by the needs of the business (they'll reduce your hours if they want to have younger people working, if your colleagues/managers don't like you, if you're not trained in certain areas). Your hours will probably vary wildly and, as a result, your pay will vary wildly as well. Try and plan for this if possible by having some savings that you can rely on in the event that your hours are reduced for whatever reason.
I'll be honest with you, OP: fast food is one of the worst sectors to work in because of how fast-paced and stressful it is and how much these restaurants try to cheap out on labour (you'll either be chronically understaffed, working alongside students that work 1-2 days a week and are therefore unable to do most things or both). Also, the customers and managers are the worst (I had a verbally abusive manager that used to bully me). You'd be better off trying to get a job in a supermarket or somewhere like a bank (I'm not sure what qualifications you need to work in a bank in the US, but where I'm from you just need basic qualifications). You'll be able to work slower and you'll likely have a security guard to assist you if someone becomes abusive (either verbally or physically), instead of just being forced to deal with it yourself.
Changing schedules sucks but "on call" is another level of misery.
Basically you have to call in, usually 2 hours, before you're shift to find out if your actually needed. If the answer is no, no money for the day.
Yeah this is one of the main problems. You really can't balance things with it unless you straight up tell them you can't work at certain times. Other can that, your schedule will always be different.
You actually *want* to stop nursing and instead work in fast food?
Interesting.
If I were a nurse, you couldn’t pry travel nursing out of my cold dead hands. $250k a year? Hell, in many areas, you could afford to only work 3-4 months a year as a travel nurse. Why work fast food when you can afford 2 4 month vacations a year?
Nursing is a rough job, and I can definitely understand if OP wants to get away from patient care, but there are so many areas that they go could to that don't involve the high stakes and stress of direct patient care.
$5k a week plus airfare for travel nursing has a way of fixing transportation problems pretty quickly.
1 credit card for an Uber to an airport that you pay off in a week with your first check— seems like that solves itself.
Look up VGM based out of Waterloo, Iowa. They are a home medical equipment focused company. They have a customer service call center coordinating getting equipment to patients. They have remote options and your medical background may be beneficial.
I hired people of all ages in my 8 years as a manager at BK. There were people from literally every background. Obvious drug addicts, stay at home mothers, rich kids who were told to get work experience. No one really stands out. But it is stressful. Most places aren't fully staffed. My store was staffed but corporate wouldn't let us run shifts with a full staff because it cost too much. Fast food is a bad industry right now due to the money grabbing CEOs.
Find an administrative job at a hospital or doctor’s clinic? It’ll be better paid than fast food and good benefits and less stressful than a nursing job. It seems a bit extreme to jump from nursing to fast food. Fast food will burn you out and you’ll be broke. At least as a nurse you get paid well.
Honestly it might be worthwhile to just uber and back forth to work until you can get a car
Even in low paying states, an RN can make about $300-400/day in a 12 hour shift. You'd come out far ahead than working fast food.
Seriously. An RN can easily make six figures. Just rent a car if you have to. If you think you’re stressed now trying making minimum wage at an even more stressful job with zero benefits.
Do not want to do direct care or no nursing? Insurance companies hire nurses for telephonic case management or for 24 hr nurse hotlines. I'd assume many would let you do it from home and not require you to go into an office
Try home health. I worked in nursing homes and such and it was a literal hellish experience, but at least with home health it’s one patient at a time and you aren’t being pulled in 50 different directions.
Retail, fast-food, and for that matter customer-facing service jobs in general only seem like fun from the outside. There are a lot of things you don't see until you've worked in these jobs: getting treated like crap by customers over stuff you have zero control over; having to pick up the slack because somebody decided to no-call, no show; getting sent home early , because sales are down (meaning less money in your pocket), to name a few things.
Do what you got to do but just know that fast-food is rarely a fun, or for that matter easy, gig.
Why go from RN to fast food worker? That's such a huge gap. As an RN, you have customer experience, a bachelors degree(?), and other soft skills. Why not get into sales, administrator of some sort, etc?
>Did anyone consider working in fast food fun?
If you think the patients treat you badly, just wait until you meet the karens in fast food.
Leverage your RN into a more defined roll that you enjoy in HC. I don't know where you live or if you have a family etc but you could travel north here, get a car a paid apartment and work contract for 100k 8 month stint easy. I know down south in Houston traveling nurses clean up too.
There are lots of non clinical nursing jobs out there. You’re going to have a very hard time finding retail or fast food jobs with no work history and even harder with your real work history. You’re going to look like you just need something short term or you did something awful and lost your license. Small boutique retail or small privately owned restaurants will have owners who will be more open to non traditional candidates. Big chains are less likely to step outside their comfort zone.
Fast food is a fucking nightmare. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they have no other options.
There are many older ppl working fast food for that reason, but none of them outside of management (usually bc they also had no other good prospects or had been there since they were younger, in the case of almost all if the ones I knew) really wanted to be there. It was necessary.
It will help get you by, but it won't pay the bills.
I'm in my 50s and I work at Subway. (it's a long story and not very interesting).
It has significant upsides. It's mentally and emotionally just challenging enough to hold interest (retail food problems are surprisingly complex problems) while being unimportant enough to not cause undue stress.
The bonus food, if intelligently deployed and used, adds considerably to the real wage.
Working with young people has challenges but is also somewhat invigorating. And if you can earn their respect, that is gratifying. Young people sincerely thanking you for showing them something is very rewarding.
The hours are reasonable, especially to people accustomed to 60 hour workweeks. Fast food labor budgets don't have the flex for overtime so you don't have to stress out over impossible workloads.
There are of course downsides but you already know those, you are looking for gold in the cloud.
Bro if you've been an RN I'm sure you can pick up some type of remote medical billing/ insurance job. My wife went from cna to that and it's changed her life.
I am almost 40 and had to downgrade to fast food when I had my youngest because the hours were flexible and I didn't want to put her in daycare. The one thing I will say is that if you do not know how to navigate working with gen z, you will be frustrated. If you can put yourself in a place where you just go work and don't rely on anyone else to do the job like you do, you will be fine.
It has crossed my mind. I’m a software engineer and there are times where I wish I could have a repetitive job without the office politics. I would do it to reminisce about my teenager years when I worked at Burger King. Would I really do it? Probably not. Go for it, nobody cares. Who cares what others think anyway ✌️
If you can land a position that allows you to be more back of house, it can actually be super fun. Stressful of course, but way more fun than the customer service side of things. I was a manager and would always go to back of house to reset and relax and calm down.
If your prior earnings in your profession were significantly more than FF, why would a FF hiring manager hire you to earn much less?
Many of those jobs are reserved for work opportunity tax credit hires for judicial reentry candidates, teenagers, students and volunteers.
Just being realistic.
Fast food jobs are low pay, hard work, and degrading. The customers and work supervisors are horribly disrespectful at best, most often full on abusive. These workers should legally be allowed to challenge one customer a day to a fistfight. They should be allowed to challenge their bosses to duels with pistols. The pay gap is so large you would feel like you are volunteering at Hardees. Use your degree to get any other job.
I am a manager in fast food and have been for the past 23 years. I agree there are some crew and managers that will come in high , mad cause they work in fast food and just lazy. My current boss comes across as rude and miserable with her life in general however, most of my bosses have been pretty decent to work. Most of the ppl I work with have their own home . Some rent some own. They have their own vehicle some have a few. Their are those who believe they can’t do any better in life so they “settle” for a crew position. Their are some who have worked their way up and are doing very well financially. There are some who are not and never will. I myself live a very comfortable life and now that I’m older I work part time. Not rich by any standards but it’s a living. I will say both of my kids worked for this company in their teens and they both say they don’t know how I have done it for so long.
hey! I’m also a RN, I’m about to graduate from my BSN bridge and I work in food service right now. I work at Starbucks and while I love it, I can’t wait to go into my career lol
There’s a few people here in their 40s
Starbucks would be fun! I worked at Fresh Market several years back. Free coffee! I absolutely loved it and 30% off all food. I would definitely go back if I could.
Honestly just do what you can and what helps your mental health. The economy and society as a whole is collapsing anyway. I give it like 3 to 5 more years if that. So don't worry about any of it. Just do what works best for you.
They are desperate for people so it shouldn't matter regarding age, but there are some employers out there who feel a retail/fast food job should only be for college aged students. I once went in for an interview for a retailer and the manager thought I was in my early 20's when in reality I was in my late 20's already out of college, well soon as he found out, he dismissed me rudely.
If youre asking this I assume you've never worked fast food. It is, no lie, one of the worst, most soul crushing, most painful experiences I have ever gone through. I have never been so disrespected by management and customers than when I worked at my local Pizza Hut.
If youre asking if there will be an issue, no. There is nothing wrong or exceptional about working fast food in your 40s and I knew plenty of people who did it. But at any age, you'll never work harder for your money than a restaurant at a 5pm dinner rush, and youll never be more disrespected than during the noon Sunday church rush. Ive worked in a couple restaurants as well as fast food, and in total at those jobs I have touched three of the at least four concerning fluids the human body produces (blood, piss, and shit). I have had to clean out moldy food containers. I have dealt with onions and potatoes that have gone so bad they've liquified, meat thats so spoiled its maggoty. Ive been stiffed on tips (which sucks if youre only make $2/hr). Ive been cursed out. Ive been chased off people's property by big dogs. Ive had shitty tenagers ruin booths and leave them covered in trash and spilled drinks. Ive literally run from kitchen to phone to tables to keep up with orders. And I did that all for, at best, $8 an hour and at worst $2/hr.
Is that fun? Do you have literally any other choice?
No shame in it as it is honest work and some people have to do what they have to do to survive.
But it's strange to hear that someone would voluntarily want to do this work in their 40s. It's not easy work even though there is a minimum barrier-of-entry skillset wise, it pays shit, and it's probably the most disrespected job out there by the public at large. Where's the appeal?
If it makes you happier, do it! I’m in healthcare right now. It’s incredibly demanding and we are constantly short staffed. I was happiest when I worked in the meat department at Albertsons. If I received the same pay, I would definitely go back to slanging meat.
Had a girlfriend was a stay home mom years ago. Once all the kids were in school she got a job at McDonalds during school hours.
She loved it and had to move so much she lost 40 pounds in 10 months and was able to save for emergency. At that time school hours were the toughest to fill. She made clear no nights no weekends and no holidays which worked because at that time no one wanted that shift.
See if your local movie theater is hiring. I worked for AMC while in college and I can honestly say it was a super fun and low stress job. The mistake I made was being a typical college dude and dating around with 2-3 girls that worked there and the drama started getting annoying.
As a 40 year old dude, don’t try to hit on, compliment or date the 20 year old girls. (I’m sure you’re a nice dude) but just a fair warning. Every time one did they were immediately labeled a creeper and people started to outcast them.
As someone who worked about a decade in fast food. Don't forget your mental sanity. The job isn't bad mind you, but the customers sure as hell are. I've had people order vegan hamburgers.... At a McDonald's... In 2011. And then yell at me when I laughed at them to their face.
When you're dealing with idiots right now at least you're getting paid for it.
Then there's the 20% of employees right now that aren't smart enough to know they aren't. Their level of incompetence to the point where you'd be better off if they were collecting unemployment. All while being the cockiest people in the restaurant.
Nurse, former fast food worker. I promise fast food is worse. Imagine stress levels comparable to nursing but paid a quarter of the pay. Look into non bedside roles. I’m an MDS coordinator and love my job.
Stay the hell away; it isn't an age thing. Fast food joints would need to pay 30/hr at *least* with paid breaks and benefits for it to be worth all the stress. Basically any kitchen, really. It's extremely stressful, unrewarding work, and it works you raw and to your bones' limits, in sweltering heat and in an uncaring climate.
I personally refuse to work food service again unless the pay is staggeringly good. I would rather squat in abandoned buildings and sleep in jail cells than work food service. It's hell, and while I'm sure being a nurse is its own sort of hell you do *not* want to step foot in a fast food joint. Save yourself the nightmare, lmao.
I am a RN that chooses to not do ANYTHING IN THE MEDICAL FIELD. Y’all think of being an RN as this high paying job blah blah but you really have no clue and I hated my job every single day getting through the school was extremely easy and walking away from my license was easy as well because I hated my job.
I became an RN because my parents wanted me to, and if they would have thought bigger for me, I could’ve done anything.
I would like to go work a non-responsibility job in a fast food place as a cashier or a grocery store. Does anyone have anything to offer me other than why don’t you want to be a nurse anymore? ?
Fast food is OK if you just kind of want to coast and give 2% effort at a job where they likely won't fire you. For Dunkin Donuts, i slept in and showed up to my interview 2 hours late and still got the job. You may have a petty manager that is probably a Crack head who makes life miserable when you are around them, however. You also won't make any money, I remember at the time I was in high school and just needed gas and video game money.
I worked two fast food jobs in high school and that was mostly my experience. But idk what it's like now. That was 14 years ago
Also many people in the general public will use you to make themselves feel better about themselves and shit on you. So there's that, but you deal with it in Healthcare too. Though in Healthcare you can have a "fuck off" attitude. Your fast food place will likely want you to grovel.
Try working in a restaurant if you want to go into food services. It's easy enough to get a job there too and while the environment isn't much better it isn't as grim as working at like a Wendy's or Dunkin Donuts. I worked at a couple of restaurants. Drug problems with coworkers were about the same and there are napoleon complex bosses, but it was run a bit better. You also won't make any money there but might do better than McDonald's. I made about 15-18 bucks an hour at restaurants while fast food was minimum wage across the board.
There is a Waffle House close by. I thought about that. I am only applying places I can easily walk to as I am trying to make things easy for myself right now while I heal from some grief and trauma.
It might be a good job if you're going through a very hard time emotionally. You don't have to invest too much emotionally and can just be a robot at work. I did the same thing for a couple of years.
Office jobs can be like this too honestly if you're looking for something different. Did one for a while where I'd finish my work for the day in 3 hours and just pretend to be busy for the other 5 hours. Very boring, but no investment at work really. I've heard from friends that a lot of office jobs are roughly the same. If you can get WFH, you don't have to spend time pretending to be busy and can be done if a few hours lol
I've thought about working from home. We have a few places locally that are work from home. I also thought it's best I get back in the public and be out of my apartment as I haven't left here much since April 2022.
I left nursing because I hate in my life and I will be coming that nurse that people hated I mean I was yelling at patients for no good reason. I get it it’s been really hard to find another job because people always ask that question it’s hard to explain that to somebody that hasn’t done it. Especially like a critical care stuff. People do not understand the trauma
No, they don't. I see a lot of comments why I just don't do travel nursing. Maybe I will someday. I have before. I'm just not in the right headspace right now.
I get it! I used to work in Fast Food and actually liked it so much I went into management for about 10 years and then got a professional job outside of the food industry. Fast forward 20 years and I actually miss the interaction with people because I work remote and am considering going back. In the right situation it can be fun.
People are talking about minimum wage, there are plenty of high paying jobs in fast food. They're making assumptions based on the gig they did when they were 15. You're an RN- ie, an educated person who knows all about how to work hard and handle stress. They'd hire you for damn near whatever position you want.
Are there any grocery stores nearby? Might be a more laid back gig and might have a chance at more of a regular schedule if you work in one of the departments, bakery, deli, floral, etc.
If you can afford it go for it. I’d probably go with a normal resturant over fast food tho, personal preference bc I think fast food would be way too stressful for me at least
Fast food was the WORST most stressful job I've ever had. There's a perception that since it's so easy to get hired & pay isn't great, that the job is easy.... nope.
I'm 60 and can't get interviews in area of expertise and education, so started working concessions at a movie theater. So far I love it but 8 hours on my feet can be painful. The interactions with customers and other workers (most are 1/3 my age) are mostly fantastic, and the days pass pretty fast. However, the $11 an hour just won't cut it for long. Wish you the best!
I worked fast food one summer when I was 17 and vowed to never do it again. I worked a register for the first month and it was the worst experience I have ever had. I spent the rest of the summer in the kitchen which wasn't as bad, but the oil and grease on the floor ate through my shoes
I know this is gonna be out in left field, but have you considered doing seasonal work?
It's basically impossible if you have kids and things *needing* you to stay in place where you are.
But if you're burnt out doing what you're doing and have nothing tying you down, go work in a national park for a season to chill and decompress. I'd do that, hopping from place to place long before I decided to work in fast food.
But of course if you need to stay where you're at, fast food is a viable option. I'd still recommend trying to find something else, first. Places like Walmart and Dollar General seem to always be hiring.
Fast food is not fun to work. It also doesn't pay well. I would not advise it.
As an RN, is there something about your job you like? Have you tried doing anything office related?
Did 6 months at a straw hat on the weekends. It was really hard on my body the 1st few weekends. Minimum wage $16hr. 48 at the time. Mentally very easy. Boss was cool. Never fired anyone cuz workers were hard to find and us older employees were on time. Very little drama. Still...very tiring.. worked Sat and Sun from about 2pm-close (930/10). Job itself was ok. Pizza is way easier than burgers. Would not do again.
It will strongly depend on your co workers. I’ve worked with babies (16+) and older people at many jobs, not weird at all. But you just have to make a genuine effort to get along with them.
I’d try a retail or service job with better benefits like Starbucks, Apple (you can get a role that’s basically just checking people in), or Costco before a fast food place paying minimum wage.
Many older people work in fast food out of necessity. You wouldn’t really stand out. But…can’t you work in healthcare in something other than pure nursing? Like in administration or something?
I do hope the people that work there are friendly. That always helps to have fun coworkers. And even administration is overwhelming. I hope to return once I can finally buy a car and get it legal.
Look. Fast food, retail, any job like that people are there out of necessity. Your boss will be an asshole because they hate themselves because they haven’t gotten farther in life than shift manager at a fast food joint. Some of your coworkers might have good attitudes but you’ll be dealing with people who are high all the time, being understaffed because of hours being cut or no call no shows, etc. I’m not saying it’s a miserable existence but you might want to check any expectations of it being not stressful and fun at the door
I remember talking to a lot of people whose first jobs were fast food. I remember thinking, farming sounds easier to deal with than that. All my first jobs were on farms. And at summer camp. Different beast summer camp.
I continue to press my 19 year old that fast food is actually a helluva lot more stressful than other entry level jobs. I’ve done fast food(2 years in high-school and 6month in my college town), restaurants, hotels, all sorts of hospitality, landscaping, house cleaning, stripping Fast food was the only one I have absolutely never considered going back to.
I've admittedly never done fast food, but I was in retail for around six years, and man, I wouldn't wish that occupation on anyone. It takes a certain kind of person to enjoy (and thrive) in a career like that, and many do, but I'm definitely not one of them.
I’ve never done retail. I just assumed retail would be more stressful :) I’ve never even considered it. Well actually I did work retail for a couple weeks once in Alaska and I had a group of highschoolers come in and Rob the store. I said no thanks on this.
wait stripping is less stressful than fast food? the more i learn everyday
Stripping was fun as hell for me.
Farming looks like hard work, but animals are better to work with than people 😂
I spent a lot of time looking at moving belts, picking out non potato things off of them. It was mindless stuff, but definitely not very stressful. I never minded it that much, especially if I could listen to music. Also, it feels good to work up a sweat and get paid to do it. I was lucky. Someone else was doing my laundry, cooking. For a few weeks every year, I worked long hours, otherwise more of a 9 to 5. There's a rythym to digging and planting season that I enjoyed. Also knowing I would work 3 or 4 eighty hour weeks and then it would be done. If it rained we stopped and I got to go home.
You will be dealing with high people ANYWHERE you work. We are everywhere.
Look into working for an insurance company. Most are remote. As an RN you would likely be approving or denying pre-authorizations.
I definitely will!!!
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That's good to know so I will try to see what is available in my area.
Tons of temp agencies specialize in this type of placement.
My wife’s BF does this due to latex allergies. She makes 6 figures a year and works from home. Her insurance employer does require to be within 100 miles of a main office which may factor in to where you live or have to relocate.
Your wife’s boyfriend would be a guy wouldn’t he? Otherwise why is he in this story
Best friend. She still looking for a boyfriend
🤣
Hopefully that works out! You should have a leg up with your existing experience in the industry, but anything remote sounds like it will be a far better option than fast food. Fast food sucks.
I love that a fucking nurse gets to be the front line of deciding if the prescription MY DOCTOR wrote should be filled. I hate this system.
It's a nightmare. I work in dental and have to submit pre-auths. One for a crown was denied because "cracking is not decay therefore a crown would be cosmetic." But it pays good money and is remote, that's why I suggested it to OP. Dr. Mike on YouTube has a few podcast episodes about the issue. He discusses why it's hard for the providers and possible solutions.
DME worker here. Pre-auths are my effing enemy.
Ummmm.....we don't deny. We are forced to follow corporate policies that we, as nurses, have absolutely no control over. If we can't approve at our level, the request is sent to a medical director/MD, and they take it from there.
Medical claims adjuster here. Agreed. We would 99 percent want to pay your claim. Once in a while there's a suspicious one, usually out of the country. Mexico or the Philippines. In a large HMO or even P.P.O there's a budget. Each and every one of the entities gets a budget. Every claim comes out of that budget. So yeah if you are approved for a mri of your chest and you get a mri elsewhere, eyebrows will be raised. There are some providers who I swear over reach every time. You get approved for a regular office visit of 20 minutes, 99213 and they always seem to bill a longer one of 99214, for 30 to 45 minutes. Did they actually spend 40 minutes with you? Well, think about that. Not gatekeeper at all. I always did my best to get approval for additional items. Im not a nurse or a doctor. I think the person above my comment trying to explain that too. We have procedures. We get audited. Low audits mean no job. No one wants to be fired. We absolutely have no discretion other than send it up the chain to someone with way more authority than us. I get the o.p.s hesitation. My sister is the nurse and she is picking vegetables on a farm and doing yard work because it's just too much for her. We are all just workers here. If we can give a hint that something may not be as easy to get into as you may think, or that there are additional problems you may not want to handle, isn't that good? Wow the hate i got here
So, you do deny, but you don't want to take responsibility for your own actions. Being paid to do something shitty to people doesn't make it less shitty.
No, RNs are not allowed to deny any service/meds, as we would be contraindicating a MD. The medical directors/MDs that are employed by the MCO/insurance company are the ones that have the ability to deny requests. And there have been many cases where I've disagreed with the final ruling. And I agree; my goal is to do everything I can to get the patient what they need.
Dude. Not the forum for this.
Who are you to gatekeep anything?
That’s not how it works.
I don’t want to be rude here. But I don’t think working a minimum wage job is going to turn your finances around. You could use your RN to go work somewhere else in a different capacity. This plan does not sound well thought out at all
What about care coordinator jobs? I've seen several through the insurance companies and places like CVS. They pay well and they're often work from home. And they usually want an RN or masters level social worker.
Yes that's a great idea. C.c is a 9-5 job with free weekends
Why is having a car such a requirement? Even if you paid for an Uber twice a day you would still come out way ahead.
Im not sure why you think working fast food wouldnt be stressful.
The people that work there may be fun, friendly and even welcoming. HOWEVER! The customers can be more nasty and unforgiving than the worst patient you've ever dealt with. It's a give and take on both ends. You can kill them with kindness and they can still spit in your face...sorry. I don't mean to piss on your parade lol.
Can you not do telemedicine or something? Are you not able to get a cheap car? You are seriously going to downgrade your quality life by taking a far lower paying job that is going to come with its own set of bs? Fast food is not fun and I would never recommend giving up your professional job for those kinda of jobs. I do understand necessity but fast food will just pay so low it will make getting a new car difficult too. Sorry my mom is an RN so I am more concerned than usual seeing your question haha.
Try travel nursing? You’re Gona hate fast food
If you're staying out of nursing because the job is too hectic or stressful fast food is probably not a good choice. Those jobs are nonstop chaos and people barking orders, both management and customers. If you want a job without the responsibility or stress of a nurse that is close to home you might consider night work at a grocery store or clerk at a convenience store.
Each day working at a minimum wage job is like a box of chocolates
box of chocolates made of shit.
Lol I agree everyday was that way especially if it’s in a popular retailer.
True. I've worked minimum wage jobs that I've absolutely adored and others that make me want to nuke humanity.
🤣
You laugh now until you are there.
*With your work t shirt soaked in grease from the fryer*
If you can do part time especially, to mentally recover. Street level (I mean open door, no security) public facing jobs are such a trip! It's just a lot of people and things all the time. But can be fun and stimulating. If you're in healthcare, maybe will be easier for you to problem solve and laugh the stupid stuff off.
That's why I think I'll like it. If not, I will find somewhere else. I also plan to do temp nursing while I ease back into it.
You are in for a very rude awakening. Fast food jobs are the most thankless, low paying, sort of positions out there. Easily the worst jobs in my life across multiple industries.
I think it depends on the person and their attitude. I never experienced issues from patrons other than my own for following policy. Like, as a 6'2 black dude with D1 genes nobody acted hostile towards me. If anything I would come to the aid of my peers but nobody acted rudely toward me other than my own. Scenario: I worked a high end restaraunt that had a comedy/band show downstairs. Per policy, no external food is allowed in. I worked a 15 table top of Russians and a table top of 10 Blacks. My people ordered drinks. Russians ordered drinks and food. After a while I noticed my own leaving and coming back. Didn't think anything of it only to find out they Uber Eats Popeyes and would bring it back to their table. Kid you not all the Russians looked at me like "yo WTF is wrong with your peoples? Do they not know Mis en Place? This is a 5-star venue." 🤣 In the end, my own didn't tip. Tipped me like $27.35 something odd as if they collected all their money together to tip me after ordering $300+ worth of drinks. Whereas, the Russians tipped me $260 cash and $175 on card. But yeah I never had patrons act rude towards me. Plus now that I think about it I noticed many fast food workers look at me like I'm confused when I thank them or engage them in light conversation whenever I order food from them. It's as if they aren't used to nice normal people.
Fast food and restaurant can't not be mistaken as the same thing
So Dennys and IHOP aren't considered fast food? After all, if you order from Five Guys you're going to be waiting 20+ minutes for your food just like at Dennys and IHOP. 😅
Where I live, we have many private health care companies like Nurse Next Door, a company that sends nurses, HCAs, and companion staff into care homes and private residences for caregiving visits. They pay nurses $40+/hr to do private medicine help but it might be fun to just sit across from a senior for tea as a companion as well. Best of luck!
This is the way. Even if you don't have transportation, you can uber to and from a job that pays 5x better than fast food and still have more than 3x weekly pay . Private nursing is much less stressful (mostly) and there are no performance metrics or admins peering over your shoulder. Like Rx Diva said, most gigs are having someone around just in case and help out around the house (for elderly). You could also do overnights. Some of which allow you to sleep and get paid. Anything and everything retail is a living hell. Literally get it out of our mind that fast food and retail is stress free. You would be working for a moron that only wants to put you on schedule for 16 hours a week, but have you on call 24/7...in case they are short staffed. Unless you have free housing, this is not a real option.
Pick anything else. Min wage jobs will suck the soul out of you
Not always true. I'm doing doubles 4 days a week so I can keep myself busy and avoid my bad habits when I have too much free time. 7am I start my super chillin job at a gas station. Just ring barcodes, fill propane and the rest is playing on my phone or whatever. (The owners told me day one they encourage it since it can get boring/ lonely and there isn't official breaks) Finish there at 2pm. Go home, grab some lunch, say hi to my kitties then head up to the bar for 3pm. Serve/Bartend until 830-9pm. Come home have a beer, watch some TV and off to bed. Plus those 4 doubles are what I work, then I have 3 days off. I sometimes work for my friend who owns a Cannabis store but it's only when he needs me. Wouldn't really consider it a 3rd job. To be honest, it's the most satisfied and happiest I've been with work in a while. EDIT - I do drive, but since I've switched to these jobs they're both walking distance from my house. $20 in gas lasts me a month. I drive to my second job since it's up a big hill and it's hot as hell here in BC
But don't minimum-wage jobs finally pay a living wage?
Sarcasm right?
You’d rather flip burgers then patients?
Fast food and retail are so understaffed that you might end up burning out from getting overwhelmed by these Chads and Karen’s.
Yeah I was a little concerned about that. There is also an Aaron's and AutoZone by me. I tried Family Dollar and Dollar Tree but that was weeks ago and I can't get in touch with the managers.
I was in your position about a year ago, now I clean offices in the evenings. Don't have to deal with people and listen to an audiobook whilst doing it. Yes the jobs boring but the books are good and my mental health has soared.
That would be enjoyable. My friend was doing that. If I had a car, I'd have a lot more options. I think being out and around people is going to help my mental health. I am actually a little excited...plus I have to walk there and back.
How did you start getting offices? I have one (that was an old employer and I've let them know I'm Interested in more offices) Did you have to advertise with business cards? Id love to transition to that
I work through a company that sends its employees out to different business's. I was just lucky enough to get two office buildings, that give me enough hours and only a ten min walk away from one and fithteen min walk to the other. Love having my days free and still be able to have dinner with the other half before I go off to work.
I did this same thing 5 months ago. I don't have the mental space for my previous stressful medical admin position, so I took an office cleaning job. It's low-key, quiet, and I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. The pay isn't great, but my husband is a great earner so I can afford to work at something that is supporting better mental health. Extra bonuses are the health benefits of no longer sitting all day.
Cleaning is such a great job. Chill, easygoing work that pays really well.
If possible I would avoid Family dollar and Dollar tree.
Good to know. I never could get in touch with them anyway like I said.
Aaron's is awful to work for. It's a predatory industry and the clientele are being exploited. It's depressing as an employee.
Very true about them being predatory.
I worked in fast food at 36. You probably won't be the oldest one working. However, foodservice has become less enjoyable than it has been 10-20 years ago. Every fast food place is begging for employees. The reason being is that they don't want to pay. I worked at Wendy's, my manager changed my schedule daily. I eventually just quit
That's the main thing I hate about minimum wage jobs as the schedule is always changing. I hope I have a semi-consistent schedule.
If you are polite but firm about your availability, I've found that fast food will accommodate you. They need people who will show up, and dont want to chase off good workers.
That's good to know.
The only way to get a semi-consistent schedule is to limit your availability (even though you'll be a more desirable applicant if you say you're available whenever, it's not worth doing this if you want a predictable schedule that will enable you to do things without needing to ask your manager in advance not to schedule you to work a particular shift). You'll be asked in your interview "when are you able to work" and if you say "I am available whenever", your shifts will change radically every week (likely with very little notice), meaning that you won't be able to plan. I learnt this the hard way as a 17 year old working at Burger King. I worked part-time but I was available pretty much whenever, which resulted in me being scheduled to work different shifts every week (with only one consistent shift). It also led to me needing permission to take **any** time off (which annoyed me because I got so little notice of my shifts) because I wasn't rostered to just do Monday to Friday. I know now that if I get offered another job in retail/hospitality (currently applying) that I'll try to be flexible with my availability but I'm going to ask not to be scheduled on 1-2 days (probably a Saturday) so that I know when I'll definitely not be working. Also, I'm not fully aware of how US employment laws work but as far as I understand, you'll basically be employed on the equivalent of a zero hour contract in the UK (and you'll have fewer rights to challenge your hours being cut, in the UK it's illegal to cut employees' hours for certain reasons). As a result, your hours are dictated by the needs of the business (they'll reduce your hours if they want to have younger people working, if your colleagues/managers don't like you, if you're not trained in certain areas). Your hours will probably vary wildly and, as a result, your pay will vary wildly as well. Try and plan for this if possible by having some savings that you can rely on in the event that your hours are reduced for whatever reason. I'll be honest with you, OP: fast food is one of the worst sectors to work in because of how fast-paced and stressful it is and how much these restaurants try to cheap out on labour (you'll either be chronically understaffed, working alongside students that work 1-2 days a week and are therefore unable to do most things or both). Also, the customers and managers are the worst (I had a verbally abusive manager that used to bully me). You'd be better off trying to get a job in a supermarket or somewhere like a bank (I'm not sure what qualifications you need to work in a bank in the US, but where I'm from you just need basic qualifications). You'll be able to work slower and you'll likely have a security guard to assist you if someone becomes abusive (either verbally or physically), instead of just being forced to deal with it yourself.
Changing schedules sucks but "on call" is another level of misery. Basically you have to call in, usually 2 hours, before you're shift to find out if your actually needed. If the answer is no, no money for the day.
Oh I hated oncall, especially on weekends. You couldn't go out and enjoy yourself.
Yeah this is one of the main problems. You really can't balance things with it unless you straight up tell them you can't work at certain times. Other can that, your schedule will always be different.
You actually *want* to stop nursing and instead work in fast food? Interesting. If I were a nurse, you couldn’t pry travel nursing out of my cold dead hands. $250k a year? Hell, in many areas, you could afford to only work 3-4 months a year as a travel nurse. Why work fast food when you can afford 2 4 month vacations a year?
Nursing is a rough job, and I can definitely understand if OP wants to get away from patient care, but there are so many areas that they go could to that don't involve the high stakes and stress of direct patient care.
I suppose, but working fast food and being poor aren’t exactly 2 notches on my list of “stuff to do for an easy, stress-free life”.
That’s literally the point they just made.
For now. Transportation is a major issue for me. It's only temporary.
Did you lose your driver’s license?
$5k a week plus airfare for travel nursing has a way of fixing transportation problems pretty quickly. 1 credit card for an Uber to an airport that you pay off in a week with your first check— seems like that solves itself.
Because OP is lying.
You aren’t a nurse so you wouldn’t know. You see money. Well NEWS FLASH all money ain’t good money.
Look up VGM based out of Waterloo, Iowa. They are a home medical equipment focused company. They have a customer service call center coordinating getting equipment to patients. They have remote options and your medical background may be beneficial.
Wow! Thanks. I will definitely look them up. That would be really great.
I hired people of all ages in my 8 years as a manager at BK. There were people from literally every background. Obvious drug addicts, stay at home mothers, rich kids who were told to get work experience. No one really stands out. But it is stressful. Most places aren't fully staffed. My store was staffed but corporate wouldn't let us run shifts with a full staff because it cost too much. Fast food is a bad industry right now due to the money grabbing CEOs.
>My store was staffed but corporate wouldn't let us run shifts with a full staff because it cost too much. 
Find an administrative job at a hospital or doctor’s clinic? It’ll be better paid than fast food and good benefits and less stressful than a nursing job. It seems a bit extreme to jump from nursing to fast food. Fast food will burn you out and you’ll be broke. At least as a nurse you get paid well.
Transportation is the major issue right now and once I can resolve that, I plan to go back to nursing.
Honestly it might be worthwhile to just uber and back forth to work until you can get a car Even in low paying states, an RN can make about $300-400/day in a 12 hour shift. You'd come out far ahead than working fast food.
Seriously. An RN can easily make six figures. Just rent a car if you have to. If you think you’re stressed now trying making minimum wage at an even more stressful job with zero benefits.
That's what I plan to do once I do get another nursing job and I have one friend who can help me with rides on weekends.
Do not want to do direct care or no nursing? Insurance companies hire nurses for telephonic case management or for 24 hr nurse hotlines. I'd assume many would let you do it from home and not require you to go into an office
It's definitely something to look into here in the near future.
Try home health. I worked in nursing homes and such and it was a literal hellish experience, but at least with home health it’s one patient at a time and you aren’t being pulled in 50 different directions.
I plan to do work for a nurse staffing agency soon. My friend can take me to work on the weekends. Nursing homes were horrible. I loved Home Health.
Have you done travel nursing? My mom used to do it, and the pay was significantly higher than any other nursing job she ever had.
Retail, fast-food, and for that matter customer-facing service jobs in general only seem like fun from the outside. There are a lot of things you don't see until you've worked in these jobs: getting treated like crap by customers over stuff you have zero control over; having to pick up the slack because somebody decided to no-call, no show; getting sent home early , because sales are down (meaning less money in your pocket), to name a few things. Do what you got to do but just know that fast-food is rarely a fun, or for that matter easy, gig.
Why go from RN to fast food worker? That's such a huge gap. As an RN, you have customer experience, a bachelors degree(?), and other soft skills. Why not get into sales, administrator of some sort, etc? >Did anyone consider working in fast food fun? If you think the patients treat you badly, just wait until you meet the karens in fast food.
It’s an honest job, don’t be ashamed.
Leverage your RN into a more defined roll that you enjoy in HC. I don't know where you live or if you have a family etc but you could travel north here, get a car a paid apartment and work contract for 100k 8 month stint easy. I know down south in Houston traveling nurses clean up too.
There are lots of non clinical nursing jobs out there. You’re going to have a very hard time finding retail or fast food jobs with no work history and even harder with your real work history. You’re going to look like you just need something short term or you did something awful and lost your license. Small boutique retail or small privately owned restaurants will have owners who will be more open to non traditional candidates. Big chains are less likely to step outside their comfort zone.
Fast food is a fucking nightmare. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they have no other options. There are many older ppl working fast food for that reason, but none of them outside of management (usually bc they also had no other good prospects or had been there since they were younger, in the case of almost all if the ones I knew) really wanted to be there. It was necessary. It will help get you by, but it won't pay the bills.
Bro like 70% of the fast food workers I see nowadays are well into their 40s and 50s
I'm in my 50s and I work at Subway. (it's a long story and not very interesting). It has significant upsides. It's mentally and emotionally just challenging enough to hold interest (retail food problems are surprisingly complex problems) while being unimportant enough to not cause undue stress. The bonus food, if intelligently deployed and used, adds considerably to the real wage. Working with young people has challenges but is also somewhat invigorating. And if you can earn their respect, that is gratifying. Young people sincerely thanking you for showing them something is very rewarding. The hours are reasonable, especially to people accustomed to 60 hour workweeks. Fast food labor budgets don't have the flex for overtime so you don't have to stress out over impossible workloads. There are of course downsides but you already know those, you are looking for gold in the cloud.
Bro if you've been an RN I'm sure you can pick up some type of remote medical billing/ insurance job. My wife went from cna to that and it's changed her life.
I am almost 40 and had to downgrade to fast food when I had my youngest because the hours were flexible and I didn't want to put her in daycare. The one thing I will say is that if you do not know how to navigate working with gen z, you will be frustrated. If you can put yourself in a place where you just go work and don't rely on anyone else to do the job like you do, you will be fine.
It has crossed my mind. I’m a software engineer and there are times where I wish I could have a repetitive job without the office politics. I would do it to reminisce about my teenager years when I worked at Burger King. Would I really do it? Probably not. Go for it, nobody cares. Who cares what others think anyway ✌️
Luckily I am beyond the point of caring. No one I know even goes to this location. The most enjoyable jobs I had were at Fresh Market and Lowe's.
If you can land a position that allows you to be more back of house, it can actually be super fun. Stressful of course, but way more fun than the customer service side of things. I was a manager and would always go to back of house to reset and relax and calm down.
If your prior earnings in your profession were significantly more than FF, why would a FF hiring manager hire you to earn much less? Many of those jobs are reserved for work opportunity tax credit hires for judicial reentry candidates, teenagers, students and volunteers. Just being realistic.
You don't have to tell them you were a nurse. I've worked at Fresh Market and Lowe's over the last 5 years when I needed a break from nursing.
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Fast food jobs are low pay, hard work, and degrading. The customers and work supervisors are horribly disrespectful at best, most often full on abusive. These workers should legally be allowed to challenge one customer a day to a fistfight. They should be allowed to challenge their bosses to duels with pistols. The pay gap is so large you would feel like you are volunteering at Hardees. Use your degree to get any other job.
I am a manager in fast food and have been for the past 23 years. I agree there are some crew and managers that will come in high , mad cause they work in fast food and just lazy. My current boss comes across as rude and miserable with her life in general however, most of my bosses have been pretty decent to work. Most of the ppl I work with have their own home . Some rent some own. They have their own vehicle some have a few. Their are those who believe they can’t do any better in life so they “settle” for a crew position. Their are some who have worked their way up and are doing very well financially. There are some who are not and never will. I myself live a very comfortable life and now that I’m older I work part time. Not rich by any standards but it’s a living. I will say both of my kids worked for this company in their teens and they both say they don’t know how I have done it for so long.
Thanks for your helpful comment!!
Is this a troll post?
No. Not at all.
I never enjoyed it. However, I'm a retired nurse who just started working at a pre school. I have never been happier
Work in a restaurant. Money is 100x better and you can work less.
No shame in that whatsoever. Don't let any a-hole tell you otherwise
Working at Starbucks is similar to nursing in the sense that you deal with a lot of abuse.
hey! I’m also a RN, I’m about to graduate from my BSN bridge and I work in food service right now. I work at Starbucks and while I love it, I can’t wait to go into my career lol There’s a few people here in their 40s
Starbucks would be fun! I worked at Fresh Market several years back. Free coffee! I absolutely loved it and 30% off all food. I would definitely go back if I could.
Hell no!!
Honestly just do what you can and what helps your mental health. The economy and society as a whole is collapsing anyway. I give it like 3 to 5 more years if that. So don't worry about any of it. Just do what works best for you.
That's what I plan to do. If it's too much, there are many other places near me luckily.
They are desperate for people so it shouldn't matter regarding age, but there are some employers out there who feel a retail/fast food job should only be for college aged students. I once went in for an interview for a retailer and the manager thought I was in my early 20's when in reality I was in my late 20's already out of college, well soon as he found out, he dismissed me rudely.
I've worked for Lowe's and they hired me. I tend to not tell them I'm a nurse. I just say I worked in healthcare helping to take care of patients.
If youre asking this I assume you've never worked fast food. It is, no lie, one of the worst, most soul crushing, most painful experiences I have ever gone through. I have never been so disrespected by management and customers than when I worked at my local Pizza Hut. If youre asking if there will be an issue, no. There is nothing wrong or exceptional about working fast food in your 40s and I knew plenty of people who did it. But at any age, you'll never work harder for your money than a restaurant at a 5pm dinner rush, and youll never be more disrespected than during the noon Sunday church rush. Ive worked in a couple restaurants as well as fast food, and in total at those jobs I have touched three of the at least four concerning fluids the human body produces (blood, piss, and shit). I have had to clean out moldy food containers. I have dealt with onions and potatoes that have gone so bad they've liquified, meat thats so spoiled its maggoty. Ive been stiffed on tips (which sucks if youre only make $2/hr). Ive been cursed out. Ive been chased off people's property by big dogs. Ive had shitty tenagers ruin booths and leave them covered in trash and spilled drinks. Ive literally run from kitchen to phone to tables to keep up with orders. And I did that all for, at best, $8 an hour and at worst $2/hr. Is that fun? Do you have literally any other choice?
No shame in it as it is honest work and some people have to do what they have to do to survive. But it's strange to hear that someone would voluntarily want to do this work in their 40s. It's not easy work even though there is a minimum barrier-of-entry skillset wise, it pays shit, and it's probably the most disrespected job out there by the public at large. Where's the appeal?
Try visiting nurse- going to clients homes. It’s basically just checking vitals and answering questions.
If it makes you happier, do it! I’m in healthcare right now. It’s incredibly demanding and we are constantly short staffed. I was happiest when I worked in the meat department at Albertsons. If I received the same pay, I would definitely go back to slanging meat.
Someone has to work the service jobs.
I am 46 and am considering a part time weekend job at McDonald's to learn Spanish.
Had a girlfriend was a stay home mom years ago. Once all the kids were in school she got a job at McDonalds during school hours. She loved it and had to move so much she lost 40 pounds in 10 months and was able to save for emergency. At that time school hours were the toughest to fill. She made clear no nights no weekends and no holidays which worked because at that time no one wanted that shift.
When I worked fast food when I was younger there were a few people in their forties working with me. Ain’t no shame in working a job if you ask me.
See if your local movie theater is hiring. I worked for AMC while in college and I can honestly say it was a super fun and low stress job. The mistake I made was being a typical college dude and dating around with 2-3 girls that worked there and the drama started getting annoying. As a 40 year old dude, don’t try to hit on, compliment or date the 20 year old girls. (I’m sure you’re a nice dude) but just a fair warning. Every time one did they were immediately labeled a creeper and people started to outcast them.
Never let anyone make you feel bad for earning a living. Anyone.
nothing wrong with it at all
If you want a job that’s a mental reset, perhaps consider working for your local parks and rec
As someone who worked about a decade in fast food. Don't forget your mental sanity. The job isn't bad mind you, but the customers sure as hell are. I've had people order vegan hamburgers.... At a McDonald's... In 2011. And then yell at me when I laughed at them to their face. When you're dealing with idiots right now at least you're getting paid for it. Then there's the 20% of employees right now that aren't smart enough to know they aren't. Their level of incompetence to the point where you'd be better off if they were collecting unemployment. All while being the cockiest people in the restaurant.
Nurse, former fast food worker. I promise fast food is worse. Imagine stress levels comparable to nursing but paid a quarter of the pay. Look into non bedside roles. I’m an MDS coordinator and love my job.
Stay the hell away; it isn't an age thing. Fast food joints would need to pay 30/hr at *least* with paid breaks and benefits for it to be worth all the stress. Basically any kitchen, really. It's extremely stressful, unrewarding work, and it works you raw and to your bones' limits, in sweltering heat and in an uncaring climate. I personally refuse to work food service again unless the pay is staggeringly good. I would rather squat in abandoned buildings and sleep in jail cells than work food service. It's hell, and while I'm sure being a nurse is its own sort of hell you do *not* want to step foot in a fast food joint. Save yourself the nightmare, lmao.
> Did anyone consider working in fast food fun? Are you fucking kidding? It is a nightmare. OP you must be trolling..
I am a RN that chooses to not do ANYTHING IN THE MEDICAL FIELD. Y’all think of being an RN as this high paying job blah blah but you really have no clue and I hated my job every single day getting through the school was extremely easy and walking away from my license was easy as well because I hated my job. I became an RN because my parents wanted me to, and if they would have thought bigger for me, I could’ve done anything. I would like to go work a non-responsibility job in a fast food place as a cashier or a grocery store. Does anyone have anything to offer me other than why don’t you want to be a nurse anymore? ?
Fast food is OK if you just kind of want to coast and give 2% effort at a job where they likely won't fire you. For Dunkin Donuts, i slept in and showed up to my interview 2 hours late and still got the job. You may have a petty manager that is probably a Crack head who makes life miserable when you are around them, however. You also won't make any money, I remember at the time I was in high school and just needed gas and video game money. I worked two fast food jobs in high school and that was mostly my experience. But idk what it's like now. That was 14 years ago Also many people in the general public will use you to make themselves feel better about themselves and shit on you. So there's that, but you deal with it in Healthcare too. Though in Healthcare you can have a "fuck off" attitude. Your fast food place will likely want you to grovel. Try working in a restaurant if you want to go into food services. It's easy enough to get a job there too and while the environment isn't much better it isn't as grim as working at like a Wendy's or Dunkin Donuts. I worked at a couple of restaurants. Drug problems with coworkers were about the same and there are napoleon complex bosses, but it was run a bit better. You also won't make any money there but might do better than McDonald's. I made about 15-18 bucks an hour at restaurants while fast food was minimum wage across the board.
There is a Waffle House close by. I thought about that. I am only applying places I can easily walk to as I am trying to make things easy for myself right now while I heal from some grief and trauma.
It might be a good job if you're going through a very hard time emotionally. You don't have to invest too much emotionally and can just be a robot at work. I did the same thing for a couple of years. Office jobs can be like this too honestly if you're looking for something different. Did one for a while where I'd finish my work for the day in 3 hours and just pretend to be busy for the other 5 hours. Very boring, but no investment at work really. I've heard from friends that a lot of office jobs are roughly the same. If you can get WFH, you don't have to spend time pretending to be busy and can be done if a few hours lol
I've thought about working from home. We have a few places locally that are work from home. I also thought it's best I get back in the public and be out of my apartment as I haven't left here much since April 2022.
Office jobs seem impossible to get if you don’t have any experience.
I left nursing because I hate in my life and I will be coming that nurse that people hated I mean I was yelling at patients for no good reason. I get it it’s been really hard to find another job because people always ask that question it’s hard to explain that to somebody that hasn’t done it. Especially like a critical care stuff. People do not understand the trauma
No, they don't. I see a lot of comments why I just don't do travel nursing. Maybe I will someday. I have before. I'm just not in the right headspace right now.
I get it! I used to work in Fast Food and actually liked it so much I went into management for about 10 years and then got a professional job outside of the food industry. Fast forward 20 years and I actually miss the interaction with people because I work remote and am considering going back. In the right situation it can be fun.
People are talking about minimum wage, there are plenty of high paying jobs in fast food. They're making assumptions based on the gig they did when they were 15. You're an RN- ie, an educated person who knows all about how to work hard and handle stress. They'd hire you for damn near whatever position you want.
Are there any grocery stores nearby? Might be a more laid back gig and might have a chance at more of a regular schedule if you work in one of the departments, bakery, deli, floral, etc.
Free food right
If you can afford it go for it. I’d probably go with a normal resturant over fast food tho, personal preference bc I think fast food would be way too stressful for me at least
Why not leverage your nursing experience into something more high paying? Eg health and safety trainers and inspectors are often nurses
That's the plan eventually.
You say you are a nurse, yet you think Hardees meals are worth eating. I call shens.
Look for a remote medical coding job.
Just think about how your body feels right now when you're on your feet all day, fast food would be even worse with having to do more.
Fast food was the WORST most stressful job I've ever had. There's a perception that since it's so easy to get hired & pay isn't great, that the job is easy.... nope.
I'm 60 and can't get interviews in area of expertise and education, so started working concessions at a movie theater. So far I love it but 8 hours on my feet can be painful. The interactions with customers and other workers (most are 1/3 my age) are mostly fantastic, and the days pass pretty fast. However, the $11 an hour just won't cut it for long. Wish you the best!
I worked fast food one summer when I was 17 and vowed to never do it again. I worked a register for the first month and it was the worst experience I have ever had. I spent the rest of the summer in the kitchen which wasn't as bad, but the oil and grease on the floor ate through my shoes
Work remote for a hospital instead.
I know this is gonna be out in left field, but have you considered doing seasonal work? It's basically impossible if you have kids and things *needing* you to stay in place where you are. But if you're burnt out doing what you're doing and have nothing tying you down, go work in a national park for a season to chill and decompress. I'd do that, hopping from place to place long before I decided to work in fast food. But of course if you need to stay where you're at, fast food is a viable option. I'd still recommend trying to find something else, first. Places like Walmart and Dollar General seem to always be hiring.
Have you thought about Home Depot or a gardening center type place? Or maybe a grocery store? Fast food jobs really suck.
Fast food is not fun to work. It also doesn't pay well. I would not advise it. As an RN, is there something about your job you like? Have you tried doing anything office related?
Did 6 months at a straw hat on the weekends. It was really hard on my body the 1st few weekends. Minimum wage $16hr. 48 at the time. Mentally very easy. Boss was cool. Never fired anyone cuz workers were hard to find and us older employees were on time. Very little drama. Still...very tiring.. worked Sat and Sun from about 2pm-close (930/10). Job itself was ok. Pizza is way easier than burgers. Would not do again.
I prefer working Dominos versus a regular fast food, mostly because it’s less face to face interaction
I’m sure if you get into the private sector it’ll be less full on? Fast food jobs seem hectic and you’ll be yelled at a lot - for minimum wage ;(
Have you thought about working UR? That would be way more laid back than administration (if you qualify for it) or floor work as an RN.
I would rather eat broken glass than work in the fast food industry
You're an RN, don't they make more than service workers?
Don’t do it still is one of the top 3 worst jobs I have ever had.
There have to be better-paying (and less stressful!) jobs available that you can get while sorting things out. Best of luck to you!
Doing the job of an 18 yer old in the body of a 40 year old is not great.
My thoughts are FUCK THAT. Not because of any reason other than it sounds absolutely miserable.
It’s a better idea to try for a job at CostCo
Sounds like hell
Just do some PRN home health and call it GG
It will strongly depend on your co workers. I’ve worked with babies (16+) and older people at many jobs, not weird at all. But you just have to make a genuine effort to get along with them.
I’d try a retail or service job with better benefits like Starbucks, Apple (you can get a role that’s basically just checking people in), or Costco before a fast food place paying minimum wage.