This morning I dropped Daughter #1 off at school and attended the monthly PTA meeting. I then caught the LaSalle bus down to the river to apply at another steakhouse. This one is part of the Levy restaurant group. Once again the placement office was feeding me wrong info, as they said I could apply at this place anytime from 9-5, but they wouldn't let me in until 11am ... meaning that I had a chilly 45min to loiter around outside ... at least I was able to pick up a coffee at a 7-11 down the block, so I was able to caffeinate during the wait. I had to mark "yes" to the question of if I'd ever applied to Levy before ... back a few years back when I was working with that "career management" group I'd tried to get a gig with Levy in their marketing department. The irony, while painful to me, will hopefully slip by them.
The day got better, though. I'd gotten a lead on-line about a new upscale "seafood grill" coming in a new building about six blocks from home, and went to the office (they're still finishing construction on-site) that they're doing the hiring out of. This place is a "brand" of the Houlihan's organization, so comes with a bunch of benefits, and I had a nice chat with the guy who's coordinating the staffing. He indicated that they'd be meeting on these apps in the next couple of weeks. I left feeling like he liked what I was bringing to the job, so that's in my "fingers crossed" pile!
I ended up coming home from there, although I was "behind schedule", but the placement office had made a point of telling me that I should wear a black shirt and dark tie (their "uniform") to the place this afternoon, but I'd not wanted to "go that way" for the morning appointments (or the PTA meeting, for that matter!). This was over in the NBC Tower, and I met one of the owners on the way in. The Bar Manager was the most "animated" person I've met with yet, who not only chatted with me extensively, but provided me with a half a dozen leads/suggestions for other sorts of gigs that I'd not really looked at yet (the cruise boats on the lake sign their staff by mid-April, so he was suggesting I get right on that). I took it that I passed whatever "do I like this guy?" test he had, as he said that "I was in his file", which seemed to be a binary situation.
Anyway, having two good "pre-interviews" in one day helped my mood a lot, plus some of the stuff the last guy told me made me think that one way or another (between these places, the boats, and some catering companies he gave me leads on) I'll have some sort of a paying gig by the end of the month.