An Actual Paycheck?

My new cooking class is super fun! The teacher’s name is Ty and he’s a 30-something guy with a serious passion for food. He taught us how to make five-cheese ravioli during our first class. Our class is 8 weeks long and he asked us all to write down things we wanted to learn on 3x5 cards. Some people asked about appetizers while others wanted to learn desserts. Ty said that we would do a unit on appetizers but desserts were going to have to be for another class because the techniques are usually more advanced. I might sign up for that one after this class finished up.

The best part about this class is that Ty doesn’t use overly complicated and difficult recipes; a lot of them are actually a mixture of homemade and store-bought. Like, for the ravioli, we used store bought pasta sheets to make them but we made our own egg washes with seasonings to add our own touch and build the ravioli ourselves. And we made the sauce from a combination of homemade and store bought stuff, too.

My career-changer class is only 6 weeks long and is taught by an older woman named Sue. Aside from career-changing advice, she also gives financial and budget advice. She also teaches a class completely about finances and budget that I’m considering taking once this one is over. Our first class was kind of boring but we had to get a lot of procedural stuff down, like resumes and cover letters. Next week is how to sell yourself and your skills to different fields. And our last class, all of us get to schedule a time with Sue for a personal consult.

When I got home from work, Molly was home. She usually has rehearsal or work at the hotline so I was surprised to see her.

“Hey.” She said from the couch, “You want some wine?”

“Sure,” I said grabbing a glass from the cupboard and setting my bag down.

I joined her on the couch and kicked my shoes off.

“I didn’t think you’d be home.” I said as she poured.

“Well, rehearsal is kind of…on hold for right now.”

“Really? I thought rehearsals were pretty inflexible.”

“They are. The whole production has been put on hold.”

“Why?”

“Our stage manager and director got into a HUGE fight. The stage manager quit so Eddie has to find a new one and they aren’t really easy to come by. No one wants to work with our director. He’s not a very easy person to work with.”

“Who is Eddie?”

“He’s the producer, he owns the theatre we’ve been working with for this show.”

“Wow.” I said taking a sip of wine, “So are you going to audition for a different show and leave this one?”

“I honestly don’t know yet. Hence the wine. It’s a pretty dire situation, Faith. I really need the money this show would bring in. I could finally pay off my car with some of it. They’re paying me to act and to be a seamstress for the costume designer. Aside from the financial pay off, working with this designer is a big opportunity for me career-wise. I don’t know what to do yet.”

“Well, if the stage manager quit, something big must have happened. I remember stage managing in college for a few shows and it’s a tough job but usually you just go with the flow. I wonder what happened.”

“There are rumors that they were sleeping together and things ended badly…but you’ve stage managed?”

“Molly, my bachelor’s degree is IN theatre. It was my major. I have a double major in communications and theatre. I thought you knew that?”

“UM. NO. Faith you should throw your hat into the ring! Give me your resume; I’ll give it to Eddie!”

“Molly, I haven’t worked in theatre since college. There are more qualified people out there, trust me. Besides, you just told me how much of a nightmare the director is to work with. I don’t need that. Not after working with Kevin.”

Molly was really discouraged and finished off her glass of wine. I felt bad for her and wanted to cheer her up so I kind of lied.

“I’ll…I’ll think about it, okay?” I said.

“Really, Faith!? I think it would be awesome if we worked together. I promise, I’m an ideal actor, I’m always on time and I memorize my lines really fast. You wouldn’t have to worry about a single problem when it comes to me!”

“I said I’d think about it, Molly, not that I’ll do it.”

“Do you want to know how much you’d be paid?” She asked giving me a sideways glance.

“Molly….I said I’d thi-”

She blurted the number out and I was flabbergasted. It was a lot of money. I’ve been living paycheck-to-paycheck since working at Bruno’s. I’ve only really been able to save a small amount of money because my student loans are so expensive. I’ve only been able to pay off the interest since the fire, but taking that job would fix a lot of that. I’d be paid half when the show closed and half when I signed my contract. I would have enough money to pay off one of my smaller student loans and even have a small reminder of what my savings account looked like before being unemployed and losing all my stuff in the fire.

I wasn’t really going to think about taking the job, I just told Molly that so she wouldn’t get too sad while drinking but I’m seriously considering it now. Am I crazy?