Well, all things come to pass. There had been a bit of a "difference of philosophies" fight brewing for sometime at this gig, though it took me awhile to pick up on this dynamic, mainly because the dept manager was on vacation when I started and then The butcher went on vacation as soon as he got back. I wasn't even accurately aware of who my boss was. With a sudden change of management, the balance of power suddenly shifted from creative, whole animal butchery to grocery store meat dept. in frustration, the artisanal butcher up and quit late one night last week via text message. I returned to work to find a completely different environment. The whole animal orders were cancelled. The restaurant clients were dropped. I was hired to butcher whole animals and make sausage. While it was tempting to quit on the spot, I put in my notice out of respect, but am riding these last 2 weeks out basically as a custodian, with daily assignments that include cleaning sinks, cleaning the grinder, band saw etc and slicing deli meat. I'm not cutting any meat. (Feels like more of punishment work than anything, but whatever). My replacement will be an unskilled worker at $8 an hour. Already got a call from a restaurant about doing their in house butchering, but probably won't do it at this time. I may or may not do this kind of work professionally again in the future. If I do not, I definitely acquired a serious set of skills in a short period of time, which should make game butchering all the more enjoyable and precise. If I do this type of work again, it will have to be the right kind of environment with an appropriate level of creativity and emphasis on quality work. As far as skilled labor goes, a person can put their time in at a major grocery store chain as a meat cutter and make upwards of $30 an hour + benefits, though the work is largely mundane and I'm quite surprised it pays that well. Artisanal butchery can pay very well, with some butchers making $100k a year, but those situations are few and far between and will often involve owning your own business. If nothing else, it's a good secondary skill to have.
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