John's Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift versus his lower-paid Booklist job after college (2008)
story · status: told 4× · last event: retold (2026-02-15)
Before he became an author, John worked a graveyard shift at Steak 'n Shake, cleaning vomit out of urinals, and then a lower-paid but better job at Booklist magazine. He told the story in 2008 and came back to it in 2009 and 2012.
About: Steak 'n Shake, Booklist
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-07-08 (said on 2008-07-07, implied) | told | Before becoming an author, John worked for most of his post-college life at Booklist magazine, and also as a children's hospital chaplain and on a Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift. | Hank Tried to Kill Me With a Hammer 00:00:43 |
| 2009-08-30 | mentioned | John says his first job was at Steak 'n Shake. | 100 QUESTIONS ANSWERED!!!!!!! 00:01:09 |
| 2012-08-21 | told | John recalls his Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift at about $14 an hour, where staff played rock-paper-scissors over cleaning vomit from the urinal about once a week, versus his lower-paid but better Booklist job after college; college, he says, is about fulfilment, not income. | Is College Worth It? 00:02:14 |
| 2012-09-04 | retold | John recalls telling in a recent video how at Steak 'n Shake he sometimes had to clean vomit out of urinals. (playful) → refers to Is College Worth It? | The Five Worst Places to Vomit 00:00:16 |
| 2026-02-15 | retold | John's first technical job was working for Congresswoman Corrine Brown, later ousted for corruption; his first real job was the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. graveyard shift at Steak 'n Shake, and his second was at Outtakes, a 50s Hollywood-themed restaurant in Alabama. | Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! 02:50:53 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).
What is said about it
7 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2008-07-08 (said on 2008-07-07, implied) · Hank Tried to Kill Me With a Hammer — John does not recommend the Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift and jokes that anyone thinking of dropping out of college should 'get thee to Steak 'n Shake'. (playful) — 00:00:53
- 2012-08-21 · Is College Worth It? — John: Long ago John worked the graveyard shift at Steak 'n Shake for about $14 an hour on average, a great job with good benefits and a stock program; he still owns 15 shares. — 00:02:14
- 2012-08-21 · Is College Worth It? — John: About once a week in the small hours there was vomit in the urinal, and the staff played intense rock-paper-scissors over who would clean it. (playful) — 00:02:25
- 2012-08-21 · Is College Worth It? — John: After college John earned about $1 an hour less as an assistant at Booklist, but the job was better in every way: books, people who loved them, advancement, and in six years no vomit. — 00:02:45
- 2012-09-04 · The Five Worst Places to Vomit — John: After his Steak 'n Shake video, a Nerdfighter called vomit in a urinal the worst place to puke ever; John submits there are at least five worse places. (playful) — 00:00:16
- 2026-02-15 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! — John says Outtakes was way better than Steak 'n Shake, where staying up all night was hard, tips were poor, and people there at four in the morning were not always having the best day. — 02:51:27
- 2026-02-15 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! — John: In the congresswoman's office John answered constituent calls and emails, writing down what people needed; sometimes they just needed to yell at someone, and at about 17 he was that someone, which still beat Steak 'n Shake. (hedged) — 02:53:19