In addition to bartending and teaching Muay Thai, Joshua, 33, also teaches voice lessons.
Credit: Provided
OurSecond Shift seriesprofiles people who work more than one job to make ends meet. This week, meet Joshua, a bartender who could also serve as a bouncer. Email emily.laurence@metro.us if you want to be featured.
Name: Joshua Bradenburg
Age: 33
Residence: Astoria, Queens
Roommates:None
Number of jobs: 3
Briefly describe your jobs.
I bartend four nights a week at the Royalton Hotel from 3 p.m. to midnight, and teach at a Muay Thai academy six days a week. And on Fridays, I teach voice lessons.
Do you enjoy every job?
Honestly, I do. It’s a hectic lifestyle, but it’s come together in a manageable way.
Do you have time to hang out with your friends?
I guess theoretically I can on Sunday nights. I’m not free Sunday mornings because I play the guitar and sing at a church. Then, I usually head over to my sister’s to see her, her husbands and kids. To be honest, when I do have free time, I don’t feel like going out to bars or to a club. I just want to order Chinese food, watch a movie and relax.
Are you working multiple jobs to make ends meet or to live a certain lifestyle you want to lead?
I don’t have a crazy lifestyle. When you work that much, there’s not much of a lifestyle you can have. If I just worked one job, I would just be able to make ends meet. But working more than one job allows me to put some money away for the future, whether it’s to buy an apartment or car or whatever I’ll need so I can actually have more of a life than just going from one day to the next.
Are you happy with the way things are or are you working toward cutting down to one job?
It would be great to just have one job, but I don’t really see that as a possibility for me, at least as far as my life is structured right now. Many many, many years down the road I’ll have my own martial arts academy and I’ll be able to just have one job, but I feel like it’s always going to be a balance between two or three jobs.
Is there anything else about yourself you want to share?
Usually people who have a very busy work life are very busy in their downtime as well. I do a lot of volunteer work in my spare time. There are so many great organizations out there that don’t need you to commit to a certain numbers of hours every month. Some just want help for one day here or there, or for a single event.
Follow Emily on Twitter: @EmLaurence
