Don't despair - you'll be able to shake it eventually. It took me 10 years or so to get there, by moving up in my industry far enough that I didn't have to worry about a winter job. Even with that, I'm just now at the point that I am making more at my day job than I did waiting tables. It's nothing to make 40-50k a year waiting tables, but it's also a quality of life issue. The restaurant biz is no place for a family guy, unless your wife is in the same line of work.
At least you've got it to fall back on....
Im not too worried about it. Most of my life has been relatively thin years, and my needs are simple and my wants modest. I have learned to enjoy the small things in life immensely. Ironically, one of my favorite vices is to eat out, enjoy good service as though I deserve it more than anyone else who ever existed. And I tip well, so I get it, and making the servers day (hopefully) with a 25%+ tip is a fantastic intangible bonus. I go in in whatever T-shirt I happen to be wearing, jeans, a beat up baseball cap, and I get the VIP treatment, in a sort of relaxed, familiar fashion. If I ask for something extra, I am NEVER charged for it. If something is wrong, it is fixed with a smile from them and me (almost never wrong tho). I guess that you have to work in a resturant to really understand how one works, in both the 'by the book' and 'real world' styles.
Many people go out to eat just to eat in my opinion, and those people should just go to fast food or stay home. Dining out should be something entertaining, perhaps like a movie, but most people are simply too self absorbed to actually ENJOY it. Whether or not those people tip, they are just wasting their money if they dont actually enjoy the experience. But maybe I am just weird...JFK