It's a tough industry, I used to commute 3 hours round trip once a week to rural N.J. to work in a fish room where I got paid $12 an hour to order all the fish, do the displays, and deal with the customers that were told to "come in on Thursday" because the "fish guy" was there. Back then ('92ish) and in a hell hole of of an area that was good money.
Support your LFS!!! I hope everything works out for James, you don't work in the hobby to get rich.