What Do You Do For A Living?

[E.A Rumfield]

Out of high school I got a job in a telemarketing company. Probably the best job I've had. Worked there for about a year met some great people, crushed on a girl, feel in love, learned what love wasn't. A rather corrupt company, the boss was a degenerate gambler and ex con. The company started to go under, they began letting people go. Before I was let go I was given a check and told not to cash it, next day they paid me cash. A month later I was let go given my last check, I went to the bank and cashed both checks, effectively giving myself severance(anyone got a story that can beat that?) After that I did my best not to work for as long as possible. I got a job working security, the work proved inconsistent and the pay lacking. Right now I find myself selling high quality kitchen knifes, a little bit of joke I thought at first but it actually pays if you work hard. I find myself making a trend of working in sales. Not something I would have thought I'd be doing and if I don't make it as a writer I might just find myself selling insurance, which scares me greatly. So what do you people do? Are you a man or woman, a factotum, a jack of all trades working various jobs you stumble across all while trying to make your dreams come true? Or did you go to school and get a job and sell out right away just to have a comfortable place to begin to die in? Did you ever beat your boss for a cool G and get away with it?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

You had me curious to actually answer this thread seriously until that second-to-last sentence. I'll answer anyways. I'm 25 and a graduate assitant at a nearby university, a teaching assistant to be specific. I teach English 101 and tutor students in the university's writing center. I make very little money, but it's what I love to do.

I'm surprised at all your working experience, Rumfield. I assumed you were still in high school, or just out.

[Volya]

I'm 15 and I live off my parents money. It's a hard life, but I manage to make do... :p

[Lokasenna]

I'm 24, and a PhD student - my university does pay me the teaching work I do, though it's not enough to live on. I do, though, have a government grant, which means I can continue to exist without getting a part-time job. I also do a fair bit of work at a local museum, which whilst it doesn't officially pay me does allow for very liberal expenses.

[RicMisc]

I am currently a bachelor student in Economics, the Dutch government thankfully subsidizes the tuition fees and gives every Dutch student a monthly grant. Therefore working is not a necessity to live day-to-day life but I do have a job at a company's HR department, just one day per week but it's a good job and it's great experience-wise.

[papayahed]

Currently, I make Sulfuric Acid. It is the most produced chemical in the world and goes into just about everything. So if you're reading a book, driving a car, taking a train, working on a computer, fertilizing your lawn, using batteries, or even drinking water today you are an unknowing consumer of Sulfuric Acid.

If selling out means to go to school to learn something you love then get paid to work in a field you adore I guess I sold out. My job isn’t always a delight but overall I enjoy being in a Chemical manufacturing setting.

One of my first jobs the company was downsizing, they were closing one of the buildings. Everything in the building was fair game so I furnished my first apartment. I got a couch, a cafeteria table and four chairs, a book case, a small side table, and a couple of picture frames. The second company I worked at I left there with a nice gas grill.

[tonywalt]

I sold out careerwise.

But, speaking of household goods and furnishing - I've got a nice set of glasses, hand sanitizers any old time, and old generation electronic communication devices (did we have 17 or 18? hhmm? - eh F#$k it, just tick the box) and and a whole lot of cool stuff......that I can (but not necessarily may) take...

[OrphanPip]

Well I got a BS after high school, during the pursuit of which I worked in veterinary clinics in various roles, from reception to lab technician and assisting in surgery. After I got my degree I worked in a lab briefly, but hated it. I then worked doing diagnostic lab work for a company with multiple veterinary hospitals in Montreal. I was a bit bored so I got a BA in English lit along the way. I quit my job and am now a graduate student at McGill in cultural studies, theatre, and literature. I live off of my fellowship and a grant.

Also, at various times over the course of my education I've worked part-time as a janitor, rental agent, in a pub kitchen and one night as a bouncer.

[Alexander III]

I am 20 and soon to finish my undergrad. I actually need to decide what to do with my life right about now.

[mounamrit]

Karmas for surviving..

[Buh4Bee]

I actually know a couple of guys that married women that provide and are stay at home dads. Why not make it your aspiration to be a house husband. It's very vogue in NYC.

[kiki1982]

I've done three things overall after I dropped out of uni because my father didn't agree with my choice of partner. Thank you, dad. I started out as an administrator. I worked for DHL in their callcenter for a while until I let the boss know he was frankly incompetent and that it was basically one law for us (no mobiles) and another for them. . That didn't go down well... Then I moved up to database assistant where I was replaced by someone who slept on his desk... grrr
Then I decided to call it a day and became a self-employed teacher. Bad idea. Bad teacher...
Then I decided to become a housewife.The best job I've ever had! Until it became financially unfeasible.
Now my hubby and I work together as freelance translators, which is going really well. No good for the house, though.
So, now we've found our niche and we really enjoy this. Time to accumulate more cash and get a housekeeper...

[E.A Rumfield]

I actually know a couple of guys that married women that provide and are stay at home dads. Why not make it your aspiration to be a house husband. It's very vogue in NYC.

Not a fan of voluntary psychological castration. Besides, I don't think I could learn to make water on the newspaper and not hump her friends legs when they stop by for a visit.


You had me curious to actually answer this thread seriously until that second-to-last sentence. I'll answer anyways. I'm 25 and a graduate assitant at a nearby university, a teaching assistant to be specific. I teach English 101 and tutor students in the university's writing center. I make very little money, but it's what I love to do.

I'm surprised at all your working experience, Rumfield. I assumed you were still in high school, or just out.

I'm twenty. Isn't there a lot you want to do in life? I feel people settle too easily. A lot of people wake up twenty years from a certain date and wonder where did it all go. The world can provide us with whatever we want why choose so quickly?

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Graduated form high school with two directions in mind; engineering or architecture degree.
My father earned a major degree in engineering physics and minored in electrical engineering which certainly influenced the interest engineering, although my preference was aeronautical engineering.
So, there I was HS degree in hand and off to college starting out in engineering. It didn't take long to realize I was in over my head, it must have been the fried brain cells caused by breathing in glue building airplane models when I was younger - how ironic.

However, it was the loss of brain cells that led me to architecture; a field that allows me to express my creative side while still providing opportunities to excercise the "engineering" side.

That's a long way of saying I work in architecture. For the past few years, I've worked in the role of Construction Administrator. In simple terms, I take over projects when they enter the construction phase and work with the contractors administering the construction documents (drawings and specs), keeping an eye on quality, problem solving, reviewing submittals, issuing field reports, etc.

Me on the job. Taken two years ago at a project in Illinois:

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/th_IMG_2018-1.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Misc%20Album/?action=view&current=IMG_2018-1.jpg)

.

[Desolation]

Right now, I live on student loans. I wouldn't recommend it.

[tonywalt]

I actually know a couple of guys that married women that provide and are stay at home dads. Why not make it your aspiration to be a house husband. It's very vogue in NYC.

I aspire to be a state at home single guy.

[Buh4Bee]

Really? That's not what you told me.

[Delta40]

I'm going to be 45 this week and am currently a public servant in a very cushy job. I work excellent part time hours with great pay and superannuation. I finished my degree and now write for leisure and travel when I can (yawn) but it wasn't always this good...

[miyako73]

I just quit my "cheffing" job to pursue my dream: a novel. If I cannot produce one by summer next year, I'll give up writing and start a food stand selling Asian gourmet burgers.

[TurquoiseSunset]

I'm 28 and a programmer. I studied BTech Financial Information Systems. A corporate job might not be romantic, but I decided to do this job over becoming a teacher (something I've always wanted to do), because the chances of me struggling financially were slimmer. I like my job for the most part, as well as the people I work with. It pays well and I get 25 days leave a year. My office is 10 minutes drive away from my house, so I hardly get any traffic. And I have nice managers. However, the politics sometimes give me a massive pain in the a**.

Ideally I would like to win the lotto and do whatever I want for the rest of my llife. Or, better yet, I would like super powers: invisibility and teleportation. So then I can travel the world and see everything and would never have to work, etc. I can sleep in a different unused 5 star hotel room every night and steal food from nice restaurants.

I don't see having a steady job as selling out. Yes, it takes a lot of time out of your day...time you could have spent only doing the things that you want to do. But this is real life. Here we work, so that, apart from providing for our needs, we can maybe afford many of our after-hour wants as well.

Find a job you will like (it doesn't have to be your passion) and that hopefully pays alright-ish. Then work hard and make the best of it. Twenty years from now you wont be sorry.

[tonywalt]

Find a job you will like (it doesn't have to be your passion) and that hopefully pays alright-ish.

Congratulations TurquoiseSunset! You have just been awarded with the "Practical Suggestion of the Day" prize:nod: - I get what your saying.

[Varenne Rodin]

Trfyyrfgesgubvf

[Buh4Bee]

I'm a special ed. teacher. This is all I think I am able to do. I have waitressed, nannied, and worked in a library. While going to sped school, I worked as the teacher's aid. All these jobs were OK, but I am decent at what I do now. I still have my head in the game and feel a bit of accomplishment when things work or people say thank you. In fact, the longer I do it, the more dependent the teachers get, and expect me to fix all their problems. I am their wet nurse, maid, and dumping ground. It's glamorous- they could make my school into a reality show- minus the singing. It is a hard job and the problems never get better.

[TurquoiseSunset]

I get what your saying.

I feel like people (epsecially kids in the process of picking courses) are constantly being told that they have to find a job that's their passion. It puts so much pressure on you and is really setting up most of us for disaster. Not everyone can do what's their passion, but more importantly, they really don't have to either. However, because your job makes up such a large piece of your day, it's best if you find something you like, in an environment that's comfortable.

At the same time it's okay if sometimes you feel a bit jaded by the whole thing. I do too. Somedays I'm dreaming of teleporting all over the world and then the next day I'm very grateful for what I have again. I think it's normal, but no one tells us this when we're at school or university.

Jobs have become to a career what photoshopped supermodels have become for body image. We are sold an almost impossible ideal.

[JuniperWoolf]

I handled a company's finances for a couple of years, it was dull and sometimes meant that I had to investigate my friends when money went missing. Sometimes they took it, and I'd have to report them. I'm glad I don't do that anymore. I saved up a lot doing that, and now I go to school and don't have to work for a while.

[manuscript]

i am a 29 year old man and i will be turning 30 soon. i can play chopin and beethoven and i love to swim laps and i am vegetarian. i am not very comfortable with human social interactions and more than anything i love to be alone with my thoughts. i have done many different jobs and interesting things in my life that most people never get a chance to experience. i have also had to work harder in my life than most people will ever have to work and although it has been difficult i am very grateful for having been so lucky as i am. i currently work in a bookstore 2 days a week exclusively with academic nonfiction titles and i spend my other days off reading. i pay board to live at home with my mother, it is not ideal but we are good friends, and i dont care what anyone thinks about me living at home. i have a BA in literature and i will probably do some postgraduate work in a year or two with the aim of working in publishing but i am not completely sure about that yet. i truly care very deeply about art and literature and have given up a great deal for it, and i would happily give up everything else.

[papayahed]

I handled a company's finances for a couple of years, it was dull and sometimes meant that I had to investigate my friends when money went missing. Sometimes they took it, and I'd have to report them. I'm glad I don't do that anymore. I saved up a lot doing that, and now I go to school and don't have to work for a while.

What are you studying?

[tonywalt]

Trfyyrfgesgubvf

I did the above for quite a few years. Best time of my life:)

[Varenne Rodin]

I did the above for quite a few years. Best time of my life:) Ha. It's great, and the benefits!

[LitNetIsGreat]

I sit around all day outside cafes, soaking up the Mediterranean sun, playing chess and reading books.


Oh sorry, I thought the title said what you want to do for a living. Yep, that would make for a interesting thread. If you see the above 'position' advertised anywhere then please let me know.

[tonywalt]

Alot of people do the above in Cayman! I have no idea how the hell they got the job?!-I shall ask one of 'um and get back to you.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Great stuff. If they have got an opening let me know - I'm the man. I have a great passion at the moment for sitting around reading and doing chess puzzles/playing chess etc. I am willing to sit out in the sun for long periods drinking cocktails/coffee/tea etc and doing the above.

[Emil Miller]

Great stuff. If they have got an opening let me know - I'm the man. I have a great passion at the moment for sitting around reading and doing chess puzzles/playing chess etc. I am willing to sit out in the sun for long periods drinking cocktails/coffee/tea etc and doing the above.

In the dim distant past, I cut this from the Evening Standard's 'Bristow' cartoon strip.

Plus ça change.

http://imageshack.us/a/img805/9799/scan0008r.jpg