What do you do (or did) for a living?

[OzHybrid]

When we got to England I couldn't break 90. Barley kept under 100. Started working at the base golf course. When we left I was a 3 handicap. Shot in the low 80's at Carnoustie and the Old Course at St Andrews. Both British Open courses. After I retired from the golf business and had to pay to play scores went up. Now I only play once a year with my friends in Oregon. Don't play so well now. But I have hope every time I tee it up.

Last time I played the Old Course it was £25. 40 years ago....

 

[teepot]

Last time I played the Old Course it was £25. 40 years ago....

Cost us 50 pounds in 1991. Now it's many times that. Carnoustie the day before was less that that. They didn't even have a club house. Just small cement block building where you paid.

 

[Cosmo77]

See the title. Also I’d love a nitty gritty explanation of what it is exactly that you do!

As for me I go to 9th grade every day, and they don’t even pay me!!!

I’m a 8th grader and i play baseball

 

[dr wogz]

I’m a 8th grader and i play baseball

professionally?!

 

[Cosmo77]

professionally?!

Yup i play baseball for the Astros minor league system

 

[Pem Tech]

Well.....before I settled into a position at PartsUnknown University And Bar And Grill, Mountain Fries Our Speciality:

• washed dishes in a restaurant. In the 70s, when parts of those bake-n-serve loaves came back untouched, it was tossed in to make turkey dressing the next day. Did you want to know about the dishes of vegetables, or the uneaten ham/beef/turkey/gravy that came back? I didn't think so...
• nailed heels on shoes and went home stinky and dusty every day.
• helped my cousin lay carpet & vinyl 2 summers. Learned enough to have professionals do our living room. Also helped him build his house.
• spent the occasional Friday night as helper on an 18-wheeler. One driver found out I was an astronomy nut and went crazy, we talked so much that the work ended quickly. He ended up sticking me in the driver's seat for a little while. Okay, I asked for it. Kinda fun, really.
• loaded and hauled lumber locally. Splinters galore. That summer I and the other kid unloaded a railcar of lumber. Not fun in July.
• teaching assistant/lab assistant/whatever, kept 1st year chem students from damaging one another (I was a sophomore).
• promoted to stockroom/prep tech because (tooting my cuz I'm proud of it) no one in the entire dept knew as much about practical prep of solutions as I did. The Pchem prof was so glad to be able to hand me a list of what was needed, and forget about it. Trusted me more than she did the gen chem prof.
  
• clerk at a Golden Pantry in Athens GA. Evenings and weekends. In a less-desirable section of town. (following may have appeared before, sorry) Third-most-important event was on the first week. Some idiot drove off with the gas spout still in place. Pulled over a pump. Fire at the base. I'm 22, of COURSE I panic! Hit OFF button, grab extinguisher, pull pin...it's empty. Run back inside, grab another extinguisher...it's empty too. Run across street to gas station, grab theirs, lug it across street. Fire is out. Someone with less panic-in-the-brain dumped a bag of ice on the fire. I did that job for two summers and weekends full time and a semester part-time. Never occurred to me to quit.
• took census in summer 1980 cuz the college not only hired you for 9 months, they paid you on that arrangement. Summers were tough. In eastern KY. Y'all know how some rocketeers can go on and on about their rockets and flights? No? Well son, it happens. And other people have the same attitudes about their activities. You have not lived until you've heard an old guy go on about the dozens of clogging steps that existed. Or had an 80yo appear at the front door with dribbles of tobacco juice down each side of her chin. I was told of workers who got stopped on backwoods roads, by guys carrying guns (moonshining is undoubtedly still big there, as it still is in Land Between The Lakes).

Planning on moving back there soon. When the world ends, eastern KY will still be at least 40 years behind the times, so I'll be fine till I die.

In all seriousness: most of this s**t was not fun. But I was paid $2 or a bit more per hour, back when big-store bread was around 25-50 cents a loaf; call it six loaves an hour. Expecting people to do any kind of work, let alone that kind of rough/dangerous/scut work, for less than two loaves an hour is unconscionable. Especially at today's artificially-inflated and shrinkflated prices of EVERYthing. Yeah, I just preached...we can have it out at LDRS if ya want.

I miss Kentucky and TN. Always wanted to move back but with my shrinking reserve of years I don't think it will happen.

 

[Pem Tech]

I had a job in a mailroom one summer that probably ruined me. We'd get done with our work by maybe 1 PM most days, and I'd be itching to do something. The other guys, who were close to retirement, told me to just take it easy. I felt funny, but I read several novels at work that summer. I even got most of the way through Gravity's Rainbow. We had an unusual, two week heat wave, and sometimes I'd hang around some biology lab space that had been set up but not yet occupied. Nice and cool. The air conditioning in our

Have that book for over two years.
Made it almost halfway through. Still grinding away at it.....

 

[FlyBoy]

I work for a farm and sell cannabis by the pound.

 

[lr64]

Have that book for over two years.
Made it almost halfway through. Still grinding away at it.....

Yes. I have also stalled out in Mason and Dixon.

 

[OzHybrid]

I work for a farm and sell cannabis by the pound.

Sell it by the gram. You'll make more.....

 

[FlyBoy]

Sell it by the gram. You'll make more.....

I would never get rid of over 1000 pounds a month like that, we sell mostly to distribution companies who sell to retail outlets.

 

[miket6000]

There have been some amazing and varied careers on this thread so far. Mines far more mundane (so far), though possibly more typical.

I did various small jobs while at school like moving furniture and working in a bookshop, then went to uni and got an Electronics Engineering degree. Did some small stuff again, but my first real full time job was for a company designing and making major appliances (think washing machines, ovens, etc) where I developed my technical and leadership skills. After a few (6) years, got put in charge of the electronics hardware team. In that role I've been able to do a ton of coaching of new grads as they come through (which I really enjoy) and been involved in determining the direction of our products.

Engineering has it's own ups and downs as a career. Pay is ok, but not great. When things go wrong people come to you and expect you to have the answer. Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't. If you don't, the expectation is that you'll have the answer tomorrow.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with where I've landed up, and saw enough on the way to realise that while there are better jobs out there, there are also plenty that are worse and actually mines pretty good!

 

[conneryc]

Joined the USAF after High School and was trained in Telecommunication systems, then Computer Communication Systems. Got out after 6 years (planned to stay 20+ but 1st wife had other plans). Got a job with a Telecommunications company, built the NOC, and their Internet Provider business and then left to become a Network Consultant. Did that for a couple of years until I got tired of traveling all the time.

Took a position with a large global corporation as a Senior Network Engineer, rebuilt all of the networks at all of the production facilities with Cisco gear and after 19 years was laid off by my manager because I made more money than he did and thought I wanted his job (found out later he was also let go after they found out why he got rid of me).

Landed my current position with another large multi-national corporation as the Infrastructure Architect where I design and implement Cisco networking infrastructures (LAN/WAN/SDWAN/VOIP/WIRELESS/etc) for all of the 250+ US locations we manage. Have a team of 5 voice and data engineers to monitor the day-to-day needs.

Just a few more years to retirement when the real work starts

 

[seabeeadp]

From a kid till time k joined the Navy was always working with my dad doing plumbing and heating in upstate NY. Summer was furnace cleaning. hated it- but few bucks made let me buy my model rockets (Centuri mostly).

Did part time jobs with friends n summer picking cones and seeds for couple of bucks a bushel.

Learned the electrical and plumbing trades which proved invaluable later in Navy and home ownership.

79 - Joined the Navy Seabees as an Engineering Aide (civil engineering tech). Traveled the world : designed and built and surveyed roads and buildings and ball parks.

Started to get interested in computers in 82 with a big IBM (playing “The Oregon Trail”. Later tried Fortran and nope.

As time went on (still in Navy) and PCs were becoming more popular, i self taught mysef PC troubleshooting and building: design and install networks (LANs/WANs) as “collateral duty” while still doing “civill engineering work.

when I retired in 99- I was more into IT, but do miss construction- Am currently in the IT world (Cyber Security) and am looking at finally retiring from Dept of Defense end of the year.

For past 12 years, I have done a lot of STEM work and we teach a cyber camp (Palmetto Cyber Camp) in South Carolina.

Last year I did “water bottle rockets in addition to some Cyber Courses and this year , I got the Ok to use solid propellant engines and the kids will build an Estes Alpha III and Friday will be over 100 launches. (Lookng forward to it- but need to dig into lsatety with NAR, etc.

I’m def resdy to retire due to health. I’m not a teen in the 70s anymore. love what I do and getting kids excited about STEM, just can’t do what I want anymore. “Cancer sucks”.

Overall. Am excited about getting back into this hobby and getting some kids interested in it for our Cyber launch.

And maybe next year if fully retired can go to the launch clubs and watch the high power kits fly. (C6-7 biggest i ever flown). “And lost those kits)

 

[Hobie1dog]

I just read through this thread for the second time, very interesting.

 

[Donnager]

I just read through this thread for the second time, very interesting.

I'm going on a second parenting. I have a kid that went through college (through a curriculum I thought was a waste). I'm going to pay again for the STEM education he was better suited for 10 years ago, now.

But, I was nice 10 years ago, and he had a scholarship.

 

[CPO Fast Forward]

1986 - 2016
Royal Canadian Navy as a communicator. I started my career sending messages using morse code by flashing light and ended it leading a team purchasing satellite comms equipment.
2016 - 2018
Worked on the administration side of a construction company as Project coordinator. I enjoyed it.
2018 - 2023
Chief of the Ship (CotS) HMCS Sackville. She is the last WWII Flower Class corvette and Canada's Official Naval Memorial. You can see her as "Dicky" in the Tom Hanks movie Greayhound. CotS is in charge of the day to day operation of the ship. My time included a major hull refit similar to what USS Texas just had done, only on a much smaller scale!
2023 - present
On sabbatical. I bought a F150 in 2021 that I am still paying for so I should get a job to do that, but I am enjoying the time off ...

 

[vixenrider]

45 years of fondling aircraft for one entity or another. Now retired and doing honey do's. Oh and rockets and guns and motorcycles.

 

[fyrwrxz]

Crap! Now I can't remember. Maybe it's for the best. I do know there was a lovely store that gave me food every week. You had to have a special card. I think it said Visa, but I told them I didn't need one cuz I wuz home growed. They gave me food anyway. Life was simpler then. Like me. I keep showing up and they still keep paying me. So whose stupider now, eh?

 

[Hobie1dog]

It would be nice to live in a Resource Base Economy where there is no money and people would not have to work

 

[jmwoody]

Life long professional portrait photographer now retired. J school / photojournalism graduate and masters in communications later in life. Met a few interesting people along the way and had the opportunity to cover a Presidential Inauguration back in the day. Best job I ever had ... coaching summer and fall little league kids all the way through high school varsity baseball.

It's been a very good life

 

[fyrwrxz]

It would be nice to live in a Resource Base Economy where there is no money and people would not have to work

Hobie, somewhere in the mouldering piles of Science Fiction lies a writing exercise detailing this exact scenario. The basic premise is a colony ship successfully established itself and grew into a contented multi-generational population with a cashless economy. The visiting traveler is totally mystified by the lack of greed and distribution of assets and resources based solely on logic and need. All I can possibly remember is it was a lesser known author from I suspect the golden age of fiction. It stuck with me all these years after the reading of experiments in limited groups with guaranteed incomes. We could conceivably do this. But the Status Quo would fight tooth and nail, much harder than against a National Health Service. Funny how slavery got confused with freedom. We get screwed by the 1% at the driveway. Every frickin day. Brave new world indeed. Big Brother sends his love. Just send him a check. He loves you for that.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Hobie, somewhere in the mouldering piles of Science Fiction lies a writing exercise detailing this exact scenario. The basic premise is a colony ship successfully established itself and grew intoThe social engineer who f a contented multi-generational population with a cashless economy. The visiting traveler is totally mystified by the lack of greed and distribution of assets and resources based solely on logic and need. All I can possibly remember is it was a lesser known author from I suspect the golden age of fiction. It stuck with me all these years after the reading of experiments in limited groups with guaranteed incomes. We could conceivably do this. But the Status Quo would fight tooth and nail, much harder than against a National Health Service. Funny how slavery got confused with freedom. We get screwed by the 1% at the driveway. Every frickin day. Brave new world indeed. Big Brother sends his love. Just send him a check. He loves you for that.

The social engineer who figured this all out does state in the front part of the video that before it could happen, it would have to be a complete global meltdown before society would adapt and embrace this concept. It is a shame that this cannot be a must see video in all of our high schools in the world

 

[fyrwrxz]

It's my job to make sure the paper plates stick together before we shrink wrapped them. It's an important job. It's more fun than folding those Kleenex tissues to pop out one by one. It was a promotion from gluing the toilet paper three layers down. It was hard to keep your tongue moist for 8 hours. Kinda made my bologna and peanut butter sandwiches taste funny.

 

[Hammster]

Retired now. And loving it!
Got electrical training in the Navy and used it the 5 years I was in the Navy and all my career afterward. I even became a Process Engineer (without a degree). I broke the "paper ceiling".
But that's all in the past and I'm happy to never know what day it is and we do a lot of travelling in retirement.

 

[Mick Kelly]

Senior engineering technologist for an explosion protection company. Ran the day to day operations at a large scale explosive remote testing facility.

 

[heada]

Had my 25 year anniversary at my current job this year. Trying to adjust finances so that I can retire at 55 vs 65. 6 more years vs 16 years.

I work in IT infrastructure supporting research scientists at a large pharma/biotech company. It's a great job but can be stressful at times.

 

[BAR Paul]

My first paid job was changing sprinkler lines in a pear orchard when I was 14. I changed them before and after school 7 days a week.

After that, I worked as a busboy and dishwasher in a couple restaurants while still in high school.

In junior college, I worked as lab assistant for the botany teacher then the anatomy and physiology teacher when the botany teacher went on sabbatical.

When I started at a four year college, I worked weekends at a retirement home/convalescent hospital as security and maintenance (janitor). The worst part was when someone said "I haven't seen Joe for four days and he didn't sign out." I had to go check that they didn't die in their room. I never found anyone deceased but the weekday person did. They didn't have to sign out when they left for days but most did.

I also worked part time at an aquarium store during this time. I lined up my classes on Tuesday and Thursday and worked the other 5 days. I've had aquariums off and on since I was 8, mostly on, but found when my hobby was my job, my hobby suffered.

After 3 years of college, I was offered a job at a dental laboratory making crowns and bridges. I dropped out of college and took it, figuring it would be my career. A couple years later, my supervisor moved to another lab and they brought in a new person who bought the lab and fired me to bring in his friend so I was out of work.

Desperate for a job, I enlisted in the Air Force with no guaranteed job. They made me a Security Specialist so I mostly guarded planes on the flight line. After 3.5 years, I was able to cross train into Imagery Analysis. I did various imagery related jobs for more than 17 years including 3.5 years as a Predator sensor operator at Indian Springs AAF (now Creech AFB). Through various duty assignments, deployments, vacations, and temporary duty assignments I was able to see quite a bit of the world and most of the U.S. I've lived in or been to every state except Alaska.

During my Air Force career, I worked a couple side jobs. I worked bagging groceries for tips only at the commissary. Another time I worked as a bar back at the all ranks club on base.

When I retired from the Air Force, I went to work as a defense contractor doing imagery related stuff. I made really good money on top of my military retirement and my wife was working. We lived way below our means and put a lot of the extra money away so after 10 years as I contractor, I was able to retire at age 55. My wife is several years younger than me but was also able to retire at 55.

So now we live on my military retirement and my Social Security. She isn't old enough for Social Security yet. It's less than a third of what we made at our peak income, maybe even closer to a quarter but we use money saved when we need to in order to get by. I'm very happy to be retired.

 

[AHansom]

Worked in hospital facilities management for the last 20 years. Made the decision to find a place and move closer to our Son in Northern CA. Hopefully next year I can retire and change career paths to be a full time almond farmer.

 

[Capt. Eric]

Worked in hospital facilities management for the last 20 years. Made the decision to find a place and move closer to our Son in Northern CA. Hopefully next year I can retire and change career paths to be a full time almond farmer.
View attachment 680883

You're the perfect person who can answer this question that has plagued me for years. Where, exactly, on an almond, are the teets from which we get almond milk? And how many of those things have to be milked for a gallon of milk? Must need a lot of maids for that process!