Chart below is from BLS … the happiest and least stressful jobs in America. Please participate for all the kiddies here (and even old farts) looking for a job that brings stress free happiness!
Q1: What was your BEST job?
Q2: What was your WORST job?
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Me?
Q1: Software Engineer for Hewlett Packard. I get bored easily and absolutely hate routine. My job was to support clients who had HP mini-computers … strictly HP operating system software and apps, including 3rd party apps. That entailed literally hundreds of programs. It was a helluva challenge just maintaining the status quo, especially since the client expected me to be the “expert” … which was hardly ever the case. But, I was good at faking it. It sure as hell wasn’t boring!
Adding to the complexity was the range of diverse clientele, each with their own unique needs. At one time I simultaneously supported; a mini-mill steel plant (Nucor), a university (Notre Dame), a tire company (Goodyear), a hospital (Holy Cross Health Systems), an RV manufacturer, GE Aircraft Engines, and several other smaller businesses. Each one of them expected me to know at least the basic rudiments of their business. It wasn’t easy. As such, no day was ever the same … every day was a damned challenge …. and that’s just the way I wanted it.
Q2: I spent one year in the wilderness of confusion, between the year I graduated high school and the year I joined the Air Force. I got a job operating a plastic injection molding machine, making 5 gallon heavy plastic pails.
Here is what I did; press a button to start the process, wait about a minute, press a button to open the door, remove the bucket, stack it on a pallet, repeat. All this while standing in one spot for 8 straight hours, breathing in the stench of hot polymers, and in a very hot (no air conditioning) and noisy dirty factory. BORING AS SHIT!!! I contemplated suicide after my first day. As it turns out I lasted exactly two pay periods or, one month. The next Monday I visited the Air Force recruiting center.
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Well-being by industry, rated on a scale from 0 (low) to 6 (high)
| Agriculture, logging and forestry |
4.4
|
5.2
|
1.9
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Real estate, rental and leasing |
4.2
|
4.4
|
2.6
|
| Construction |
4.2
|
4.6
|
2.0
|
| Management, administrative and waste |
4.1
|
4.3
|
2.3
|
| Information |
4.0
|
4.3
|
2.1
|
| Health and social assistance |
4.0
|
4.9
|
2.6
|
| Arts, entertainment and recreation |
4.0
|
4.2
|
2.2
|
| Transportation and warehousing |
4.0
|
4.1
|
2.2
|
| Wholesale |
3.9
|
4.4
|
2.1
|
| Retail |
3.9
|
4.1
|
2.3
|
| Educational services |
3.9
|
4.7
|
2.9
|
| Repair, laundry and membership |
3.9
|
4.6
|
2.1
|
| Nondurable-goods manufacturing |
3.8
|
4.1
|
2.5
|
| Public administration |
3.8
|
4.1
|
2.4
|
| Durable-goods manufacturing |
3.7
|
4.2
|
2.6
|
| Hotels, restaurants and bars |
3.7
|
4.1
|
2.5
|
| Professional, scientific and technical |
3.7
|
4.2
|
2.7
|
| Finance and insurance |
3.6
|
4.1
|
2.9
|
a) Lead singer/ bass player in a rock band, early 20’s, making very little money
b) shitty telemarketing jobs selling office supplies, also early 20’s, also crap money
(only had a HS diploma then, since have two degrees, BS, MS,…stay in school kids)
Best job…Artist.
Worst job….Same.
Paradoxical dichotomy.
Same with all of my old jobs.
House framer.
Construction .
Hunting guide.
Though I still love construction.
Except installing insulation.
I constantly carpenter.
I had a big boy illustration career in DC and NYC.
Fun and shit in equal measure. My fine art career is no different.
The Agony And The Ecstasy.
One of the great parts of being a carpenter was being able to see something tangible at the end of the day — whether we were framing a house or building a shed or even something simple like doing the layout and the plating and detailing … satisfaction kept bringing us back to the work every day … and it felt so good to be out in the sunshine and fresh air.
Plus the money was pretty good … we used to get 6¢ per square foot to do layout work, and the 2 of us could lay out about 12,000 square feet per day … and the plating and detailing was at the same rates …
Our lead framer got 24¢/square foot for 2 x 4 walls, 26¢ for 2 x 6 or 3 x 4 — and he could easily frame about 9,000 square feet per week.
These prices were in the early-’80s … and these days I see mexican crews up here in WA State doing framing for the same money that we paid back then … and it shows, too, in both their workmanship and in the poor quality of the materials.
You’re right about that insulation stuff, too … all of that fiberglass batting will eat you alive …
Best job(s)
Working in the forestry industry, from mills, running equipment like delimbers and dozers to fighting fires. Other than the two years in a mill everything else was outside, usually alone and in the boonies.
Worst job
Blowing insulation. Hated it. Did my job, as required. Got fired for not liking it, seriously.
I had a lot of fun and hard work in the woods cutting firewood for a couple years when I was in my early 20’s. It was a great way to be independent and make a few bucks.
Being in the woods……
Winning!
I never liked HP tech support. Getting driver updates was nearly impossible. It got so bad that I’ve not bought an HP printer or computer for well over 30 years.
I don’t hold you personally responsible, Stuck. You were just doing following orders.
I had two best jobs; the first was when I had a boss that recognized that I was competent and left me alone to do my job. The second was when I started my own company and worked for myself (factory automation and system integration).
All the other jobs I’ve had are equally tied for worst. Why else would I leave?
Worst job.
Summer I turned 16 I got a job working for the city Water and Sewer department, I was really skinny so.they used to send me into the clogged sewer pipes with a trawl to chop out the coagulated shit.
It was the shittyist job possible, litterly.
Best job. Summer job when I was in college working for Harvard Trust bank, my entire job was basically riding around suburban Boston with a cute blond chick who had the hots for me and maintaining the landscaping around stand alone ATMs. Basically drive for a half hour and weed and water the little flower gardens in front of them.
Lay some pipe?
The guy doing the ATM job now doesn’t have any gardens to tend; he has to pick up needles and scrap feces from the concrete in front of the machines. Welcome to the Machine
1. Working for myself.
2. All of my jobs for an employer were great in so much as they taught me a lot skills not taught in college university. On site work is one helluva School Field trip.
What field?
Landing Gear Technician for 8 years.
Precision Metal Addition. – Got to see the world with this.
“Precision Metal Addition.”
TIG Welder?
Precision Plating, Micro Welding, TIG, Massaging etc. Tolerances sometimes of 0.0005″ Half a thou.
Note: Most in situ(ie not tank, but by hand) Plators are awful and gave it a bad name. Operator skill is key. I routinely had my work cut up and tested, x-rayed, LPI, Hardness, machined etc. My work was and still is at many seal areas at various Nuclear facilities. Oh yeah, it’s even in Space.
At least that is what my instructor said. Many Moons ago. More of a paid Voyeur currently.
Started down that path directing/Producing Porn Videos, but alas, the WFF$ actresses Union was constantly filing suit on
my membertheir guild members behalf.Comparatively speaking? The Males are making a killing vs. the Females, (Yet Another example of sex discrimination/Inequality) and i was just trying to enhance the bottom line of the Stakeholders. “Lead by example”, a favorite quote
Thanks for the reply. Basically well over my head. Remember ANYTHING to do with aircraft was “Precision”, Life threatening potential. Passing Familiarity with destructive/Non-Destructive Magna-fluxing, Liquid Penetrant Inspection, Hardness. Some terms, like ‘Rosette’ sticks in my noggin’ for some reason.
Would like to know what ‘Gray Loc’ means, some kinda sealing? Massaging is dent and ding removal? your time & Inclination permitting. THINK i recall something about ‘wire-tying’, but think that was for bolts, might not even be plane related.
Everything else was fairly EZPZ to look up.
One common phrase?
“Operator skill is key.”
Basically all bolts on an aircraft are wire tied to prevent complete undoing. The woods are full of weldors(welder is the machine, weldor is the operator-some disagreement there) because wood smells better and is soft or maybe it’s a blacksmith kinda thing. makes you appreciate the small stuff. I love working with wood these days. Meant Garlock seal, my bad. Lots of shafts use these and cause wear and leak. You wouldn’t believe how effective massaging metal around can take a low area and bring it “up” without any addition or removing material. Took me years to learn that “majick”. The coolest thing was working with ex military from Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Crazy crazy ass stories. Plus you could see many tics and weird behaviors from their PTSD Past. Some of the older guys had wild real Gold Grills, Kinda freaky at first. Metal Mouth. Thank you for the feedback.
Photography is another form of art where the operator can catch, miss or create the magic. Finesse is a lost art these days.
Best: Working for airline – got to travel for free, met cool people, had tons of fun!
Worst: Working for airline – people are assholes, demanding, never home, hard to have a steady relationship
My former wife worked for the airlines — was a manager of a Reservations office … and, your ‘worst’ point is just part of the issue — they people are also stupid … as in the George Carlin observation that half of the people you see have IQs below the average …
One passenger was asking about the accommodations/restrictions for carrying her cat on the plane … she was told it required a cage large enough for it to stand, sit and lie down. She said that she was leaving the next day and wouldn’t be able to train it to do all of that …
Another was inquiring about schedules from NYC to LA … the flight she was interested in would leave NYC at noon and arrive in LA at 1400 … and the passenger wanted to know how it was possible to fly across the US in just 2 hours …
Employees, too, were a real mixture of the bizarre and the absurd … one guy kept his frozen, dead cat in his desk — would take it home after shift and re-freeze it to bring back the next day. Eventually the other agents (this in an office of almost 350) began to complain of the stench …
And on and on and on it went … for her 34 years …
Another guy would complain to her when she was supervisor about how one of the women in the office was having sex with pretty much every guy in the entire office building — except him — and that he wanted that remedied …
“Another guy would complain to her when she was supervisor about how one of the women in the office was having sex with pretty much every guy in the entire office building — except him — and that he wanted that remedied …”
What did she look like? I might have complained also. 🙂
I saw her … definitely beautiful … just liked to pass it around, so to speak …
Girlfriend in the early 90s was a Sr. Director in Revenue Acctg. USScare had a contest where employees could get a bonus if they came up with a valid idea that was put into use. She co-ran the contest. One guy suggested that the planes could run on water instead of JP-5. He was a college grad.
That’s bad that her husband knows all these stories. The cat one was hilarious (not the dead one).
My wife was a dispatcher. So, I got to experience some of the good and bad of he airlines.
Best job: Life guard
Worst job: service manager
Service manager has got to be the ultimate dumping ground. Zero support from above with feces up to your neck.
Best, cleaning up in the kitchen for the lunch ladies in junior college. They loved feeding people and I was literally starving due to no job and school until I got that work study job. Things got better immediately, I was good to them and they were really good to me. Worst, the lumber yard, weekends especially. Sadistic pint sized boss and retail dumbasses. Got fired for taking a day off to get married. All long ago but still memorable.
1) 1998 address lister for the census bureau (temp job). I was in a rural area and I got to drive around in the full splendor of fall finding houses and asking people for their address so the 2000 census could be mailed to them. I went down many a rural and/or gravel road and many of the people I talked to were very nice and curious as to what I was doing. In one of the small villages I was in and after I visited the first house the whole village knew what I was doing (the phone calls spread like wildfire). So when I showed up at their/next house I didn’t have to explain what I was doing.
2) Mold packer for a factory. Loud, very hot or very cold, mandatory six day a week job, poisonous heavy metal, heavy lifting, always bending (wore out my back), not great benefits. It did motivate me to go back to college so that after 10 years of that sh!t I was able to free myself. Life has been great to me ever since. Turned down interviews and jobs as I had my pick. Went anywhere I wanted with great benefits.
Worst job; Service Manager at an independent European auto shop.
Best job; Retired working my property.
I learned very early that a “job” or working for a “company” or “boss” was not for me. At about age 19 I took a position, on straight commission, selling encyclopedias. Had a lot of fun with the people in that business. Still strictly commission I moved through management roles for about 6 years until my first daughter was born. At which time I had enough money to buy a business.
If you want to call owning and running a business a job then the first 20 years of running that niche food service operation was the best. Because at that time I was raising a family and was able to do everything a parent should do-coach little league and Pop Warner, be present and support the kids and the wife in their endeavors and interests, etc.
The last 11 years of running that business were the worst. The reason, I deduced later upon much reflection, was early in the life of a business it’s easy to innovate to bring in more revenue/annual income. Later on, after you’ve exhausted most of the low and medium hanging fruit, the only way to produce more income is to work longer and harder. For that particular type of business anyway.
After I liquidated that business I started a new completely new type of business by learning new skills. I also enjoy this current business as I’ve been able to automate many tasks, freeing up a lot of time I can spend doing things I really enjoy. Like spending time with grandkids, family, friends, golfing, and perusing The Burning Platform.
I accidentally used quotes. I’d say the best job I ever had was the last one. I learned what I needed in order to find a niche withing the industry.
Worst jobs were ones I never found a way to start my own business.
” I accidentally used quotes.”
This Link:
Will Explain: The b, i, link, b-quote, u, ul, etc. One ‘Sees’ Above the The box where You enter Your Reply.
NOT proficient enough/Too lazy to play with it to ‘Show’ The ‘Graphic’? that makes it…plain/simple/provides a clue, HOPE it only displays a Limited’ amount of info below, had to delete much.
For example: i typed this ‘normally, ‘Highlighted’ it, and then clicked the little i to the right of the little b above where i’m typing. This should have reverted to normal.
Fingers crossed.
____________________________
The WordPress Text Content Editor Menu Explained
“The WordPress Text Editor allows you to paste, edit and work directly with code like HTML and other web languages (e.g. Javascript) when inputting content into pages and posts.
Out of the box, the Text Content Editor displays a number of standard buttons in its menu …
Below is a brief description of the function of each Text Editor menu button with their corresponding HTML formatting tag (see the screenshot above):
b: Use this HTML tag for strong emphasis of text (i.e. bold).
i : Use this button to add italics to your text.
hyperlink: choose this menu button to add a hyperlink to any highlighted text.
b-quote –
Use this HTML tag for quoted or cited text….”
Thanks for that instruction
“Thanks for that instruction”
“People helping People” That’s what it’s all about.*
Took me 4eva to learn the Basics.
Here, Too.
Prefer to read, but sometimes a Picture (or Video) Truly is worth a….(math not my thing) lotta words.
Hours in aggregate, over time, learning
Strike Through, but i’ve had the most fun with it. Primarily because of my limited repertoire, as we speak.Meant to put a modicum of effort in to ‘Renaming’ A link so that it would ‘Show’ what i want in a ‘clickable’ Hypertext Form. Done see’d it here and elsewhere. Very Cool as well. Abject failure 1x so far, but NEVER let that stop me before. Question of free time & priorities. Back to the WordPress© drawing-board.
Speaking of FREE! ?
Life-Long Victim of FREE! Association.
vindicationMore of a rationalization/Excuse for my long-windedness.B.T.B.P., It was MUCH Worse astride My (ultimately) Trust-Worthy Dragon™ (dictation Software), ‘Wounded’ occasionally, primarily ’cause of those darn HOMOphones. Coming outta the woodwork now!
Ultimately? Led to “Please! Shut the Hell Up!” from my Boss. Hardly allowed to speak to this day as a result.
And NO, or hasty proofreading. STILL suffer from that.
Tons of fun also with https://imgflip.com/ Can’t really remember, Think ya have to register/create a profile to use the basic free version. Looks like there are/has been? multiple options (Such as Thought Bubbles) available as well, struggled enough @ the time sizing the text boxes and filling them in. ‘Add’ pic i wanted, Copy/Paste the “Generated” Meme elsewhere. Years since i actually devoted any time to exploring/exploiting the Capabilities/Options available…Still ‘shows’ that “i” have X memes generated, can’t find ’em all, for instance.
Had i Not been “Barred for Life” @ CL© ?
Immediately preceding that event, (Godsend i failed to appreciate/recognize @ the time) Decided ta step-up my game. Researched the various Photoshop® type software available, ’round $600 then IIRC. But sometimes ya just gotta pays your $ and take ya chances.
Serendipitously, Was at The Genius Bar™ for an unrelated matter, (Siri, in spite of Her VERY alluring ‘proper’ British accent, would NOT LISTEN. Life-long struggle/issue with THEM (Secret Sisterhood Inc.) ‘Listening’ to me…
Just A friendly heads up? Placing Q-Tips™ everywhere one of God’s “Special” creatures might visit on a quotidian basis is often misinterpreted.
Silver lining? SURE way to shed excess weight, not have to battle wearing Jeans/Flannels that have NOT really been ‘Dirty’ in a loooong time…AND, get MORE quality ‘alone time’ To get my Crytstal Meth/Crack fix on.
Here. AND, ya can’t beat the price! Win/Win.
Note to self: FOCUS! Enough. The Little Kid (even Then) @ the Genius Bar informed me that Apple® (Hello algore, Board of directors) has something called Pixelmator™. Assured it would do EVERYTHING the ‘State of the Art’ others did and then some. Think it was $70 @ the time, woulda paid the $600 or more…To save the World!
Initial efforts? Transfer any pic, strip it of all info, manipulate to rival
https://www.zerohedge.com/contributors/7818 , And Voila! (WaaLaa, took me years to spell that word properly as well)
Was a Demo. can not remember if it was online or resident in the software.
On my “To Do:” list. One of these days. Was, @ CL, VERY involved
Don QuicksOatey, vanquishing the Windmills.
Turns out, In The Real World, someone already beat me to it! just a ? of the right
Sand in the Escapementlubrication in the gearbox.Oh Dear Lord! i just can not
Shut Up!help myself.@ the beginning of the Night, i was never the brightest Tool in the Shed.
Only a few months since i ‘Discovered’ WHAT the little Bell Thingy with the Slash through its function was, and how to turn it Green. “Notify of new replies to this comment”, immediately to the left of “Post Comment”.
Early on, (AFTER i actually started reading the comments) Stucky touted the virtues of the Site ‘Search’ Feature, immediately below & to the right of The Burning Oil Platform @ the very Top.
Try any combination of ‘How To’ & ‘Newbie’ to get a sense of my quandary.
However, Stucky’s EXCEPTIONAL tip for viewing Video’s via Closed Captioning & adjusting playback speed HAS been QUITE the time saver.
Rumble An Issue in that regard, “CC”, but i did figure out the playback speed thingy.
P.S. Got an Email time stamped 6:30 am (EST here) The ALERT Feature! You had replied.
“Took Ya long enough ta reply, kinda rude”
Mea Culpa. Think that’s correct, capitalization may be wrong. Exposed/Learned Sooo many new words & phrases via primarily
[email protected] Helps me ‘sound’ Swavy & deboner when talking to The Boss.
This brief
puts War&Peace to shamememo should help You realize the error of Your Ways! 🤣Twixt starting her ride for warmth, (too poor to afford a newer vehicle w/remote start) feeding the Animules, escorting my queen to her vehicle, and making sure she is buckled in…(‘Bout the ONLY way i can sneak a kiss, when she is severely limited in her range of movement)…
And, Unfortunately, i typically get calls starting about that time as well, so my personal tracking device generally on me. Too Many videos of the wild life doing various things for sharing the result…
AND that silly ‘Guard Cat’ is now consistently weaving underfoot from the time ‘We’ now walk out the door.
ONLY trick up my sleeve i got left? THE SSI™? Very Gullible. Fall for the same ploys. Repeatedly. Sometimes verbatim.
Once The Boss is exhausted from struggling and acquiesces to a kiss?
i whisper in her ear: ‘Baby’?
i can see her eyes starting to crinkle, KNOW she is smiling.
“What now Sweetheart”?
‘What time will You be Home? Can You stop and pick me up ____? What’s for Supper? Have You seen my ____, where did i leave it?
So far, i’m still quick enough to jump clear, and the door kinda shuts itself. Am slowing down somewhat, SOME trepidation for my toes getting smashed by the rear wheel if i should happen to stumble.
💡 That’s where the ‘Guard Cat’ is really gonna shine!
‘i’m sorry for being a pain in the Butt. Still. I would TRULY be lost without You. i know, i know, i have promised to change, But You DID shake hands on Us, and You knew what i was when You picked me up. Don’t rush off, I think YOUR ‘Guard Cat’ is underneath.’
* See: The (ongoing) Philadelphia Experiment manifesting Brotherly Love.
I could write a book about this one. Complements to the Stuckman for a great topic.
Best was a short term job I had of being a tour Guide in Alaska. It was Chinese tourists from the mainland, and one group was from Taiwan. I got to take them to Seward for the Whale and glacier Sightseeing. Denali park for wildlife viewing, and Fairbanks for Northern lights viewing. Each sight is more awesome than the next. Most liked the Glacier whale watching best. In Fairbanks, we got to experience a kp 9 activity, the highest. The sky was virtually exploding with colored light. Everyone finished the night in complete bliss. In some ways it was, up to, a 10 day, babysitting job. But the all expenses paid to see awesome sights, and a pocket full of money when you were done gives one very fond memories.
Smelliest would have to be herring squeezing in Seward Alaska. They rot for a couple weeks before you squeeze them. The eggs get hard and are a delicacy in Japan. When you were done you smelled just like the fish. You got about $5 a hour, but bonus for over 20 lbs an hour. Fast people averaged about $25 dollars an hour. Big money in the early 80’s. It was about a month of spring work, and helped finance your Alaska summer.
Absolute worst was working on a black Cod, Sable, boat for 3 days, baiting hooks. I got it as I bragged how fast I could bait them hooks being a top herring squeezer. First meal out captain feeds us tainted pears. One of his regular hands says. Those weren’t the pears that were in the fridge the last 6 months were they? Yes they were. Everyone had stopped at one. I ate two as I’m thinking you need calories for grueling work. Everyone, including the captain, who never got sick, was sick within 24 hours. I was the sickest. But I still baited way more hooks than anyone else. Then we were in the middle of 3 fronts. It was a about a 10 foot chop that would not quit. The bunk house was down stairs next to the engine room, and the door would not stay closed in the rough seas. I even tied it. Complete nightmare. We caught a few fish. But, I never even grabbed one when we hit port. Net pay $0. That made up for the great time I had on a Salmon Troller in Washington state.
Lots of other stuff too. I could write a book about the characters and friends on the journey. To me, that was always the best part of working.
One of the absolute stunningly beautiful times was watching the Aura’s working up in Northern BC. Reds and greens and you could hear them. Mid winter, clear and very cold, shut down my delimber, turned off all the lights and watched the show until I got to cold. Never forget it.
Happy to hear you lived. I told people you haven’t lived until you see the northern lights on a good night. I never got to hear them as people say as I was always with a bunch of happy noisy people.
My dad ended up in CO from OK (and thus me) because he got a job as a tour guide as a teen.
AKJohn,
I was a slimer at the salmon cannery in Seward. Cut off the fins that the machine cleaners missed before they got canned. Worked 112 hours a week there (7 X 16) for eight straight weeks while sleeping in a tent in the park. Met some characters.
There were Japanese inspectors there for the salmon roe. Some Americans taught them a little English: “Bend over, pretty mama. Big daddy’s coming home.”
What year. I lived in Seward from 1979 to 1989.
I and millions like me will happily pay to read your story.
AKJOHN too.
Write it!
I find it difficult to label best and worst. There were/are pros and cons to all of them.
I spent a few years framing houses in the mountains in Colorado. The crew was my brother and me. I had excellent surroundings, and the company I kept was outstanding. Unfortunately, the nature of the work took a toll on my body, and the work was cyclical. When it dried up, it was hard to eat.
I did a lot of work in food service as a kid. I baked donuts for a time, and couldn’t eat a donut for 20 years or more. I flipped burgers, and grew sick of those as well. The time I spent making pizza and cheesesteak (yes, in Philly) was time well spent. I did not grow tired of it, I just got fat. It didn’t pay shit, so I had to leave it behind, but I do make a great pizza, and I bought a meat slicer in my later days as a tribute to cheesesteaks. I make a damned mean cheesesteak.
I worked as a machinist for a few years. I loved working with metal, and I put out some really cool products. I had great satisfaction, but way back in the early 80’s, I could see that manufacturing was moving overseas. The trade was cool, but standing in one place all day kicked the shit out of me. Had to move on.
Then I became an electrician. The trade let me use my hands, plus it offered me the opportunity to move around a bit. In school, I was always in the advanced classes, but I didn’t want to be strapped to a desk. The electrical trade let me use my smarts, and provided a little bit of independence. I thought it was the best of both worlds. I did a bunch of construction around southwest Philly and Delaware, but then I had old lady trouble, so…
I did a tour in the Navy as an electrician. I loved the travel, but didn’t like being owned by the government. In retrospect, I should have been a lifer, but an independent minded kid had trouble with the rules. When I got out, I worked in a shipyard on a floating drydock. The work was hard, but definitely cool. When we brought a ship in, I got to operate the ballast controls to lift the ship out of the water. I thought it was badass, but when I split up with my next to the last old lady, I had to move on.
As a sparky, I’ve worked in all areas of the field. I don’t like service, because if you work for someone else, you are coerced to fuck people over. When I hung my own shingle, it was great, but to do a job properly could make it difficult to remain competitive. I enjoyed commercial a lot, and was pretty good at industrial. They’re both challenging and let you use your smarts, but they’re still prone to boom and bust. It lasted for five years or so, but the economy in ’07 broke my back.
When work got scarce during my last construction gig, the only things I found available at the time were to be an electrician in a steel mill, or go work for the department of corrections. I thought that a marine in Afghanistan had a better chance of making it home alive than working in the mill. I had sworn up and down that I would never work in a prison, but needing to put bread on the table can force compromise where you might not expect it.
I’ve been with the department for 13 years. I run a shop of two electricians; two electronics techs; and two kitchen, laundry and generator guys. We have 15 or so inmate workers at a time, and I have several of them listed under my license as apprentices. I have a ton of educational material, both written and video, in my shop, so I’m giving these guys a trade. I’ve tried to leave on a couple of occasions, but the inmates cry big tears every time I try to make the move. They appreciate being treated like a human. There are some with records that I can not reconcile, but I have total control who makes it into my shop. I suppose it feels pretty good to be able to make a difference. While I still hate going to work in a prison every day, I think it is probably the most rewarding thing that I have done.
I’m with you on the pros and cons. I had two 12 year jobs. One as a Cement bulk handler, and one as a driver instructor, and a third career doing construction work in my younger days, and A fourth career doing a silver store on Ebay. All have there ups and downs, and I was able to retire at 55. The wonderful people you meet on the journey is what it has always been about, and sometimes a gob of money came with it.
best: working for myself
worst: a company that wanted me to commit fraud – I quit
Nothing like having $27,000 in sales in one month at you little online store.
I read the other day 94% of US workers are looking for another job.
I think that is a little high, IDK. I would dread each day if I were a medical doctor/nurse/nurse practitioner. I would loath being a hit man for the elites/Big Pharma……. just sayin’.
“I would loath being a hit man for the elites/Big Pharma……. just sayin’.”
Perfectly understandable, That market is potentially over-saturated.
SOOO Many people would do it for free, given
a ShotANY opportunity.1. Lifeguard SICBP
2. Inbound LTL supervisor McClean Trucking
Mile4
I hate to participate in this. 23 years at UPS in Nashville, all at the same hub. Both, my best job and my worst. Admittedly part of that is each person’s own perspective. The hub(s) in all locations that I’m aware of are heated and cooled. Hot as Hades in the summer and cold as Siberia in the winter.
I did nearly every job in that 23 years. Started out loading trailers, then did other hard work. Eventually made it to my 2nd favorite job, air pickup driver. Next stop, supervisor over that same group of air drivers, then package driver (the brown trucks who deliver packages to your home or work, hated that other than one particular woman I had as a helper one year, howdy #Tamee. Finally, made it to feeders (tractor-trailer driver). Finished my career in that classification due to a severe stroke. The last 10 years, it was normal for me both at home and among coworkers to say that I couldn’t wait to quit that place. God listens. The ONLY reason it was my best job? Easy, pay and benefits. It provided a standard of living many college grads never achieve and terrific insurance, second to none (the full package)
And us non-union admins got the same benefits even part-time. Thanks, union guys!
Of course the newer union people don’t get nearly as good benefits as the old dudes.
I was an auditor (industrial engineering dept) at the Lenexa hub for a couple years. So I know exactly what you are talking about regarding searing hot in the summer and freezing in the winter)Also worked in billing and information services at the District office before they consolidated into a few huge districts.. Information services was the worst. Data entry for eight years. Talk about boring. No one knows boring until they did data entry for a while.
Data entry, no matter where you work is the worst. I think I like auditor as one of the best, but not the only job I liked. It got me out and about instead of at a desk.
Lenexa is not that far from me now. Once I retired, I moved to the Midwest where my wife is from. I was in the union as an hourly, but not for the reasons most are. I learned as a supervisor why it’s important. Sometimes they have to take down the good to get to the bad. Of course, the good can usually always get their job back and unfortunately the bad can too. I was out of Whites Creek. I occasionally went to EARMO, Lenexa showed up as an option for our drivers, but required an overnight at some hotel/motel. EARMO was often in the wee hours during my last years. If we speak in UPS acronyms most people won’t know what we’re saying. 😉.
Earth City.
Met my husband at UPS. He was a sup in IE. One of us had to quit. So when there was a strike in ’96 I quit. Eventually I would have had to leave anyway because of the district consolidation. Spent 13 years there and 6 at Fedex after that.
Strike in 1997, but eventually, they didn’t care if UPSers were married or even related in any way. For most of my time at UPS, I was single, but eventually got married while a package driver. It’s not hard to see why so many get divorced when they get to feeders. It’s a grind. I had two different girlfriends in Germany (not at the same time) and that simply doesn’t work. I dated two women who worked at UPS, as I alluded one was my driver helper one season and another a temp who was in dispatch over air drivers. The first one lasted nearly 9 months, the second a couple, three dates. I easily recall it was completely off-limits to even be known as dating at UPS. A lot of people were keeping it secret. Or try, which may have been sufficient (I wouldn’t know).
If you were in management, you better not get involved with another UPS employee. People could be married if they were not in management and did not work in the same department together.
Was the strike in 97? You should have heard the stories the Fedex people had during that time. I didn’t go directly to work at Fedex after UPS so I wasn’t there but they told stories of UPS customers driving by the package centers and just throwing boxes onto their docks. 60 hour weeks and still turning away business.
I responded to this on my tablet, but don’t see my response. I’ll wait a day or so and if it doesn’t show up, I’ll repeat it.
Until I come back to answer at length. Well, nevermind, I can’t figure out how to link to a webpage.
You should be able to copy the link into the reply.
Okay, I’m back; I found it easier to simply type this reply as a note, then copy and paste:
I remember a few things about ‘fraternizing’ or dating or being married or even a brother, sister, aunt, uncle or whatever. At The Creek #3719, I am aware of a couple (not merely a couple of people but a dating couple) who were fired for being discovered as dating. I know firsthand of a guy who did High Value and for some reason had to fill out a new application and was discovered he had a close relative there. My Business Manager (Center Manager)(package car), his current wife quit early on so they could get married. He and I are still friends. We weren’t overly friendly while I worked for him. But the day my wife was diagnosed with Stage 2-C ovarian cancer, that all changed for me. I had to run home for a minute to see about our dogs. We lived roughly 5 minutes from this regional hospital. I’d called him before I left the hospital to tell him I’d likely miss the next day. She was diagnosed on Memorial Day 2009, so we were off that day; I was calling about Tuesday. When I got back to the hospital about 15 minutes after I’d left, he was already in the room visiting her. He and his wife did all kinds of extraordinary things for us. My manager found a way to first use all my vacation days, then when those ran out, we used option days. I had to work one day each week to keep my insurance paid after that ran out. Meanwhile, while she was in the hospital, each of them, probably independently came over to our house while I was at the hospital to feed our dogs and take them potty. Aside from regular visits to see her in the hospital for support. I think it was because I don’t know what I’m doing on this site sometimes that because I added a link incorrectly it simply deleted the entire reply. But if you go to Wikipedia and type in (or copy and paste this: United Parcel Service strike of 1997) you can see whoever added this info about the infamous strike. I can’t really say any more about that. I was aware of a few supervisors who were dating during the time it was forbidden. One transferred to another Nashville hub #3729 and the guy joined the army as a Ranger. When I made it to feeders he was an on-road sup in there. My friend from 5th grade is still a feeder driver and probably will be until he has to go in and out of the hub using a walker. All of his children are in feeders as well. Or they were when I left. His younger brother had only started about a year before I left and was working on a belt, loading trailers. No idea what he’s doing now. You have to be mentally strong to hang on to get anywhere. For those who don’t know, which most will; any company that has a union integrated into its workings; everything goes by seniority as an hourly. So the only way you move ahead is one of two ways. One, you go to work and bide your time, sign bid sheets, and hope you get moved to what you want. Or take the route I did, and I nearly got stuck. I used the part-time sup loophole to full-time hourly ‘every 5th’ employee can be off the street, which part-time sups qualify. I think I already said this, but just in case, since I don’t have it in front of me. I dated two women during my time there. One, probably right at the edge of the rule about dating coworkers. Yet, she was out of a temporary agency; her name was Margie. Then as a package car driver (I’m going to keep this shorter than the full story), the last day we were together on the truck, she was trying to get me set up for the rest of my day before she left. We both had a feeling it was our last day using helpers. It was like December 23rd or something like that. I walked in the back and asked her if I’d been professional the entire time and did she have any complaints about the way I treated her. She said no. I said hang on because you’re about to be shocked most likely and I asked her out. It was maybe 3 weeks later, we had our first date of what lasted nearly 9 months. Trust me, that is the abbreviated version. That was the Tamee I’m pretty sure I referred to earlier.
I’m sorry, I overlooked a sentence. As a part-time sup, I got pretty good pay and immediately an extra week of vacation more than as an hourly of the same time at the company. Not to mention a choice of health insurance and occasional other benefits. I don’t think part-time gets stock gifts, but I got other rewards for lack of a better term. That job ran the gamut. I had stressful times and fun times. Pick-up air drivers work in the evenings, and it could be fun in that office at night. I won’t go into the bad stuff about it on here. But my goal at that time was to get to package car, because at that time, you had to go through there to get to feeders, my ultimate goal.
Bad stuff? There was bad stuff at UPS? Kidding. As an auditor we had to audit inbound trailers. Ever hear the term snowblow? Open a trailer and sometimes that’s what it looked like.
Nope, I never heard anyone refer to opening a trailer with that term. I always hated dragging a box to another destination, only to discover I had to open the doors to back to a dock. Of course, it can be dangerous, but I simply didn’t want to be involved in the cleanup.
Worked for UPS loading, unloading, and sorting when I was 18/19. I remember well the 110 degree trucks. They were loaded with dust, and my t shirt would be a dusty wet mop after 20 minutes. UPS had the worst managers I ever met. This was in the demonrat swamps of Chicago.
CACH?
I think your asking where? Mostly bedford park.
Yep, I was. I’ve never been to any Chicago area location, but I did meet with a few feeder drivers at meet points in my later years. Usually in Indiana.
1 Worked at a restoration and modification shop for high end customers. Man I got to design and build some cool shit
2 Same job. Owner was a nutball who thought screaming at employees was communication. Lasted 2 years and did not beat the shit out of him.
Best was when I met my ex after a year of bumming around the country with long hair and a back pack. We hit it off and fulfilled our childhood dreams of being artists. We created a business, retail, wholesale, and mail order, and a bunch of jobs.
Worst was being a designer/draftsman in an architectural firm in DC. I hated sitting at a desk working with mediocrities and being passed over.I got myself fired so I could collect unemployment, which my company had not been paying into, hit the road and never looked back.
You can get unemployment if fired?
I’m certainly not sure, but I’m willing to bet an employer would be in some trouble for not paying.
Best: building and maintaining an entire data center, including assembling all blade servers and client machines, along with all the racks in which they were held, tagging and assigning IPs, cabling (which included fiber optics and lasers, pretty neat stuff actually), and using VMs accessible through Windows Server, Cisco and Linux static shells, etc., for a very well-known insurance company. (I talked last week about a $30/hr. job I had until about 5 years ago, and which now pays $22/hr. — this is that job. At $22/hr. they will not get competent people in there, I assure you… may be the plan, who knows?)
Worst: a call-center job where I was contacting old folks who were on Medicare, to get their information so the company could supposedly send them whatever medicinal supplies they might need, like wheelchairs or hospital beds. It took me about 2 hours to figure out this was all a scam, preying on the elderly. I felt dirty just staying there as long as I did. When lunchtime came, I left and never went back, and I called the owners of the building in which the call center was located and told them what was going on up there. Who knows if they did anything about it (they were probably in on it).
I imagine as long as the rent/lease was paid, they didn’t care but may opt not to renew when the time comes/came.
Best: President of the environmental services company I founded in March 1989.
Worst: Hand counting inventory for 3 months after my senior year of HS. Started at 8 AM every Sunday, 100 of us running around a Zayre. Boring but needed the $$$ – $2/hr. for `10-12 hrs.
Best job,starting as a carpenter working for a guy named Mike,was a great/patient teacher who as he was married with kids lived vicariously thru me as I told him of my weekends filled with debauchery!Mike was a good boss and better friend who died way too early!
Worst job,carpenter,just burned a bit and thus do just enough side gigs ect. to get by.That said,still love teaching folks how to work on homes/cars so I love that part.
I ever get me new acerage want to besides part time home maintenance have a animal foster type adoption shelter,see this as my final job in this chapter of life.
My dad had to run from the law and I didn’t see him again until I graduated from FSU in 1969. I’ve worked probably over 50 every possible minimum wage type job starting about 1960 on weekends, holidays, and summers. Most jobs were quite bad but I was grateful and didn’t hate them. I loved the Strike Breaker job with the Florida East Coast RR in South Florida 1965 and would have stayed except for the Army Draft. I did come to hate the USAF in the 1970s and public school teaching is retarded; both jobs are stressful. The Florida Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Dept of Labor is easy but very discriminatory against White Goy males.
Best Job: Working in IT for the cable company in 2001-2006 – we did some industry changing software projects
Worst Job: Working in IT for the cable company in 2007-2014 – the F-500 corporate BS and bureaucracy was too much hassle.
Best job, logging.
Worst job, logging.
I did do a stint as an art director for a national ad agency so I know what it’s like to work in the mines. The above still holds true. Working in nature provided the most vivid memories.
Q1. Delivery driver for a local hoagie shop in a college town when I was 16. Besides getting $ for tips there were plenty of beers, bong hits, and being invited back to parties after work.
Q2. Production at a fiberglass truck parts factory. I was designated to scrape out the molds and wax them before they went back to the chop sprayers. It was 90 degrees outside and I was working under heatlamps wearing kitchen yellow gloves. It was so hot a cup of sweat came out of the gloves every time I reached up. The fumes were horrendous.
I only lasted 2 days because I felt obligated to come back the 2nd to say I was done after that.
Working on a large cattle farm that was vertically integrated was the job I enjoyed the most of all the many and various jobs I have worked. I looked forward to getting up at 5 AM for the first and last time (until recently).
I would have stuck with the infantry, had my health held together, as a distant second place. It was a mostly good 10 years.
It’s hard to pick the worst job, but it would be a tie between anything in retail dealing with customers and working in very repetitive electronics manufacturing (mainly wire harnesses ).
I did wire work at the ITT wire mill in Cairo Ga 1984 before it was relocated to Matamoros Mexico.
I’ve had a lot of good jobs, because I never stayed around long enough at a bad one (or I was too dumb to know they were bad). Best best job was when I was in college I got hired by the college to be an usher at the new humanities center which had a shiney new theater. Anyways for the celebration of being new they got some pretty good talent in. Was a pretty good company that did Shakespeare plays. After everyone was seated, we got to go in and watch the plays. That was very cool. Also got to see the Cleveland orchestra. They had the first several rows empty, and so guess where I sat? I had the best seat in the house.
Worse job was probably being a medical lab tech in the army. Work wasn’t bad, though a little boring (AIT was very cool though), but I reckon I’m not really a people person, especially when it comes to being subservient.
Probably been happier doing something a little more grunt like, as I always liked playing in the woods / outside, like cutting mine props and such on our property in WV. Though anytime spent there and that area was magical (almost literally in some instances).
One would have thought that Mr. Stucky, in his younger years, would have obtained a certificate in advanced mammography instead of putting on a blue uniform. Each to his own.
Q1: What was your BEST job?
• Working for myself from 2005 to 2015
Q2: What was your WORST job?
• Wasting 11 years in a union job with promotions by seniority
When I started at UPS, I realized it had representation by the Teamsters, but somehow was too blind to realize it when the work started. I totally kicked ass every night because in my mind, they were going to see how great I was, and I’d be in package car soon; much sooner than those who loafed. By the time I’d made my first move inside the hub, I started to realize those who played around and those who only showed up when they felt like it was possibly going to be in feeders before I was, and I wasn’t having any of that. So, I made damn certain management took action. I wasn’t there for social hour or convenience, I worked my ass off and when necessary, led by example. It took just over 10 years to get to package and another 5 to get to feeders (tractor-trailers). But I stuck it out and will forever be proud of myself for hanging in there through all I went through.
Great story Empty! Good for you.
My Dad was union all the way…and I carried the card at 16 working part time in a grocery store.
Then I went into a union trade (after a Vocational HS & the military). At the age of 36 (did not enjoy the trade work at all – too boring). I started an entry level position with a national retail company with a strong merit based promotion pyramid, quickly was promoted into an entry level management position…then had four more promotions in six years (moved my family with most of them – I loved those adventures) then jumped ship and had 5 more promotions in 7 years with a competitor, then jumped ship to a consulting company…then opened my own consulting company.
All of the above was based on indisputable P&L results…I mastered the art of reducing the line item controllables…the bean counters would throw flower petals in front of me when leaving budget meetings.
I wish I could have opened my own company sooner…but I just didn’t know enough to do it, but from 55 to 65 I had a blast…and feathered the nest.
Best: IT project manager at a big Pharma company for product sample compliance. The first 6 months were shaky but I automated all of the reports, got the right staff in the critical positions, and went into coast mode once it was working. This lasted 9 years until 2001 with the IT market bust.
Worst: Just out of high school working as a construction laborer while going to community college night school. I studied of off-class nights. The construction job was upgrading a sewage processing plant. Go to work at 6:30 and work a 10 hour day then shower and knock out 4 hours of classes two days a week. That would knock out 2 classes per quarter and I did this for a year. The second worst was driving a tractor trailer on a freight route in Florida. I drove from the end of summer quarter to when Winter quarter started. Then go to school full time Winter, Spring, and Summer quarter then do the freight route till Winter quarter started again. I did this until my senior year when my college lost its accreditation. I took a year off where I joined the Air Force and 10 years later I finished my degree.
Best:
Geodetic Surveyor – Degreed & Licensed – Overseas work, 5 continents, worked the Sahara, Atlas Mtns, Andes, Amazon, Honduras, Borneo (OK, not so great), and Saudi (not the best, not the worse). Six months after graduating in 1979 was pulling in $1,500/wk. Right choices is what makes you!
Worst:
Any job I had in the USA. To much BS. Luckily didn’t have to do too many of these after I got back from overseas.
Wildest:
1979…22 yrs old, single. Powder monkey assistant, blasting base rock for the Antelope Valley Freeway in SoCal. Repelling off a cliffs with a chipping hammer and 50lbs of 40% on my back loading holes for the weekly blast. Six month contact, 4 days/wk, $25/hr with OT. Wasn’t anything in the world I couldn’t have.
In Southern California I brokered a food product that became quite popular: Gardenburger. It wasn’t soy but was made with mushrooms, onion, oats, and cheese plus spices. I was the first broker and nearly starved to death, figuratively, for several years. My commission was five-percent. But eventually, I got the product in Trader Joe’s, Costco, and thousands of restaurants and health food stores. GBs became a top one hundred product for Sysco and Rykoff. In due time I became president of the company as it went public on the Nasdaq. Those were the good times, especially when GBUR was the top performing stock one year in the early nineties on all exchanges.
Then the worst part: I fought the founder of the company and his Board of Directors constantly. Dumb asses. The company was zooming along, profitable (10% bottom line), and the crew was happy, but my views on how to enter big retail (grocery stores) was different from what the Board members wanted. The Chairman was a past CEO of a power utility. Not exactly a growth business, and she wanted to use the carrot and stick model in all things. People and a good product are what make a business hum, most especially an entrepreneurial company. The Board liked her ideas better than mine. So I resigned. It took three tries, because each time the executives went to the Board and asked that I be retained. The first two times I relented, but the third time I got the hell out of there. So here I had the best of times and the worst of times.
Incidentally, my replacement, who I told the Board was the wrong guy, came in and proceeded to borrow $50 million for an ad program directed at the grocery store market. Meanwhile he changed the product to suit some new machinery that he bought for the hoped for increased business. The new product was not the same, did not taste or cook up like the old, but he did not test market it. Spent the money on a lousy product and the company went bankrupt. A nightmare. I had stock but I sold it before the collapse.
Other than the usual jobs before high school, paperboy, cutting grass, shoveling snow, bus boy, etc etc. I’ve been a commercial/industrial painter since 1977, after I graduated. 45 years, 35 years as an owner.
While a painter in the field my stress was pretty good, as a business owner, stress has been mostly high. But, it paid for two kids to go thru college, two kids marriages, and a comfortable life, both my children are self employed.
I’ve employed anywhere from four employees, up to twenty eight for a year or so, maintaining ten right now and that’s just fine.
64 now and I’m tired of this new brand of worker, not only painters but the dip shits running work. I told one contractor the two idiots he has running a school job are retards, and that’s an insult to retards. Mostly college grads with zero field experience, they live behind a computer monitor filling out paperwork and schedules, rather than walking the job site and making intelligent decisions on what is actuating happening in the field.
According to my 38 year old son there is a feeling of hopelessness, dread and apocalyptic amongst the millennial group, hopelessness that the degree they are getting loans for are already obsolete, a complete fear of AI replacing most jobs at a frightening pace and apocalyptic at the state of the world right now. He said most are self medicated and suicidal.
I think there are ten states where half the working age population does not work, they live off the government. My doctor friend in Minnesota (one of the ten states) says non working Somalians there live better than working Americans, and are paid to Fuck. Which is funny because he never swears.
All in all, most jobs will not pay the bills, future inflation and taxes, it’s fucked up and bullshit. Fourth Turnings are a bitch.
Thanks to everyone* who participated. I’ve done a number of these get-to-know-you QOTD for one purpose ….. to foster community, to get to know you all on a more personal level. This was a really good and fun read!! Thanks again.
=======
But, no thanks to “Empty”! He wrote here, “I hate to participate in this.” …. but, he did it anyway! What a fucken maroon! In another thread he said this thread was “ridiculous”. “Empty” is a good name for this fuktard as it reflects what’s between his ears. I’ll bet he’s a librull.
Thank ya, asshole. I’ll elaborate, since you ass-u-me, I regretted to participate not because I didn’t like the concept, but overall I’m pretty private with those whom I don’t know. And guess what; I don’t know any of ya. I feel most connected to TN_Patriot since we hail from the same state and I’m certain I’ve been through his neck of the woods a few times, dragging trailers. I’m certainly not ashamed of my life and do get at least some enjoyment from coming here, but there are a good few asswipes on here. You have literally no idea why I opted for the moniker ‘Empty’ and it shall remain that way. It’s apt for a reason you can’t see through. It’s also apt for my personal bank account, not the family one, due to the wonderful pay my job afforded me. My wife assumed the pants in the family and I get a small allowance each month or we’d be living under a fuckin bridge. It’s often the other way around, where the wife is the spender, but not in this family. Anyway, piss off til next time.
Oh. OK. Sorry!!!
Nice post. Really.
It’s fine. Either way, you mean it. I simply don’t take crap from anyone, except the wife. So someone talks smack to me, they can expect it back.
Liberal? Ha. Probably far more conservative than thou.
What am I doing wrong? I know you can somehow post links; I’ve seen them here before.
1. Highlight the link you want to post.
2. Copy it ….. ctrl-c
3. Paste it wherever you want in your post ….. ctrl-v
Thanks.
&action=click
That didn’t seem to work as intended.
100 !!!!