What's This Life For?
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." ~Albert Pike
What brings meaning to your life?
We are all selfish individuals to a degree, that's the flaw of human nature. It's the raw and basic want for survival. So, we do not always think clearly enough to realize how much happiness it brings back to us when we do selfless things for other beings in the universe.
Work, I guess is one of those things we do for survival, but in the course of our careers I am sure we have all had our moments when we helped others and it just made us feel good to do so.
My jobs? Some might say I have been the "Jackie-Of-All-Trades"...
I still try to do what I can to uplift, or help people when I can, and I try to remain calm, cool and selfless. Of course some people, some days make it very, very hard to keep that smile painted on.
What brings meaning to your life?
We are all selfish individuals to a degree, that's the flaw of human nature. It's the raw and basic want for survival. So, we do not always think clearly enough to realize how much happiness it brings back to us when we do selfless things for other beings in the universe.
Work, I guess is one of those things we do for survival, but in the course of our careers I am sure we have all had our moments when we helped others and it just made us feel good to do so.
My jobs? Some might say I have been the "Jackie-Of-All-Trades"...
- Babysitter (13 years of age) -This totally sucked. The kids were bratty, they found their Dad's Hustler stash, asked me questions. I was marred for life. I never babysat again.
- McDonald's - "Drop some fries, clean the bathroom. Drop some fries, clean the bathroom" after going home smelling like fry grease and industrial cleaner for 2 months, I quit the fast food biz to 'concentrate on my senior year in high school'.
- Wal*Mart - When you work at a Walmart store, you really get the chance to be on the front line of the freaks and weirdos. I saw some very interesting characters. However, This is where I really cultivated my Customer Service skills. Even today, if I have had a terrible day and want to smash the living daylights out of someone, I can still slap a smile on my face and help someone get through their crisis. It makes me feel good to know that I really came through for them.
- Local Newspaper - I took a 25 cent pay cut to leave Walmart and go into my 'chosen field' of graphic design. I thought newspaper work was a good first step, but in a small town like I lived in, stepping stones are made of cheap plaster so I never got far. The manager there ended up resenting me for leaving to better myself. Which leads me to...
- Magazine Printing - I remained in a similar field, printing, which would pay the bills for some time. I actually enjoyed learning all about different types of print media. Made some good memories there too. Times were still relatively simple, until I was Blindsided By Love.
- Casino Services - High Rollers, VIPs, very tough pit bosses? Casino was certainly a far cry from the world of printing. Once again, my customer service skills came in very handy, and met a lot of interesting people. My adventures here were cut short, however from issues with my crackhead boyfriend.
- Series of directionless temp jobs - Nothing much to say here, legal secretary, receptionist stuff, this and that. It helped pay the bills.
- Radio Station - You know the spiel here, cool tunes, fun people, lots of free stuff like CDs, bumper stickers, tickets to concerts... Occasionally met a Rock Star, the GM took a dislike to me, I think because I wasn't "POSH" enough for her, who knows but she let me go. She was subsequently fired herself some time later. Karma bitches.
- Printing Company - Back in the ink well I was, this time "short order" printing. Books, Making copies, proofing, binding, whatever needed to be done. Had my share of fun there... eventually, better salary came along.
- Label Printing Company - I was hired on as a proofreader. The head proofreader, Phil, hated me from the start. Phil was a typical "Midtowner", he was a marathon runner, biked, he listened to Dylan, he thought his shit did not stink. I never could figure out what about me pissed him off, I honestly tried to work hard and do my best. We ended up with a new manager that must have buddied up with Phil because he let me go too, and was subsequently fired himself some time later. Karma strikes again.
- Series of directionless temp jobs while going back to school for I.T. - Blah blah blah, la-de-frikkin-da. The only one of note was a relatively long assignment at a law office. The son of the lawyer, who just hadn't quite passed the bar exams yet was quite the secretive soul. I had to get something out of his desk one day and found a whole stash of "Black Tail" magazines hidden in his drawer. He thought it was just his little dark secret. ;)
- Contracting at a local Shipping company in Marketing Department - Politics, snotty people, stiff environment except for my co-workers. It wasn't bad, but it could've been better. Eventually I tried for a permanent position but was dissed in the name of PC and forced to move along, which brings me to...
- Programming and Web Development in the big city (current). I'm living the dream.
I still try to do what I can to uplift, or help people when I can, and I try to remain calm, cool and selfless. Of course some people, some days make it very, very hard to keep that smile painted on.
Comments
Without a doubt my favorite was right out of High School working at a senior care center. While many find these places sad, to me it was a vast sea of friendships with people far wiser, and seasoned than myself. Their personalities were all incredible, and I spent most of my time conversing .. and hearing their life stories. I learned more about what is REALLY important from the residents living there, than any other time / place in my 42 years on this planet.
Important?? ... giving, sharing, loving, accepting. These attributes last forever, unlike anything else we can attain.
Howdy from the SpeedyCat ;-)
There is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING you cannot do.
How cool is that?
Blimey - my list is so boring!!!
Software Engineer - defence avionics, left as I was building stuff for both sides in the middle east and to cap it all equiping a country that went to war against mine!!! Hardly defence!
Analyst Programmer - sortened to Anal Prog often which amused me. In the on-line database industry (before internet) and in printing services.
Anal Prog - for a dealing room systems company.
System Prog - for the national bank.
DBA, Project Manager, Team Leader, Portfolio Manager, Dept Manager, Service Delivery Managet - all at current employer (nearly 19 years) in support of pharmaceutical R&D
I help others as much as I can, but they often just turn out to be future disappointments.
Camping brings meaning to my life.
You've had some interesting jobs, I've had many myself, didn't care how much money I made, was just in it as much as anything for the experience.
I taught computers for a few years, but just for free. Once upon a time I thought I would like to have a paying job in the computer field, not anymore.
But I don't much care about money anymore, other than just having enough to get by in my basic lifestyle, and I do.
It's great to know how to live well on less than a grand a month. It turns off some potential mates but I don't want that kind of a woman anyway.
Master mechanic
Service manager in three Ford dealerships
Cook in a cafe
Handyman
Janitor
Inventor
Owned a parts house
Editor of a newspaper (my own)
Worked in a smelter (yuk)
Long haul truck driver
C Store clerk
Worked on the 2000 census
Service station attendant, back in the days of full service.
Fuller brush salesman
Waterless cookware salesman
Car salesman
Millright
Blah, blah, blah.
In fact I pretty much broke every rule they gave me and just had a hell of a lot of fun. :-)
I even put that fucking bell in jail, people loved it. I did everything I could with that fucking bell but ring it much.
And the one day I did it had laryngitis, ha ha ha. I was a hit at my station at the post office, people came everyday just to see what the fuck I was up to that day.