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The thing with corporate office careers is that chances are you'll get axed and replaced with younger, cheaper, (and more attractive) worker when you reach your 50's or so. A skilled tradesmen, especially an older more experienced one will always been raking in the dough. Another thing I dislike about office work is the office politics, being required to socialize and attend off clock events with co-workers, having to buy gifts, etc. In a blue collar environment you simply do your job and get out of there.
After many years in retail hell, I love working in an office. Only problem is the cackling hags that love to stir up drama and whine and complain about everything in creation. (I, sadly, am the only guy in there)....
No, I don't feel hot. Stop asking me.
No, I don't think there's a gas leak in here.
You have a lot of work to do? Well, you sure have enough time to hang out in the kitchen to gossip about some stupid nonsense topic with your "friends" that gossip about you as soon as you leave the room.
Yes, I know you're a vegan. You remind me every day, remember?
I'm glad you scored some great deals at Costco this weekend. I still don't care.
I'm sorry things aren't "the way they used to be" around here. Sounds like it's time for you to leave.
I don't know but working in a mechanic shop sound so cool and fun to me. I always call a mechanic 'car doctor' lol.
I get depressed looking at folks working in offices. I worked at an office for a month or so, and I hated it. It is just not for me! I got fat, hated the small talk, I couldn't concentrate, my eyes began to hurt from looking at the computer screen all frikin' day!...!!! I don't know...I am still relatively young though, maybe that is it. I guess when you get older, 60s or so, you just want to relax and have a cake job.
I currently work in a art restoration laboratory...and we work on sculptures, big paintings etc...it can be tiresome but exciting to do scientific yet artistic work!!! But let me tell you if you love your job you are already rich!
Ok folks... I'd just like to say that I LOVE working in an office. I know... it's weird.
But I was a mechanic for YEARS prior to this second career. I worked in greasy shops with drug addict co-workers and illiterate bosses. I've rebuilt diesel engines in sub-zero weather with the snow flying. Worked on combines and oil rigs when it's 110 degrees out and no shade for two miles in any direction. Hauled illegal loads in excess of 100,000 pounds, witnessed fraud and environmental violations that could send people to prison under the right circumstances, seen co-workers pass out in the heat while we worked on agricultural equipment in the mid-day sun with no shade.
All that's over for me now. These days I wander into the office about 7:00. Chat with co-workers about ridiculous things like fresh-ground coffee or where we'll go to lunch today. Answer a couple of emails, do some design work, bull**** about the latest Star Wars movie or whatever nonsense we're talking about today. Sitting there in a pleasant 73 degrees with our comfortable, clean offices-clothes (I wore greasy uniforms for 16 YEARS). Seriously... I don't even CARE if I never get another promotion. I'll happily ride this gravy-train 'til I'm old and irrelevant. I'd do this job for a THIRD of what they're paying me. I'll NEVER go back to working in a shop if I can help it... I'd sooner be on unemployment.
You office-workers out there... count your blessings. If you're making enough to pay the bills and working in a nice air-conditioned office... you're living the good life. That college edumucaton was the best thing I ever did for my career. My only regret is that i didn't finish it 10 years earlier.
I know how you feel and have experienced the same thing, drastic career change after 20 years of working days and nights, 7 day weeks, at the beck and call of the families I provided services for (human services, developmentally disabled direct care in the home) waiting on people coming home hours later than they said they would....
But what you need to keep in mind is..one of the reasons it seems so wonderful and amazing to us is, it's by comparison. Our first choice of career we made for reasons that were good at the time. After you reach the burn out point, almost any change in job is going to seem wonderful, I think.
I am 2 1/2 years into my career change and I couldn't be happier. My work is challenging and now that I am used to using my brain in this different way it is really fun. Monday-Friday 8-4, holidays off is heaven. Even after all this time 2 days off in a row is still a novelty! Getting up at 5 a.m. is a struggle but well worth all the rest.
Personally I hate office work. I'd much rather be outside...and have been. Even in the bowels of hell known as "summer time" in Miami in the Everglades, I was happier than I ever was inside of an office.
Having said that, I will never forget one particular girl at a cruise line for which I used to work. She was brand new, we were outside on break, she was making all kinds of friends, (the girl was hilarious), and she was talking about what kind of work she used to do before getting the job at the cruise line, (not in an office, a job that required a lot of movement). Her getting hired had a whole lot to do with her personality as she was extremely charismatic. I've never met anyone that dang charismatic...I mean, I knew her for 2 minutes and I wanted her to be my friend that very second...
Anyway, she said that when HR asked her why she wanted the job, she replied: "I just want to sit down."
Knowing the HR lady at that cruise line, I have no doubt that she loved that answer, and she hired that girl right on the spot...but again, I am 100% positive it was all due to just how fricken charming this girl was.
Point is: For some people, an office environment is torture. For others, it's absolute bliss.
Neither is wrong or right, as long as what they are doing is making them happy.
The theme in this thread seems to assume that you have to do a *one* thing/job all your life. Keep chasing the 'career' and yes you will. However, what's wrong with doing something completely different every 5-10 years?
For those, climbing the "career" ladder, the idea of starting at the bottom, in experience and in pay, is absolutely abhorrent. However, think about how exciting it is to try something new.
Point is: For some people, an office environment is torture. For others, it's absolute bliss.
Neither is wrong or right, as long as what they are doing is making them happy.
Point is, it depends on where you are in life. 30 years ago I would have rather "been dead" than work in an office and said so often, and meant it. Now, it suits me just fine. I spend the greater part of my leisure time outdoors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blindside
The theme in this thread seems to assume that you have to do a *one* thing/job all your life. Keep chasing the 'career' and yes you will. However, what's wrong with doing something completely different every 5-10 years?
For those, climbing the "career" ladder, the idea of starting at the bottom, in experience and in pay, is absolutely abhorrent. However, think about how exciting it is to try something new.
Pipe dream for most?
You have it backwards. The "theme" is, some people find it personally rewarding and beneficial to change careers after 20 or 30 years.
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