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We've heard a lot of grousing (some of it, probably, from people who exhausted their full 99 weeks of UC) about the low-wage, dead-end jobs that seem to be all that's available; let's look at it from another angle.
I know my way around the accounting profession, My degree was in Business Administration. But I've never been comfrotable with the "overgown junior high school" atmosphere that characterizes most 9-to-5 office environments.
A number of years ago, a CPA acquaintance suggested I pursue similar certification. But I knew what would be coming along under the typical associate-to-partner career ladder --- "face time" -- daily early-AM staff meeting -- expensive (non-tax-deductible) wardrobe, and worst of all, a guarantee that all the time-consuming trouble -- all the geezers with Bible tracts and pictures of the grandchildren -- would find their way to my desk for a couple of years.
I took four more tax-accounting courses (and aced them all), then approached my friend and several of his coleagues about an interim tax-season-only job, and was unanimously and soundly rebuffed -- degree > CPA exam > internship (the place where young adults are turned back into schoolboys/girls) was the only way to go.
A couple of years later, the unionized food-prcessing job that ws the "core" of my working life evaporated (the company's agressive-expansion strategy backfired); since then, I've been through about every scenario of the post-industrial world -- temping, seasonal warehouse work, driving courier, trading keeping the books at a hotel for place to live. For the past year, like our "hipster", I've been working in a fast-paced mail-order center -- at age 62. But I stall have my house, which is rented to a reliable partner who takes care of it and sublets rooms to construction workers, and I did manage to make a few good investment decisions (and a few bad ones) along the way.
That's how things are done in an economy where Uncle Sugar isn't as generous as some of the kiddies think he should be --- good night and good luck!
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 07-04-2012 at 04:04 PM..
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