Do you enjoy your job?

[greg]

In the same boat unfortunately.

I'm trying to enjoy it though. 

that makes 4 of us 
wow, you guys make me feel better!

and i really shouldn't buy a car now since if I did, i might end up running out of money to pay for car insurance if I don't get a new job in a month or two.
A car would be nice, so I could escape to the mall whenever I want to and stay at the bookstore and read manga all day without being seen  ... but i'm stuck at home, yay. At least I have the internet, if I didn't I'd probably be bored enough to run over to the lake and just hope i drown.

no one calls back, it's a pain. And the only real interview I got, she didn't hire me because I can't work on Sunday. I need a job before August 20, when I'm probably going to start school....... maybe Winn-Dixie will call back? It wouldn't be so bad working for them, besides the fact that their pay totally sucks. 

[George]

For the Unemployed

[Haffner]

I teach electric guitar out of my home. All day I practice guitar, cello, and viola, study music composition, and bark around with all the wonderful people at GMG.

I love my life.

[greg]

For the Unemployed

hahaha
how ironic in the end....

[George]

hahaha
how ironic in the end....

I like the suggestion "Go to the Mall and act like a Robot" 

[Mark]

I teach electric guitar out of my home. All day I practice guitar, cello, and viola, study music composition, and bark around with all the wonderful people at GMG.

I love my life.

Andy, you've made me genuinely happy. I think it's wonderful that you love your life - and from what little I know of your personality, you deserve all the happiness you get. You certainly brighten things up around here, if only because you never have a bad word to say about anyone and you're always positive. That's a real tonic at times like these, so thanks.

[Haffner]

Andy, you've made me genuinely happy. I think it's wonderful that you love your life - and from what little I know of your personality, you deserve all the happiness you get. You certainly brighten things up around here, if only because you never have a bad word to say about anyone and you're always positive. That's a real tonic at times like these, so thanks.

It's a happy obligation for me, Mark.

[Steve]

I Tutor Math at the Univeristy.  

[SimonGodders]

'Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains'

[George]

'Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains'

[Steve]

'Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains'

just no collective bargaining.... 

[MishaK]

I hate my insane clients, my unreasonable bosses, the overwhelming amount of details one has to stay on top of, the incompetent attorneys on the other side, the stress, the pressure, the insane hours, the lack of vacation, my crappy office chair, the noise from the AC, our wretchedly terrible email system, and the profound lack of any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction at the end of the day for producing a pile of documents that - looking at it objectively - nobody really needed in the first place. But the pay is pretty good. 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Yes I enjoy my job for the most part. I'm self-employed, based at home, doing something creative and earning good money [well, during the wedding season anyway].

Theres some aspects to the job which I dislike. Evening appointments with clients are a drag and 'culling' the images [usually at least 1000] after the shoot is tedious.

I do enjoy the actual shoot on the day, designing the albums [the best part] and, of course, the four figure cheques

I understand where you're at though Mark 'cause I was there about 5 or 6 years ago.

I'd been a proffessional musician for 13 years and had to accept that I could take my career no further. I was working as many hours as I could and charging as much as I could so....It was time to look at options for the medium to long term.

Funny, but the decision to look at options was so difficult to arrive at, yet once accepted it was liberating!

But what to do

It took me 6 months of soul searching to arrive at photography. I considered many, many options and combinations of options [including being an employee in an office again ] before this process:

I asked myself what were the best things about my current vocation; answer?

Being self-employed
doing something creative

What did I want in my new job?

Being self-employed
doing something creative
be based at home more
earn more money in a bigger/more competitive industry

So armed with those points I got the Yellow Pages and a blank sheet of paper and went from A-Z considering everything that interested me. I am strongly of the opinion that you can be anything you want [within reason]. I didn't finish high school and have no formal qualifications.

As I mulled on possibilities I would imagine myself in the role overnight and for a few days; imagine the reality of the actual job. This is quite sobering This weeds out some crazy ideas

Anyway I eventually settled on photography as a possibility. I borrowed a friends 35mm SLR, did a couple of short courses then started studying the marketplace and industry. Decided to take the plunge;took out a loan to set up a studio, buy equipment, update computer/software, start marketing myself etc.

I did this part time with my music business for 2 years; the last 6 months I was only doing the music 3 days a week.

Then I became a full time wedding photographer nearly 3 years ago

Its both challenging and rewarding which is what I wanted.

I wish you every success Mark. Do keep us posted

[Siedler]

No but I'll be to school next fall, hopefully.

[маразм1]

I can't wait to find another one before I choke somebody.

[Siedler]

I can't wait to find another one before I choke somebody.

Yeah, that's how I feel sometimes. Especially when dealing with whiny and rude customers.

[Kullervo]

Today some guy tried to steal a soda from our cooler at work. I didn't let him and he called me gay and said that God would punish me.

But yes, I still like my job.

[Mark]

SW, you are me! It's uncanny.

Like you, I left school with (as-good-as) no qualifications. I spent a decade pushing boxes round a warehouse, then blagged my way into advertising, simply because I've always been a creative type and knew I could cut it. Then when the freelance thing happened (the first time - this is my second shot at it), I loved the creativity, being my own boss, the pay and that I could potentially become almost anything I wanted (within reason ) later on. But I slipped back into agency life - not a decision I regret, incidentally - and before long, wound up hating my industry. I thought going freelance again would bring back the love of years past, but it hasn't.

I am thinking of switching careers, and I'm tempted to make the move into freelance web design/build/content writing. A kind of 'one-stop-shop' for small businesses which need a web presence. I reckon with a basic knowledge of HTML, and some training in Dreamweaver and Flash, I could do okay out of it. And at least I'd be home-based.

What I'd really like to do is run a boarding cattery, but setting up or buying a going concern costs more than we could realistically raise, so I guess I'll have to park that idea.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Yes, when I left school, at the end of 4th form, I ended up in a load of dead-end jobs for 5 years; factory work, labourer etc.

I got a lucky break when I was 19 1/2 when I got a job as a wages clerk at the local council. White collar work was more me; nicer enviroment, people and salary.

Then after two years, like you Mark, I applied for a job which I was not qualified for but I felt it was the direction I wanted to head in. It was a computerized stock control posistion in a multi-national company. They wanted someone with a University degree.

Before the interview I read everything I could about the company and then rolled up. I got the job. But it turned out to be a blessing and a curse because after 2 1/2 years I hated it and resolved to become self-employed.

When I was considering my options a few years ago I too, looked seriously at web design. I LOVE the cattery idea!

Set-up costs are a major factor. I took out a big loan for the photography business which I haven't even started to pay back yet. I was expecting to start chipping away at it within two years but its looking more like four now.

Still, as I go on with this new business I enjoy it more. Its great being in control of your time more. For example my wife and I attended a movie on Tuesday morning; most of the other audience members were retired folks

And I get to wear slippers to work each day

[Solitary Wanderer]

SW, you are me! It's uncanny.

Yes, we do seem similar. Actually I had a good mate at the council, way back when, who looked very similar to you


As for the 'becoming whatever you want to be', Walt Disney said 'If you can dream it, you can be it!'