What is your job?

I enjoy it more than anything else I have done. I am a writer. I work at home.

I don’t have a job right now as I’m about to become a full-time student. The job I had previously, though… Absolutely soul-sucking. Which is why I quit.

I’m a business intern… so it’s not soul-sucking but it isn’t my dream either. I’m also a full-time student, which is a love/hate relationship, and I teach riding lessons and train horses on the side – which I love love love! If it paid better, I’d do it the rest of my life, but it doesn’t. :/

I have a part-time job at the history department at my university. I like it okay, the people are very nice and they let me work around my class schedule, they don’t “require” me to be in on any specific days or times, which is great since I’m a full-time student as well. I guess it’s somewhere in between soul-sucking and fulfilling. While the people are extremely nice, a lot of them are sort of…off in their own little world I guess, haha, especially the receptionist, which gets pretty annoying. Plus, I basically just do office-assistant work, so when I spend an entire work day doing only filing or mailings, I come close to losing my mind :P If this were my real job, it would definitely be soul-sucking. But since I’m only there till I graduate, and I only work 18 hours a week, it’s not too bad. I definitely don’t want a job anywhere else; no other place would be as flexible and pay as well.

Sadly, I’m not allowed to have a job until I can drive. I want one so bad, and I need some money. Curse you, parents, for thinking for some reason we live in a dangerous neighborhood! (even though we don’t!)

I am a designer / illustrator / animator. I am unemployed but doing freelance and contract work. I like what I do but am a little tired of the subjectivity of it.

That is to say, if a person goes into surgery it is because he knows the surgeon is trained in it. He wouldn’t grab the knife and say “here lemme do that”. But so many clients wont listen to a damn word you tell them about anything. meh.

Im a preschool teacher. Very rewarding. VERY little pay. But Im happy. :) I dont go home saying I hate my job, or call in sick all the time because I dont want to go. But, I dont drive a bmw or have a 4000 sq ft house either. I feel so proud when I can say, “YES your child is ready for kindergarten, she can read, and do simple math among many other things.” You know how rewarding it is for a parent to tell me they learned something from their 4/5 yr old child. Its exhilarating.

@Bri_L That is so true! Happens in writing and editing too.

I’m a Victim Advocate at a domestic violence shelter, and I love it. It’s not a high paying job by any means, but I was fortunate to land a position doing something i’m passionate about and that’s what makes me want to get up and go to work every day. I was a Marketing Coordinator for a while before I landed my current position and I really didn’t like it.

First and foremost, I’m a student. I hate it. My part-time job, however is doing freelance graphic design work, and that, I love with a passion. It’s so nice being my own boss, and with my laptop, I can work wherever I want, whenever I want. I probably make more money an hour than a lot of other students at my high school, doing something I love, which isn’t that bad either.

It’s great that you have a job that helps other, less fortunate people. Lurve for that!

Currently a nurse. Previously a futures trader. No idea what happened there. Kinda like the way things have turned out, though.

I run a small, family owned, biomedical repair company. Lots of interaction with a lot of people every day – which I do enjoy. We solve emergencies(!!) which is a fulfilling feeling. Boss is prefectly content to stay at home and let me make decisions, which makes me feel important. Pay is great, business is booming. More paper shuffling than I care to do, but I consider myself very lucky to have this job in this economy.

To bring joy to the world.

Well, you do a great job of that, AC. Fluther wouldn’t be Fluther if you weren’t here! We’d all miss you too much. :(

I’ve been a military policeman for the last 21 years and I have always loved it.

@AstroChuck You’re Santa Claus?

@Marina Of course he is, he’s Santa the Magical Mailman, who brings brown paper packages tied up with string, and a lot of peoples’ other favorite things to little girls, boys, and adults alike! :)

Perhaps I am. I start looking more and more like him each Christmas.

Oh AC, you already look just like him!

@all 20 responses in 24 minutes? Dang!

@KrystaElyse. Huge praise for you for helping victims at a shelter. Very kind, noble, and respectable work.

I’m mainly a stay-at-home mom. I started working in October, part time, to bring in a little extra money (plus I needed to salvage my sanity by interacting with adults. I’m also a part time student.

I work in the sales department of a wholesale furniture company. It’s somewhere between the most fun I’ve ever had and totally soul-sucking. I try not to let my job define me, though I’m not always great at that.

@mangeons – Now I have that song from The Sound of Music stuck in my head :P

@Bluefreedom – Thank you, it’s very rewarding. I work with some of the most wonderful, compassionate, and caring individuals. High praise for you as well for serving our country and loving what you do.

Lol, that’s exactly what I was thinking of as I wrote that! :P

Hehe :P

The last job I did was teaching. It was really fun, because the last few years I’d been teaching higher levels, preparing students for exams. And this means that

a) you deal with people who are old enough to know why they’re there rather than bored little children who were dragged by their parents
b) you get to see the result of your work straightaway, as the exam results come out a couple of months after the end of the course

I’ve been very proud to have helped almost all of my students get a degree in the last 5 years, and some of them went on to become teachers themeselves. And this is quite gratifying. I’ve also learnt better English myself in the past few years, as the level is so high that it requires you to study almost as much as the students.

And for some weird reason I enjoy marking tests.

PS oh yes and because of the high success rate I kept getting bonuses, which meant very good pay for a teacher. I made almost as much out of teaching as I did when I was a rock singer. And got to be on a stage too ;)

I’m a legal assistant. I like this job more than some but less than others. The money isn’t bad, and at this point in time that is very important to me.

I’m a full time student, but in the past I have been a pizzeria waitress/counter-girl/prep chef/line cook/delivery driver/all around pizza bitch, a standard patient for Wash U medical school, a nanny, a portrait photographer, an event photographer, a photographer’s assistant, a poll worker (that’s voting polls, NOT stripper poles), a dog show handler and groomer, and a secretary/typist.

Now, I’m just being a mother to my two absolutely insane roommates while I go to school.

When I can, I really want to work/volunteer at our local Animal Shelter. I love animals.

I work in a clinic at a university that designs and builds custom equipment for people with disabilities, especially those who’s bodies don’t conform well to commercially available equipment. So we put together lots of highly personalized wheelchair setups, design ways for people to access technology in unconventional ways, create special workplace setups so they can hold a job, etc.

I participate in all aspects of the process, but I’m the main fabrication guy. If something needs to be made, that’s all me. I have a shop full of wonderful tools and materials, because we never know what we’ll be called upon to do.

This is the best job I’ve ever had. Our clients live in a world of unfathomable challenges, which often turns them into extraordinarily inspiring people. It’s a great pleasure to spend time with them.

@Harp That’s a great thing to do, I’d love to see the way people change and grow, even with disabilities. :)

@AstroChuck – wait, who is Joy and why haven’t I met her yet!?

@mangeons

Several of our clients have been coming here since they were little kids, and are now graduating high school or going on to college. We get to know them very well.

There are lots of very cool high-tech tools out there now that can really make a difference for people who would have just been stuck in bed not many years ago. A couple of months back, we set up a computer system for a girl in a wheelchair who could only move her eyes. Now she can control the cursor on the computer by looking at where she wants it to be. Suddenly, she can talk and write using the computer, or browse the web. She may be on Fluther for all I know.

That’s really cool, Harp. You should get an award! :)

@Harp – That is SO cool. That is just the neatest thing ever!!!

I do graphic & web design, page layout and web development for a small publishing company. Not all that meaningful, but we do work with a few non-profits.

I work in the logistics department of a nationwide bio-medical testing lab. some days it’s very stressful, but I love the job. I really love the company. Benefits are great!! No matter where I live in the country, I can transfer, so I know I woill have a job waiting for me. I like that little perk the most!!

I’m a nanny and a grad student.
I LOVE my nanny job, as I’ve watched and helped a great set of kids grow (in all ways) during the last 5 years. My job is truly fun, as I get to paint, go to the zoo, run around, play, dance, get messy, etc on a daily basis. It’s also extremely rewarding when my little munchkins say “I love you” and I know they mean it, when they finally get something I’ve been teaching them, and when I see them out in the world being kind, lovely little people. It can be exhausting, but it’s the opposite of soul-sucking.

As a student, I’m getting a masters and an elem ed license. I hate school, and it’s horribly time sucking, but I’m looking forward to making an impact on a bigger scale.

My job is to show off. I am not required to produce anything of use for anybody; I am simply required to be intelligent.

I am, in short, a high schooler.

I am a mechanical product development engineer for a large international electronics company. The money is good and the company treats me well….Unfortunately though with this down economy we are really struggling. I like what I do in general, I have a lot of freedom for design but I don’t always like what I have to design.

I’m a legal analyst and process post conviction relief appeals for the state of SC. I love my job. I have been doing this for seven years. I had a previous career as a rehabilitation counselor. I like the law much better.

I’m a stay at home Mom first. Then, I’m an unpaid professional board member and volunteer. I actually do receive a salary for 2 of my board positions but I have it directed to the charitable portion of our for profit organization. I also do consulting when I’m so inclined.

I like what I do; it’s challenging, flexible and interesting.

I’m a professional crash test dummy. As you might imagine, it’s rough work. RIght now, my hip hurts like hell. Some people say that I must have hit my head on one to many dashboards. I kind of just fell into the business. Literally.

I was up in a tree one day. This particular tree overhangs a major road, at a point where the road curves rather sharply. There are a number of dents in the tree are evidence that a fair number of drivers fail to make the turn.

So this big Mercedes came around the bend a little too fast and rammed into the tree, jarring me loose, and I fell right through the place where the windsheild had been (it blew out) and landed in the passenger seat.

For some reason, this triggered some kind of fit in me, and I couldn’t move a muscle, but I could see and hear and feel everything around me. It was really freaky. In any case, they thought I was a passenger in the car. The driver was dead. When I was so non-responsive, they put me in a hospital, to see if I would come around.

After a while, it seemed like I was going to be this way for a long time, and, since I couldn’t afford health insurance, and the hospital wasn’t getting paid, they decided to rent me out as a crash test dummy. I was paid good money—or, at least, the hospital was. It’s kind of rare to have a human in these crashes, but they figured since I’m non-responsive, it probably didn’t matter. Unfortunately for me, I feel every damn crash in almost every sore part of my body, every time they use me.

Sometimes it’s a long time between crashes, and my body gets a chance to heal. Sometimes I feel like I’m coming around—maybe even about to regain control of my body, but then something happens. I’ve begun to think the hospital is keeping me in this living coma with a very low dose of curare.

I should probably ask if that is possible. Anyway, there’s this computer at the nurse’s station and I’ve figured out it’s security code. I’ve learned to manipulate the EEG machine, by controlling my brain signals. In this way, since the EEG is hooked into the computer over the wireless network, I’ve learned to hack into the computer via a backdoor built into Windows XP. Using this, I can control the browser in the bacground (even while the nurses are using the computer—and always cursing the hospital for giving them such a slow machine). That’s how I can fluther all day.

If I stop showing up here, either they’ve “upgraded” the computer to VISTA, or I’ve been in one crash too many. I’ve never told anyone this before, because I didn’t think anyone would believe it, but if anyone would, they’re probably here on fluther.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I haven’t asked for help befor, if I’m being misused this way, and slowly poisoned with curare. They say my liver is not doing well, and I’m getting a bit green around the gills. Sometimes they say I’m jaundiced.

I guess I’ve never asked because I don’t think anyone would believe me. Another reason is that I haven’t really been thinking straight, what with depression and the knocking around my head has taken. Can you imagine what it’s like to be bipolar in a body that’s in a coma? Nope. Not a pretty sight.

Also, I have no idea which hospital I’m in. You’d think I could figure it out through the computer, and believe me, I’ve tried, but I can’t seem to get to that information. All I know is that the nurses and aides are always talking about Mercy. Mercy Libertarian is what it sound like to me, but that can’t be it.

Anyway I thought I’d “come out” so to speak, in hopes that someone might believe me, and try to find me. Of course, the hospital will never admit to my presence, since it isn’t quite legal to use a guy in a coma as a crash test dummy.

So…. help?

I taste wine. I buy wine. I sell wine. It doesn’t suck.

But can you turn water into it?

shh! I was hoping for an easier time this go around

I can turn wine into water.

<——-Since I’ve been found out…

@AstroChuck I didn’t know that was one of Santa’s abilities…

@AstroChuck: I can turn wine into piss pretty well :)

@breedmitch: I WANT YOUR JOB.

@TitsMcGhee- What did you think I meant? Duh.

@AstroChuck: piss =/= water….

You’ve never heard the term make water?

family housekeeper and i take care of my house pets. nobody lets me have the jobs I want. Somebody else got the job I was meant to have.

@AstroChuck: .... no? :( Sowwee.

@TitsMcGhee: It’s a biblical reference to when Jesus turned water into wine.

@A_Wood: Um, I got that part…

Here, Tits.

Aha, complete with a Driving Miss Daisy reference! Thanks, AC :)

I write
its pretty fulfilling

I work part-time at Old Gravy, er, i mean old navy

and a full-time student, working on my third year in college…to become an elementary school teacher. I can’t wait to be finished with school..i can’t stand retail…....

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom the past ten years. I was a travel agent before this, but it really wasn’t the most fulfilling job for me. I prefer to travel by car and I hate sales.

@essieness

What’s your job?

@Harp Guess I should’ve mentioned that. I’m a student and I work at Outback Steakhouse. I love it there, I really do. I sold cell phones for AT&T for 3 years and while playing with all the gadgets was cool (and getting free phones and lines), it was pretty soul-sucking. I really enjoy the restaurant biz. My plan is to move into the corporate end of things with Outback.

@daloon So you really can’t move your body, and they take advantage of that? How do you type on a computer if you don’t have control of your body?

@daloon You have some imagination my friend!! Have you ever considered writing science fiction? Move over Steven King!!

I found your poison. WOW!!

P.S.- That was sarcasm. xD

sigh..I am hopelessly gullible. haha :D

@mangeons: I don’t mean to be snarky, but did you read what I wrote? I explained all.

@scamp: I once belonged to a sf writers group (this was before my so-called accident), but I never really liked what I wrote. I stopped going. I never stopped reading, though. Still, it’s odd. I love sf, and it’s the only thing I read, but I can’t write it.

@TheHaight: so you believe me? That I’m a crash test dummy? Finally. Someone who understands! ;-)

yes i did! I pm’ed Scamp about your post, because good ol scamp always knows what is up! I was worried about you haha

Everyone believes you, @daloon! And remember, I’m too lazt to read the whole post, and you could just put gibberish and I’d never know! ;) I read it and I still don’t get it… is this a bad thing?

@mangeons: you’re 13. No one expects you to be an expert on the human-computer interface. Of course, next year…..

Ha.