Waiting For "Meaningful Work" Another Great Article from Thomas Sowell

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Max E., May 29, 2012.

  1. Ricter

    Ricter

    Hmm. I did work as a janitor while in university--demeaning. I once had a dishwashing job in high school--boring, stinky. Digging through an inmate's shit once when I was a correctional officer--friggin disgusting. I dug a 150 yard trench by hand once for a guy--backbreaking. I'd have to say that overall, going back to corrections would be my last choice, and not just because of that one task I mentioned.

    Edit: Max, your reply reminded me, truck driving! I did that for a year, over the road, frozen food. Jesus that sucked. 20 hour days that made for average wages of .50c an hour. Dead damn tired. Fingerprinting freight while asshole dock workers snicker because "they don't have to do it". I did like "nonchalantly" flipping my butterfly knife around, full flourish, to open boxes, while they were looking. Hehe that muted the snickering quite well.
     
    #11     May 29, 2012
  2. jem

    jem

    mine was sweeping tennis courts and then getting the lines cleaned before the water sprinklers got turned on. Once in a while they asked me to spread the calcium chloride.. which would dry out your hands in a hurry. I realized then I would rather teach tennis than maintain the courts.

    So when I was 17 I got a job as an assistant pro.
    Just before I went to law school I was paid 1,000 a week by a a group that managed a number of tennis facilities
    (in Westchester and So Ct.) . (note. I did not make a thousand a week for my 3 years of law school and my first 5 years of being a lawyer. (but I did get to surf in San Diego)

    Teaching tennis indoors was not a bad job during the winter. Then the group staffed me as the head pro at a club in Greenwich. Burning Tree Country Club. Which was the Neuvo Riche club at the time.

    This was Ivan Boeskys old club. I taught tennis to the early hedge fund industry, some of these guys were pretty good at tennis, so I would just work them out, every few minutes they would run into the pro shop to use the phone. I was friends with some of these guys. I left that to go to law school.
     
    #12     May 29, 2012
  3. Max E.

    Max E.

    You would have to have a pretty tough mind to deal with what goes on in jail every day, id probably want to hang myself after a week of going in to a place like that every day..... not meant as an insult, but as respect for the guys like you who do it.....

    So since you have done truck driving I have a question that always bugged me when i was unloading those god forsaken boxes of Tuna from the semi and putting them on a pallet.... Why didnt the people who packed those fucking boxes of tuna into the semi in the first place, put them on a pallet first?

    Is it all about squeezing that extra 2 inches? I assume it saved them money, but I simply cant see how that would save money by the time it is all said and done, with all the added labour..... though i will give those bastards credit, they managed to fit those boxes in, so that there was literally 5 square inches of room left in the entire semi.....

    As you can tell I have am still suffering from PTSD.... Post Tuna Stress Disorder.... :D
     
    #13     May 29, 2012
  4. Max E.

    Max E.

    Lets hear from some more people, whats the worst job everyone here has ever done?
     
    #14     May 29, 2012
  5. Ricter

    Ricter

    Lol, ptsd. I don't know, as I recall all our freight was palletized. I would have guessed that packing canned tuna that tight would put your rig over-weight.
     
    #15     May 29, 2012
  6. Max E.

    Max E.

    This definitely falls under the heading "First world problems"

    j/k sorry Jem couldnt resist myself..... :D
     
    #16     May 29, 2012
  7. Ricter

    Ricter

    I had a similar thought, "wow, jem, you had it rough." : )

    Edit: but has anyone here had it as bad as Romney did in university? He ALMOST HAD TO SELL SOME OF HIS STOCK HOLDING TO MAKE ENDS MEET!

    : )
     
    #17     May 29, 2012
  8. Lucrum

    Lucrum

    I already know how RCG is going to respond. LOL
     
    #18     May 29, 2012
  9. jem

    jem

    I tried caddying too. but I immediately found the work lacking in meaning for the amount of hours I had to put in. I was pretty young and they only let me carry one bag.

    I was not really saying I had it rough.
    I think the moral of the story is, take a shit job in an industry which might be interesting to you. It might turn out that you will be very close to the founders of the hedge fund industry.
     
    #19     May 29, 2012
  10. Max E.

    Max E.

    I was just razzing you, hope you didnt take offence....

    I caddied for a few years when I was young in order to get my membership, then when i was 16 i realized it was probably easier just to work at McDonalds and pay for the Junior Membership since junior memberships are cheap. Used to always piss me off that those old timers would have the big leather bags with 300 golf balls, and 25 clubs in them, just to make sure they were prepared..... plus the single strap instead of the small back pack style bag that anyone who actually had to carry their own clubs would use..... :D

    You are right about the course being a great place to meet contacts, I managed to get myself into a waitnig list on a Private course and it looks like Ill be accepted next year, Its going to be super expensive, but my 10 year goal is to open a fund, and thats the place to be, if you want to meet people with money, plus it basically gives you a 4 hour job interview, where you can glad hand someone for 18 holes, to leave a good impression.
     
    #20     May 29, 2012