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Why don't you get a 'real' job?

09:43 / 09.01.05

So, one of my pet hates come up again this Christmas when I was forced to return home and endure my loathsome mother and her pretensions of middle class suburbia.

Part of this encounter, as always, was dedicated to the tedium of explaining to her why have not, do not, and probably will never, perform what she considers a 'real' job; the idea of which is as dull and unimaginative to me as the statement "So, what do you do?".

But, minor steam venting over, the thread isn't necessarily about my depressing and awful Christmas, more about the nature of what was said.
My mother, for her many faults, is of a certain age and mindset which gives her an idea as to how people should live, and thus, by extension, whether she considers those who agree with that idea as living a valid life.

What I'm interested in are the opinions of the 'lith. Do you have a 'real job'? Is there even such a thing? Financial benefit aside, what does your 'job' give you? If you don't have a 'real job', or if you don't work, are you still happy? And are you comfortable with your lifestyle choice?

10:57 / 09.01.05

Just a quick reply 'cause I'm going out to lunch.

Financial benefit aside

I really can't divorce my "real job" from the financial benefits as the financial benefits dramatically impact my life.

I really wouldn't do what I do if it didn't pay ok.

Brigade du jour

15:11 / 09.01.05

My 'real job' gives me money and a greater-than-average amount of free time, in which I can continue the more pleasant and challenging aspects of my life.

What a smug bastard I am.

Until I get sacked.

15:33 / 09.01.05

I don't have a "real job", not by many people's opinions and definition. However, it does entail a lot of work, despite what people may think. At one time making very good money was possible in my industry, now it is just mediocre since there are little or no standards and regulations enforced for my occupation. It can give me a lot of free time to do my other non-paying "not real" job of being a mother, however.

15:49 / 09.01.05

I have just quit (last on day friday - wahoo) what many people would consider a "real" job because the company I work for treats its staff terribly and I don't like where I'm living.
As my ficsuit suggests I'm heading to scotland soon and I am considering avoiding jobs that my family would probably consider "real" because I'm not sure I want a real job, I want one that I either enjoy or impinges as little as possible on my actual life. I might go back to bar-tending as I find that much more bearable than my current white collar perdition, even though the wages suck and the career path is non-existant.

15:55 / 09.01.05

My job pays for the rest of my life, gives me independence, significantly broadens my social circle, allows me act as part of a team and contribute something that people value. I often quite enjoy it too.

I can't help but wonder, though: what do you mean by a 'real job'? And I know you say you find this tedious, but how come you neither need nor want one?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:04 / 09.01.05

My real job's the same as the Jessica Stevenson Brigade's. As such, I'm fairly- well, happy would be going a bit far... content should do the trick.

The happiest four years of my life were when I was signing on... I was writing *all* the time, everyone I lived with (there were about seven of us) was also signing on, so every two days would be SOMEONE's Giro day, and we shared the joy... I managed to (with a friend) push out a zine regularly every two months (60-odd pages- fuck knows how we did it, looking back)... getting cheap drugs helped a lot, obviously.
I don't think I could do it now- we're all working, so the support network's not there; I'm also a different person now.

17:50 / 09.01.05

I don't actually have a job at the moment, but that's because I quit my last (real) job because it was boring as shit, didn't allow for any development whatsoever and the environment I was living in was driving me insane.

Amongst other things, I like programming. At best, it provides intellectual stimulation and is an avenue for creative expression. Sure, most jobs involving programming fall down on those categories but then, most jobs involving writing do too, and that doesn't mean that you abandon writing. There are a lot of real jobs that involve programming, and given that it's an activity that I don't mind, it seems dumb not to exploit that fact.

Therefore I am planning to get another job involving programming, where people will pay me to solve problems and dick about with computers, and hopefully also teach me different programming skills which I would otherwise not have the money or free time to gain.

I also like having money. I like Powerbooks, sushi, ludicrous cocktails, living in places that aren't shitholes, not having to worry about whether I can afford a takeaway coffee. I've had no money, and I've had money, and I prefer the latter situation. Money does not make you happy, but not having money can make you miserable. Real jobs pay money. The time when I am not working therefore becomes more valuable to me.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, I haven't a clue what I want to do. I have no overwhelming desire to be or do any one thing. If I wanted to be a doctor, or write comic books, or fight crime, I'd aim towards that. In the meantime, while I'm working out what if anything I would be happy doing, I prefer the relative comfort that a real job brings over the similar level of stress and limited rewards that most unreal jobs bring. It doesn't strike me that either will be particularly better for my own personal development so I'll go with the one with the most incidental rewards, cheers.

19:28 / 09.01.05

I think you'd be good at fighting crime though, Fridge.

And let's face it, if everyone on Barbelith spent as much time honing their hands into deadly weapons as they do watching telly or going to the pub, the world would be... much the same I suppose, but also full of capering super-people.

At least I like to think so anyway - If I hadn't gone out to all those parties, I'm pretty sure I could have been Batman by now.

19:34 / 09.01.05

i have a GREAT job!

but it has taken twenty odd (often very odd) years of doing many things to get here... and i still don't know what i want to do when i grow up!

but at the moment i have a great office on a great campus and get to do lots of fun, creative and liberating stuff...

in the past i was a constable of police [eye-opening for a young lad!], a hotel porter/manager, a public servant and a few trashy moments betwixt all these selling door to door, by phone & picking up glasses... kitchen hand was for me the most rewarding - i love food!

crack on, get a job, get money to live but try to be happy with where you're at. or don't. [shrug]

19:57 / 09.01.05

In the past I was a constable of police

I hate to ask this, but why did you stop ? There weren't, y'know, any incidents, were there ?

20:27 / 09.01.05

I have a real job, too, and I hate it. On the good side, it pays well, I have a lot of free time, my "bosses" can in no way intimidate me or harass me, and...I cannot be fired (only if I get at least sentenced to one year). And since the "economy" here is horrible with millions unemployed, I must consider myself very lucky.

But I still hate my job.

03:40 / 10.01.05

i have a GREAT job !

No, you don't. It might seem like it sometimes, but trust me, you don't.

03:41 / 10.01.05

I do not have a real job. I have a masters degree, and I work retail. Why do I work retail? Because both my B.A. and M.A. are in, you guessed it, theater. An MFA or a PhD would qualify me to teach at the college/conservatory level, however, I discovered I'm not really certain enough about whether I want to teach to invest in a PhD program.

I'm pretty happy, most of the time. Maybe happy isn't the right word, and content is. I still feel like I'm wasting my life, but the thought "I'm wasting my life" is often followed up these days by the though "So what?" My current position has no promotion oppertunities whatsoever, nor do I think I would ever be given a raise.

I've never taken a "real job" because I always planned to move on soon, usually due to some form of study starting or ending.

In a nutshell: My degree won't get me in the door, my temp experience isn't worth beans, and the rate at which I switch jobs makes me look transitory and somewhat mercenary. I'm getting too old to maintain this kind of instability and still be happy.

16:39 / 11.01.05

I've got a Realish Job. I'm a game programmer. It could be a Realer job, and by that, I mean with actual programmer salary and hours, but that would involve working for Initech or doing defense contracts for the U.S. Gummint. It's Realish in that I put in normal business hours at least half the time, have an office, and get paid, all without having to deal with the public.

Most of the time, it's lovely because I can almost afford to support myself in a lower-middle-class way without selling out, and I get to be fairly creative as programming jobs go. It does sort of suck, however, in that I don't reliably get the usual gains of Real Job, being free time and fat wads of cash. If I wind up with a proper family one of these days, I'm going to have to ditch this. Which is, as I understand, what game programmers generally do, and are immediately replaced by college grads who don't know that yet.

Sometimes achieving your childhood dreams still sucks.