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So what do/did you do for a living?
asop
Member Posts: 8,977 ββββ
I don't mean this to be a personal intrusive question but just would be interesting I thinkπ€
Comments
You gotta lead with that kind of question! What do/did YOU do for a living? π
πΊπ² "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson πΊπ²
Main job was working 32 years for a public water district. Side jobs included farming, construction, truck driving and logging.
HVAC and anything vaguely familiar that would make a dollar.
After graduating high school in 1965, I worked for two years at Todd Shipyard. Then did body and fender work for 21 years. Got into flying and moved to a small private airport and started my own business working on small airplanes in 1988. Finally slowed down a year ago and donβt do much of that anymore.
Biologist and Environmental Manager 37 years
I make missiles. AKA Warbirds.
Mental heath worker for 25 years .Adult education teacher for about 10 years . Side hustles were raising chickens commercially , well drilling ,plumbing and wallpapering and painting . Running / managing a local gun store for 4 years
Gigolo ,,,,,,, lots of βperksβ.
Yea, me to, but I had more sags than perks, comes with the territory.
My education was in graphic arts/printing, so naturally I never put it to use. A couple of gentlemen who owned some restaurants offered me more money than I could turn down to run a few of them. After doing that for 25 years my nest egg was big enough to buy my own, but I was burnt out. I kept the money in the bank and then was on the start-up team for a major sporting goods store. Judy had just retired and the idea was that I would work part time at that store once it opened for a couple of years. After 12 years of working the gun counter, helping keep the gun ledgers, filling in on the range, mounting scopes, etc... for 40+ hours a week I figured I wasn't ever getting the part time I wanted so I retired at 55. Bob
Started working in my father's gun store at 12. At 16, I went to work in the heating and air conditioning field , part time in HS. Been in the field for 44 years now. Owned a custom sheet metal shop and HVAC business. When I was 18 to 30, I worked part time at nights, as a paid EMT for Burlington county memorial hospital. That is how I met my bride of 40 years, Donna. π
Maybe a typo forge, giggle-o?
Inyerdreams!
Commercial fishing, coal mining, residential construction, military service, aviation, then retired at 52. Enjoyed...and became a better person from...each of them.
Note: except retirement...that I'm just enjoying with little concern about becoming a better person.
Biologist, Zoo keeper then curator, St. Louis Zoo, then Albuquerque Zoo. Amphibians/reptiles and invertebrates and filled in with birds a total of several years. Assisted veterinary procedures with all animals. 38 years playing with snakes.
41 combined years of Navy and Shipyard. Spent the last 20 working on main engines on CVN-68 class carriers. Retired last September. Lot of fun, but I miss the politics like a chapped *...........
Keeping things going in a circle before that keeping things moving downhill
I started out as a steward on a river boat, but the ladies wouldn't leave me alone.
Was diversified all at same time, farmed, agri-business, commercial building contractor, land developer. Was taught early to never depend on any single income for security.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
Inyerdreams!
Machine tool rebuilder in a defense plant. Interesting work.
Conductor on the railroad for 42 years. Part time flight instructor CFII. Flew charter part time for awhile. And I got drafted and played army for a couple years. Lol
Park Naturalist, Ranger, Wildlife Ecologist, remediation and restoration of hazardous, toxic, radiological contaminated areas, and then regional environmental compliance specialist/trouble shooter. 1st three were the most fun.
Thirty-two years as Associate Curator at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I got paid to play with guns and swords and cannons and stuffπ.
Build homes for other people, make other peoples homes larger, give other people new kitchens and bathrooms. The real source of income is my career as an elbow model $$$
Carpenter for a few years, Law Enforcement (Deputy Sheriff San Diego) for many years.
Margaret Thatcher
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain
Retired from Allison Gas Turbine after 23 years in the research lab, 2 years in the U.S. Army where about the only thing I did of note was draw the invasion plans of Cuba (not the BOP but a much larger one), retired from Beckman Coulter after 17 years where I designed laboratory automation devices, formed a S-Corp and currently do consulting & design work (when I feel like it)! It's embarrassing that I sometime need to message Mr. Perfect to ask SolidWorks questions.
Fire claims adjuster for a couple years after college. Then military/law enforcement ever since (21 years and counting).
Spent 30+ years in the timber industry one way or another. I have done just about every job there is in the logging industry. Falling timber, setting chokers on high lead and slack line yarders, operating dozer (Cat skinner) building landings and yarding logs, driving log truck. Have also had several short stints as a millwright in chip and lumber mills. I have 20+ years experience as a heavy equipment mechanic. Now I just work for myself on anything from a weedeater to a log truck or D8 Cat, and I'm way busier than I want to be.
well for the most of my life this sums it up azzes and elbows
started a t a grocery store became ast manager and night manager , and produce manager then quit and went to work in construction field ( union ) for just over 13 yrs and my back and joints are paying dearly now
I quit that and went to work for a car company thet moved into Ohio
I become a low level management ( I mean low π ) at the factory where I worked 25.5 yrs . several titles like team leader over 14 to 16 people in my work team then new model then inventory control ( all those considered the same level so I did all of them at some point and we rotated thru them .
oh just in case I know you like to pick on me and I am Ok with it LOL ( like I have a choice )
spelling and grammar did not count or did speed typing.. lucky for me π²
honest not much to brag about but a average kid 1st generation out of the hills of Tn. in back water USA and no real plans in life I got lucky several times over
Well where do I start?
I have owned my own pie /tea shop
Been my dear old dad's secretary (contractor)
Now own a small herd of jersey cow's
Have raised to full size and sold every jersey bull I ever had.
But dairy bulls are know longer really needed and am getting out of it slowly...
Chief Cook and bottle washer and just started looking at gunsmithing classes π€π
(And I do wonder why I never married? I guess I have been busy π)
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
Retired rural carrier for USPS
Started out doing ranch work then got into construction in my early 20's. Did a seasonal stint for 7 years as a 'wildlife bio-technician' (read 'field biologist') with the Forest Circus. Started my own contracting business and retired from that a bit over 2 years ago. I specialized in tile work and finish carpentry but like most contractors in my area I did a little bit of everything.
Pretty good gunsmithing school in Trinidad Colo.
https://trinidadstate.edu/gunsmithing/index.html
Branch Manager in a bank for 6 years, worked state juvenile corrections for 29 years, retired facility supervisor. During that time farmed 400 acres, put out 5 acres of tobacco a year, maintained 90 cow herd plus calves and rebuilt/refurbished thousands of chainsaws.
Fifty seven years in 'hands on' production agriculture. During most of that, I also had a full or part time job with USPS and later USDA(40 years of Federal service). Along the way-carpenter, welder, mechanic, heavy equipment operator, semi-professional trapper, veterinary assistant, horse trainer. Anything to make a dollar.
Had four overlapping careers.
Spent 23 years USAF, about 50/50 active and Reserve. Pilot and then media spokesman.
Meanwhile, was media spokesman for NASA and then the rocket company Morton Thiokol.
Wrote reloading articles for a variety of magazines for 15 years.
Ran a custom earplug business for 15 years, both shooting and industrial. Sold that and retired one month before I turned 60.
As an income hobby, I did voiceover work for radio commercials, for which I earned $300 a minute. Quit that when they tried to force me to join the Screen Actors Guild.
Software engineer, 27 years. Bicycle mechanic, 3 years. Stay-at-home-dad, 2 years. Lifetime tinkerer and disassembler of things that may have been better left alone.
πΊπ² "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson πΊπ²
I started out as a paper boy in 1959 - 1961. Then moved up to a part time job at a chicken hatchery. Then moved to Chicago for schooling and worked at the world's largest textile manufacturer for laundries. Worked in a Pontiac dealer, Then worked for an auto parts store. Then I moved on to working for a Chevy dealer and eventually became the youngest Parts Manager in the Cincinnati Zone. After that, I started my Camera sales and service business after attending school for that.
The camera business was my favorite. Traveled all over the country going to camera shows. Made friends from all over and was my most profitable endeavor. I also built and maintained my website and sold cameras and equipment all over the world.
In between that, I went to college majoring in Computer science. And all that knowledge is useless now as the field changed almost overnight,
Then the absolute best job of all retired in 2000. And I'm busier than ever now.
Joe
I began my apprenticeship for plastic injection molds in 1989 out of high school.
Worked steady 50 hours/wk. building molds in a couple of small tool shops up until 2008 when manufacturing took a hit.
Then I was forced to broaden my toolmaking skills into dies, foundry patterns, fixturing, etc.
Fortunately, as the youngest in a shop of old timers when CNC finally made its way into our world, I was the only one willing to learn the scary computer stuff. LOL
I took as many courses to learn CAM programming as the bosses would pay for figuring the old ways of standing at milling machines and grinders was not gonna be around long.
With my CAD/CAM knowledge I was able to ride a desk and program CNC's for full 3d and 5axis and design tooling and fixtures for all kinds of industries.
My last job as an employee came to an end because I was keeping 13 CNC mills running almost 24/7 but only working about 25-30/wk hours to do it. I asked owner to come up with a way to compensate me to 40hrs but allow me to be away when not needed or get more work to keep me busy. After months of no action my boss's solution was to fire me.
I have spent the last 3 years doing handyman work. I have a handful of widows and divorced that keep me sort of busy. Isn't the same money but my bp is down and my wife isn't dealing with a grumpy stressed husband.
We just built a new house. The moving in and setting up has me busy along with our 120-acre hobby farm.
I might look for another real job this winter. Not sure it'll be back in a shop though.
GTR