Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Challenges category.
Young People Should Know…Jobs Suck and Working Blows
Working. Fucking. Sucks. SRSLY
I’ve had a lot of jobs since I started working at 15 (or was it 16….too long ago to remember precisely.) My first job was Burger King. I lasted four months before I couldn’t take it anymore. I went on vacation to visit my dad and when I got back I couldn’t bear putting on my ugly brown polyester uniform one more time. I didn’t want to smell like grease anymore and I couldn’t stomach taking orders from assholes in the drive-through.
I haven’t liked any of my jobs, at least not for long. Except for one. When I was 25, I scored standardized tests for California with CTB-McGraw Hill. I loved that job. Mostly because of the people I worked with. They were funny, intelligent and I had a crush on my supervisor. Unfortunately it was a temporary job and the pay was shit. That was when I realized it wasn’t the job itself that mattered, but the people you work with that makes all the difference whether you resent your alarm going off every morning.
When I’m unemployed, I’m estatic when I get a job and don’t have to worry about money as much. Or when I switch jobs, which for me is about every two years. I feel great about the new job for about a month. Then it’s back to the sould crushing reality that I sit at a desk all day making money for other people, usually the asshole owner of a small company who complains about taxes while he drives a car that costs more than what I make in a year.
I counted how many jobs I’ve had since I started working. From Burger King to my current job as a customer service rep for a small kitchen gadget company, I’ve had twenty-seven jobs. TWENTY-SEVEN!!! From fast food to retail, tutor to teacher, office manager to bookeeper. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but I do know that I don’t like wasting my life in an office under artificial fluorescent lights and climate controlled air.
THIS is why people smoke pot or drink a bottle or two of wine in the evenings. Working for the Man is life-draining and if taking a mini-vacation in your living room keep you from sucking on the business end of a revolver then I say toke up man and take a swig for me. Why yes, I will have another pint of beer, thankyouverymuch.
Do I sound bitter? Well, frankly I am.
We think we have freedom, but it’s an illusion. All that crap you want or think you need – your smart phone, video game console, tablet computer, car, cable, HDTV – and all the things you actually need – food, clothes, a place to live- costs money. To get that money you need a job. A job that requires you get up at a certain time, commute, take breaks when they say it’s okay, leave when they say it’s okay, take direction from other people, take vacations when they say it’s okay, only get paid for so many sick days, maybe get some benefits and health insurance if you’re lucky(trust me you will NEED health insurance). An hour a day (average) getting to work, nine hours at work, and hour getting home. That’s eleven hours a day. The other eight sleeping (you ARE getting eight hours of sleep right?) That leave five hours of free time, which includes getting ready for work. So how is that freedom? Sure, you can pick your line of work or your career if you’re at that point in your life, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re free. We are all wage slaves who MIGHT get a week or two paid vacation during the year.
There are good jobs out there, fantastic people to work with, decent companies that care about their employees. Mostly though, it just plain sucks out there in the “real world” and you’ll have to find a way to live with it or spend your life being angry and dissatisfied. It’s easy to get bored. You won’t be praised for every little thing you do, unlike you young people who were schooled in the age of self-esteem building, everyone get’s a trophy and we’re all great and talented in our own ways. Your boss won’t give you a gold star when you do what’s expected. If you don’t do what’s expected, there is no motivating pep talk. You’ll get fired.
I sincerely hope, dear reader, that you can find a career that’s truly satisfying and can sustain you at a comfortable level. I still haven’t achieved both of those things. I hope one day I can, because another 25 years of this shit is going to drive me crazier than I already am. And I don’t like to drink so my escape options are few.
Young People Should Know…Life Gets In The Way
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
Thanks for that Mr. Lennon. So profound. While I’m a big fan of John Lennon, it was a little too easy for him to say that when he had already reached his dreams and goals Although I’m sure he had some that didn’t include music and being a father and a husband, he certainly had the means to pursue whatever he wanted.
Life is what happens, yes, but it also gets in the way of your goals, your dreams, and your plans. Some of you are probably more disciplined or driven than I am but nevertheless, everyday crap can really make it difficult for you to make the life you really want. Then there are the unexpected emergencies and urgent needs that can really fuck you over no matter how diligently you strive toward whatever it is you want out of life.
Like say, for instance, you want to start a blog that means a lot to you and might help someone, even if it’s only one person, but then you get laid off, move several times in a year including out of state then back again, end up temporarily homeless, live in your car for a weeks, have to live with friends, end up without a car, battle depression, then you pick yourself up and slowly get your life stable again. Yes, all of this has happened to me in the last year. I still had my dreams, goals, and ambitions but life got in the way. Survival can often be a full time job and distracts from long term goals.
When you’re young and still in school, you long for the future when you can do whatever you want. Am I right young people? You think when you’re an adult and don’t have your parents and your teachers telling you what to do…well that’s freedom. And yes, it is liberating to graduate and move out on your own and figure your way around the world. But guess what? You still have to get up on time and get to work and/or school. You have to pay your bills on time. You have to follow stupid rules and play the stupid games and listen to stupid people tell you what to do and when to do it. And it sucks.
You can make plans and set goals but then your car breaks down or you get sick or you break up with your partner or a parent dies and your dreams take a back seat to life.
It doesn’t have to be a tragic event that gets in the way either. Getting married or involved in a serious domestic relationship, having a child, starting a new job, going to graduate school, all of these things demand your time and attention. Free time becomes precious, and in some cases so does sleep.
I don’t have all the answers (who does?) but while you’re going through life, keep those dreams alive somehow. Write ideas in a notebook , try to enjoy a hobby or two so you can relax and so your life doesn’t complete blow, or at the very least keep daydreaming, and as soon as life slows down and gets stable (it may never get back to whatever your normal is) pick up where you left off and keep working toward whatever your dream is. Or maybe you’ll have a new goal, and that’s awesome too, because experiences often change us, sometimes in profound ways you never thought possible.
Young People Should Know 