Escapist's Day Jobs

[QuietlyListening]

I do tech support for a US Navy shore command, though it's just a temporary job until I leave the military next year. My primary job(the one I was trained for) is to operate and maintain an Aircraft Carriers Reactor plant. It's more interesting then my current duty, but much higher stress and very little time off.

Anyone who has questions about nuclear power or aircraft carriers or nuclear power on aircraft carriers, I'm happy to try to answer.

I hear the exam for that is very difficult. Quite impressive!

 

[Dalisclock]

I hear the exam for that is very difficult. Quite impressive!

If you're talking about the ASVAB, it's more a matter of scoring high on the math and science portions. Though there's also the special "nuke" test you take if you don't quite have the ASVAB scores(but are still close enough to reasonably pass).

 

[Inglorious891]

I work as a help desk tech part time for Daktronics while getting a degree in Electronics Technology.

It's technically a desk job, but I like to think of it more as being a normal technician fixing stuff, it's just that I do it through other people.

They're also a really nice company to work for.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I'm a data-entry technician for a major pharmacy benefit manager. And when I get home from a long day of sitting in front of a computer monitor, I like to unwind by sitting in front of a computer monitor all night.

 

[eatenbyagrue]

Ha, teacher bro fist!

Bam, educator fist bump.

Woo! Teachers unite!

I'm not actually a teacher yet since I'm doing my final practicum right now. I am hoping to teach high school band but from what I understand, it's pretty difficult to get a job in your subject area right out of school.

I am currently unemployed since my practicum has me doing half the workload of a normal teacher while doing professional development for the other half. However, my summer jobs have consistently been working for my city's parks department. Before anyone asks, the job is not as great as Parks and Rec. portrays it. Still, it provides a good wage, a varied job (I've been lucky in this regard since I am always on the projects crew instead of doing the same menial tasks such as weeding, mowing, etc.), outdoors work, a sense of comradery, a good workout, and plenty of funny stories to tell about the more crazy citizens whom we get to talk to. For example, a man who looked like Santa Claus, but had a thick accent from... somewhere, ranted to me for a good ten minutes about our mayor's tie and how him cutting the ribbon on the new footbridge was nothing but a publicity stunt.

I'm really lucky that my family is moderately wealthy, so I never had to work summer jobs. I did make some money off the side in university by writing and editing essays (being a native English speaker is a HUGE advantage here). My internship was insane though: I was doing the whole internship while taking regular classes at university half an hour away" deal", while doing my duties as the president of a student org, and all that with my writing arm broken.

 

[Armadox]

I work as a graphic designer for a sign shop for my main source of income. Outside of that I've done work on card games, board games, tabletop role-playing games, and comic books. I'm in the process of getting my own comic up this year, after a serious set back last year that forced me to run the con circuit with only a third of my supply.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Odd jobs. One-day cash employment, driving people around, ect.

 

[Roxas1359]

I'm a student assistant for the San Diego State University Access Control Shop. We just call it the Lock Shop since it's better that way. Basically we make keys for every door, cabinet, and podium on campus. Well except for housing and dorms, as those are contracted out. We're also in charge of the card access system on campus as well.

Since I'm a student assistant, I can't cut keys or change out lock bodies; I know how, as my boss told me, but one of my co-workers is a hard ass who would report my boss because I'm "taking Unit 6 work away". Since that happens, I'm mainly on cleaning duty a lot, as well as stamping keys and delivering them to public safety. I also tend to get pawned off to the Carpenter Shop and Plumbing Shop a lot to help them out as well.

During the semester, since I'm also a full time student, I can only work 20 hours a week with no overtime allowed. But during finals and when school isn't in session I can work 40 hours a week...still no overtime though. T^T

 

[RedDeadFred]

Ha, teacher bro fist!

Bam, educator fist bump.

Woo! Teachers unite!

I'm not actually a teacher yet since I'm doing my final practicum right now. I am hoping to teach high school band but from what I understand, it's pretty difficult to get a job in your subject area right out of school.

I am currently unemployed since my practicum has me doing half the workload of a normal teacher while doing professional development for the other half. However, my summer jobs have consistently been working for my city's parks department. Before anyone asks, the job is not as great as Parks and Rec. portrays it. Still, it provides a good wage, a varied job (I've been lucky in this regard since I am always on the projects crew instead of doing the same menial tasks such as weeding, mowing, etc.), outdoors work, a sense of comradery, a good workout, and plenty of funny stories to tell about the more crazy citizens whom we get to talk to. For example, a man who looked like Santa Claus, but had a thick accent from... somewhere, ranted to me for a good ten minutes about our mayor's tie and how him cutting the ribbon on the new footbridge was nothing but a publicity stunt.

I'm really lucky that my family is moderately wealthy, so I never had to work summer jobs. I did make some money off the side in university by writing and editing essays (being a native English speaker is a HUGE advantage here). My internship was insane though: I was doing the whole internship while taking regular classes at university half an hour away" deal", while doing my duties as the president of a student org, and all that with my writing arm broken.

Yikes! And I thought I was busy! I imagine writing/typing lesson plans with a broken arm would be a bit of a nightmare...

 

[ghalleon0915]

Looking for work as a personal trainer. Got turned down by the biggest gym where I live because, to paraphrase my interviewer, I'm a good personal trainer, but a shitty salesman. Helping people get into shape, I can do. Trying to push expensive training session packages on people who can't afford them, like the gym equivalent of a used car salesman

This is so true in my gym, most of the trainers there seem more intent on selling you stuff rather than helping you get fit.

Anyway, I'm a corporate accounts manager, which is a fancy way of saying I'm the guy who gets the bills/sends the bills for the company. Pretty stressful especially when dealing with multi-national companies and your own government. How I ended up doing this, I don't know since my Master's is in Nutrition and wanted to go into R&D. What was that saying about mice and men.....

 

[eatenbyagrue]

Yikes! And I thought I was busy! I imagine writing/typing lesson plans with a broken arm would be a bit of a nightmare...

It wasn't that bad. I started about 4 months after the surgery to repair my arm (my left arm has a titanium rod running from shoulder to elbow), and my doctor told me that I could take off the sling if I wasn't going to be walking around. The only real problems were:
1) damage to the motor nerves meant that I couldn't level my wrist, and that I couldn't use my thumb and pointer
2) occasional sharp pains running the length of my arm, usually while I was in the middle of talking about deus ex machina or the rules of subject-verb agreement

 

[Summerstorm]

System-Administrator in a call-center.

Man, i hate call-centers. Got here to work first-level tech support for germany's largest communication provider "Telekom" after doing random jobs after college - which i didn't finish (Yay me)

That was bad and gotten worse. But i applied for a job in IT and got it... now i am doing this for two years now - crap pay (It still IS a call-center, no matter the position) - Failing morale - bureaucracy and inefficiency pressuring on me.

Well, at least i got cool colleagues and it is the season of calming the fuck down for a few months - so i don't have to fight everyday to get out of bed.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Is there anyone here with a good paying job ?

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Working as a writer for a videogame company my friend/boss set up.
Not been paid yet, but I've still got student loan money coming in and the work counts as experience so it's not all bad.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I'm a data-entry technician for a major pharmacy benefit manager. And when I get home from a long day of sitting in front of a computer monitor, I like to unwind by sitting in front of a computer monitor all night.

Pretty much the same case for me, although sometimes there's a TV involved rather than a computer monitor, and sometimes there's both. I've been thinking about convincing my boss that I can work from home, once that's done, my plot to cut myself off from customer interaction will be mostly complete.

Is there anyone here with a good paying job ?

*Distant laughter*

---

Fun fact, I once had to introduce a group of fifth graders to what exactly goes into designing T-Shirts and some of them actually left wanting to become T-Shirt designers and when I heard that, I couldn't help but think "Not exactly shooting for the stars there."

 

[L. Declis]

Well, I get paid £20 an hour; since the minimum wage is £6.70 and that is what I'm used to, I regard this as a well-paying job (more so because there are no jobs for young people at the moment in the U.K.)

Which is why I am now in China, selling my services as an English tutor during evenings and weekends while I work as a student. Hopefully, I can improve my Chinese enough to then set up both my board game business and enter a law firm when I'm older.

 

[eatenbyagrue]

Is there anyone here with a good paying job ?

Teachers naturally get terrible pay, but I got lucky with my job: the school put me up in an apartment (that they pay for, because my parents' house is about 4-6 hours away), and I get free lunches on school days.

 

[happyninja42]

I work in my state's Veterans Affairs office, helping them and their family members file claims with the Federal VA. We help them figure out what benefits are available to them based on active service, and then help them complete the applications and supporting documentation.

 

[eatenbyagrue]

I work in my state's Veterans Affairs office, helping them and their family members file claims with the Federal VA. We help them figure out what benefits are available to them based on active service, and then help them complete the applications and supporting documentation.

That sounds like it occasionally gets very ugly. Like, "pissed off veteran with less benefits than he expected" ugly

 

[Megalodon]

I work in a hospital laboratory. I'm the guy that does the tests that explain to your doctor what's wrong with you. Without me, your doctor is an idiot. And i will warn you, there is no career that will crush your soul like health care. Stay away, kids!

Is it really that bad? I was going for a biology B.S and was thinking of a laboratory setting for future employment, since working in a lab sounded cool.

Can't speak for health care specific, but there are other types of lab than the one G.O.A.T describes. I'm a PhD student in Molecular Microbiology, and while it can certainly be infuriating at times (chiefly when shit doesn't work), I'm rather happy where I am.