09-10-2016, 01:35 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2016, 01:45 AM by Bob Butler 54.)
(09-10-2016, 01:11 AM)gabrielle Wrote: I work retail. I work for a mid-size company that buys and sells books, games, music, movies, toys, comics and collectibles. I am in charge of the book section, and we have a fairly large one in our store, thousands of titles. I have a bachelor's degree in history. It's not a prestigious or high paying job, but I like what I do. I don't want an office job, sitting at a desk all day long, getting fatter and more unhealthy, doing boring repetitive work and seeing only the same few faces every day (whom I may or may not even like). I sure as hell wouldn't want to be an assembly line worker. I love books, love to see new titles and interesting things people bring in to sell. I get to move around all day, shifting and shelving merchandise and keeping relatively fit, and occasionally do creative stuff like build and arrange my own displays. A lot of families come into my store, and it's fun to help kids find the books and toys they want and show them books I liked as a kid. I suppose I am not a terribly ambitious person, but I don't think I am "lazy, stupid, materialistic, and hollow." And I like the majority of people I work with, thanks in large part due to shared interests related to the merchandise we sell. Only a small minority over the years have proven to be dishonest.
The irony of you writing that ignorant passage immediately following a criticism of Galen's prejudice against vegans. "What people say about the rest of humanity as a whole says what that person is himself."
Sorry everyone, had to get that off my chest. Carry on with your Trump vs Clinton, red/blue divide conversation.
My niece went to school to get a degree as a marine biologist. Lots of millenials went after that degree. There are not enough jobs in the field. After bouncing around doing assorted teaching jobs for several years, she recently picked up a job as curator of a shark museum at the elbow of Cape Cod. She's the go to interview when a TV station wants a fluff piece on the local Great Whites. She recently got an invite to guide a local news helicopter looking for shark footage.
There aren't enough cool jobs out there in fields that people can come to love. I'm happy that my niece made it work, though she had a long hot summer tourist season. The week following labor day seems to be her designated catch up on sleep week.
Bet you didn't know who currently has custody of the shark robot used in the filming of Jaws?
I'd agree that one shouldn't sneer at the more or less routine jobs that people can come to like and find fulfillment in. We can't all chase sharks in helicopters, but the local car mechanic or in my experience a software programmer can get into what they do. As jobs get fewer, if life isn't to become a boring drudgery relieved only by football games, beer and drug induced haze, we need jobs people can buy into. Different people will buy into different things.
As an tangent, my niece is also the closest I know to a militant vegan. My grand niece, her niece, was a picky eater as a two year old. Her parents were constantly looking to have her gain weight. One thing the kid would eat was fish sticks... at least until the marine biologist spoke up. "Fish are our friends. We don't eat our friends." The parents at that moment would have sympathized with the negative feelings towards militant vegans. The result was a very small off and on vegan. The two year old's verdict?
"Fish may be our friends, but they TASTE so GOOD!"
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.