I LOVE my day/night job, it is....

I would love to hear some good ones!

...oh dear...don't know if this is a good one or not...but I actually do really love my job...I teach biology at a small college in WV. (Actually I love it except for the staff meetings, which bear a striking resemblance to my compost pile...lots of horse poo.)

strangely enough, thats what I am considering switching to. From environmental consulting (STRESS STRESS) to biology or chemistry teacher. Don't know about a college though. I don't know, still pondering it. My wife doesn't think I am cut out for teaching. She says I won't like the beaurocracy (sp?) and that I don't have enough patience. It just seems like a great job. And summers off to plant!

It IS a great job, especially if you're ADD. :) Although I don't know the last time I've had a summer off! You do need a PhD to teach at a 4 year school but "just" a master's for community college, which is where you would do more actual teaching anyway. Personally I wouldn't have the patience to teach high school--shudder--but I have friends who love that, too. The bureaucracy is annoying, but so is bureaucracy anywhere. Into every life, some horse poo must fall. :) For some reason I find I have patience with students, but I certainly don't with anyone else, so a patient personality is not necessarily a prerequisite for the job.

I love my job. Its creative, rewarding and I work with the best coworkers (I should know, I hired them). Most important, I get to really make a difference and occassionally help people. There are hassles but I know I'm lucky.

I teach Medical software to doctors' office staff. I love it, because I'm teaching and because my faces and locations change every couple of weeks!

Sounds great Phug. Im still in the consider stage.

The suspense is killing me Dave, what do you do?

Oh, I am the human services director for a small town. It includes Youth Services, which I started 23 years ago plus senior services and social services. I'm a therapist and I still keep my hand in that at work. But its been wondeful to build programs and bring on people with shared vision, dedication and a sense of humor (not required, but it helps)
I have a lot of fun and we do good! I'm a lucky guy.

I am a Horticulturist and do garden designs in a nursery (besides selling)and on my own, and some garden maintenance yes everyone elses place looks great, Mine needs work=( There are not enough hours in a day and not enough hours of sleep this time of yr. But I love it ,even though everyone sounds like they have very interesting jobs, that I betting pay way more than mine. I wouldn't trade for the world...
and I have the winter off.

Good for you Chicory. Believe me, social services doesn't pay a heck of a lot either. But its great to like what you are getting out of bed to do!

Hi!
I am an environmental/chemical engineer and I used to love it. But with all the politics lately it seems the environment is taking a backseat to big business interests. So I decided to try something else on the side and I started teaching botany and other classes at the local Public Botanical Garden. One class expanded to two, two to three, etc. Soon other organizations asked me to teach. Now it seems like I have two full time jobs - one that pays the bills and the other which is my love. I would love to teach full time at a community college - but without a masters degree it is not very likely. I investigated the NYC School system which does have a program for professionals that want to switch into teaching - I was considering this until I saw the salary! Looks like if I took that job I would still have to work two jobs! LOL! The program co-ordinator reminded me about the summers off. Too bad my rent/utilities/etc don't take the summer off. Guess I will stay with the part-time teaching.

I didn't realize community colleges [2yr] needed master degrees - then again, now that I think of it - it does makes sense if you need a PhD for teaching in Universities.

Northstarbear, Hopefully things will begin to turn back toward the environment soon. For your job satisfaction and for our health.I think (hope) we are reaching a tipping point.

Oh My
You guys are all so educated and you'll laugh when you hear what I do

I work nights
On Sunday I start at 6:30 pm till 8:30 am
Monday thru Thurs. I work from 10 pm till noon but by Fridays I'm usually done by 8 am cause I'm only allowed to work 60 hours
I sit on my butt and talk ,laugh and giggle
I can eat all night and drink as much Coke a Cola (diet with lime) as I want
I wonder sometime if Its fair for me to make as much money as I do and still have so much fun
It gets stressfull sometimes
and I see some really stupid people do some really dangerous things
but all in all its not something I would give up doing
are you wondering what I do?



I drive a tractor trailer for .........UPS
No...those little brown package cars do not take those packages across the country
And I love nights cause most of the really stressed out idiots are home in bed ....LOL
I'm envious of those who have jobs that get some respect
Lets face it
truck drivers dont
I have to deal with road rage from every car that gets stuck behind me
And at the hours I work, I have the drunks and sleepy travelers weaving around me
But I love my job
I'd rather start at midnite
But I deal with the hours I have
And we tend to travel in groups so I have someone to talk to all night
If not I talk to the drivers going the other way
It is bad in the winter
I live in the lake effect area
Right now I drive from Syracuse to Albany
And those bands are not something I like to deal with

and I do think its hysterical when someone see's me climb out of my truck,the look on their faces........
they see a little 5'2 blond woman and they freak......LOL LOL
or when they pass me and I read their lips as they say...
Its a freaking(not the usual word) girl driving that set of doubles......
So if you're ever up on the NY State Thruway at that time of night and pass a UPS set of doubles.......
LOOK OUT !!!!
It could be that ditzy blond from Daves garden!!!!!!

LOL - you go girl!

I would never laugh at what you do my Aunt has driven a truck for nearly 25 yrs, my Unncle used to drive and at one time they drove together for a while (too hard on the marriage hehehehe). My uncle has retired because of health problems but my Aunt still drives and she will be 62(she is not much taller than you Crestedchik). She loves it! And that is what counts not how much schooling someone has or how glamorous something else seems.
I used to smell like pond water everyday, (worked at a botanical garden that had a huge water garden) stopping at the store to grocery to shop made people look at me weird I don't get it LOL.
Visitors to the garden used to tell us that we had the best jobs, but of course they weren't there when it was a 100+ degrees the same (it felt) in humdity and we are doing nothing but dragging hose around a 2 acre garden (there were (5 )2 acre gardens)watering to keep things a live. Then using buckets when the lake we watered from was going dry and the pump for the water system was down. Working for a non profit there is nothing like it LOL.

It's so nice to hear what everyone is up to. Unfortunately, work is a huge part of our lives and that always gets me wondering about it. Of couse the grass is always greener, but sometimes for me personally, I need a dose of everyone else to help round things out and give me perspective. Sometimes I think that I have it all right, and sometimes all wrong. I can relate to you norhtstarbear, doing my work in env. consulting, we do a lot of work for clients because they have to comply with env. law, not because they want to or think its right. They don't treat us well, and they always look for shortcuts. It is a little disheartening.
But I guess all of you have solice in your jobs somewhere, on the road at night alone with your thoughts, having people in class really "get it", or seing those water gardens thrive, or helping a young kid out and hopefully on the right path in life.
Thanks everybody

Thank you, wormboy!

You are more than welcome

Good Morning,
You all have very intresting jobs. Mine is not like anyone's so far. I work for the State of NY, with the mentally disabled. I work evenings, and I enjoy working with my population alot. There is alot of administration stuff..from my boss, all the way to the Governor. But, my guys, have no idea about administration. They just enjoy people talking to them, and taking good care of them. I work with the extremly medically frail and you never know from one day to the next how they are going to be. I did winter sowing this year for the, and hopefully they will enjoy all of the flowers in their raised beds this year. Well that is about it for me.

I'm sometimes a little hesitant to say what I do, because the instant I say, um, "college professor", lots of people assume I'm this overeducated snob. Well, OK, I DID go to school for way too long :), but it's ridiculous for me to get an attitude about it. (God forbid everyone on earth was a college professor...life would be like one big faculty meeting...AAAUUGGGHHH!!!) I'm reasonably good at teaching biology but there is so much stuff I don't know or can't do that other people can. Which is the way with everybody, I would think. I come from a blue collar family and it really bugs me when some other academic gets snotty about their position. I mean, are they dissing my mom???

That being said, I really do love my job and I think I'm incredibly lucky to get up in the morning and go to work. Whoo! :)

pam

Well, you all seem to have great jobs, (even if the poo doth roll from time to time). I have a new job. I owned a cleaning business for a while, and when my husband hurt his back and couldn't work that job we both had to change what we do...he started a computer repair business, I sold my cleaning jobs to some one else and went to work third shiFt at a building suply warehouse your all familliar with "hint hint, think orange" so I could get health/dental care for my familiy, its a cool job. I get to cut up pallets with saws and drive forklifts, the guys I work with get a kick out of me, and the fact that I like doing all the things they do. I get the down low on whats what out in the garden center too. As much as I like my job, I have to say being a mom is the most rewarding and the hardest all at once. Some days I feel stressed to the max, and the next I get a hug and a kiss and the world is all a glow with hope and wonder once again. I think we all deserve a standing "O" for the things we do, it takes all kinds to make this world spin and so long as we have respect for each other and our differences it realy is ok what we all do. In the event ya really hate your job, follow your heart and try doing what you love on the side. So many folks start a side job doing something that they concidder a hobby and find it works out so well they make it a fultime thing. As with everthing in life being true to yourself will find you the happiest, so by all means Wormboy, give teaching a go, I think you would be good at it, and lets face it, you learn so much by teaching others...
pardon poor spelling, typos and the like, I'm becoming famous or infamous for them...
chow for now!
Dena

Dena (friend), That was beautiful! The parent part is very true. It is the most important thing we do. You are a breath of sanity cleverly disguised as a whacko.

Pam, You are the second person on this thread feeling awkward to expose her education. Doesn't this say something weird about our culture that people don't want to mention an advanced degree or a top college?

These things are great accomplishments and the fact that some jerks think academia is the only accomplishment shouldn't take away from what you earned. As far as college professors and the like, I have a theory.The less objective, practical use their field of study has, the more they posture and pose to sound professional. In other words, without a clear way to show the benefit of your education, its all about impressing or one-upping your colleagues.

Well, I'm really waxing on. Sorry if I got too wordy. Pam, congratulations on having made it to be a professor! Dena, cogratulations on finding fun and life and what's truly important at HD or wherever you are.
Dave

Dave-
I agree with you a 100%. But I look at it from a diff perspective. I would rather have people like that act stuffy and expose who they really are, because it's that much sooner that I can smile, say goodbye, and look around for someone else to talk to!
But your right Pam, it is weird to feel akward. But I guess its just all of our desires to just want to fit in and not be looked at differently. I can relate, because I grew up working construction for my father who has done it all his life. The man never graduated high school, but is one of the smartest people I know, and does some of the most complex building renovations that you could imagine. I love to work with my hands and worked well with him for several years, but just decided that I wanted to go to school and get into the sciences. Not that anyone even pointed me in that direction, or that I valued his trade work any less than a job that I could get with schooling, but because it was the direction I wanted to take. I don't know, sometimes it makes me uncomfortable to think that it is possible that our different education levels could ever make him ashamed or something. That anyone would ever look at me and say, its good you went to school, now you don't have to work the trade like your father. Which couldn't be further from the truth in my opinion. I think it comes from people being so hung up on social status and defining/judging other people relative to themselves. I like to do a little experiment...the next time you meet new people, try to notice how long it takes for them to ask you what you do....ahh pshychology.

Dena--as a new mom I completely agree that parenting is one of the most rewarding and one of the most difficult jobs to do. It also seems underappreciated--if you work and parent, you're not spending enough time with your kids and/or not working hard enough, and if you're a SAHM, some people assume you sit around and eat bonbons all day. /erk

Dave--I think there IS something to the applicability issue. Granted, one can find snobs anywhere, but folks at teaching colleges are often (although not always, goodness knows) more down to earth than those at research 1 ivory tower universities, who tend to be (but not always) highly competitive and self-aggrandizing. One time a Big Name scientist at my school in NY patronizingly asked, "So are you still teaching at that *sniff* community college? Too bad." As I was finishing my degree at the time and on a really short fuse, I whipped around and said, "I teach NURSES how to help people, what did YOU do today that was so (expletive) important???"

Wormboy--Yeah, there is a certain desire to fit in, even though I normally don't care an awful lot for other's opinions. Whether you cop an attitude or not, academics are a bit of a strange breed. But then again, so are gardeners :) (in a good way :) ).

Off to alternatively obsess about 1) grading and 2) tomatoes, :)
pam

Pam, to true about being looked down at for staying home with the kids, not only is it the hardest job I know of, you work 24/7, 365 days, without health/dental, no vacation pay, on call even if you do find yourself off for a rare day of mommy time, but you often get the dissaproving look from people who don't know any better. Don't ever sweat those folks, its just their ignorance showing.
Here is another good one, I was told I shouldn't be working so much, that I should be home with my kids, I very nearly fell over laughing, I told the guy "I work to get away from my kids" and thats partly true, I will sometimes leave a bit early grab a coffee, turn up MY tunes (not Thomas the Tank Engine songs or Big Bird Sings it Again) and I rock all the way to work! So anyway you look at it, its a case of can't please everyone, just like everything else in the world, so I do whats best and I don't let folks get to me if they disagree, how could they possibly know what all goes on in my house, or whats best for my kids? They don't. Oppions are like rearends, everybodys got one!
In the event I win power ball I'd probably still work, altho I'd most likely switch to some form of comunity cervice type job, till then, you'll find me happily working and enjoying my life and my kids and on sunny afternoons I'll be *%# over tea-kettle weeding my gardens, and from time to time I'll be checking in on my other family (here at DG).
Chow for now!
Dena

Pam, I loved your response to Prof. Snooty!! I had some exposure to English professors. Boy, they can be brutal to each other! It helped maintain my theory. In my field there is also subjective success and therefore lots of insecurity/posturing (psychology). I swear there is a breed of therapists more concerned with impressing other therapists than the people they are supposed to help.
Wormboy, I like your early detection system approach to stuffy!

There is an old quote I can't credit but it was to the effect of:
"When art critics get together they discuss theme, structure, symbolism, etc. When artists get together they discuss canvass and paint brushes."
Well, I think it applies here.

Oh, boy, I am so glad I finally looked at this forum! Put on your seatbelts, I've got a lot to say...
First of all, I am so impressed that gardening folks are SO cool, so together, that you all seem to have such good attitudes and perspectives on things...I just read that a study found that gardening makes people happier. I think it also makes us better-adjusted. The important thing is not what job we all do, but that we all derive some satisfaction from it, as Wormboy said, and that none of us lets the career title define us.

Second of all, the whole academia thing. I'm in grad school now at a certain university in New Haven, CT that shall remain unnamed. There are definitely lots of people here who are so completely out of touch with everything else in the world that it makes me think twice about the field I'm going into. Pam, I totally agree with your take on who teaches where. There are some great people here, but I can't imagine working somewhere like this. I have a life, for cryin out loud! And I'm getting into this because I love to teach. Unfortunately, that is not the focus here. Apparently, though, there's this awful catch-22 whereby state schools, small liberal arts colleges, etc won't even call me for an interview because either they've tried before and the person was insufferably snooty, or they figure I won't really want the job. I'll have to put in my cover letters that I went to a state school for undergrad and that I really care about teaching...

Dave, as far as farther removed subjects: I think there's definitely something to that, especially if teaching is not your focus. I mean, I study literature, and there are several people who are really passionate about what they do, and take the relative immediate gravity of their chosen subject with a big grain of salt--but there are also plenty of folks who put on airs, and (I think) who are so panicked that their lives are irrelevant that they have to act like they're the center of the universe. That's why it's important to have a life outside work (family, friends, hobbies, volunteer, gardening...). But I think ANY job (well, just about any) can have a positive impact on/for others, if that's how we go about things. I think, for example, that if you're a good teacher, it almost doesn't matter what subject you're teaching, because the important thing is teaching students to think well, to be good citizens, etc...to open horizons.

I could go on and on. I'd better not--I'll crash the system. But I'm hoping to be a parent in the not-too-distant future, and I also think that's the absolute coolest job there is, hands down. Now if only employers, society, insurance companies, etc thought so too. Here's an interesting tidbit: a friend read an article that added up the cost of everything a SAHM does: nanny, housekeeping, grocery delivery, part-time preschool, etc etc, and it came out to... $112,000. Something to mull over.

I love my night job. I am an adjunct instructor at a local Junior College teaching Microsoft Office Programs in a school that has students from at least 87 different countries. (Some one counted them once.) I don't have a Master's Degree so I can't "really" teach there - but because I have a skill they need and there aren't enough "qualified" people available to teach these subjects - I get to teach. I am in my 6th year and boy - have I learned a LOT! And I have an audience! I love trying to make computer software an entertaining experience. (Even if they don't always laugh at my jokes!)

I also have a regular day job using Excel to produce analytical reports for the sales and marketing department of a manufacturing company about an hour away from home and garden.

For some reason I have a lot of friends who are employed in Academia. It works out well for me because I love to learn new things - even if they aren't always useful in everyday life. (LOL)

I love learning things too. I'm perpetually curious. I learn things from college professor friends, 90 year olds, angry 14 yr old boys, books, the boob tube, my 6 year old, etc..
I think there is a difference between truly wise people who learn from all people (and their learning is contagious) vs people who pose as intelligent but inhibit open sharing of ideas and information with their sarcasm and elitism.
A friend of mine fits into the latter category. Its a shame because she is one of the smartest people I know. Its sad. Its almost like a competition. Very exhausting.
I agree with you Meg. It has been a pleasure to have this thread. Thanks again Wormboy!

Great choice of words Dave, I to find I'm perpetually curious, and tho my spelling could use some help, I read everything that happens infront of me, and find I inhale all conversations I'm able to listen in on. I find myself showing up early to everyplace I'm expected to be just so I don't miss anything. You get to sit in the best seats that way too.

Wormboy, I to thank you for this thread. I truely believe that diversity (sp?)
is the spice of life, just after the people you hold near and dear and gardening .
Dena

Ha, ha....As I was reading this thread I noticed everyone was from NY, CT, RI, WV...etc. and I thought that's strange that all are from one area of the states, but then I remembered that I was in Northeast Gardening. Now I'm not always that unobservant folks....but then I remembered I came on this forum because I used to be a Northeast Gardener, having been born and raised in Berkshire County, MA :)

So here goes my glamorous job: :)

I have done many things in my life, I am so glad of everyone of them. I have been the secretary to employee relations manager at a very large, very well known company to making ice cream cakes at DQ. I don't think it matters if you are a college professor or street sweeper; if you are enjoying yourself at what you do...that is the most important thing. I don't even think that the pay is as important as what you are doing.

Now, having said that, after my family had a serious auto accident 8 years ago, I have been at home. I had to give up my job to take care of them for many months. So, one door closes, another opens. My DH and I had been part-time organic farmers....so when he could function again, we became full-time naturally grown farmers. This takes up 8 days a week, 30 hours a day now. We are successful at it, not millionaires, but paying the bills and happy. We raise 12 acres of produce to sell at farmers' markets and also run a 50 share CSA program. We also raise our own beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, and eggs...all free range, to sell.

I have another passion, my church. So recently a job opening for p/t custodian at my church came open and I applied and received the job. I love it, because I love being there.

I am also mom to 4, grandmom to 8 and 2 on the way. I wouldn't trade this for the world. Yes, it is a job, but very rewarding.

I have been fortunate to have loved almost every job I've ever done, but then maybe I make the fun out of a job...not that the fun is already there.

Whatever you do, do it in fun and love, enjoy it...the rest of your life will thank you for that. :)

Blessings,
Kathy

Welcome back to the Northeast Kathy. You are right.

Thank you Dave. My heart is often back in NE....my family is all there....I miss them terrible, but I LOVE living in Kentucky. So much opportunity here :)

I actually have made 5 trips home in the last year and have been at Bradley 4 of those trips. I think that's right in your back yard, isn't it Dave?

I always feel this great sense of excitement going back home, seeing old friends...eating the foods we can't get in KY...:( but after a week, I'm anxious to get back home to KY. I've been here for 19 years now.

The hard thing is as we get older and our parents get less healthier, there is a major sense of being torn between where one should be. I've lost my father since I've moved here....and was so grateful to have seen him only 2.5 weeks before he passed. My mother who is 78, has had a rough year and my last visit, she ended up in the hospital. I was glad to be in MA this time, as it usually falls on other family members....which creates guilt in me for not being there to help out. But she (and they) understand....so I took full care of my mom this time...gave them all a break.

I sometimes feel in the land of limbo as to where I shall rest one day; but I've decided that I'll just move with my family, ha, ha....in a jar...and then one day, my DH and I (I expect to go before him) will be reunited and hopefully fertilize some peonies or gardenia or something. :)

Living in KY is so different from the weather in NE. My family is always amazed that after they've had their first frost in early Oct, I might still have a tomato or two out there to pick!

:) Kathy

Kathy, Yes our parents' aging is tough. My Dad has been dead a while and Mom is 80, so I know the feelings, but I live close to my Mom.

Guilford is on the shore and Bradley is north of Hartford. By CT standards Bradley is a trip but only a little over an hour. (People from bigger states would laugh at what we think are long drives)
I can only imagine how people in RI react to distance. (Dena?)

Well, when I first moved to KY, I moved to Meade County, which is west of Louisville. It takes about 1 hr 15 minutes to get to L'ville (the market anyhow). Well, when in MA, I worked for GE and the personnel manager in KY, who I spoke with on a daily basis, told me to call him when I got to KY and I'd have a job.

Well, when I realized that from here to GE was a 90 minute drive, I made the decision not to do that drive. That was way tooooooo far! I said that because, you are right, an hour to get somewhere is a long drive when in NE. :) Now I know that everyone around here does it and they don't complain either! I'm afraid, I'd be complaining.

I used to take the kids to Misquamaquet (sp?) Beach all the time when we lived in MA. It was only 3 hrs to RI and we'd camp out down there, loved it!

Also, we have relatives in Niantic that used to live in New London. He works in Groton at GD. :)

I miss the ocean :(

As kids, we always loved Misquamiquet because they have real waves in RI. Long Island keeps our surf pretty tame.

LOL! Dave, we don't like a fifteen minute drive...
South County is the worst, they are all agast if they have to drive past the tower.

My stepfather is from Wakefield, RI, is that near you? Wait everything in RI is near you, isn't it? I adore RI...best ocean beaches, if you ask me. :)

I grew up in Wakefield...I love the ocean! Yes, EVERYTHING is pretty much near me! LOL!