The Friday Five: work

Last seen in the journal of the inestimable crazyladynocats

1. Where do you currently work?
I don't! Bwa ha ha haaaaa! Hee hee! Wooooo-hoo!

In more placid times, I am a computer programmer.

2. How many other jobs have you had and where?
At LEAST twenty. Babysitter, Papa Gino's, receptionist/switchboard operator, moving agent (international incoming), book order shipper, security guard, Honeywell (twice), MIT Project Athena, and then we get into stuff that's actually on my resume.

Hmm. Nother post germinating from this question.

3. What do you like best about your job?
I am really enjoying the free time I have now that I'm unemployed. I'm cleaning up tremendous amounts of stuff I just never kept up with when I had a job.

About being a computer programmer, I like several major things: it challenges my intellect, I get to work with interesting people, and it pays well.

4. What do you like least about your job?
Unemployed: Lack of interaction with other people. Presuming, of course, that I could live on this income, which I can't.

Computer programmer: Some of those interesting people are, frankly, spoiled arrogant self-centered insecure petty jerks. Finding a team comprised entirely of emotional adults is a rare treat.

5. What is your dream job?
Renaissance Woman. A job where it's useful that I can speak French, shoot a rifle, cook pancakes, type fast, land an airplane, quilt, set up a defensive perimeter, read awfully fast, solve complex problems, win the trust of a scared cat, design a dress, crack a whip, and imitate an accent.

For now I'm hanging onto "computer programmer" as my label: it uses typing AND problem-solving. Woo!

Jobs and Awareness

I have discovered, among my smart college-educated white upper-middle-class mostly-male circle of friends, that there are few people who have done anything but white-collar jobs. Most have never held ANY unskilled-labor job, EVER, including during high school. EVER.

That first sentence could also be pronounced "...among my [privilege] [privilege] [privilege] [privilege] [privilege]...".

I have discovered that I tend to have more respect for the ones who have; they read as "less spoiled", somehow, and then when I find out they once bagged groceries or changed diapers it just all hangs together. The ones who've been burger-flippers or security guards tend to be --- not always, but they tend to be --- the same ones who would have seen the alternate pronunciation of that first sentence and its implications.

What I respect is that awareness, wherever it comes from.