Friday Five

1. What job do you have, and why do you like/hate it?

I'm a purchasing agent and no I don't really like it. I enjoyed doing support work, except for filing, and I hate numbers. I'd rather be a typist. But I didn't have a choice on it, so here I am. (I guess that's what bothers me the most, is that I was never given a choice.) As a co-worker said this morning "It pays the bills." That's the important thing.

2. As a kid, what did you want to be when you "grew up?"

When I was a kid? Well, like every little girl back then, first I wanted to be a nurse. Then I wanted to be a vet or a vet assistant, but I turned out to be allergic. Then I wanted to teach elementary school, but I was talked out of it by my junior high counselor. It's hard to believe now, but there was a glut of teachers for the elementary school market in the 70s. There were something like 20-30 teachers to every job. The guidance counselors either talked you out of it or at least tried to get you to train to teach high school where the glut wasn't as bad. My mom worked with a young lady who got her teaching certificate and then couldn't find a job. They told her jobs were more available for high school teachers, but you had to have a master's degree for that. It took her several years to get her master's as she had to work at the same time, and by the time she finished there was a glut on the high school market as well. She applied for some elementary school teaching positions and they told her she was "overqualified" and because she had a master's degree they would have to pay her more. She told them she'd take the pay of someone without a master's and they said they couldn't do that.

So she ended up as a dietician's assistant at Rhode Island Hospital instead of being a teacher.

3. Is the job you have now anything like what you imagined as a kid?

Obviously not. :-)

4. Do you have a five-year career plan?

Yes, it's called "Survival."

5. In order to get the job of your dreams, is there anything you wouldn't do? Why?

You mean like "kill"? Uh, no! I've thought about going back to school, but the idea of fluorescent lights for more hours a day...shudder. I come home with a headache now as it is. Besides, the government doesn't hire people any longer for what I want to do; that's all being done by contract employees.

Labels: meme

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:58:00 AM

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