Open: Work

Work, or what I’ve done with most of my life. Not a complaint, I live in California and shit’s not getting any cheaper around here. Let’s just sy to live here is to know many people who are working more than one job to get by. I would say now that I’m trying to work for myself I have as many as 5 jobs at any given time, but not all at once, not anymore at least.

I’ve had a job, with a gap during the 2008 crash when nobody could find a job, since I was 15. I’ll be 37 next month. That’s a good chunk of my life that I’ve been working. Again not bemoaning this fact, as a matter of fact, if you took away all the office politics and general fuckery that comes with working just about anywhere, I actually enjoyed most of my jobs.

Let’s start at the beginning this time. Not 15, but rather when I was old enough to walk I had chores and my mom was VERY serious about good grades in school. I had good grades through a good chunk of my school days. I’ll admit I slacked off at the end of high school and dropped out of community college and haven’t been able to return.

Either way my mom was very serious about my doing well in school and about keeping her house clean. Seriously, they’ve lived in the same house since 1999 and the inside still looks like something out of Sunset Magazine. I applaud my mom in her care for cleanliness and eye for style, but it was a lotta work for me as a kid. I had bar none more chores than any other kid I know. Seriously, I had my own dry-erase calendar on the fridge, to which my mom would fill in each days chores for the week… Not just taking out the trash or doing the dishes, those were an ironclad given, but rather the other tasks to be done that week. Light to Heavy Landscaping, mopping and vacuuming and my absolutely least favorite, dusting……

My moms 5 tons of real oak furniture that needed weekly dustings and oiling aside, my dad’s house was a different kind of work.

Good Ol’ Fashioned hard work. Feeding horses, digging fence post holes, digging a pit in which to roast a whole pig in. My favorite was my alarm at my dad’s house, namely him, kicking in my door at like 6:00am asking if I was gonna “sleep all day?!” While I groaned, rolling out of bed in my my UnderRoo’s, shambling to the table to eat a bite of my pancakes before face planting into then to snore at the table. Come to think of it, my dad gave me that day off. Growing pains sucked….

Now though it seems those previous thoughts were tinged with only the deep “ugh!” that we carry with us since we were teens in having to do the things we don’t want to do, but ultimately have to. Really it wasn’t until I was 18 living with a roommate I had to clean up after that I understood why my parents were so gung ho on work. Fortunately I’d been ridden so hard as a kid, the foibles I had with work at 18 were none at all. I think I was pulling carts at Costco at the time, repetitive and sometimes grueling work to be sure, but simple at least.

I really do thank my parents often for my work ethic. They work hard and still do to this day, but they taught me if I was to do something, especially if someone was paying me to do it, to at least do it well, even if you don’t care for the work. That’s why it’s called work, I was often told, and it’s gotta be done.

Of course the one thing that eluded me most of my life is what to do when I become a real grown ass adult. I still have no idea, but I will say having a lot of different jobs gave me a lot of great skills and experience. I did blue collar jobs through most of my 20’s and switched to Tech after not being able to find a job for 3 years after getting laid off from being a Mail Carrier during the crash. I took a job fixing phones at Sprint to Helping people fix phones at Apple, I even worked at a really cool Multimedia studio for awhile.

Now I’m freelancing it in spots, trying to find ways of working for myself. Not that I don’t work well with others, I do, I guess this is the one avenue of work I haven’t traveled down yet. Being self employed. I mean I did Lyft Driving for awhile, it was interesting and fun at times. Anyhow, I guess I’ve always been a Jack of All Trades, I’m just now really embracing that.

Meandering along… Basically we spend a lot of our lives working. For me there came a day when I felt good about the work that I was doing, even if it wasn’t my cup of tea. I guess there was a sense of duty, but really it just made sense to do my jobs well so I could keep them and I don’t know pay my bills. Not that every job I’ve had has been a cakewalk because I felt at least positive about not just doing work, but good work. It wasn’t without it’s downsides. If violence begets more violence, Hard work sure as hell, begets more hard work. Especially in a time where we’re expected to do the job of two or three people for the price of one.

Obviously that is a very long backstory but it brings up some good points, I feel. We live in societies that value work above all else, but often doesn’t value it’s workers. Most of us have a job because we have to and often times it’s definitely not the job that we are passionate about or even like. Of course most times it’s a means to an end, to keep the rain off our heads, keep the lights on, and have food in our stomachs. WE do what we have to do to have those basic needs met and hopefully enjoy the time that having those responsibilities taken care of that affords us this leisure.

I also know in the midst of a rough job market, and the inherent danger that comes from living during a pandemic or just living a life where doing what you must most times supersedes what you want to do. And really doing what you love for work truly is the brass ring. I never saw my success as how much money I have in my bank account anyhow, seeing as, while I’m doing ok at the moment, it doesn’t mean that I’m not so solvent as to be truly out of the woods. Part of why I am sitting here now typing this out is out of a need to do something, or just share something, I have no illusions that though I might get a few bucks here and there doing these things, that it’s going to make me successful in the traditional sense.

Which brings me back to success. While being financially stable would be absolutely lovely, sometimes we have to break from the American standard of wealth being the goal and focus on things we have more control over in our lives. Doing the most good with what we have. For me that means taking care of my bills, sure, and sometimes it’s close, but more importantly that those around me are doing well as well. For me having all the money in the world means nothing if I’m not trying to do some good around me with it.

For those who will speak to my Naivety over this, I say this, that is my choice, and I stand by that choice. It’s a free country and you are allowed to do with your funds what you will, but as for me I want my bills paid, but I also want to help anyone I can along the way. Whether that’s through helping a friend with handiwork or fixing their devices, I have a lot of good skills a lot of good people have imparted to me. I may not be able to pay cash money for things, or often my friends can’t afford to pay me cash, that’s ok, it comes back around, whether through barter or simply helping a friend solve what would be a difficult problem for them but I have training for and don’t mind sharing. I have always gotten that back in some way or another, but that’s not goal. Really how well my friends and family are doing around me is my measure of success. Call me a Hippie, Commie or whatever you like, but that’s my bag.

Just as I am not sure where I want to go with most of my writings, I find that simply the act of doing it is helpful, if only to me. If someone reads my stories and likes it, or disagreed with it enough to start a conversation over it, then all the better.

We’re expected to work hard and that will be the key to wealth and therefore success. I feel like there are so many of us now who know that is not true. Some people are lucky enough to start with skills or passions that will make them a lot of money. Some of us have resigned ourselves to a life where we won’t be rich in money, but that certainly doesn’t mean we can’t find our own success in many other facets of life.

To be honest my biggest pipe dream was to get paid to talk to people. I’m sure there are a few avenues for this, but I don’t think I’ll be replacing any late night talkshow hosts any time. That also doesn’t mean that even though I’m not getting paid for it I shouldn’t do it. I think that’s another thing we’re coming back around to in these days where a lot of us have more time on our hands than we’d like. People are fixing up their houses, focusing on a craft they love or any number of other things. I feel like it’s those things you come home to are what get you through those bad days with, or without work.

I guess I forgot to warn you at the outset I tend to meander a lot….

As always I’m always open for thoughts and discussion. What’s true for me may not be true for you. Always important to note that.