Do you or did you ever like your job?

[Heather Shay]

Do you or did you ever like your job?

[Petra Jane]

Oh, I used to LOVE it! I was a maintence person and looked after an old building with multiple extensions and was able to loving look after it and the staff. I had a wonderful relationship with my bosses and most of the all female staff.

 

Sadly, the "boss" moved on and the new one pretty much hated me so made life hell, to the extent I was sometimes in tears at the thought of having to go to work. In the end I decided my health was more important to have an income so gave my notice in. After 30 years there, I still was only expected to give one month's notice, so I did, the bitch couldn't accept it fast enough, I've still got scorch marks from where she tore it out of my hands!

 

Walked out a month later, never looked back.

 

 

[Adrianna Danielle]

I love it,it has been acceptance and support where I am working at now.I get treated well and glad it is going this way

[awkward-yet-sweet]

I used to enjoy it.  I was an independent artist, mostly doing advertising but I also did character concept stuff for video games, a few book covers, etc...  I wish I could still do it, but I was injured in an assault in 2022, and my ability to use my hands isn't as good as it was.  Maybe I'll do it again someday, but I'm still working towards that. 

 

For now, I have a different job.  Not always quite as fun, but still enjoyable.  I'm the primary gardener for my family.  I grow all kinds of food crops and I preserve food for long term winter storage.  Canning, drying, freezing... I'm usually busy outdoors or in the kitchen.  Excess produce gets sold at my family's store in the little town nearby.  I feel really good about helping to feed my family, and a little cash income doesn't hurt either.  😏

[Birdie]

The last 30 years I did Land surveying and Engineering. I absolutely loved my job!

Clients would come to me with a piece of property and tell me what they wanted, I provided them the drawings they needed for the permits. 

I often dream about resuming my work, but for me it's but a dream. If I was able I would work until they day I died. 

[AllieJ]

In 2004 I left the male dominated heavy truck repair industry, and I was asked to do some presentations about my passion, Marine Biology and underwater photography for the state government. These went really well, so I was asked to talk to people about the animals in a local aquarium. I absolutely loved doing this, and despite having no formal training, the marine biologists in our research division complemented me on my knowledge, and sometimes invited me to participate in research projects.

 

I did this range of work for 4 years as a volunteer, and a new manager pulled me aside and said I had become integral to the operation of the education unit, and put me on a salary. I expanded my role to running snorkel and canoe tours, and caring for the animals in the centre. I got my commercial boat certificates and began driving the research vessels. During staff absences, I filled in as a marine biology teacher, and the schools started requesting me to teach their classes. I only worked Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and some weekends at events with an education trailer, and the schools started booking those days to have a better chance of having me take their classes.

 

At the same time I was running a dive club from my home on weekends, and taking groups on trips. I was selling underwater video to TV stations and production companies, and this led to travelling to exotic locations to film sharks, whales, dolphins, seals, spectacular reefs and shipwrecks. To be honest, I regularly pinched myself to check I wasn't dreaming.

 

Then I transitioned. Initially, everybody was super supportive, but within a couple of years my manager started changing my job to take away all the elements I loved. I complained loudly, and they tried to gaslight me by saying I was mentally unfit to work, but I produced their recent glowing performance reviews and a psychologists report. It was clear they wanted to get rid of me after 17 years of glowing performance reports, and their plan was to make my life uncomfortable until I left. The problem with living the dream is that it is hard to give up, and the stress made me sick, and contributed to a heart attack, so I retired.

 

It probably had little to do with me being trans, and more to do with my manager having their ideas overridden in favour of mine on a few occasions. I believe they also had a plan to reduce the facility operations to eventually close it. I had the most amazing 17 years of my working life there and have so many incredible memories. 

 

Hugs,

 

Allie

[Mirrabooka]

I loved and hated my job. I was originally an instro fitter and then dual trade electrician at a paper mill for over 43 years. it was pretty cool being so heavily involved in the production process and being called upon to solve production problems, but the site often had horrible senior managers who treated the workers with utter contempt. I've been retired since August 2023 and don't miss the heat, noise, smell, or early starts, one little bit. What I do miss is the occasional night shifts where all the BS from management seemed to mysteriously disappear and real teamwork with production operators and mechanical maintenance trades (fitters, or millwrights as you call them) came to the fore...and of course, I miss some of my former workshop colleagues. 

 

I am thankful for surviving there for so long and being in a good place now financially, but I also blame the job for making me cynical and somewhat unhealthy.

[Ashley0616]

My job as a stay at home parent never ends. It's very stressful and rewarding at the same time. Payments are kisses, hugs and I love Yous. Even in sleep you don't get a break. They can wake you up because of a bad nightmare, wet the bed or just need some loving. Diapers are far from cheap. There for a time for the parents with newborns there was a big shortage in formula. Countless sleepless nights and still having to have to go through the next day without rest. As a single parent like I am it's even worse. When I'm sick even with a high fever or whatever the kids still have to be taken care of. There are no timeouts or breaks. Heck even trying to use the bathroom there isn't any time alone. I try my best to enjoy these moments though because once they grow up and move out the house, you miss them like crazy.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

@Ashley0616 parenting can definitely be a full-time job. I have not planned on doing it myself, but plans changed when I joined my forever family. I was shocked at how quickly GF decided to reproduce. She had 5 babies in 4 years (one set of twins), and whenever she decides she needs to work on her cars or her rent houses or just go do something she leaves them with me!  And they resemble their mother in that they are difficult to handle 🙄  Boundaries with little kids can be a real issue, although we manage to safeguard our sleep pretty well.  

 

Do I enjoy the step parent part of my job? Well, mostly I guess. 😄

[Ashley0616]

23 minutes ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

Do I enjoy the step parent part of my job? Well, mostly I guess. 😄

LOL

[Mmindy]

For the most part I have always loved my jobs, with one exception. Metal Polishing was the dirtiest and worst job I ever had and only lasted for 4 months. Livestock and grain handling was my first job as a young teenager, and that lead to me meeting the owner of Rolling Ridge Nursery and Christmas tree farm. Working for the Christmas Tree farm got me through Jr. and Sr. High School. I also flipped hamburgers as a fry cook in the evenings during that same time. Once I got married I took a union job picking up trash for Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. Believe it or not... I did love that job, it was carry out service in a high dollar community outside of St. Louis, MO. We treated every customer with highest regard because they trusted us to be in their back yards two times a week. I did that for three years and in 1982 I went to work for Chemical Leaman Tank Line (CLTL) started out as a tire man fixing flats. Then moved to the wash rack cleaning chemical tankers and getting them ready for their next load. This lead to me going to night school to become a stationary engineer and waste treatment plant operator for the same terminal. Once I established a routine of night school, and the company would pay for me to go. I went to welding classes and became an ASME certified welder so I could repair chemical tanks that had been in crashes or developed leaks. In 1991 CLTL started an industrial hazmat team and since I had been a volunteer firefighter since the age of 16, an active member of my counties emergency management LEPC and hazmat team leader. My application was accepted and I've been living the dream every since. In 1994 CLTL moved me to the corporate training facility where I did new employee training until they went out of business in 1999. With the industrial connections I had made throughout the years, starting my own hazmat training company was a no brainier. In 2009 I was hired as a full time firefighter and this continued to add credibility to my hazmat company. Now I'm trying to phase myself out of business and into full retirement.

 

I do love my jobs,

 

Mindy🌈🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋

[KathyLauren]

My first real job was as a flying instructor in the air force.  I did love that job!  The flying, of course, although the students did most of the actual flying.  But also being able to personally tutor the student one-on-one.  I loved it when I was able to figure out a way past a student's mental block and get them to do the task properly.  

 

One day, after I had been doing it for several years, I saw a junior instructor filling out the required paperwork for a student who had failed a flying test.  I realized that I hadn't filled in those forms for a long time because I hadn't had a student fail a test in a long time.  That's when I realized that I was good at something.

 

Unfortunately, to do that job, I had to be a soldier.  Having grown up in the sixties, watching anti-war protests on the news, I realized that that I shouldn't really be a soldier.  I couldn't go on doing it.  But gosh it was fun while it lasted!

[Timi]

I really enjoyed my last job. It started working with an in-house group doing environmental site assessments and cleanups for the military. I was one of several government contractors working side by side with civil servants, and it was good - I was treated like one of the team.  Our in-house group managed to do work at a much lower cost than the outside government contractors, and we actually cleaned up and closed sites faster than they did. But all things change, and this civil service group was disbanded. 

 

That's when it really got interesting. There were about a dozen of us contractors supporting the in-house group. We declined to be hired by the company that took over the work of the disbanded group. But instead of laying us off, my boss put me together with a partner and told us to get to work and keep our team employed. 

 

We had about 12 people, no offices, no computers, and one small task order. Within a year, my partner and I had booked about a million dollars worth of work. Working with my business partner was such an extraordinarily good, life changing, and life sustaining experience. We worked as a team, and nobody could understand how it worked. They would ask, "Who's in charge?", usually looking at me because I was the male (she being the gay female). We would answer, "We are!" The would say, "There's only room on our paperwork for one name." We'd say, "We don't care about your stupid paperwork, this is how we work. And unlike your other managers, we do productive billable work as well as manage. So let us do our thing."

 

We shared an office and the joke around the building was that we shared a brain. I had no idea what Trans was or that I might be Trans. But looking back, it was lifesaving to work so closely with a woman. I was reminiscing with her recently about how we would have staff meetings and I would go on and on with some "team building" exercise, while she would be tapping her fingers, impatient to get everyone back to work. I totally brought the feminine energy to the leadership style. And it was a feminine style of leadership that we both embraced ... collaborative, cooperative, built on honoring relationships. And yeah, it was I who our boss made "Minister of Morale" - basically in charge of potlucks and parties. So even though my gender identity was unexplored, I still was seen as the best person for a job that was usually tasked to a woman.

 

Most of our team still says it was the best time of their working lives. It was great. 

 

And my partner and I are still best friends. She's my main mentor and support person as I explore my gender identity. 

 

-Timi

[Audrey]

I *love* my work!

I do not tend to talk about it much because of the nature of my work and the confidentiality involved. That said, I can say that I am a social worker with more than 20 years of experience supporting people with dementia and their families, as well as in a residential, post-acute mental health program. Through my work with clients, it is clear I have made a positive impact and empowered them all to live more fulfilling lives and have the highest quality of life possible - especially in the face of challenges like isolation, loneliness, boredom, depression, anxiety, grief, and trauma.

I have recently accepted a new job as the Executive Director, in the same line of work but at a different agency. Very exciting to take my experience into a top leadership role at this stage in my career! I cannot share much more than that publicly though.

 

Love,

~Audrey.

[EasyE]

I was a small town sports reporter for many years. LOVED chasing stories and trying to take great photos, but I am too old for the rigors of going to games every night and staying up all hours trying to keep up with the latest happenings... 

 

I am 52 and trying to figure out next steps -- possibly getting back into some form of sports journalism (being more of an editor/publisher) or trying to turn my new hobby (gardening) into a potential biz (flower farming?) ...

 

I love to write though I have fallen flat every time I have tried to pen the "great American novel." ... Maybe I can catch a breath of inspiration somewhere along the way...