Every once in a while I find myself cruising comfortable on the highway of life, so I take off my seatbelt and kick back in the convertible as it hugs the curves of the road and I think to myself, “Wow. It’s been a pretty smooth drive lately and I think—”
Then there is an unexpected road bump that sends me flying out of the convertible, and all my motivation to “git ‘er done” (because, you know, I’m feeling the groove of life’s tunes) evaporates like a fart in a strong breeze. All that’s left is me wondering if I can at least stick the landing and not soil myself in the process.
I tell you, there are days that I miss being an underpaid barista in a no-name espresso bar, cranking out some of the best damned shots that anyone can find in town (even if they can’t find this no-name espresso bar). Ahh, to have that self-esteem back. Wouldn’t that be grand?
Instead, consulting: The job where every task has a potential hidden pitfall…
If you have worked both professional and blue collar jobs, which do you have a better relationship with? If the matter of income were moot (“you won the lottery!”), which would you choose?
14 responses to “Half-Penny Thoughts | 24jun25”
I would say any job without unnecessary pressure…but does such a job exist anymore? Did it ever?
Always something I (mostly) enjoyed doing!
I think, which there were moments of stress at the cafe (order rushes, employee no-shows), I think it was largely me just finding my zone and grooving out on it. Memories can be tricky, as we’ve been discussing, but I think there are jobs like that where you just need to find your Zen. Once you do, the rest of the crap just rolls off like raindrops in a storm.
Possibly to the frustration of certain colleagues who can’t understand why you’re not flapping around like a blue-arsed fly!
There is a bit of that, I’ll admit.
I think my dream job would be to sit in a quite room (with windows) and make sure the classical music station is working. I think a blue collar job is better. I’ve done both.
There’s something about being able to leave work at work when you are done, which is harder for white collar workers.
While lacking windows, the courier job I had where I ended up sorting mail for everyone more than driving had that kind of Zen thing where the music played, you looked at mail, decided where to slot it, and moved on to the next piece and so on. It was nice most of the time.
I agree. It’s great to leave work at work. And also doing something that you can go on autopilot and put some music on and just get done.
blue collar
I tend to agree the more I think about it.
I wonder what would happen if we could all go back to the job we liked most . . .
We’d probably find reasons to be dissatisfied with it 😉
Along the same lines, but slightly different, I strongly believe in “doing what you love”. I’ve worked where I made a lot of money, had the dream house, the ‘toys’, whatever I wanted, pretty much. The work wasn’t terrible, the money was great. But I found that I wasn’t happy. The stuff doesn’t make you happy. And if the stuff doesn’t make you happy, why work the job to get the stuff? I got rid of it all. And I mean all. I’m poor now. I say, I’m poor in purpose. Yeah. I could go get another high-paying job. But I know it won’t bring satisfaction. Now I do what I want to do. People say, oh it must be nice to live like XYZ… I say, then make it happen. You’re stopping yourself from being content, from being grateful, from being happy. It quite literally really IS just as easy as all that.
I’ll probably do a drive through or tiny cafe when I “retire”. By then, everything should be paid off and then kids will have moved out.
Or becoming a hermit. That seems doable. I’m pretty much there already 🤣.
It can be as easy as that. Things are nice, but meh. They’re just things.
Indeed.