job history? future jobs?

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i think it would be interesting to know what jobs you guys have/had and your thoughts on them, or if you are interested in a profession that is not your current job?

mine:
-under-the-table jobs were my first ones, i was a wedding photographer's assistant and then i tried reffing club soccer games. neither suited me very well because i had to insert myself into other people's social interactions in both.
-senior year of high school steak n' shake was the only over-the-table establishment who was willing to hire me sans experience. they forced me to be the drive thru operator, which i was terrible at and taking 50-100 orders a shift was super stressful...plus to mention all the mean people i had to be nice to because my manager would hear everything i say on her headset. i quit after 2 months.
-after quitting steak n' shake i got a job as a librarian's assistant in a small library. i'm the only one working in the library and except for the occasional grad student or visiting scholar, i spend my shifts alone. my boss doesn't like being a boss and she likes me because i do my work and don't need a boss, and i get to choose when to come in and work based on my schedule. i've been working here since 2012.
-last year i picked up a second part time job as a shop monitor in a wood and metal shop. it involves a little more social interaction than the library but its mostly people i already know, and its usually just answering technical questions. plus i get to work on my own projects, and i like fixing/maintaining shop equipment.
-in the future i might take a course to be a certified welder, but other than that i'm not really sure.

I find this interesting too. I dislike what I do, basically everything Ive done, and cant for the life of me think of what may work for me, this may give me ideas what works for others with a similar mind.

I am 37 and change jobs basically every year so this may be a little long, Ill just list job titles since i did the same thing in a few different places.

-My first job was at 17 in a hardware store as a cashier. I was also a cashier then at a supermarket, a video store (yes Im that old), and a drug store. These jobs weren't too bad, but really boring. And usually disrespected by customers and management. This is unacceptable to me.

- I then became a receiving clerk at that drug store. Same disrespect, so I quit with a meltdown. It was satisfying.

- Then I worked for two companies doing sales over the phone. At first this was very hard for me, but I was trained very well and we had a script that was to be followed to the letter. I enjoyed this and made very good money for a little while. I then discovered it was dishonest and eventually had to do something else. It did give me a skill- I discovered i was quite good on the phone. I was great at emulating those around me.

- After that I did customer service in a call center for two different places. I hated this severely. The pressure and trapped feeling was just too much. I was able to use my skills I learned in sales, but the volume was crazy. Taking 90-100 phone calls back to back to back all day was a constant anxiety attack.

- I then happened into a job processing home equity loans. This was by fat the best job I ever had and the only one I really ever loved. It used my phone skills and my over-analytical attention to detail and following of procedures helped me greatly. I made excellent money, had unlimited OT and made big bonuses every month. I also lived literally two minutes away. I was there a year and then got laid off due to the housing market crash. This crushed me and I actually cried over it. It's being commission based was a great motivator for me. The feeling that I get paid the same if I do a good or bad job is a real obstacle for me because Ill slak off and not care about my job. I see nothing in it for me to work harder.

- I then tried to go back to sales again. Same thing happened. Liked it, found out it was dishonest, quit.

- I then worked in a small office with my wife for an appraisal company that worked doing tax assessments. This was an interesting field. best group of people I ever worked with. But I did alot of menial office work like copies and running errands. Did get to do some photography in a very nice town which was cool. But the job was mostly boring and we got laid off when they lost business.

- Then I went to data entry, which is what I do now at my third different place. I hate it too. It is so boring because I have zero interest in what im doing. The positive is I can literally not talk to a person for weeks on end, which I take full advantage of. I can just sit with headphones on all day listening to music. So much that I run out of music to listen to. I love Spotify

I feel I would have likely been best in a skilled labor job but was a big time mess of a person at that age and did not go to any type of college or trade school. I didn't have an interest in anything I could pursue. That or I should have learned to play an instrument because music is what I love most.

But alas, being stuck in dead end jobs will likely be my life until I die.

have you considered trying telephone customer assistance for products that require comprehensive knowledge? for instance, i sometimes buy products from the company smooth-on, which sells mold-making materials like silicones, epoxies, and alginates. there are lots of different options for customers to choose from, and depending on their intended use for the product it can be really hard to pick the best one and the necessary amount. they also require specific mixing ratios, have certain limitations, etc. whenever i call them up on the phone with a question they give me a very detailed, formulaic response and they have also always seemed eager to help me and not bothered by my questions or rushed to finish answering them. this is just an example, but i'm sure there are a variety of companies with this type of work available. just food for thought

Unfortunately I have little to no specialized knowledge. I also am not college educated, and most CS jobs require a degree now for some ridiculous reason.

I also just don't have the temperament for Customer Service. It's too fast paced and inflexible. Usually very strict rules about times, using the bathroom (I go ALOT) and dress code. It's just not for me.

Which is a shame because I do have the skill set for it.

ah, well i think they probably have a training process for new employees, but yeah that's totally understandable. and that is ridiculous, customer service isn't really something you can learn in college. anyways, i hope you find a job that you are happier with soon!

Yeah if that even exists.

There's an author named John Bowe that I really like who writes books that read like this. He talks to people about their jobs and writes little descriptions about them. Everything from Wall Street traders to hobos.

I tend peoples' gardens, prune trees (frequently apples ), mill walnut wood, remove old orchards, and do handyman jobs. Basically, I do the work that I used to do on the farm, except now I get paid. I used to do tree surgery in the San Francisco Bay area. I loved the work, but I hated the place.

My favorite job was working at a grocery store when I was going to college. It was physical work and did not require a ton of interaction, though I did talk to people when I ran a register a lot more than most people do now days.

I worked for the IRS for about 9 years. I started out answering tax questions, but then my managers figured out that I was really good at account related research, like helping people get their refunds processed or explaining mistakes people make on their returns. Then I was placed in charge of the payment agreement processing.

When I got married my wife encouraged me to expand my ambitions as far as work is concerned and I tried public accounting (tax preparation for business and financial statements. I did good pumping out the work, but most the places I worked wanted people who brought in new clients. I got fired twice and once I quit because the boss wanted me to call the IRS and lie saying I was the client.

Then I tried to start my own accounting business, but could not scrounge up enough clients.
Finally I started doing long term consulting jobs as an employee of Accountemps, which is how I found my current job.

Consulting is a good way to find out if you like a field that you like.

I've had a slew of (mostly) minimum wage jobs. My favorite of those was being a delivery driver. It was pretty decent pay most of the time with little customer interaction. The only good job I had I got fired from.

I used to work retail in all facets of "front of house" services -- variously cashier, sales assistant, customer service, all of which also included taking inventory of goods and being responsible for ordering more.

I hated every retail job I ever had. The worst thing about those jobs for me was the customer interaction. I could fake my way through being outgoing and helpful, but I found it very difficult emotionally to deal with difficult customers, or even to deal with a very busy day of just LOTS of customers. I used to spend as much time as I could hiding, doing stocktaking instead, trying to do anything that got me off the shop floor.

I tried applying for those back-of-house jobs such as stock and warehouse, but never landed one; the only jobs I landed were still the front jobs because that's where my experience was, kind of a Catch 22 situation.

I realize now that this kind of job just never was a good fit for my particular issues with social interaction. You could say I succeeded in handling trying to be more of a "people person" but the price I paid for outwardly dealing with that role was stress, overload, and burnout. I walked out of every job I had, none lasted more than six months, because I couldn't stand anything about them anymore, the customer interactions, or the co-worker situations, which always became rife with misunderstandings and ostracization in the end.

After my last retail job turned bad, I went out there and started up my own business. I was determined to work for myself so that I could cut out all the BS dynamics having to deal with bosses, co-workers and streams of strangers/customers.

I started my own cleaning service. The only people I have to deal with are the same set of clients, whom I choose as much as they choose me when they hire me. You collect a set roster of clients and you only have to deal with each one of them for one day a week or every two weeks. No co-workers, and nobody's really your boss, your clients are your customers not your boss.

It's now the only work I've managed to stay in for more than 21 years now, so obviously the situation works for me.

I'm getting burned out physically though, and ideally I dream of having an online business that is more or less passive. I have an online retail store but it's not taking off. I need to work harder on marketing and advertizing. I'm having executive functioning problems and depression making it difficult to stay motivated, but if I could get the store to start happening and finding customers, I'd like for that to be my income from here on out, so that I can retire from the physical job. That job has served me well though, and has suited my need for solitary work, as it's mostly been that.

This may be a bit old, but I seem to be developing a habit of responding on older threads anyway...

I started working (above-the-table) when I was 16, as a bagger at a grocery store. Before that I worked as a door-to-door salesperson selling candy and carwashing stuff for a 20% commission (no real people skills needed, just follow the script) and working for various neighbors, doing yardwork and mowing. (I started the yardwork thing when I was 10).

I worked at the grocery store as a bagger, cashier, truck crew and stock crew member, and dairy department stocker. I transferred to another store with the same company when my parents moved halfway through my senior year of high school. While working for the grocery chain I took two, two month+ breaks for Boot Camp between my junior and senior year of high school and AIT for Field Artillery for the Army Reserve right after graduating high school.

While working at the grocery store, I developed a reputation for being kind of odd, but hardworking and good with kids. Moms would come through my line in droves because my character impressions would keep their kids entertained and keep them from starting the "I want syndrome" and getting unruly. I lived in Orlando, Florida and one night right after I was helping a mom with her order and her kids with some of my voice impressions, I was approached by an older gentleman whose voice I recognized right away as that of "Tony the Tiger" of Kellogg's fame. He gave me a business card for MGM studios and told me they were always on the lookout for new voice talent. Unfortunately, I forgot the card was in my work vest when I washed it.

I continued to work for the grocery chain, and shoot artillery one weekend a month (what a blast(pun intended )) until I received a phone call from the Navy recruiter who wanted to talk to me about the nuclear power field. I quit the store and went onto active duty for the Navy for the next 20 years. I washed out of the nuclear program and went to the fleet as a machinist mate (every job in the Navy used to end with __man, mate or technician. I had jobs that that had every one of them as I was at different times; a machinist mate, a sonar technician and a mineman). I went to my first duty station and met my wife shortly thereafter. I hated being a machinist mate because it was always hot and it seemed that I would never get the grime and gear oil out of my skin.

So I left the Navy and got a job slinging boxes in a warehouse for the next two years. It was a nowhere job, so I quit and went back into the Navy with the promise of switching job fields. I became a Sonar Technician and went to my next duty station (a minesweeper) which is probably the only job I have ever really loved, and I was designated as a mineman. I was a remote control submersible pilot (Think Alvin but much bigger or just look up MNS and MNV together and click on images) and technician, I worked my way up to work center supervisor before I had to rotate to my next duty station. I would have gone back but the Navy decommissioned the entire class of ships and closed down the base during the BRAC.

After that I went to IUSS and became an acoustic analyst for a couple of years. It was periods of mind-numbing nothing followed by mad flurries of gathering data followed by sleep-inducing boredom. Then I made a really bad mistake, I went on recruiting duty. It damn near ruined my career, it did end any chance I had of advancing further because a less than fully successful recruiting or instructor tour is the death knell for the CPO boards ever accepting you to put on khakis.

My last two tours, I kind of just went through the motions. I was a LPO and the Assistant Training Officer for my last ship. Making an enlisted person, other than a Yoeman, an Officer's Assistant is putting them out to pasture or the equivalent thereof. I still worked hard, but I was no longer driven as I had been before. I also began to realize that there might be something wrong with me. My son had been diagnosed with autism, and my oldest daughter and I were both considered odd by others but it had not clicked yet. I did some customer service jobs part-time when I could to bring in extra money for my family. These ranged from hotel clerk to pizza delivery driver. I always did OK with these jobs, I am pretty good when it comes to superficial conversation because it is easy to rehearse and does not require much thought.

Since retiring from the Navy I have been a factory line worker, floor associate at a big box retailer, an administrative assistant, an accountant, and now a systems administrator. The problem for me is that I am OK at most anything (except sales), but I am not a subject matter expert at anything at all. I am a generalist (as long as it does not involve persuasion, I could not sell my way out of a wet paper bag lying open on its side, with the bottom ripped out. Might as well eat a soup sandwich while looking out the screen door of a submarine while I'm at it.)