Monday, January 08, 2007
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Our discussion topic for today is job satisfaction. Do you have it? New Year's is often a time when people resolve to make career changes, so I expect a few of you may be thinking about this.
Me, I'm pretty happy in my job. I have the usual set of annoyances, aggravations and grievances, like anybody. For awhile, I freelanced which was great except for the crappy, unstable pay. At first I was reluctant to return to office work but now on the whole I like what I do.
I can tell that I like what I'm doing because I'm still doing it. I have a low threshold of tolerance for shit jobs. In the past, I would usually make a decision about a job within days and promptly quit if I didn't like it.
Once in college I took a part-time job at good ol' McDonalds. I finished out my shift so that I could get my free employee meal, then I quit...the same day.
In a related incident many years later, I once took a notion to make a dramatic change of career by trying my hand at corporate travel sales. I hated it from Day One. I would have quit immediately, but the job offered a lavish, all-expenses-paid trip to a training seminar in Vancouver at the end of the month. So I took the trip and then quit. Between the first and last day, I pretended to go out on "sales calls" but mostly I just went home, took naps and watched the soaps.
Since then, even though the industries I've chosen to work in are inherently unstable, my employment has been more or less stable. In my last workplace, I had worked more or less continuously for essentially the same outfit for about 12 years, so I guess that counts for something.
These days, I'm a magazine editor / writer. When I tell people this at parties, the next question is always "Oh. What magazine do you work for?". The tone of this question always suggests that the asker expects me to say Sports Illustrated or The New Yorker or something else they've heard of. So my stock answer is, "I work for a publication called Gent, Home of the D-Cup. Perhaps you've heard of it?"
The humour of this response buffers the boredom that usually follows when I explain that I actually work for a local, small-time trade publication.
While the magazine's circulation is small, the job of running it is every bit as big and complex as if I were running a major newstand publication. Certainly, it is not a boring job. There is a lot to like about running a magazine. Three things stand out to me.
First of all, the job is very rhythmic. Every issue is different, but the process of producing it is always the same. From one week to the next, you don't have to wonder what you are supposed to be doing because every issue fits in the same pattern. The job to me strikes the perfect balance between creativity and routine.
Another thing I like about it is that you are left with a definite finished product at the end. It's not quite the same as getting a book published, but it's similar. Vain though it may be, I never tire of seeing my name as a byline on stories or sitting at the top of a magazine's masthead.
Since I am a writer as well as an editor, the third thing I constantly enjoy about the business is doing interviews. I have come to be a big believer in the axiom that everybody has a story. I pride myself on taking the most ordinary people on earth and squeezing an engaging, publishable stories out of them. I have often had people profusely thank me for this. "Thank you for making my life sound so interesting," former interview subjects have said to me.
But enough about me. How about you guys? What do you like about what you do? What do you dislike? Is there anything you'd rather be doing? Do you have any funny stories about ditching a bad job or getting a good one?
Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
posted by Mentok @ 10:11 p.m.,
13 Comments:
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At 5:35 a.m.,
Rachel said...
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Oh dear, I fear when I come back to respond to this question I will end up writing writing a novel...
You know what I could do without, Memo's, if you have something to say, just say it, why waste paper and ink?
Mentok, I hope you realize the consequences of bringing up this topic...haha jk, ok I will be back after sleep, even better tomorrow while I am at work, on the clock, so they can pay me to chime in on this topic. ;-) -
At 7:44 a.m.,
Grumps said...
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Naps and soaps while supposed to be working, eh, Mentok? I always knew you were the George Costanza of our group.
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At 9:38 p.m.,
jamwall said...
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i'm such a total anus for not showing up more often mentok. hope you're having a good year so far!
regarding your post. i'm happy if i'm learning a new skill. but i'm getting less interested in helping the helpless (aka, end-users). it kinda goes against my introverted, isolate myself in my office-personality.
that's tech support for ya!
i've had some jobs where i enjoyed watching the place vanish in my rear view mirror. my current place is really good, just understaffed. -
At 12:14 a.m.,
Ian said...
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I'm a warehouse manager by day, and a writer by avocation. Eventually I hope to replace the warehouse manager with something more interesting, like gigolo or consultant. Consultant in what, you may ask. It doesn't matter. All you have to do is sound good.
Ian -
At 9:46 a.m.,
Mentok said...
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rachel - yes, I figured you might have something to say about this topic. I look forward to it.
grumps - "I always knew you were the George Costanza of our group". Yup, guilty as charged. I once even took a very brief (approx one minute) nap under my desk.
jamwall - right back atcha with the anus-hood apologies...um, that was meant to sound positive, really ;-)
ian - don't bother with gigolo. Trust me, it's not all its cracked up to be. -
At 9:48 a.m.,
Grumps said...
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I absolutely love what I do for my job number 1 - the majority of which is writing and research related to that. Plus it's very diverse. Just too bad that I'm only now making what I made 12 years ago when I was downsized.
I'd really love to follow my dreams and be a novelist but starving myself and my family would be the downside to that. I'm content to work on it part-time (very, very, very part-time) for now and hope for a break that would let me quit at least two of my job so I could devote more time to writing for myself.
It terms of other employment, before I came to my current job, there was a period of about two-years where I had two dozen jobs or contracts. In that time I was fired several times, hired to a full-time job (after quitting another) only to get there and be told it was only part-time, and even worked for one scumbag employer who never paid me.
That resulted in a three month battle with UIC (now Human Resources and Development Canada). Before I could collect they had to determine whether or not my earnings from the job were insurable. I kept telling them it was a moot point because I had no earnings. Ironically, I got the he job through one of their postings.
I eventually got my claim approved but only after we cleaned out our RRSPs.
So, no matter how paltry it may seem, I do appreciate a steady cheque for doing something I love. -
At 9:50 a.m.,
Bathroom Hippo said...
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Vancouver?!? Hah! I would hate to go there!
Well...being a full-time college boy....I hate what I do. I just hate the pace of college...the concepts are another story...If I went at my own pace I could have finished college in just a few years...but seeing as how they pace me...it's gonna take a few more.
Funny stories? When I worked at Wendy's a long time ago I used to throw the garbage over the fence instead of unlocking the gate to the dumpsters..why? Because it was easier. To make a long story short...apparently the trash had been compiling onto this guy's property and when I went to work one day my co-worker got blamed and was fired. -
At 4:05 p.m.,
said...
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wow, mentok, i had no idea you were a magazine man. my degree is in magazine journalism, and the coolest place i ever worked was cosmopolitan (yes, helen gurley brown is a real person--and extremely odd).
my favorite publishing gig was at twice-weekly local newspaper, back in the good old days of typesetting and exacto knives (man, i'm old).
however, i grew to despise the grind of the deadline. it seemed like (and of course it was true) as soon as you put an issue to bed, you had to start the next one, and it simply never ended.
oh well. i haven't done that in years. i'm starting a new job in two weeks, a customer-service type job that will more than likely involve typing and answering the phone. yipee--using my education to the max! ;-) -
At 11:13 a.m.,
Mentok said...
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grumps - yes, there is a lot to be said for a steady paycheque. There's also a lot to be said for freedom and having the time to have a life and raise one's kids. Some days it is still a hard choice for me, now that I know the latter can be a viable option.
hippo - don't be a rush to get out of college. If you're like most people, you'll spend the rest of your life feeling nostalgic about it.
mjrc - hey, sister, always nice to meet another magazine person. Cosmo, eh? Which sort of articles did you research, "10 Surefire Ways to Drive Your Man Wild in Bed" or "Lose 20 Pounds on the Chocolate and Strawberries Diet"? ;-)
I hear you about the grind of deadlines, but, lucky me, my magazine is bi-monthly, so it's a nice, long cycle that allows enough time to do a good job without having a coronary. -
At 12:30 p.m.,
mjrc said...
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ah, i was but a lowly copy editor, so i didn't have a lot input into the content of the articles.
however, i did do some fact-checking for them, and it was interesting. there were two types of articles: emo(tional) and non-emo. i checked the facts in the non-emo ones, but the emo articles (usu. anything to do with sex) were generally left alone! -
At 12:57 p.m.,
Elizabeth said...
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The worst job I've had recently was editing an American History survey text. At the last moment, I discovered that the distinguished author had completely plagiarized large portions of the text from www.thehistorychannel.com. So, if you happened to come across an American History text book that is extremely favourable towards the British, it's all me. I had to rewrite the Colonial section in about three days, and I was pissed.
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At 9:50 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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Ha, ha, Liz you're a hoot.
"So, if you happened to come across an American History text book that is extremely favourable towards the British"...
Yes, I think I've read that text. It was called a Canadian history text.
This is, after all, the country where people still get pissed off when they hear that "Battle of New Orleans" song. ;-) -
At 2:37 a.m.,
FiL said...
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Well, I left a job in London that was consuming my mind, soul, and much of my will to live. Indeed, that was a major part of what drove me to Vancouver.
Hippo, I hope you manage to ditch the hate. Life's faaaar too short to spend it hating.
