Mike M.

Hey Robin,

I feel your pain. There is no easy answer to this.....in a previous life I was buried in contract manufacturing, so can align some of those past memories with yours. Nonetheless, I am in real estate/new construction now, and working on a project with the local county (double whammy). Figure that if there were no problems, we would not get paid the big bucks we get to make (assume we all do well relatively speaking, as we own/drive Porsches).

Nonetheless, try this for size. My dad is a philatelist (look it up if you don't know- but I myself never took an interest to that business). He owns his own company, has a niche market cornered, sets his own hours, makes a pretty good 6 figure income, and gets to travel around to different trade shows when he pleases. Nonetheless, that business, as it seemed to me, seemed pretty high on the "nerd" factor, but turns out to be pretty lucrative with the right clientele and investors. But there's an option if you want, hehe.

993MAN

And here I was in NZ thinking it was just me suffering in silence.
Try owning a specialist retail store with all the multi nationals coming in from Australia mainly, and swallowing us up like monsters.
I'm sure life was not meant to be like this....
I want to be a train driver now

Jetmech

try being a in the **** industry. it sucks...no pund intended.

Kigiin

Nice.

zots

...that's why they call it work!

cecil

My job is always worry free.

Butzi

The residential real estate market here in San Francisco has not taken a nose-dive like elsewhere, but the # of transactions over the last couple of years is going down, coupled with the influx of know-nothing agents out to make a quick buck has created a "put out the fire before it spreads because the other agent doesn't give a rat's ***"-atmosphere... oh, and then there are the clients...

That's life, it was the same for me when I was a chef.

Compensation = Capitalism's pain killer...

Go for a drive...

I should add: I do love my work, though!

CP

Robin,

Sorry to hear you're frustrated. At least it is a Friday.

One of the true blessing for me in the past 18+ years is my day job. I'm the Director of Architecture and Engineering for a large local home-builder. We are union so we only work when the union works, and you know the cushy union hours. I go 8-5 and no weekends. No much of travel at all. I am a one-man department so I have no politics, no evaluations, no personnel issues. We don't have much firm dead-lines as development involves so many moving pieces, so it is a really low stress job. I have an employment contract so I do not worry about raises, bonus etc. I know exactly how much I'll be paid every year. This is as good as job as any I have ever had, or could imagine.

On my spare time, I cruise Rennlist, drive my Ruf, and design custom homes for local clients. The side jobs pay for all my toys, retirements, vacations, and savings. And I love what I do. In that sense, I am truly blessed.

If that make your folks jeolous, I'm sorry.

Have a great weekend.

CP

chris walrod

You're a veterinarian?

chris walrod

Working in professional motorsports has its ups and downs. Just when you think your chassis has all of its bugs worked out, the phone rings. Mechanical failures present some of the strangest and out of the blue problems!!

Take it easy Robin! Take the aircooled car for a drive!! In fact, take it for a drive down to my house, and we'll BS for an hour or two!!

Stealth 993

I'm in IT, every day is a new day, & no one is ever happy about anything. Yea, I had that kind of day also.

C.J. Ichiban

I've got a dream job but it still involves 9-12 hour workdays in 100* heat with no days off for 7.5 months straight...

then again, it's really fun driving that 17 miles to "work" each day

gordo993

My customers occasionally do...and yes, they are human (for the most part!)

That's alright tho, the last day I was at work was Oct. 30th and I don't go back until Nov. 15th. (Posting from sunny Ft. Meyers, Fla!!!)

scat

I work in manufacturing(aerospace industry).Last week one of my co-workers got crushed to death when two billets (bar stock)@ approx 6K# each fell on him.Not a pretty scene at all,to say the least.He was 41yo, same age as me,leaving behind a wife and two little girls.I am still affected by his passing and probably will be for a while,but I always try to be positive in everything I do.I feel lucky and blessed everyday that I wake up and I have my family around me.
Take care everybody!

Mike J

Wow, I thought I was the only one! I did software development for 10 years, business development/executive positions for 10 years (including founding a software company), and after my last software venture went down due to a crashing Telecom market, started a construction company that has run for the last 4 years. Every job has its pain-in-the-*** moments as well as moments of great times!! Now I am searching for the next "thing" to do since I am getting tired of breathing dust and dealing with idiot subcontractors.....it never ends!

Luckily I have a very supportive wife so my main problem is "What's next"! I thought it would be easy, but guess what, its not that simple to figure that out!

Cheers,

Mike