Jobs that you FAILED at before finding your way in life....

[kiwigtx]

not "diverse" enough?

It was so long ago that I could have gotten away with blackface.

 

[MCODECUDA]

I never went to college after high school and was hired to deliver the inner office mail for Carrier Air Conditioning Corporation in Syracuse New York. At the time they were the largest air conditioning company in the world and working in the mailroom was the lowest job there. I had drafting experience in high school and I was able to move over to drafting as a clerk filing and making copies of drawings. Things got busy in the mid 70’s and I started doing drawing corrections on overtime. Soon I was promoted to a junior draftsman but I was also designing units for special applications including nuclear power plants. A few years later I went into production scheduling and later became the Special Order Coordinator in charge of handling any units that needed special modifications including heavy industrial applications. Then I became the shipping manager until they moved the production facility to Charlotte North Carolina. I was asked to set up the shipping operation in Charlotte with no promise of a permanent job. They finally made me an offer to work as the Master Scheduler of the plant until they realized that they had been ignoring any Engineering that came down the line. I ended up being the Product Change Coordinator in charge of all product changes and new product introduction. I retired in 2017 and it took two people to replace me and now I hear that they are looking to hire a third person.
I was there a total of 46 years and excelled in them all and failed in none.

 

[Xp29h]

How many job you got mon?

 

[moparwacko]

fired from 3 body shops......... does that count?

Pretty hard to do when you're self employed.







The boss must be a dick.

 

[Kern Dog]

I was there a total of 46 years and excelled in them all and failed in none.

Uhhh….
It appears that you missed the title of this topic.
It is good that you did well, my point was in the theme of “What failures led to your ultimate success”.

 

[Cranky]

Uhhh….
It appears that you missed the title of this topic.
It is good that you did well, my point was in the theme of “What failures led to your ultimate success”.

You just now realizing that most posts here are not about failure leading to success?

 

[Kern Dog]

Yeah.
I’m just used to Mark/RC being the only one that brags on himself.

 

[BB BELLA]

all of mine were failures because I'm still working! only thing I got right was my marriage!

 

[eldubb440]

Pretty hard to do when you're self employed.

it's pretty much WHY I am self employed

 

[Cranky]

all of mine were failures because I'm still working! only thing I got right was my marriage!

I'm just the opposite!! If I would have had some 'learnin' in a little bit of psychology, I'm thinking I would have avoided her all together!! Her profile checked a LOT of boxes including saying I was the one with all the 'mental' issues and not her.

 

[Ron H]

the "Everyone gets a trophy" trend emerged

Agree, think I obtained some of the same impressions working with some dweeb guys for a time in the corporate office and encounters with the parents of some kids mine went to school with. My dad was about as laid-back as anyone could be. Little bothered him, always calm, dedicated worker, mechanical genius sort…ever the DIY guy. Learned a ton from him when I got my head on straighter. He had the expectation we should act like adults. Was a tough call for my brother and me in our teens, lol. Took a huge event to get him pissed and those rare occasions were unforgettable. Our mother was rather opposite, so there was that trade-off. Neither accepted much whining or woe-be-me ****. They had grown up fast living through the depression so there was a toughness there...if you wanted to get ahead, you had to EARN it. Being lazy wasn’t an option; always chores to do. Many having folks that went through the depression were the same way. I have friends who had tougher folks than I had and they’ve done well in life. There’s a self-pride thing we have gaining achievements and things we acquired by WORKING for them. Maybe one phrase caps this: Teach a man to fish vs giving him one. Too many skanks stealing ****, car-jacking, looting, having ZERO abilities and NO drive to acquire them. Got to wonder WTF these turds are thinking about their 'future'. Yeah, they don't. I’d comment more if this was on the PF, lol, though nothing you don't already know.

 

[j-c-c-62]

They were like most other parents for their time.
A trend began later where the parent was TOO supportive, TOO encouraging and too afraid to scold. From that, the "Everyone gets a trophy" trend emerged and now we have spoiled, entitled and blameless youths that cannot deal with stress and adversity.
There HAS to be a middle ground though.
Somewhere between a parent ignoring a kid and a parent hovering, meddling and pestering them.
My Dad never came right out and verbally told me what to do with my life but he did try to guide me.
He saw that my "career" in fast food was pointless so he suggested the Army.
That didn't work out. I have a hearing disability that was destined to get worse so I was discharged early.
I tried selling new cars.
That didn't work out so Dad suggested I look into construction.
I quit my first job after 3 hours and multiple blisters but I did soon find my way which led to 36 years of rewarding work.
Many of today's parents have instilled a bunch of BS in their kids minds...to the point where the kids blame others for their own failures, they often think they deserve raises for just showing up, they think every boss owes them a debt of undying gratitude...
There are good, balanced parents out there though. THEY raise kids to be grateful for their education and jobs.

In 50+ years of owning my company, I had thousands of employees. It often seemed in some cases I was father figure, and it was sad because it made me appreciate my dad and all he taught me, that so many others missed out on. Six months ago we had a retirement party and had over 50 people from the past 5 decades show up, and one compliment they shared was how much they learned being part of our team. At the end of the night, they gave me a standing ovation, they were a great bunch, was lucky to know them, and I was brought to tears.
Yes, good parents are everything.

 

[1STMP]

Been a quick pace relative
to growing old and enjoying
the fruits of many labors.
Picked walnuts for .25 cents
a box, paper route, hanged
sheetrock, processed
turkeys at a plant, same with
potatoes, raced
snowmobiles, dishwasher at
a major chain restaurant,
owned and ran my own,
Mechanical engineering deg
with heavy truck/bus/
military backround,, deep
sea drilling.
Funny part is, I never hated
any job I've ever held. First
there, last to leave.
I really didn't fail at any
of the jobs I've held, unless
considering a bad wreck
when racing snowmobiles.
That only intensified the
drive.

 

[moparedtn]

"Jobs I've Failed At", eh?
I don't know that I've ever personally failed at any of the crappy jobs I had as a teen, back before
the great black hole of fire protection sucked me in for life.
(I tried to leave it - twice - but it always sucked me back in!)

While I have never had the ego (raised to be humble) that allows me to walk around all banty rooster
about how I'm all that (as already witnessed in this very thread), I have managed to build a decent
reputation/career out of a gig that seemingly chose me, vs. the opposite.
Trying ones' best to have any integrity in this line of work can often be very challenging, depending on
who's writing the checks.
Sad but true...but I walk it the right way, sometimes suffering the consequences.

Oh wait, there may be a few exceptions to my statement here:
1. There was more than one company I worked for that failed me over time - there's some real
scumbags out there in contracting world, I don't need to tell many of you...
So I guess in that regard, refusing to get in the pigpen when some corporate maggot demanded
meant I failed in that regard, I suppose.
2. There was that one company that insisted on trying to hire me with the express purpose of
firing their entire service staff (and of course, they also wanted my loyal customer list as well).
(Big name corporation in the biz, too - shameful!)
They got neither from me, so I suppose that's a fail - took me a while to get past that one, too.

So, in the end days here - to confess, I did have a couple failed marriages - I do have a failing human
carcass that's run out of warranty now - and I still often do fail to keep my trap shut when I witness
bad and evil being perpetrated in this world - and I fail often to not give the banty roosters of the world
unmitigated grief, hoping they'll get humble (hint - they never do).
So there's all that....

One thing (knock wood!) that I've never failed to do, however, is to get the hell back up every time
someone or something (usually my own body) has tried to kill me off.
In the end, that's all I'm hanging my hat on - I've never compromised integrity and I've never failed
to get back up...and the world won't change one bit because of either of those.

 

[1STMP]

"Jobs I've Failed At", eh?
I don't know that I've ever personally failed at any of the crappy jobs I had as a teen, back before
the great black hole of fire protection sucked me in for life.
(I tried to leave it - twice - but it always sucked me back in!)

While I have never had the ego (raised to be humble) that allows me to walk around all banty rooster
about how I'm all that (as already witnessed in this very thread), I have managed to build a decent
reputation/career out of a gig that seemingly chose me, vs. the opposite.
Trying ones' best to have any integrity in this line of work can often be very challenging, depending on
who's writing the checks.
Sad but true...but I walk it the right way, sometimes suffering the consequences.

Oh wait, there may be a few exceptions to my statement here:
1. There was more than one company I worked for that failed me over time - there's some real
scumbags out there in contracting world, I don't need to tell many of you...
So I guess in that regard, refusing to get in the pigpen when some corporate maggot demanded
meant I failed in that regard, I suppose.
2. There was that one company that insisted on trying to hire me with the express purpose of
firing their entire service staff (and of course, they also wanted my loyal customer list as well).
(Big name corporation in the biz, too - shameful!)
They got neither from me, so I suppose that's a fail - took me a while to get past that one, too.

So, in the end days here - to confess, I did have a couple failed marriages - I do have a failing human
carcass that's run out of warranty now - and I still often do fail to keep my trap shut when I witness
bad and evil being perpetrated in this world - and I fail often to not give the banty roosters of the world
unmitigated grief, hoping they'll get humble (hint - they never do).
So there's all that....

One thing (knock wood!) that I've never failed to do, however, is to get the hell back up every time
someone or something (usually my own body) has tried to kill me off.
In the end, that's all I'm hanging my hat on - I've never compromised integrity and I've never failed
to get back up...and the world won't change one bit because of either of those.

Well said, Ed.

 

[Hey-O]

Everything I've done in my life has been a learning experience.
At sixteen I was a busboy at a Italian restaurant for about 9 months, stage one. From there I went to work at the hospital in housekeeping cleaning up after operations in the OR, stage two. Same hospital, but now an orderly transporting patients to and from the OR, stage three. I needed a real career and I was told I had the gift of gab, so sales it was. I was given a sales territory and was selling dental equipment and materials to dental labs and dentists. The money was incredible and my real life was on its way. That was till Theresa showed up in my life and worked with me at the place. She wasn't about the get serious with a guy that was having a blast travelling three days a week and had a hygienist in several cities. She knew of the practice from all the other salesmen who made mention of it, stage four.
My father was a carpenter and I had worked with him for years on side jobs, so a carpenters apprentice I became. Worked outside building houses in the screaming heat and cold for a few years going home to Theresa, my wife everyday. I soon decided this wasn't going to cut when I got old, if I made it that long and decided to upgrade my ability in a different direction and went inside to work at a bench building advertising displays and furniture, stage five. My last stop was an offer I got from Chrysler and that was a job that taught me many lessons in life. I retired in 2009 from my last job and with my first wife. I'd call that a learning experience and it only took a six shooter to get it done....... Ulli

 

[Ron H]

Removed my post due to it not being on topic, and being labeled a “Banty rooster”.

Never heard that handle. Off the topic, thinking about it though, a personal irritation is people who will label others they don’t know, or know very well. Yep, they got ya ALL figured out by a post, or meeting you for three-minutes…like they suddenly know you better than your mother does. Close work friend of my dad was one of those ever-over-opinionated sorts. He’d offer his views on things you weren’t asking for his opinions on. If you didn’t agree on how HE thought it all should be, well there must be something wrong with you.

Yeah, a few people I knew like this when I thought dragging my fingernails across a chalkboard would be more enjoyable.

 

[Cranky]

Been a quick pace relative
to growing old and enjoying
the fruits of many labors.
Picked walnuts for .25 cents
a box, paper route, hanged
sheetrock, processed
turkeys at a plant, same with
potatoes, raced
snowmobiles, dishwasher at
a major chain restaurant,
owned and ran my own,
Mechanical engineering deg
with heavy truck/bus/
military backround,, deep
sea drilling.
Funny part is, I never hated
any job I've ever held. First
there, last to leave.
I really didn't fail at any
of the jobs I've held, unless
considering a bad wreck
when racing snowmobiles.
That only intensified the
drive.

Never hated any of the jobs that came my way but after awhile, knowing that it wasn't the one was important for me and moved on rather quickly from those. Each one taught me something though. One that I was about to walk away from on the first night turned out to be one of those jobs that I learned hell of a lot and in a short time. If the pay had been better and the economy wasn't tanking for the products that we were producing, I would have probably stayed much longer. I'm just glad the supervisor came to me 30 minutes before my walking away and asked me a couple of questions about my experiences with CNC machines (which wasn't much) and said 'come on, I can use you' and man, glad he came in when he did!

Never heard that handle. Off the topic, thinking about it though, a personal irritation is people who will label others they don’t know, or know very well. Yep, they got ya ALL figured out by a post, or meeting you for three-minutes…like they suddenly know you better than your mother does. Close work friend of my dad was one of those ever-over-opinionated sorts. He’d offer his views on things you weren’t asking for his opinions on. If you didn’t agree on how HE thought it all should be, well there must be something wrong with you.

Yeah, a few people I knew like this when I thought dragging my fingernails across a chalkboard would be more enjoyable.

One thing I hate is the 'first impression' of someone seals the deal of that person is losing out. I've heard more than a few times when someone told me they thought I was a loser but gave me a chance later said "you're ok and glad to have ya here" didn't hurt my confidence any. However, there were 2 or 3 'stooopidvisors' over the years that I wish I could have fired lol

 

[Hey-O]

One thing I hate is the 'first impression' of someone seals the deal of that person is losing out. I've heard more than a few times when someone told me they thought I was a loser but gave me a chance later said "you're ok and glad to have ya here" didn't hurt my confidence any. However, there were 2 or 3 'stooopidvisors' over the years that I wish I could have fired lol

I was told many times that certain people feared working for me or with me. I give what you pass out and no one is better at bending a person that is full of hate over or bringing them to their knees. Most that said that were hard on people and the thought of being with someone that can beat you at your own game can be intimidating. I was always an underdog and that always made me a champion of the underdog. It's true, my friends love my loyalty and my enemies fear it. My confidence was not built on my friends, but rather my enemies, they could never change me and it made me a better person.

 

[Ron H]

One thing I hate is the 'first impression' of someone seals the deal of that person is losing out

Reminds me of a guy that became one of my best friends, Ralph. He was a few years younger and had taken a job, my 1st job after graduating tech-school, I quit for another one. As that worked out, had I stayed, I just might have been his boss. Another guy, I got to know, Jason, kept asking me to go to work at his company, but declined. I’d meet up with him and few people from his company for a couple beers after work. He hired Ralph. We spoke a few times at the bar and thought he was kind of aloof or arrogant. But he thanked me for leaving that job he took as he said he was having a hard time finding a job after college. Didn’t stay long there as Jason hired him offering more salary.

Well, I got ousted from my job as the company went down the tank and called Jason saying, hey you still interested in hiring me? He was and took a job with him. I reported to Ralph, being a supervisor by then. Jason said if you had taken the offer, you’d have Ralph’s job. Anyway, Ralph and I got to be good buddies and I got promoted, so we both reported to Jason. Anyway, we had talked about when we had first met and he said I thought you were kind of an asshole. Lol, I said I thought the SAME about you.
Some years went by and we both left that company on sorry terms; but we stayed close and had a lot of fun together, no one could get me laughing to busting my gut than he could. Miss him, as he died of a heart attack at only 50-years old, despite being a health nut. Anyway, so much for first impressions..