My bathroom sink has been getting progressively more clogged over the past six weeks, but for obvious reasons, I haven't felt like doing anything about it. Tonight, I'd had enough. I grabbed a bucket and a towel and went to work. Upon taking off the main pipe, I discovered that a slimy raccoon had a death-grip on the drain and wouldn't let go. OK, so it wasn't really a raccoon but it certainly seemed like one. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I may never get the image out of my mind. [Note to self: When your husband offers to do something, don't try to prove that you can do it yourself. It never ends well.]
After the battle was won and the raccoon was slain, I said out-loud, "I would make a terrible plumber." I started thinking about some of the jobs I've had that I didn't do very well. Like corn detasseling. I tried that out one summer - well, I guess you can't call it a summer because I only lasted a few days or maybe even a few hours before I passed out from heat stroke. I awoke to find out that the boy I had a crush on had carried my lifeless body out of the field and that he had commented that he'd never seen a girl drool so much. That was the last time I detasseled corn (and the last time I looked him in the eyes). Let's see....Oh, I was also a make-up artist for a play and was HORRIBLE. I think the director sent the Lion (Wizard of Oz) back about 54 times before he finally gave up and started telling me how to do it. Hmmm...another thing that I'm not is a lumberjack. I love to use chainsaws but have been told that I wave them around like light sabers (sp??) and therefore am not allowed to use them. :)
So, if I ever lost my day job, I wouldn't be a plumber, farmer, lumberjack, or make-up artist. What would I do? I've had a lot of jobs that I loved. I LOVED being a collections agent. That's right! Yours truly spent a summer getting old people to pay their durable medical bills! Funny, the first month, I thought they were going to fire me. My manager told me I spent way too long talking on the phone to the elderly - that the quantity of calls was more important than quality. I didn't listen (shocker, right??). I had my own approach and they needed someone to talk to! They were bored and lonely and out of money. In talking with them, we came up with ways to improve their budgets in order to send money to our company. During month two, the money started rolling in. Our company hadn't recovered that kind of debt in 10 years of doing collections. No one had ever thought of being a nice collections agent! lol. There was also the summer that I spent selling hearing aids for Beltone. Same story. I went through their long training program about the importance of the bottom line, but I thought it was a bunch of bologna. I just wanted to help people hear better in a way they could afford. Honestly, if you're 84 years old, flat broke, and live alone, do you really need a pair of $6000 hearing aids?? Nope, you just need a $24 amplifier and headphones from Radio Shak. What do you know? I had the top sales in the region the entire summer. The guys who'd been at it for 15 years were mystified. So was I (I had no clue what I was doing). One more....I loved waitressing. I especially loved it the summer I waited tables at Cedar Point. The guys who worked with me were much better than I at the late shift but also stayed up late partying, so I sometimes opened the breakfast shift alone (while they were sobering up). It didn't take long before I realized that I couldn't possibly get to 32 tables myself. So, I enlisted the help of customers to fill coffee. It was actually a lot of fun to stand on a chair and pick eager volunteers. Too funny. I never figured out why people left me a tip when they helped do the work.
Why am I writing all of this? I guess it's to say that you should do what you love the way you love it. Don't do something because that's the way it's always been done. The unconventional often feels better and who's to say there's only one right approach to anything??? Put your own flair into your job. You'll love it all the more. [Does this mean there's a way for me to put my flair into plumbing??? I don't think so.]
1 comment:
Not a lumberjack? But you sing The Lumberjack Song so well! And you're OK! :-)
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