What do you do?

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jtl
jtl Member Posts: 456
I have no idea if this has been covered or if anyone even cares but I find myself frequently wondering what people do or did for a living. When I first meet someone in person that subject usually comes up very early on in the conversation because people want to find a common ground. Obviously those of us on this forum already have a bond but I still would find it intesting to know more about you.

I am retired from a career in commercial banking. For most of my career I was in charge of a commercial lending divison that made loans to industrial businesses and commerical real estate developers. I retired from mainstream banking when I was in my early 50's and since that time I have done a number of jobs on a contract basis including being an arbitrator for FINRA which hears cases involving members of the securities industry who are regulated by the SEC. I have also done work recently for the FDIC in the area of bank receiverships which is a way of saying I helped close troubled banks.

John
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  • Jahnsart
    Jahnsart Member Posts: 41
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    i am a remodeler of houses
    I have worked in the computer field with an M.I.S degree. I have been working as a remodeler and a jack of all trades for a few years, I couldn't take being trapped in doors. I built aircraft for Boeing, L.T.V and others and spend my free time as a trainer of mentors who mentor youth.
  • RushFan
    RushFan Member Posts: 224
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    Jahnsart said:

    i am a remodeler of houses
    I have worked in the computer field with an M.I.S degree. I have been working as a remodeler and a jack of all trades for a few years, I couldn't take being trapped in doors. I built aircraft for Boeing, L.T.V and others and spend my free time as a trainer of mentors who mentor youth.

    I sell flowers
    I'm GM for a wholesale bedding plant grower.

    I've been in the green industry all my life.
    Growing up, my family had a small retail garden center in central California. I also worked for 15 years for a large retail garden center chain in SoCal before moving to Cypress Texas ll years ago.

    For those of you who go to M.D. Anderson and pass through the Texas Medical Center in Houston....
    All of the annual bedding plants (color) in the flower beds...medians, parking entrances etc. came from me and my company.
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
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    Interesting topic
    I retired from the Air Force and then went to work for a defense contractor managing computer geeks at locations around the world. We did a lot of different IT projects but specialized in computer and network security. For one year now I've been on disability.
  • adventurebob
    adventurebob Member Posts: 691
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    Fun question
    I'm an outdoor guide/adventure therapist. I take people backpacking, rock-climbing, river-rafting, hiking and help them work through their issues as nature does it's magical healing number on them. I have a private practice and also consult for mental health inpatient facilities; creating adventure programs and training guides to provide adventure therapy to mental health patients. I've been in the field for over 10 years now professionally but have been an outdoor person my whole life. I've worked off and on over the last couple years since diagnosis. Treatment and recurrence has slowed me down a bit but hasn't kept me inside much. Even on bad days (especially on bad days)I spend most of my time out in nature doing what I love to do with either clients or my sweetheart. I like to keep the odds more in favor of falling off a cliff or drowning in a river as opposed to dying of cancer.

    AB
  • fisrpotpe
    fisrpotpe Member Posts: 1,349 Member
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    what is needed
    i do what is needed to be done to fend for my family

    carpenter for union and non union.

    Now I call it LTD.... long term disability

    I always wondered the same what we all did

    john
  • Larrykins
    Larrykins Member Posts: 38 Member
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    Movies
    I work as a 1st Assistant Director in movies. Yes in Luxembourg! You'd be surprised.

    Off to Czechoslovakia next month for 4 weeks. Will be hard to leave the family but somehow I can not wait to leave this house where I have suffered and sat for the last year of my life and feel normal again somewhere completely different. Working.

    Have done 5 weeks work since Dx over a year ago and I am climbing the walls...
  • pascotty
    pascotty Member Posts: 174 Member
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    Larrykins said:

    Movies
    I work as a 1st Assistant Director in movies. Yes in Luxembourg! You'd be surprised.

    Off to Czechoslovakia next month for 4 weeks. Will be hard to leave the family but somehow I can not wait to leave this house where I have suffered and sat for the last year of my life and feel normal again somewhere completely different. Working.

    Have done 5 weeks work since Dx over a year ago and I am climbing the walls...

    Fleurs
    Im a florist and own two stores named Florist Gump and my name is Jenny and our main shop is on Forrest avenue. Have been creating beautiful flowers for 20 years and have only ever worked for myself. I have nine staff and love and respect them all xxxx
  • hislove40
    hislove40 Member Posts: 51
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    Financial Planning Firm - Rescue Dogs

    I work for a financial planning firm by day - rescue dogs nights and weekends for an organization or 2. I consider both to be real jobs - actually, the dogs is my very expensive hobby :)
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
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    I am really enjoying this
    I am really enjoying this but I am surprised that many who post a lot have not shared.
    John
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
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    hislove40 said:

    Financial Planning Firm - Rescue Dogs

    I work for a financial planning firm by day - rescue dogs nights and weekends for an organization or 2. I consider both to be real jobs - actually, the dogs is my very expensive hobby :)

    Bless you!

    Bless you!
  • tommyodavey
    tommyodavey Member Posts: 727 Member
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    jtl said:

    I am really enjoying this
    I am really enjoying this but I am surprised that many who post a lot have not shared.
    John

    Sort and Deliver
    Thanks John for asking this question. I too have always been curious as to what others do and how they got there.

    Back in the day it was a lot easier to pick a company or business and pester them until they gave you a job. I remember going door to door in the business district asking for an application. Nowadays it's almost all done online.

    My first real career job was being an expeditor and planner for a nameplate company. The job had a lot of prestige but gave me an ulcer with the deadlines and pressure.

    A friend of mine who worked at the Post Office handed me an application and I filled it out thinking it was just insurance as I had a good job. After three years as an Estimator I knew the company was in trouble and ended up as a Letter Carrier for 24 years. Went into Safety and retired from there just last June with 31 years in. My plan was to get a little part time job until my wife retired and then travel. Just four months into retirement I was diagnosed with oral cancer. It was the same day of orientation for a new part time job.

    Right now I'm waiting for an interview to be a Park Aid here in Nevada. Yep, I feel more comfortable working for the government, the State this time. I am also trying to get hired at the local DMV as an Examiner. Either one will be fine.

    So being on a sort of limited income, the co-pays and hospital costs are killing us. In a few months we'll be okay w/o having to dig into our retirement IRA.

    I was a proud U.S. Postal Service Letter Carrier and would do it all over again. Lost 50lbs the first 6 months and loved all my customers. Not a rich career for sure, but it got us a paid for house, a kid through college, and a retirement annuity, albeit a modest one.

    Sorry for book,

    Tommy
  • George_Baltimore
    George_Baltimore Member Posts: 303
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    Mortician
    I started out wanting to be a pharmacist. I fooled around my first year of college and ended up losing my student deferment. They had a little thing back then called Viet Nam. Back then, they were drafting every tenth man into the Marines. I assure you, this kid was not meant to be a Marine. It scared the bejezuz out of me. I ended up enlisting in the Air Force for four years. I went from San Antonio for basic to Keesler AFb in Biloxi for a 36 week tech school for ground electronics. While I was there, Hurricane Camille blew through. It closed down the schools for two weeks so that we could help the good folks of Biloxi get some semblance of order back in their homes. Went from there to Anchorage Alaska for a year. It was supposed to be a two year tour but the AF cut it short by a year and sent my tail over to Thailand. Took a good month and a half to become accustomed to that lifestyle. After that, I loved it. The Thai people were some of the friendliest on earth. Spent the last 9 months of duty in Austin, Texas. I got a job installing private business phone systems when telephone interconnect was in its infancy. I was the last one hired so I was the first one fired when the business went down the tubes. After being out of work for a couple months, a friend of mine asked me why I didn't go to work for a relative. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made so that is how I ended up as a Mortician.
  • staceya
    staceya Member Posts: 720
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    Mortician
    I started out wanting to be a pharmacist. I fooled around my first year of college and ended up losing my student deferment. They had a little thing back then called Viet Nam. Back then, they were drafting every tenth man into the Marines. I assure you, this kid was not meant to be a Marine. It scared the bejezuz out of me. I ended up enlisting in the Air Force for four years. I went from San Antonio for basic to Keesler AFb in Biloxi for a 36 week tech school for ground electronics. While I was there, Hurricane Camille blew through. It closed down the schools for two weeks so that we could help the good folks of Biloxi get some semblance of order back in their homes. Went from there to Anchorage Alaska for a year. It was supposed to be a two year tour but the AF cut it short by a year and sent my tail over to Thailand. Took a good month and a half to become accustomed to that lifestyle. After that, I loved it. The Thai people were some of the friendliest on earth. Spent the last 9 months of duty in Austin, Texas. I got a job installing private business phone systems when telephone interconnect was in its infancy. I was the last one hired so I was the first one fired when the business went down the tubes. After being out of work for a couple months, a friend of mine asked me why I didn't go to work for a relative. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made so that is how I ended up as a Mortician.

    What a great idea!
    This is an amazing thread. So much talent and diversity among us!
    I have been a registered nurse for 28 years. Before starting nursing school I was planning on pursing a career in graphic arts.
    Like many nurses,I have worked many different areas and have enjoyed all of the differing experiences of each position
    • State run inpatient mental health/correctional facility
    • Tracheotomy and Cystic Fibrosis Care
    • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Infants)
    • Home Health Nurse
    • Occupational/Employee Health/Immunization Nurse
    Currently I am the Educational Coordinator and run the facebook page for a small hospital.
    I also teach CPR, and strangely enough basic computer skills.
    It has been fun, being able to incorporate graphic arts into my current work.
    Thanks for posting
    Stacey
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
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    Energy Resource Specialist
    I work for a Municipality owned Utility...City of Lakeland and Lakeland Electric.

    I have worked here for 22 years now, a little over actually.

    Mainly I do database modeling (planning), to determine how much fuel and power we will make/use in the future. It's based off of historical data and other forecasted information.

    Things like fuel prices, population forecasts, economical climate, historical weather, generating units, planned maintenance outages, etc....

    I've always had an interest in computers and the technology.

    In 2006 and at 52 years old, I finished my Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of South Florida in Information Technology (B.S.I.T.)....big break in years between earning the Associate of Arts Degree in 1980, LOL...

    John
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
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    Hi John
    Very Interesting, I was a Technical Manager for a number of years in the Offshore Marine industries. But after having a fight with C a few times I now work doing Computerize Maintenance System on Ships. I love doing what I do and enjoy being able to still contribute doing something. I also preach on the side to any Church or Organization that invites me, God has just been so good to me through it all.

    Thanks
    Hondo
  • Mikemetz
    Mikemetz Member Posts: 465 Member
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    Professor
    I am a university professor. I prepare future health and physical education teachers and work with current teachers to help them improve their teaching. I also do consulting for teacher education programs in other countries.
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
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    INTERESTING THREAD
    I am a General Manager for a Scaffolding and Shoring Company. We are the largest specialty contractor of this type in North America. I run the division in St. Louis and we specialize in coal fired power plant construcion and outage work along with refinery turn arounds and other large industrial construction applications.

    I love what I do, and my company has been wonderfull to me and my family while I went through my ordeal.

    Great idea for a thread as I now get to know a little more about all of my CSN friends.

    BEST

    Mike
  • arndog64
    arndog64 Member Posts: 537
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    INTERESTING THREAD
    I am a General Manager for a Scaffolding and Shoring Company. We are the largest specialty contractor of this type in North America. I run the division in St. Louis and we specialize in coal fired power plant construcion and outage work along with refinery turn arounds and other large industrial construction applications.

    I love what I do, and my company has been wonderfull to me and my family while I went through my ordeal.

    Great idea for a thread as I now get to know a little more about all of my CSN friends.

    BEST

    Mike

    Intersting indeed!!
    I am the

    Intersting indeed!!

    I am the caregiver and I am the AP/AR manager at my company. We repair turbines, gearbox & pumps for the local refineries in Houston. My husband is a Project Manager for an offshore company, but currently is on disability.
  • Greg53
    Greg53 Member Posts: 849
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    arndog64 said:

    Intersting indeed!!
    I am the

    Intersting indeed!!

    I am the caregiver and I am the AP/AR manager at my company. We repair turbines, gearbox & pumps for the local refineries in Houston. My husband is a Project Manager for an offshore company, but currently is on disability.

    I'm an exotic dancer....
    Ooops! I confused this with the hobby thread.

    Civil/structural engineer. Too old to learn the new-fangled design software, so I manage a group of young-whipper-snappers for a consulting engineering firm. We design bridges and highways throughout the Midwest.

    So next time you're driving thru Missouri and you get caught in traffic jam due to a construction project, you'll know who to blame.

    Cool post!

    Greg
  • Jimbo55
    Jimbo55 Member Posts: 590 Member
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    Fore!!!
    My career is in Golf. Unfortunately I was never anywhere close to being good enough to even dream about playing with the big boys.

    Thus, I build and maintain golf courses. I began working on golf courses in the Chicago area when I was going to school for a degree in plant and soil science.

    Its taken me to California, Florida and around the world. I've built golf courses in the Philippines, Thailand and now in Cambodia. Its a great life, I've never regretted it for a moment. Cheers.

    Jimbo