Sunday, March 20, 2011

Today's fortune: March 20, 2011

Today's fortune: You will soon be changing your present line of work.

Oh. Crap.

Just when I was starting to get good at the widget making game, a fortune tells me it's time to start looking around for a new career.

So this morning, as Jamie and I sat in bed, sharing half a cantaloupe and reading the Sunday Kansas City Star, Jamie suggested I look through the classifieds section to see if any potential lines of work popped out at me.

I could be the vice president of a bank, according to this classified ad. Of course, I don't have any experience in that line of work, and I'm sure they'd want someone who has been, at the very least, a teller. Probably not an option.

The Star is looking for newspaper delivery drivers. Brings to mind a funny story. When I was working at the local daily newspaper in Maryville, Mo., Jamie got a job at a small office in town. She told her co-workers that I was the editor of the newspaper. Later that day, one of her new co-workers came up to her and asked, "So, does your husband deliver the newspaper?" Paper carrier used to be a good job, back in the days when every house got one. A driver's territory was small and lucrative. Now, maybe one in ten houses, or even as little as one in a hundred houses take a newspaper in certain neighborhoods. That's not a good gig.

A big-rig company is looking for truck drivers. I have the physique for it already. And I like to drive, but I also like sleeping in my own bed every night. No thanks.

I could be a dean at an all-girls college. Hello, dream job! Oh, hi Jamie. What? Wipe that stupid smile off my face? Yes, dear.

How about an elevator service technician? I've ridden in plenty of elevators. Does that make me qualified?

Half Price Books is hiring retail booksellers. You know, during one of my stretches of unemployment, I actually applied for a job there. I never got called for an interview. That's probably a good thing, because Half Price Books is my favorite store on Earth. every paycheck I received would go right back to the company.

Or I could apply to be a server at Red Lobster. The ad says they have "Opportunities for Smiling Faces & Great Attitudes!" That pretty much cuts me out of the hiring pool.

I don't think the right fit is listed in today's want ads.

And I'm fine with that. Because I really, really like my current job, and I hope to make a career with Acme Co.

That may seem antithetical this fortune, but I don't think so. The fortune is telling me that I will "soon" be changing my "present line of work." "Soon" is up for debate. It could mean tomorrow, or it could mean a couple years from now.

"Present line of work" doesn't necessarily mean I'll be leaving the company I work for. In fact, there's a lot of room for lateral and upwards movement at Acme Co. Most people don't stay in the same job for more than a few years, but they stay with the company for decades. I think that's really cool.

My dad worked as an accountant for a community college for over twenty years. But then, a job opened up in the same college system, and my dad became the superintendent of facilities, overseeing the building maintenance and grounds at one of the campuses. He liked his job as an accountant, and it's what he went to school to become, but he loved the superintendent job. My dad made a complete 180 in careers... and he never left the company.

Acme Co. is a place where things like that can happen.

I'm content with being a widget maker right now, and I want to get really good at it before I even think about switching to a new job. Maybe that's a year from now, maybe two, maybe more. A few years down the road, I could still be an Acme employee in a completely different line of work.

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