Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

[deputy1515]

The worst job thread was awesome. I can't even compete. How about hearing about the BEST job you ever had?
Mine was spending summers working on a trail maintenance crew in the Bob Marshall Wilderness when I was a kid. I started volunteering when I was 15, and continued working summers all through college for them. It was a 2 man crew with two saddle horses, three pack mules. We would ride and cut out trails, build pack bridges, etc. No chainsaws allowed as it was wilderness...just swede saws, axes, and big crosscut saws. It was awesome. I wish I could afford to go back and spend another summer there.

 

[Shady_Jay]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

I worked for a law firm serving as a legal courier. At 19 yrs old I was making $15 an hour in 1994 with no bills plus mileage. I actually only worked about 3 hours a day. The rest of the time I hung out with the union attorneys drinking with them out of their wet bars in the office.... man, if I could go back in time

 

[TXMARINE]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

I worked as a welder for an oil rig company making $42.50 using my own rig, buying your oxygen, acetylene, rods etc.. was a 7 day a week job, but the money sure was good when you are 18, and daddy is letting you use his truck and welder.

 

[Bacarrat]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Back in 00-04 I worked in a speed shop modifying cars. We did mostly late model domestics, Camaros, Firebirds, Vettes, Mustangs and the occasional Viper here and there. I never minded being at work, it just didn't seem like work. Got to go to a lot of races around the US, met a lot of cool people that I still call friends to this day.

Now I am really not into cars. Finally saw the light on how much of a money pit those things are..... guns aren't that much better.

 

[ALASKAPREDATOR]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

My dad was career military and after flying as a crewman for awhile he went to a Field Training Detachment to instruct. A more 9-5 type job. Anyway the lazies there hired me to do their janitorial work, cleaning bathrooms, offices, breakroom, etc. I worked 5 days a week, 2-4 hours at a time. I did this job for 4 years,from 11-15 years old, making $30.00 a month. I got all the doughnuts I could eat, had spending money,and all the Playboys I could read. The coolest part was getting to know all the instructors and having them bypass top secret clearances and allow me to fly in Link type trainers, run B-52 bombing simulations on Moscow, do aerial refueling missions with a KC-135 simulator (one time went from 35,000 ft to 0 just to see how fast the altimeter would spin),access to the film library and bringing home a projector and government films from WWII and Korea for Friday night movies with my friends, befriending the survival instructors and getting free cool stuff(surplus of course) and instruction in trade for mice I'd catch to feed their pet praire rattlers. It was fun being a young kid with all it's advantages in a man's world.

 

[splean]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

I had a two year project in Rome, Italy keeping books for an American production. I had a car take me to and from work every morning and evening. I had about three hours of real work a day. My lunches were paid everyday after which I would have a few drinks at the studio bar. I was making good money, recieving per diem and recieved a very generous sum for housing. I had a great apartment with a balcony in a very nice part of town. I had many very nice dinners on the company and attended swanky parties. I had a gorgeous twenty five year old belly-dancing Italian girlfriend. On Sundays she would come over, teach me a new Italian recipe, we would have dinner, make love for a couple of hours and saunder down to the piazza hand-in-hand for a drink. I traveled throughout Europe on long weekend trips......sigh.....

 

[vwhugger]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Messcook in the Chief's mess on the USS Reeves.

Although, the first 15 or so years of a long time career with a major computer manufacturer was not too shabby either. Good pay, lot's of travel, free reign, long cocktail lunches, company parties.

 

[Krav69]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Independent stock trader in the mid-to-late 90's bull market.

Insane money!

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

1980-81 in Houston. I worked for an oil field supply company. Made more money than I would see for 15 years there after. Company credit cards, all the over time I could handle. They flew me all over the world doing installations of their products. Since their stuff was primarily made to order R&D stuff if was always fun. On installations I didn't get paid time & a half for overtime. I got paid straight time from the time I left the office to the time I got back to the office. Some days on installations I worked 4 hours. Some days I worked 23 hours. Met some nice people from all over the world. After some horror stories about what happened to a few people in Muslim countries I stopped going to those places unless it was an offshore rig that I could stay on until the job was finished. Time wise, I'm not sure which I flew on more, helicopters or airplanes. At that time there were a lot of rigs in the Gulf.

But after my wife's father passed we decided to move back home at the next offer of employment.

The funny thing is... I did a preliminary visit to the "Ocean Ranger" off shore of Nova Scotia just before coming back home in November '81. I had been scheduled to be on her at the time she went down with all hands lost. Life is funny sometimes like that. I guess it just wasn't my time.

 

[echotango]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

The first several years of my current job. I was one of the technical guys attached to the sales force. I made sure the sales guys didn't over promise, did the demos, etc. Also installed software and supported clients tht used our stuff. Lots of travel, lunches, fancy dinners, nights on the town, etc. Out of pocket expense while on the road was almost zero. I spent one summer basically living in downtown Chicago for the most part for free. Had a gorgeous blonde sales rep there that loved to party and we went out regulary. What a time. We worked hard, but played just as hard.

Conferences and conventions used to be insane. Too many stories that ended up on that list of "if you weren't there, you don't need to know about it"

It's still my best job, but things have changed alot regarding entertaining expenses and such and companies now are much tighter on what can be expensed. Those "glory days" are gone and frankly it's probably best. Maintaing that pace is not healthy anyway

 

[fx77]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Summer Camp Waterfront Swimming Instructor
Made $100 for whole summer.

1965

 

[CDiPrecision]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

The best job is the one I have right now. I work with guns and deal with gun folks all day, and I also work alone. My customers are my bosses, and I work to keep them happy. Best day ever

 

[Parallax]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Sergeant Investigator on a Sheriff's Department. You avoid most of the shit jobs, you choose your hours to some extent, you can get involved in about "anything" you want to, schools and training were easy to come by, easy assignment to SWAT or special details and jobs, assignment to the MEG Unit... little supervision... etc...

Sergeant in LE is a great rank, high enough to matter but low enough to have to care about "upper management decisions". When you step up to Lt or above you loose being "one of the boys" and a ton of freedom. You end up dealing with citizen beefs, office politics and the petty personal problems and dumb crap your employees do. And... Little to no opportunities to experience the satisfaction of being able to personally put the habeas grabus on some dip shit who really deserves it.

 

[idpasteve]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Not Really a job-

but I was a teaching assistant for "intro to woman's self
defense" class in college...

 

[Blanco0621]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Being a Active Duty U.S. Marine deployed....Some of the best times in my life.

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

The best job I ever had was being a Dad to my Daughter. She moved out last year and man do I miss her.

 

[lanwickum]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Just before I moved home. Worked at Stillwater Mine as a contract mechanic. Work was crazy, very busy almost all the time. 90 mile drive each way. Seen some crazy stuff underground. Worked up to 16hr days. Made 3-4 times what I do now. I loved it.

When the contract end I quit that life because of my family. When I was working I never seen them. Now I am back in my home town, home for lunch everyday. Spend a lot more time with wife and kids. Wouldn't have it any other way. The best job doesn't always mean the best life.

 

[ArcticLight]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

The last dot-com I worked for, they did sports and are still online but under FORMER ownership.

I made 75k a year sitting on my ass watching servers, writing FUN scripts, securing them - doing stuff I LOVED to do - met a lot of wild and int eresting people downtown seattle.

And when I felt like leaving I got in my car and left, drive by Tukwila and see the servers and head home.


Was nice, made enough cash to be debt free, put 25% down on my house and then got laid off LOL

5 years of that and I would have been RETIRED.


Such is life, my 6000 stock option shares went POOF like 6000 grains of Varget with a match.

 

[Sespe]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Best job is my current one, Captain on a SoCal Fire Dept. Like the LE SGT above, "high enough to matter but low enough not to have to care about 'upper management decisions'"

I run a truck company; we do all the cool stuff while the engine guys pull hose. We don't run 'bloody butt' calls. And I have a 5 minute commute to work.

There are downsides, I spend 1/3 of the year away from my family. Spent Christmas and Easter at work, but so did a lot of guys in the sandbox, and I get paid better, so I ain't complaining.

Next best job was when the Army issued me a dirtbike...

 

[green_vaccine]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

I'd have to say 97-03 when I worked for Lucent Technologies. Traveled the country testing and integrating new construction cell phone sites. Made more money than I could spend, got to ride on 4 wheelers, snowmobiles and helicopters all the time and never had direct supervision.

 

[smboudreaux]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Sr. Health Physics Technician for a up and coming environmental company specializing in radioactive materials. I have been to Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and several FUSRAP sites. Never made it to Hanford. Made a great money cleaning up the mess made during the Manhattan Project and decommissioning some crazy ass science projects. The history behind that industry is amazing. the security on some of the DOE/DOD is insane.

 

[mexicanmatch]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Manager of a topless bar

 

[echotango]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mexican match</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Manager of a topless bar </div></div>

We have a winner!

 

[hamr56]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Working on family ranch. It certainly taught me what it meant to be part of a family and gave me a skill set to carry throughout the rest of my life. Not to mention great access to hunting and a long distance shooting range.

 

[Switchblade]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Best Job EVER? Easy!

Being a Marine in the early 80's and holding a Technician job in a helo squadron.
Why? Being around a cool flightline all day, being stationed in Kaneohe so Waikiki was right 'down the road', having a fast motorcycle and killer friends, playing punk rock on stage(singing) in the local scene, and the beaches and bikinis, oh man, the girls! You just had to be there to experience what it was to be there at that time.

 

[Vindex]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Holistic mammographer for Hooters.

 

[eleaf]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

Worked in a dive shop in 1998. Good stuff.

 

[Fritz24]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

I was a Stagehand for about six year in my early twenties. Was hard work at times, but a ton of fun for the most part. I saw virtually every major concert tour extant in the late 80's-early 90's and met various musicians/singers from Ted Nugent, Ozzy and Metallica to Kenny Rogers and more than I can remember now. It was a very cool time.

 

[1990GT50]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

I think I have the best jobs right now butthey're definately not high payers, I just get to work with cool people. I teach kickboxing at SLO Kickboxing, work security part time at a local bar and work semi-full time at poly performance

http://www.slokickboxing.net/
http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/

 

[UKDslayer]

Re: Okay, now the BEST job you ever had

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Hannibal</div><div class="ubbcode-body">1985 when minimum wage was $4hr. Drug testing in college. Room with 30 guys and a TV/VCR. You either got the real drug, the generic, or the placebo. They drew blood from your arm every 15 minutes for 12 hours- around 45 pokes in 11 hrs. Fed you 2 restaurant meals-BBQ. End of the day your arms were sore but you got $500 tax free! That was 6 weeks of full time work back then for just one day of IV pokes. That one day covered half a semester of college. These days? Maybe a couple text books.

Best part- the meds. Man, they were were mighty strong. Remember not being able to walk I was so wasted or seeing stuff that wasn't there. I saw notes coming out of the television speaker. Watching "Terminator" tripping on whatever they gave us was wild. Think Stephen King wrote a book about this.

Han</div></div>
Sounds like you were testing generic drugs versus brand name drugs. How they rate a new generic as "A-B" equivalent is if the drug you took showed up in subject's blood at a concentration of within 20% above or 20% below the actual brand name drug. I always wondered where they ran those because I never heard of any participants.