Just Wondering

[Mojo]

If you could have selected the occupation you would have for life and could select any job you  wanted, what would you have done for a living ?

Myself, I would have become either a general surgeon or an airline pilot. I always wanted to be a surgeon as I have found medicine, anatomy and the human body so interesting. My love for aviation and my love of flying airplanes would have been a good fit for me if I was an airline pilot.

So what would you have become ?

Chris

[Mike]

Well
I like wh im doing and wish i was sble to have started much sooner like the chance my son had but passed on
I would want to much stress but i eould like to have had a good retirement pention
So id say a teamster truck driver i was a delevery guy for a but but my friend fell into a drivi g job and like his dad will have a nice retirement plan making about as much not working and has had a freat medical plan.
So union  driver.  It would probly have been a long bore though.

[mike802]

I still dont know what I want to be when I grow up!

[sofadoc]

As a kid, I wanted to be a DJ. I'm glad that didn't work out. Because I'd blow my brains out if I had to sit in an enclosed room, and spin that crap they're playing now!

The great Jethro Bodeen had some worthwhile aspirations........brain surgeon, fry cook, double naught spy, and street car conductor (he thought that coin popping mech that attached to the front of your belt was cool).

As a teenager, I wanted to be a TV repairman. As disposable as TV's are now, that's about the only job on Earth that's even more "dead end" than upholsterer ;).

I really know how to pick 'em, don't I?

[Darren Henry]

As disposable as TV's are now, that's about the only job on Earth that's even more "dead end" than upholsterer Wink.

Shoemaker is also a dead art. With the advancements in surgeries and prosthetic s for club foot etc... and the elimination of polio there hasn't been enough demand to train young shoemakers. Now the old guys that are left (mostly European immigrants) are dying off or retiring so the skills are not getting passed along. When I switched over to upholstery in '95 there were only about 6 places in Canada that still hand made footwear. Since then Gabe out in Kelowna (?) British Columbia has passed away and I read an article in the Winnipeg free press a couple of weeks back that my old master's daughter might have to close up shop because she can't find a shoemaker. The chap she has now is 67-ish and wants to go home to Columbia(?),Mexico(?) for 3-4 months every winter now. She is third generation, but her involvement was on the administrative end. She could probably change a pair of ladies lifts (the little rubber part on the bottom of your heel) if she had to--- but in the years I was there I never saw her behind a sewing machine or trimming a pair of soles.

The shoe repair end is not much better off. People are so used to throwing out cheap shoes that the only work you gets is "sew my purse","glue my sandals",etc  and they expect to pay 25 cents.

[Mike]

my father as a young kid worked for a shoemaker in malden mass .when he joined the navy he was in the ships shoe shop.
he later was working for a painter who was a pilot on his ship by coincidence.then ended up dabbling sewing and I ended up helping him and now this is what I do.

[JDUpholstery]

I wasted a lot of years doing stuff to pay the bills...getting sick and losing my medical card to drive a truck was the best thing that ever happened to me! Now at 37, I am learning a craft I truly enjoy, and am half way good at (considering self taught over the last year). I could not ask for anything more!

[DBR1957]

Something in the music industry. I had a nice large system in college and my room mate and I would
DJ parties for campus organizations' fundraisers. My son plays guitar and rekindled my desire. I have
modified several guitars for him, assembled a Stratocaster from select parts, recovered speaker cabinets
and currently researching recording equipment since that's the path he wants to take.

I was recently given information to apply for a position as a tech for an established band for a tour. Reality
is they needed someone who was more of a jack of all trades than me. Throw me a guitar and I can fix a
setup issue and replace electronics. Properly setting up a concert style sound system is a little beyond my
knowledge though.

I was tempted to give it a shot but they need someone before I could get a passport.

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

My neighbor is a commercial airline pilot.  Trust me, you DON'T want his job.

[sofadoc]

My neighbor is a commercial airline pilot.  Trust me, you DON'T want his job.

Being a sewing machine mechanic, you would probably have to take a huge cut in pay ;D

[kodydog]

I took a construction course several years back just before the bottom in the housing market blew out. Over the years my wife and I have bought and sold several fixer-uppers to help supplement our upholstery business income and keep us busy during the slow times.

Would love to do this full time but the months long commitment (mol) with no cash flow always makes us think twice. Maybe some day.

Almost ready to sell our St Augustine house and start looking for another. Our goal is to own two houses  before we retire.

The upholstery business has always been our steady and reliable income. Even during the slow times we have always managed to pay the bills.