People who join the military at 19 have nothing ever going for them

Consider joining IslamPocshy2.0 wrote:
Kill not only my myself, but my progeny? I mean, sometimes going nuclear is a solid move, but can we really gamble the future on a feeling? Mac, you're a particularly astute student of life, what would you do?SuperJail Warden wrote:
Get a vasectomy
It really doesn't matter.SuperJail Warden wrote:
What gun do you use when you hunt hookers through the Australian outback?
Who knows?What happens to the ones who escape?
Last edited by Dilbert_X (2016-12-17 05:11:02)
I've lived in Perth, Tasmania, Brisbane and now Sydey. I've been to Melbourne at least a dozen times and Adelaide once.uziq wrote:
melbourne is one place in australia i'd maybe move to. sounds kinda european. and like the weather actually fluctuates a bit sometimes. lots of publishing jobs there too. plus all the women seem to be preternaturally hot.
Rich coming from the HVAC technologist who is determined to kick the ladder out behind him on his climb to mediocrity. The truth is the public service is so different from the private sector that you really can't fathom its existence. You wouldn't know how to observe a basic approvals process, so you assume it's worthless and dead. It's driven by such a different set of principles, values, and philosophical underpinnings that a poor technologist with a sheepskin from the local maritime college really doesn't stand a chance at understanding.Jay wrote:
Working in the public sector is for people who have given up on life. You can always flip and become a lobbyist or something.Pocshy2.0 wrote:
I got all of my paperwork finalized for health insurance and pension benefits now that I'm a permanent employee, and all I feel is a sense of finality tied to my mortality that really worries me. Like, this is it. I've got 35 years ahead of me, and with very minor variation I can pretty much tell you where I'll be on any given day. Some might find that comforting. I just...don't. The weirdest thing is that I worked for years building experience and knowledge to get here, and my first thought is a profound concern for the shade of my gray my life has become.
All this to ask, should I strip on amateur Wednesdays?
Last edited by uziq (2016-12-17 09:38:13)
Adelaide (or more accurately South Australia) is wine capital of Australia.uziq wrote:
i'm not sure i like wine enough to skip european wine and go to australia.
if i'm ever over in asia on a lark for 6 months or a year, i'll definitely check it out.
Last edited by Jaekus (2016-12-17 09:33:40)
Thanks, Uzi. You're right. Even within the public service I belong to there are lots of opportunities to move between roles and specialties. We have a very well developed secondment system that lets you dabble in other policy areas for as little as 6 months to as long as you desire, all without the risk of losing your former position or any ill effects to your employment benefits. I'm pretty well locked into my current role for about year, but after than I can move on to my true passion in Cultural Policy (which is the reason I got into this field in the first place).uziq wrote:
jay considers his 20s a lost decade because of his catastrophically bad decisions so he's keen on shitting on everyone.
he doesn't grasp that your degree and your public sector experience means you can move to another career relatively easily. you are employable. you have lots of cultural and social capital, too. you will be networking with the right people.
jay has a vocational qualification from an unknown college so he's got to defend and justify his own choice with the tenacity of a cornered mutt. he'll grow into those XXL khakis and spend the rest of his life tilting at windmills and reading reason.com to confirm his own limited worldview.
i really wouldn't worry about getting cold feet. you're not locked into one career for the rest of your life now. not necessarily, anyway. you're young and have plenty of time to try several other careers or niches in your field, if you wish. i wouldn't be worried about being locked into one thing for the long haul until i was nearer 35 than 25. 30 is the new 21, right? you have two degrees and are earning good experience, if you are uncertain. jay was in nowhere near a position as strong as that by the time he was in his mid-20s.
"public sector is for those who have given up on life" - coming from the guy who joined the US's biggest workfare scheme as a young man because his life got off to such an abortive start.
Last edited by uziq (2016-12-17 11:35:44)
I feel the same way whenever someone tries to make fun of my dirty job. I am only 26 and I don't want a wife, children, and a home in the suburbs. There's no point in rushing or freaking out about a career. I like the fact I can just get up and leave to wherever tomorrow if I want. It is good to have supportive parents who are more interested in my happiness than bragging to the family about my career or lifestyle.uziq wrote:
i really wouldn't sweat it. one of the best pieces of career advice i ever got was from a professor who told me 'do whatever you want during your 20s, try everything and anything you want and don't sweat it if something doesn't work out or click for you. people spend a lot of time worrying in their 20s about a career, whereas things tend to fall into place one way or another anyway'. he took his undergrad at cambridge and didn't bother going back for postgrad until he was in his 30s. he ended up as a professor at one of the better schools in the uk/world for his field.
took a lot of pressure off me and made me realise that you don't have to have everything lined up and locked in by 25. and if you do, you won't necessarily be any happier or richer for it, anyway. the world of careers and work has changed and everything is much more fluid now.
Dude, you sit in an office with middle aged time servers and foreigners who are just happy to have a job for life. Maybe you write a report or two that is buried on someone elses desk somewhere. Maybe you aspire to create your own bureaucratic form one day that will make your data processing job easier and drive the public nuts. You're too young to be in public service. That shit is for old people that want to skate into a pension.Pocshy2.0 wrote:
Rich coming from the HVAC technologist who is determined to kick the ladder out behind him on his climb to mediocrity. The truth is the public service is so different from the private sector that you really can't fathom its existence. You wouldn't know how to observe a basic approvals process, so you assume it's worthless and dead. It's driven by such a different set of principles, values, and philosophical underpinnings that a poor technologist with a sheepskin from the local maritime college really doesn't stand a chance at understanding.Jay wrote:
Working in the public sector is for people who have given up on life. You can always flip and become a lobbyist or something.Pocshy2.0 wrote:
I got all of my paperwork finalized for health insurance and pension benefits now that I'm a permanent employee, and all I feel is a sense of finality tied to my mortality that really worries me. Like, this is it. I've got 35 years ahead of me, and with very minor variation I can pretty much tell you where I'll be on any given day. Some might find that comforting. I just...don't. The weirdest thing is that I worked for years building experience and knowledge to get here, and my first thought is a profound concern for the shade of my gray my life has become.
All this to ask, should I strip on amateur Wednesdays?
Which is why I was giving him shit for taking a government sector job in his 20s. That shit is soul crushing. Do something fun. Go wait tables. Anything is better than working in a bureaucracy.uziq wrote:
i really wouldn't sweat it. one of the best pieces of career advice i ever got was from a professor who told me 'do whatever you want during your 20s, try everything and anything you want and don't sweat it if something doesn't work out or click for you. people spend a lot of time worrying in their 20s about a career, whereas things tend to fall into place one way or another anyway'. he took his undergrad at cambridge and didn't bother going back for postgrad until he was in his 30s. he ended up as a professor at one of the better schools in the uk/world for his field.
took a lot of pressure off me and made me realise that you don't have to have everything lined up and locked in by 25. and if you do, you won't necessarily be any happier or richer for it, anyway. the world of careers and work has changed and everything is much more fluid now.
It's fairly easy and you have cash in hand to party every nightSuperJail Warden wrote:
i rather work in an office than bring people food. i know a few waitresses. the job sounds awful
It's not a good career, but it's fun when you're in your mid twenties and have no responsibilities. I averaged about $100/night cash and we'd go drinking afterwards most nights because we had nowhere to be until the following afternoon. What the government saw was someone making $3.50/hour and claiming $20 in tips. I'd take salary statistics for cash jobs with a grain of salt.SuperJail Warden wrote:
the job is exhausting and the pay is not consistent. most often they are worried about putting in extra time to make ends meet. they go home without the energy to party unless you count hitting a bong or taking an oxy as partying.
Last edited by Jay (2016-12-17 15:19:55)
quelle surprise, jay thinks waiting tables is a sensible thing to do in your 20s cause ... it's what he did. i'd rather be working for the government and using my knowledge from graduate school. a salaried job with actual responsibility doesn't equal a life sentence. he can sit pretty in that role whilst he figures stuff out and his resume will look good.Jay wrote:
It's not a good career, but it's fun when you're in your mid twenties and have no responsibilities. I averaged about $100/night cash and we'd go drinking afterwards most nights because we had nowhere to be until the following afternoon. What the government saw was someone making $3.50/hour and claiming $20 in tips. I'd take salary statistics for cash jobs with a grain of salt.SuperJail Warden wrote:
the job is exhausting and the pay is not consistent. most often they are worried about putting in extra time to make ends meet. they go home without the energy to party unless you count hitting a bong or taking an oxy as partying.
The classic struggling single mom usually works the lunch shift so she can be with her kids at night and makes shit because the bills are a lot smaller. It royally sucks to be in their position.