Tired of your job? Ways to make money.

[Beau]

I was wanting to spend more quality time with patrons instead of rushing them in and out. I was told to produce more (get those numbers out there) at the expense of quality time serving the patron. I was wanting only to make a more human experience for the people I helped and the management did not like that, and were in fact, threatened by the fact that the patrons sought me out because they knew they could have someone who listened and helped them. I am hearing that this is self-importance because I quit (rebellion) because I could not do something that I felt was following my heart. Sounds like its a program to 'follow one's heart or integrity' instead of doing something that feels not right. So this was irresponsible and I did not develop enough Will by sticking it out. In thinking about it, I was not able to handle petty tyrants. Maybe something would have changed in the job had I stuck it out.

SolarMother, have you "paid your dues" to the Universe so that you have earned the job you want that gives you freedom? I mean, really paid by giving up your lies to the self?

Apparently not. I lied to myself in thinking I was 'better than' the others in charge.

I think that's the crux. Despite what you may have felt about what is the best way to interact with patrons, you are being paid by someone and they have every right to tell you how they want the job done. Of course their is a desire to rebel against it because it did not feel right. But, their are other jobs. This sounds like a description of just one particular situation. Did you go out and look for other jobs after quitting this one? We've all quit jobs that were horrible and soul crushing, but we don't then quit on life altogether. You go out and try to make it work at the next job. Thinking that you're "too good" for the rat race is fine and dandy, but in the end you gotta bring home the bacon. If you're not able to do that with the situation you have created, then it's time to suck it up and get back into the rat race. Rent isn't going to pay itself...

 

[SolarMother]

Patience

About your example of working with "patrons," I am not sure exactly what you mean, but I guess you are talking about customer service of some kind. Rather it is in the context of being a waiter or waitress at a restaurant or working complaints on a telephone, there is the matter of practicing external consideration. A customer may have needs, but if you spend too much time with one customer then you are taking your time away from serving other customers. It is that simple. If you can make every customer feel special in less than thirty seconds while maintaining strategic enclosure (i.e., the awareness that any one of them could be a raving, ranting a-hole) then you are on your way to providing good customer service. If you happen to have a customer service job where you are guiding customers through some kind of administrative process, then you definitely have a job where you can "help" people. I think many of us know the difference between a customer service employee who helps us through a maze and the kind who revels in the little slice of power he or she has over others people's lives. But again.. All of this depends on the situation, the context.

Good luck and best wishes on this journey..

Patience, thank you for sharing your story of your journey in becoming an obvyatel. It was very helpful to me in my process.
I realize that this next change is all about seeing my lies and learning what you describe, which I see as dealing with any 'unfinished business' with petty tyrants, and once again earning money in a highly populated area.

To clarify, this job with patrons was one example of dealing with a teensy-weensy petty tyrant:
I was working in a bookstore and I was in charge of the used books dept. I had many people bringing me boxes of books, and I had to move quickly, sorting books out, recording online, and if the person stuck around for the process, I explained why I rejected some books and accepted others. Then I would issue a money slip so they could get immediate cash for their accepted books. Many of them really needed the cash! I had to work fast at times.
Sometimes the patron left the books in the office and came back later. I thought I was doing a fine balancing act, and then I was told that I needed to speed things up. Well, I am not really a person who works well hurrying or speeding. My customer service skills deteriorated trying to keep up with the quota that a napoleon-type, 'small man' manager wanted. I was making more mistakes as well. A few months later I requested an assistant. I was denied. That was when I knew it was time to leave. A few months after that I heard that the person who took over my job had requested an assistant and that they were granted one by a different manager, as well as a larger office space. Go figure.

Heimdallr

This sounds like a description of just one particular situation. Did you go out and look for other jobs after quitting this one? We've all quit jobs that were horrible and soul crushing, but we don't then quit on life altogether. You go out and try to make it work at the next job. Thinking that you're "too good" for the rat race is fine and dandy, but in the end you gotta bring home the bacon. If you're not able to do that with the situation you have created, then it's time to suck it up and get back into the rat race. Rent isn't going to pay itself...

Yes, it is one particular situation that came to mind to share in the process of understanding my history. I did get another job immediately after the book store job. I had to deal with another petty tyrant. She ended up closing her shop (import shop) after only a few months. I had good ideas about managing the shop, but she did not want to listen. In looking back over my long work history, I have not had too many bad experiences.

Not long after the import shop job (99) I moved to a different area and met Mr.A. while getting my Master's degree. My dissertation was a wonderful bookazine that MrA and I worked on together, he having a publishing background. He was making enough money so we decided that it would be a good time for me to take a break from a regular job for awhile. I still did an occasional counseling/astrology session. Instead of working a job I enjoyed being a homemaker. I am not sure what this forum thinks of that, whether it is considered REAL work, but I consider it important work and I enjoy everything about making a home, especially cooking and baking, and at the same time I know what it is to bring home the bacon (and fry it up in the pan!) :P

To sum up, I have had many jobs in the 'rat race' since I was 16. My field of expertise is counseling--specifically crisis and transitional counseling, which I mentioned earlier in this thread. The path to this included job training-- home health care, social work and then learning astrology (started this in '86) then in '91, building a private counseling practice, all these spanning the years from 82-07. I enjoy it when I make money. I had to supplement some of those years with odd jobs here and there. I have a BA in psychology and Art Rx. Masters in Liberal Arts, Communications. Those degrees did not lead to those specific fields but knowledge was valuable. I also traveled to Bali and India for 6 mos. in '97. Now that was a real learning experience, picking up vedic astrology, Indian dance, and I love foreign travel.
I made my own field eventually using astrology as a tool in counseling as I mentioned earlier. The area I lived in during these years (90-97, 98 & part of 99) was very receptive of my work. I didn't make a lot of money, but I had freedom. I just may do that again since I could very well be going back to to the same geo area. Having a job while I start that up is fine with me. I am open to doing something different as well, but I feel ready to go back into counseling people...but in a different style--one I have learned on this forum involving no forcing of views, etc. That's the beauty of counseling--people ASK for what they want to know, and now I know how to go about being a better counselor.

Ok bear with me--just a little more info. The only times I was not working a steady job in my life was when I had young children (and that is a job!) when I was in school getting my Masters, and this last 3 years due to being in a small town and pursuing this 'off the map' life. Including the time I was solely a homemaker, that is a total of 8 years out of 44.

Since moving to this area where there are scarce job opportunities, except menial labor, which lots of folks just do without even thinking about it...one or more jobs if you can find them...for me, a few stints as a waitress helping out friends at some retreats who are former chefs. I enjoyed the work and had fun. I also have done cleaning and cooking work here at the B&B. Menial labor does not bother me and I have at other times in my life done this-- waitressing jobs.

If I came across as 'too good' for the rat race, it might be because of my hesitance to re-enter it at my age. Then again, I know intuitively that this is not really a hindrance! Meanwhile I have enjoyed living in the country here, which has helped me immensely in calming down a very sensitive nervous system that used to get easily overwhelmed.

Thanks for reading this and I have appreciated the feedback!!

 

[SolarMother]

Gertrudes

In learning how to navigate 3D reality maneuvering would involve learning what 3D living is truly about and acting in accordance to what is gradually learned, accepting 3D's rules and limitations and using them for both our own, as well as the surrounding world's true growth and benefit. When manipulating 3D reality, you are closing your eyes to its rules and bending, contorting, forcing reality in what you wishfully think it should be.

This is how I see it, fwiw

That has clarity for me. I hope I am a different enough person at this stage to apply what you have said to going back to 'work', as it were. I have a lot to learn. Thank you.

 

[John G]

If I came across as 'too good' for the rat race, it might be because of my hesitance to re-enter it at my age. Then again, I know intuitively that this is not really a hindrance! Meanwhile I have enjoyed living in the country here, which has helped me immensely in calming down a very sensitive nervous system that used to get easily overwhelmed.

Yeah reentering is hard when you aren't young.

I got laid off from IBM in late 2001 where I had worked for 18 years. Neither me nor my wife worked for 4 years while I had some interviews, got a Masters, but no job. My wife went back to teaching and I stopped looking since one of us had to be with my wife's mom who was ill. She died in early 2009 so I started looking again but only had one phone interview that confirmed my skills were way out of date (even my 2006 Web Design certificate is woefully obsolete now apparently) and my age (50) doesn't help either.

I applied to retail stores and pizza delivery and senior care kinds of jobs too but haven't heard anything back. Someone may be able to eventually get me into Walmart but that's kind of in limbo cause we may be moving to where my parents live. We will likely declare bankruptcy in the not too distant future too. 3D maneuvering can get tricky!!

 

[Mr.Anderson]

Thank you Patience, that helps.

I don't think I will ever use my Master's Degree to go back into teaching again. I have a second interview tomorrow and have thought a lot about how a different attitude regarding sales might make a huge difference about how I feel getting back into the rat race. I know it will take a little while. Right now I have bouts of depression that are crushing and feel completely debilitating. Other times I'm OK.

 

[SolarMother]

Bluelamp

Yeah reentering is hard when you aren't young.

I got laid off from IBM in late 2001 where I had worked for 18 years. Neither me nor my wife worked for 4 years while I had some interviews, got a Masters, but no job. My wife went back to teaching and I stopped looking since one of us had to be with my wife's mom who was ill. She died in early 2009 so I started looking again but only had one phone interview that confirmed my skills were way out of date (even my 2006 Web Design certificate is woefully obsolete now apparently) and my age (50) doesn't help either.

I applied to retail stores and pizza delivery and senior care kinds of jobs too but haven't heard anything back. Someone may be able to eventually get me into Walmart but that's kind of in limbo cause we may be moving to where my parents live. We will likely declare bankruptcy in the not too distant future too. 3D maneuvering can get tricky!!

Thank you for sharing Bluelamp. I really feel for you and appreciate your empathy with our situation. It always helps when someone else knows what it is a person is going through!
It might be a good thing to be near to your parents, fwiw. Hopefully your parents are supportive of you and your wife, it sounds like it. If this is true, then you are very lucky to have that. I know a man who is 50 who lost his job and house and had to move in with his parents and is now working a decent job (rare in these parts) here in the town I am in.
I am hoping that once you get to your new location, things will change for you. It may be that doors are not opening for you now because you are not in the right place yet. I know that this is the case for us here, and we can sure feel that it is time to move...on!
My best wishes go to you and your family.
SolarMother

 

[Rosemary]

Thank you so much for posting this topic, and I'm really touched by everyone's experiences. In response, I would like to share mine:

I got laid off from the hideous retail job I was working in (illegally - therefore had absolutley no rights at all) and though I had enough experience to be able to get another retail job, I decided enough was enough, and vowed never to work in a job I hate just to pay the rent agin.

After six months of living on benefits and a small amount of savings, I got myself several jobs at the same time. One was a weekly stint as a youth worker teaching a drama class to kids. One was a relief worker for my local council working in whatever residential homes needed an extra pair of hands. And one is a psychiatric hospital, again, just doing releif work.
At first, it was great - I wasn't obliged to be anywhere if I didn't want to be because I had no contract of employment, and the anti social hours I worked allowed me a lot of free time when I wasn't working to play music, create and sell art work, write poetry and stories... I had never been so productive in my life. During this time, I founded an arts charity, volunteered as a drama therapist for adults with learing disabilities, designed for and modelled in a charity fashion show... life was just about perfect for me.
Excpet that actually, I was finding it difficult to balance my need to work in order to pay the rent, and working on the things I felt needed more of my time and devotion.

I was laughing in the face of every person going to and from the same place at the same time every day, and thought I had discovered ultimate freedom by choosing not to have a career.

First, funding ran out for my youth work job, so that stopped.

Then, I started getting really badly mistreated working at residential homes. I was different from everyone else, and they knew it and I paid a high price. Eventually, I was bullied out of my job, along with several other people, and with recurrent back problems caused by my job, and having had my sense of self worth almost entirely destroyed by those bullying members of staff I worked with, I had to take some time off from working at all. With no contract of emplyment, I couldn't claim sickness or holiday from the psychiatric hospital.

After a while, I started taking shifts at the hospital again, and even though I really loved this job (still do) and was well supported by the management and the other staff, I was too absorbed in my unpaid work to take more than one or two shifts a week.

I went on like this for another year or so, earning so little money that I often had to owe rent to my landlord, go skip-diving in order to have enough food to eat, and go forego doing anything I enjoyed if it would cost me a penny. I was cycling to and from work on a bicycle that had no gears and no brakes because I couldn't afford to get it fixed or get a new one, and had many minor accidents on it as a result. I threw myself further into my voluntary work because I believed that what I was doing was right.

Eventually, the hospital started taking notice of all the hard work I was doing, and started offering me a lot more work. Now I am in a postition where I am working pretty much all the time over there (and I got myslef another job as a support worker in the interim - which I also enjoy) and I have no time to do any voluntray work.

The quandary I am in is that I was happy when I was earning as little as £300 a month (my rent alone was £280) and spending my time on more creative pursuits and developing myself as a person, but then as soon as I get sick and can't work, I'm totally screwed. I have applied for a permanent contract at the hospital where I work now, because I am so sick of having an abundance of work, then having nothing at all because all the permanent staff are taking overtime to save for their holidays. I'm sick of thinking it's a good month when I earn enough to buy some decent food, an dI'm sick of having all the time in the wold to do what I want - and having no money to do it. I tried to find a balance between the tow, but now I know there isn't one. If I get a contract at my job, I know I will feel trapped, but I just want to live like a human being for a little while and not have a constant threat of homelessness hanging over my head. Just imagine, paid holidays and sick leave... I haven't experienced this kind of security in a very long time... But if I am tied down to a contract, I can't just decide to hitch-hike to another city for a day becasue I feel like it, suddenly, I will find myslef with obligations (and more paperwork) and I will take my work home with me like everyone else does. It is difficult to know what to do.

 

[Mr. Premise]

Rosemary,

I think the Work teaches us to beware of the kind of self importance that tells us that we are to spiritual to pay the kind of dues that other people do, such as work a steady job everyday that doesn't flatter our self importance.

Also, it may be a kind of self importance for us to decide what society (i.e. Our fellow humans) needs doing. If society is wling to reward you for doing what that permanent job with benefits requires, than maybe there is something to be said for doing that instead of volunteering (which historically is something wealthy people do who don't need to work).

And it seems kind of self indulgent to want to be able to impulsively decide to hitchhike to another city one morning. Working a steady, unglamorous job is the perfect environment for 4thWay work. And, as Laura asked earlier in this thread, (paraphrasing) have you Paid enough by divesting yourself of your illusions for the Universe to give you exciting and fulfilling work?

In any case, the cold hard logic of Capitalism in a 3D STS environment tends to push us in the direction of taking the steady job by jolting us with episodes of homelessness or hunger if we don't. Might as well make the best of it by using it for 4th Way work.

 

[Stranger]

Mr. Premise, do you think it wouldn't be good for one to choose academic training for a topic/occupational area in which one is at least partially interested in but rather a simple, fast and easy way to have a paid job which is more a "bread job" than anything else just to have the opportunity to learn the lessons and work in this 3D environment?

 

[Mr. Premise]

Mr. Premise, do you think it wouldn't be good for one to choose academic training for a topic/occupational area in which one is at least partially interested in but rather a simple, fast and easy way to have a paid job which is more a "bread job" than anything else just to have the opportunity to learn the lessons and work in this 3D environment?

I think that getting academic training for an occupation that you are interested in is the best option. I didn't mean to imply that we should seek out bad jobs so we can learn lessons! It is far better to have a job that pays OK and doesn't drain you. But sometimes you have to pay your dues by sticking with a less than ideal job for a while to establish a track record. So in the case of Rosemary and Solar Mother in this thread, any kind of steady job with benefits would take away the awful stress of having financial struggles and of not being able to take paid sick or vacation time.

 

[SolarMother]

Here is an update!
Right now we are here for a few days in our new location-to-be staying in an available home that belongs to friends, for as long as we need to. I am looking at jobs here, and MrA has just had his 3rd interview for a job very much like the one he left behind a few years ago, but much better. We will hear next week. He is looking into other possibilities while we are here as well.
We have a different, very good and decent car that we drove here (traded solar panels for it) and we have been looking into places to rent. We found a good place, and we like the people and they like us. Despite the fact that someone else wants the place and could move in right away, they want to hold off and wait to see if we can get the place instead because its such a good match.
I am going to get whatever steady job I can find, and then I am going to build up an astrology practice here, like I did when I lived here before. This time around, I am going to include medical astrology.
I am posting as often as I am able! I am asking for help (praying) constantly. :)
It feel very right to be here.

 

[Beau]

That's good news SM! Thanks for the update and I hope you guys get set back up quickly and without too much hassle. :)

 

[Josi]

Solar Mother,

Very glad for you and Mr. Anderson. Sounds like a positive move for you two.

Good luck!

 

[Leo40]

Once I had a job in management in the corporate world. As you may know one has to give a
performance review annually for each staff member. I always told everybody to aquire as many
skills as possible. In my case I started out in electronics fixing things and constantly learning, from
vacuum tubes to transistors to intergrated circuits.
Initially I changed jobs every 2 or 3 years and
I was always looking for more experience in a different field, from TV broadcasting to a test equipment
manufacturer.
In one job I lasted for 15 years because it was in the country just 100km north of
Toronto. During that time I obtained an Electriciams License. Later when the corporation made my
job "redundant" at age 56 I had a variety of skills to offer. After 10 months searching I ended up
doing Field Service for a manufacturer of back-up power equipment.
The point of this posting is simply that today one can not expect to do the same kind of work
for a lifetime but one needs to be flexible and prepared for change.

 

[SolarMother]

That's good news SM! Thanks for the update and I hope you guys get set back up quickly and without too much hassle. :)

Thanks Heimdallr. Yes, it is good even though nothing is confirmed yet. In the next few days we will know for sure, and let me tell you it hasn't been easy to stop anticipating or worrying! In the midst of waiting are all kinds of ups and downs, but I know this is normal.

Rhiannon

Solar Mother,

Very glad for you and Mr. Anderson. Sounds like a positive move for you two.

Good luck!

Thank you, Rhiannon.