The Tow Files: Not Much Love for Me on V-Day

[fireheart]

After having had some time to digest it, I don't think they really are even considering employment when they use that insult, it's just another flavor of "YOU SUCK!"

Ohhh yep. Anything that involves enforcement in general (ticketers, tow-truck drivers, security guards and so on) seems to attract the "get a real job" idiots. Funny how the people who complain turn out to actually be violating local/state/federal laws. Somehow the police seem to escape that....

Whereas my parents did receive a parking fine once in the CBD for some reason (I can't remember what exactly, but it wasn't parking in a disabled zone). They went back to that area, realised their mistake and paid the fine. Simple!

Some people really need driver training AGAIN.

[EricKei]

Then again, I did see the same lady again last night, her car was getting ticketed by the meter people for being illegally parked again.

Bet she tells THEM to get a real job too.

Hrm...

Are the metermaids Private-corp employees or police officers where you live?

If so, is verbal harrassment of a police officer a crime there?

Just, ya know, curious...

(PS the second *is* true here. There are also some areas where uttering a four-letter-word within earshot of a cop can technically get you arrested (this was brought about by too many people cursing out the cops, often in front of their own little kids, for things like getting ticketed for parking violations...)

[Argabarga]

The cops around here are pretty laid back, they kinda just look at you funny if you start swearing and shrug their shoulders.

However, if they're ALREADY issuing a citation/arresting you, AND you start swearing, you get slapped with a disorderly on top of it all.

[Moggie]

After having had some time to digest it, I don't think they really are even considering employment when they use that insult, it's just another flavor of "YOU SUCK!" Since they keep doing it even after it clearly hasn't had any effect. I mean, do they expect me to collapse to my knees and start sobbing? Wailing that "Oh you're right! I HAVE SOOOO WASTED MY LIFE!!! FORGIVE MEEEEEE!"

I'm horribly tempted to do exactly that. Tears, tearing the hair, the whole nine yards. Of course, I minored in theater, just to mess with people

[XCashier]

I'm horribly tempted to do exactly that. Tears, tearing the hair, the whole nine yards. Of course, I minored in theater, just to mess with people

Sadly, it won't work. They won't reconsider their own bitchitude. They'll just think you're nuts.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I have a BS (snicker) degree in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers...(sorry Argabarga ) I have never worked in the field. I shouldn't have stuck with it at all...I wasn't doing well and my classmates were cutthroat assholes, so I should have just found something I liked instead...but no, I was stubborn, stuck it out and got the degree. Then I moved to Florida and started doing a little bit of everything. Mostly administrative work; some restaurant, some blue collar, some techie stuff along the way...the website job I do...and of course, the call center. I suppose my job isn't real either to some people, but I know a bunch of SCs who would be in world of hurt without me and my coworkers around

[Mytical]

Exactly BTDT if everybody went and got that 'real job'..then the sc's would be sol when they needed stuff to actually get DONE.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I really wish I could ask anybody that tells me I don't have a "real job" what they do for a living, then make some snarky comment about it. Almost every job and industry has some kind of stigma...take attorneys and cops, for example, and teachers for that matter. All of those jobs I would consider to be VERY real jobs and yet those people get bashed too.

When my husband, the software developer (big whoop...but no offense meant to NICE software developers ), hints that I don't have a real job, I just kick him. Granted, he hasn't really done that since I started at the call center, but when I was only working the website job I got that crap all the time. Ugh.

[wolfie]

I really wish I could ask anybody that tells me I don't have a "real job" what they do for a living, then make some snarky comment about it. Almost every job and industry has some kind of stigma...take attorneys and cops, for example, and teachers for that matter. All of those jobs I would consider to be VERY real jobs and yet those people get bashed too.

What's this? Shelves at WalMart (and everyplace else) are empty? Fast food places are closed because they ran out of supplies? Gas stations closed for the same reason? Looks like the truckers went out and got "real jobs".

[dalesys]

Looks like the truckers went out and got "reel jobs".

Yep. Gone fishin'.

[Mytical]

Wolfie it is true..Trucks stop..america stops..pretty much the size of it. Trucks get (they say like 80%..I say it is higher then that) most of everything where it is to go.

[Kristev]

I agree. At the Little shop of horrors where I used to work, they had enough storage space for a maximum of three days worth of sales goods in the event of an emergency.

A truck didn't show, and the store would be helpless. Believe me.

[earl colby pottinger]

Truth

I just tell them the truth, when I had a "Real" job I made lots of money, I got big profit sharing bonus and I did nothing that was not work.

My time was the company's time. While I got all my bills paid off and could buy most things I wanted, I never had the one thing money can't buy -
TIME TO DO THINGS!

Since I lost that job I and only work part-time at places like Arby's as kitchen staff I go on trips and cruises all over. I just returned from a 2 week Caribbean cruise this Saturday. And I am e-mailing my travel partner on whether we do Cuba, San Juan, the Rockies or the Bay of Fundy next.

I case you think I am boasting (yes I am) the point is it shuts them up when they see me serving tables in Arby's and ask why I don't get back into computer support/programming again where the "real" jobs are.

PS. My friend Larry who's real job nets him $120K is lucky to get two weeks off in a row in any year, and I have never seen him get three weeks off since he started.

My travel partner who's real job nets just under $100K just sent me an e-mail saying they can not travel Jan-Feb. 2013, the best time of the year to cruise because of work.

My ex-girlfriend who's real job netted her about $90K could never book a vacation more than 3 months ahead of time because of her work. That really messes up getting the best locations/trips before they are sold out.

What the hell is so good about these real jobs? They all make more money than me but they still end up with big expenses and can't find the time to match what I spend on myself.

"REAL JOBS" SUCKS!

[Sapphire Silk]

As a nurse you would definitely think I have a real job.

So what do I get?

"Gosh, Panacea, you're so smart you should be a doctor!"



I became a nurse because I 1) actually want to spend time with patients, and 2) want to have a life.

[Jester]

Ah, where to begin?

You should get a real job!

Ah yes, this old tired line. As most of you know, I am a bartender. My buddy Popcorn is also a bartender. For years, his friends from back home would give him shit on the phone (or in person when they were here or he was there), telling him he "should get a real job." A few years ago, one of his friends started in on him once again with this line. And Popcorn had had it. He laid into the friend, telling him he had a great job that he loved, with flexible scheduling and enough money for his uses, and he really didn't want to be miserable like most of the people he knew at "real" jobs.

His friends really didn't bother him after that tirade. They ESPECIALLY didn't tell him to get a real job after he won a one year job with a $50K paycheck as Tommy Bahama's first Official Rumologist, where he is paid to travel around the country promoting the brand and educating people on rum....in addition to working at his "real" job: bartending.

Myself, I really wanted to go to my 20th high school reunion. Not to see people, as I only went to that high school for my senior year, and most of my friends weren't seniors. No, I wanted to go purely for this inevitable conversation, when someone would ask "What do you do?"
PERSON 1: "I work for Dial."
PERSON 2: "I'm an account executive for Motorola."
PERSON 3: "I'm an administrator at Visa."
JESTER: "I'm a magician and bartender in Key West, Florida."
PERSON 1:
PERSON 2:
PERSON 3:
JESTER:

I am proud to say I do not have a "real" job, have never had a "real" job, and I am far fucking happier than most people I have known who DO have "real" jobs. I mean, I get paid to make people laugh and get them drunk. How fucking awesome is THAT?
Oh, and I should point out, in addition to the coolness of my jobs, which DO pay the bills, I also have three trips planned this year, one home to Phoenix (including attending the home opener for the Arizona Diamondbacks), one to Houston to see my niece graduate, and one to (probably) Tampa for Beercation III. And for these, all I have to do is request the time off, maybe a few weeks ahead, if that. No HR bullshit, no major red tape, they just adjust the schedule, someone else gets my shifts (and are usually happy for them, since they rock), and I go about my vacationing. I know a lot of people with "real" jobs who don't get to do that much in a year!

- FINE! GET A REAL JOB!

Get a real parking permit.

-Yeah, I have someone in my spot
-Okay, what spot number and address?
-It's spot 3
-And the address?
-Uh, I don't know, it's Eastview Apartments
-Okay, I'm not familiar with that location, we must not tow from there very often, what is the street address?
-Uh.....
-Or, do you know what street it's on? Or what it's close to?
-Uh... ya know, nevermind, I'll just park across the street in this other place's lot for tonight.

Sounds suspiciously to me as if someone who did NOT live there and did NOT have the right to park there was trying to get someone else towed, possibly even someone who DID live there and DID have the right to park there.

"But Jester, no one would actually dare try to get a valid resident towed from their own spot, would they?"

I submit to you just these eight words: How long have you been reading this site?

As opposed to what I wonder? An Unreal job?

Two of my three jobs are as a magician. I have been told on many, many occasions that what I do is, in fact, "unreal."

I majored in Criminal Justice... I kinda can't apply to any of those jobs because a mangled hand kinda DQ's ya.....

Can't you do non-frontline jobs in those fields? Like lab work, administration, clerical, etc., etc. Or is it that you can, but have no desire to? I come at this question with virtually zero knowledge of the inner workings of the criminal justice system, as I have only ever seen it as a visitor, spectator, or (occasionally) unintended guest.

it's always someone else's fault that they were lazy enough to park where they shouldn't.

Years ago when I was in college, there was this one shopping center that was right next to the part of campus that I had a lot of classes in, and there were TONS of signs stating that only customers of the businesses in said shopping center were allowed to park there, and that said policy was strictly enforced. For one semester, I would occasionally park there, since I just had one quick class I needed to go to. I did that, that is, until one day when I came out of said class and realized, much to my dismay, that my car was definitely Not There. I looked around where I had parked, I looked around that area of the parking lot, I even looked in areas of the parking lot nowhere near where I parked. Nope, no Jestermobile. And I then uttered those words that none of us ever wish to say: "Oh, I hope my car was towed!" Because, of course, if it was Not There and it had NOT been towed, I pretty much was NOT getting it back, considering the only alternative to towing was theft.

It HAD been towed, I DID get it back, my wallet WAS lighter afterwards, I manned up and paid the fees and didn't bitch at them (though I did of course yell at myself for a LONG time about that), and I never, EVER parked in that lot again if I was not patronizing the businesses there. Punishment taken and lesson learned.

I just LOVE IT when customers assume that retail employees and employees from other service jobs are all a bunch of losers that deprived ourselves of a college education.

Fortunately I don't get that very often, but if I did, I would merely throw up the pitchfork and say, "Arizona State, baby."

For those who don't know what the pitchfork is, understand that Arizona State students, alumni, and athletes are Sun Devils, and as such, we will often make the sign of The Fork, illustrated in winning fashion by the lovely Sun Devils below.




And for those who would tell me I am not using my education, I would simply point out that I was a Broadcasting major, and had every intention of going into radio as an entertainer. I am, today, an entertainer, not just as a magician, but as a bartender as well (that IS part of the job if you're any good at it), and sometimes as a DJ when the opportunity occasionally presents itself. And I may yet get some voice work in the local radio market.

Not using my education? Hogwash. I use it every day, thank you very much!

And they could tell her to get some real driving lessons!

Her problem didn't seem to be driving so much as parking.

Whereas my parents did receive a parking fine once in the CBD for some reason. They went back to that area, realised their mistake and paid the fine.

I myself received a parking ticket about a week and a half ago. Recovering from the drunk I put on for my chili cookoff, after a lovely breakfast with a bloody mary, I went to my work to drop off some stuff they had loaned me, got change for a meter I knew I'd be paying, then went to a bar I had recently heard good things about but had never really been in....but since they had a Turkish beer which I had never had, let alone tried, AND all their beer was ridiculously cheap by Key West standards, I had to check it out. And rather than drive around looking for a free spot further afield, I figured I would just throw some jingle in one of the meters right by said bar. So, I got to the metered lot, parked, and then....inexplicably went straight into the bar without bothering to put any of the many quarters in my pocket into the meter I had parked at. And then, about an hour later, I realized with horror what I had most pointedly NOT done, and strolled out to my truck...and discovered that had I been there six minutes earlier to feed the expired meter, I would have avoided that damn ticket.

So, I fed the meter, took my ticket, went back to the bar, had a couple more brews, and then the following Tuesday (Monday was a holiday), went to the appropriate place and paid the damn fine.

Why? Because, like Fireheart's parents, I am not a fucking douchebag.

Sadly, it won't work. They won't reconsider their own bitchitude.

You are HALF right. True, they won't reconsider their own bitchitude, but nothing you do will make them do that anyway. However, this course of action WILL work, as it will give YOU great joy and happiness at your job, and if you can get away with making your work environment a more positive one without getting in (too much) trouble for it, which it seems Argabarga can, I say have at it!

I have a BS (snicker) degree in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers...

GO SCARLET KNIGHTS!

Yes, I know I went to ASU. And they ARE my team. But a great majority of my family went to Rutgers, so as long as they don't play ASU, I tend to root for them. (Football factoid: Rutgers, in their entire bowl game history, is undefeated against everyone not named Arizona State, but is 0-2 against the Devils.)