I'll have a Breast with that...

Something Johnny Oh and Harvey blogged on made me reflect upon the days I used to work for pay. I think what I do now is more difficult, but my job in the aerospace industry was far more exciting and paid better. Still, I know I made the right choice and don’t regret staying home and raising my kids.

I could never work with the public. I’m going to sound snobby, but the public is full of people with low intellect and I just flat out can’t handle it. Large groups of the general public are annoying and I have always found it to be thus. In 9th grade, we were required to take a test to determine potential career choices. One of the questions was, “Do you want to work with people?” I thought they meant the general public, so I gave it the equivalent answer of “Hell No!” That answer, along with some others along the same general line, led to my computer generated career result, “Meat Cutter.” I worked as a waitress in a steakhouse through college and a good friend of mine was the “meat cutter”. Talk about a damn lonely job. He would be in this tiny cold room with meat and a radio, cutting meat all day long while I was out waiting on the general public, a rather grouchy group when hungry, but I think he had the better job.

I knew that wasn’t my fate, a meat cutter, I did need more interaction than that. After college, I ended up working for an aerospace firm starting in analysis positions and moving on to engineering positions. The people I worked with, both in the military and within the company, were the funniest people I have ever met. Engineers are a riot, if you can get them out of their shell and in their element. It just takes time.

Looking back I realize that I lived in sort of a cocoon. It was all highly intelligent people. I was treading water sometimes to keep up with them. Our engineering aides were smart as hell. They usually came from the shop and decided they wanted to be on our end. The only difference between them and the engineers was the degree. Perhaps it was opportunity.

Anyway, the last group I was in was my favorite. Someone found a test very similar to THIS 'Are You Going to Hell' TEST and we all took it. (This one is missing one question. It doesn’t ask you if you slept with your cousin. On this test I scored a 110 and no, on the other test I’ve never slept with a cousin. Blech! Also, this is an R rated test, so if you are at work, your web blocker may not let you take it. Consider yourself Warned.) Keep in mind, I’m the only woman in the group. We were cracking up at our scores, sharing it, when we realized one of our guys had scored so high, the test said “You’re a Danger to Society. Who let you out on a Day Pass?” The next morning, someone had found Crime Scene tape and taped his cube shut. We were dying. He did NOT think it was so humorous. (For weeks when I saw him, all I could think was, “I bet you answered ‘yes’ to ‘slept with your cousin’ on that test. Blech.”)

Right before I left, we had the annual group lunch the company paid for every year. I was only part time, having gone back to work after the kids were born, but only working 20 hours. So I left before lunch every day and couldn’t make it to the group event, which was just fine by them, because they had big plans… BIG plans! About 30 minutes away, a strip joint opened up called Rachel’s. It got all these good reviews for their steaks and lunch buffet. No kidding. It’s a steak house too. Our company was in the process of closing our plant down here, so all the big guns were working up in CT. The guys took the opportunity to write up that they were going to a steak house and since the receipt from Rachel’s evidently read Steakhouse, they got it through. The only group of guys I knew who took their group event to a strip club. The next morning they were all huddled in my cube talking about it. God, we laughed for days.

I think that’s what I like about the blogosphere. It kinda reminds me of those guys.