Entry #656122, added on 06-25-09 @ 11:24 am EDT
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Title: Jobs
Date: June 25, 2009, Thursday
Thought: I came to the conclusion that, regardless of how much I enjoyed manhandling that iron, it would be much easier to do it at twenty than at fifty.
Jog: I’ve got a job. I’ve had one, of one sort or another, for almost forty-five years. I worked mowing lawns, hauling hay, and cutting broomcorn during my youth and didn’t really count those as jobs. Those early efforts were just a way to make spending money and were short time endeavors. Nope, my first job was working after school and during the summer for a discount store stocking shelves. I punched a time clock there and was expected to be on the job on a regular schedule. I can’t say that I enjoyed it much. But, it was steady work with a steady income.
The summer of my junior year I worked as a Fuller Brush salesman. I have no idea how I fell into that opportunity. But, I do know it formed some of my vocational decisions for the rest of my life. I absolutely hate going door to door. It’s the worst job I ever had. Even today, I do not do anything that requires door to door activity—fundraisers, political campaigning, whatever, if it involves going door to door, count me out. I much prefer my clients coming to me, at least I know they took the initiative to be there.
My senior year and summer between college I worked in the oil field as a ruff neck. This one I loved. It was hard, dirty, and sometimes dangerous work. It suited me very well. I enjoyed throwing that iron around. I guess the most important thing it taught me was the value of working as a team. There are four men who make up a drilling crew. Each one is necessary and if any one of them slacks it causes hardships on the others. It was there I learned how to be a hand. A good hand works hard and helps his crewmember. When the crew works well together, the company makes money. And, on a drilling rig, time literally is money.
However, it was on the drilling rig I learned two other valuable lessons. The first was that it’s best to be the boss. There are benefits for being the boss and I wanted to have them. On a drilling rig the boss of the crew is the driller. The driller’s boss is the Tool Pusher; he’s the guy who supervises several rigs and several crews. That was my dad. I worked for my dad, the Tool Pusher. I noticed also that my dad’s boss was the Company Man, the representative of the oil company who owns the mineral rights and who sells the refined oil and natural gas—that would be Mobil, Sun, Exxon, etc. All those company men were college educated. I figured out that I needed an education.
The second lesson I learned was that hard manual labor takes a toll on your body. On the crew, on which I worked, several men had missing parts, or parts that didn’t work right. It’s easy to lose a finger or smash an elbow or fracture a hip when that much iron is banging around you. I noticed that iron and hydraulics can be very unforgiving and it only takes a short lapse in diligence to screw up. Working in that oil and mud can also be very humbling at times. I came to the conclusion that, regardless of how much I enjoyed manhandling that iron, it would be much easier to do it at twenty than at fifty, which many of the ruff necks were. You don’t want to be an old man and still out there on that rig floor. I figured out that I needed an education.
So I went to school--lots of it. I went to trade schools, junior colleges, universities, and even a seminary. I earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of City and Regional Planning degrees. It took me almost twenty years to get it all done. But the degrees alone do not mean you will be any better off. You’ve got to do something with them and you have to apply that education you got at the school of hard knocks. The first lesson I learned in the oil field still held true. It really is best to be the boss. And so, twenty-one years ago I left the safety of my corporate position and struck out on my own—started my own company—my own planning consulting firm. You can find me on the Internet, if you Google Municipal Planning Resources Group, Inc. http://www.mprginc.com
I’ve had may jobs in my long career. Some of them were very menial and some were interesting. However, I most enjoy the one I hold now. Although, I still have to bend to the needs of my clients, I do exactly as I please. And, since I enjoy the work I do, I have difficulty counting it as a job. I am so glad that as a young man, I took notice of the toll that some of my jobs took on the men who were performing them. My way was certainly not easy, and no one gave me any gifts along the way. I had to earn it. But I am here to testify and be a witness to the fact that if a person will be steadfast in their determination, and take a chance every now and then, they will be rewarded. Daniel Burnham (some old planner guy) said, “Make no little plan, for they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” He was right.
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