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Snattlerake

Conservitum Americum
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What's y'alls thought on as a machinist my son is taking a class at Tri County Tech . Is it a good trade to get into?
CNC operators can get hired almost anywhere right now. Being a machinist is a great skill to have in your pocket. He might even get a job a 17 Design!

My son is now the foreman and job supervisor of a manufacturing company in Pheonix. He started out as a machinist and worked his way up into CNC operations then management. He's also populating circuit boards for his work at his house at night for extra income.
 

Fyrtwuck

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Do you have permanent shifts or rotate?
For me, our shifts were permanent until someone PO’d a Chief or station officer. Then the Fire Chief would pull the dart boards out of their hiding spot. One for shift, one for district and one for the station.

If you REALLY PO’d the Chief they’d look in your personnel file and see where you lived. Then you went to the farthest station away from your house.
 

aarondhgraham

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More than once I've stated that the last thing I wanted to do was wedding photography. I can't think of anything worse than trying to please a bride, her mother, and her new mother-in-law.
I hear ya my friend,,,
Weddings are the worst job ever,,,
But they are also the most lucrative for a one-man studio.

Weddings are your bread & butter if you want to make a living.

Everyone loves the photographer until after the wedding,,,
When the bills start to come in they start to cheap out.

My strategy (and it worked 99.99% of the time) for 13 years,,,
Was to offer a 100% money back guarantee,,,
Minus the $250 deposit to hold the date.

That $250 ensured I would at least break even

After the wedding the bride and in-laws rarely ever liked the pictures,,,
They would say stuff like, "These don't look as good as your samples did".

Invariably they would ask for some kind of discount,,,
I would put on my best sorrowful face and offer them their money back.

Their next step would be to say they wanted some of the pictures if I could just come down on the price,,,
That's when I would say, "If you don't like the pictures a lower price won't make them better."

Then I would take the presentation album and put it in my desk drawer,,,
And start to write them a check for the balance,,,
I always got paid in full up front,,,
That was in the contract.

The quality of the images was never the question,,,
It was buyers remorse after the wedding frenzy wore off.

In Professional Photography Association seminars,,,
There is always at least one session on dealing with this.

Invariably, except for one wedding in 13 years,,,
They took the "bad" album.

It was either that or get no pictures at all.

The funny thing is I almost always got references from those folks.

That constant rejection and hassle drove me out of the business,,,
That I never should have started in the first place.

I should have just kept it as a beloved hobby,,,
And become an accountant instead.

Aarond

.
 

Raido Free America

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I'm 75 years old, I think, and know dang near everything. I have done many things, traveled extensively, Know, or have known, several very wealthy people, and many poor people, and even a few celebrities. The happiest, most contented people I have ever known is my aunt, and uncle, that live in the Arkansas, Ozarks. These people are very poor by most peoples standards, but they don't care, what other people think. They had three children, all salt of the earth, honorable people, This uncle never had a good paying job, just hauled logs, or pulp wood, with an old rattle trap truck. Much of the time this old truck was the only transportation they had. I loved to spend time there, as a kid, they went to church, raised a garden, had hogs, and milk cows, hunted and fished, and lived very well indeed! The thing that set them apart in my mind was, they were satisfied with what they had, and how they lived, and didn't even want anything else!
 

OkieMoe

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With my father owning a tire shop in the 80's I was drawn to that business. And spend the rest of the 80's in the retail end. Jumped to whole sale wheels with American Racing in 89 and other than a few years trying the IT end, I've been wholesale wheels for around 36 years.

Ive managed warehouses and settled for just being a peon these days. FAR less paperwork. Making more now than ever before, so i'll take it.
 

SlugSlinger

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If someone is good with numbers, have good organizational skills and like construction, there is very good money in project controls.
Project controls creates and maintains construction schedules and or manage and report on the project budgets.

These folks make more than financial analysts and accounts. And likely more than those in management. One reason project controls folks make more than accountants or other financial professionals is because projects and the related costs are an O&M capital expense that hits the balance sheet vs a G&A expense that hits the income statement. A capital expense is depreciated over likely 30 years while an administrative expense hits the income statement and directly reduces profits 1 for 1. This gives the ability for companies to pay more for project controls because it spread the costs over many years.
 

Plumber guy

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I’ve been plumbing since around 15 years old, started with my step dad on the weekends and plumbing new houses in the summers.
Have been licensed since I was 20, so 13 years now, and while it does seem to pay pretty good compared to other jobs I hear of, sometimes physically it’s not the funnest thing I could think of.
A few years ago I joined the local in okc, after the shop I worked for wouldn’t offer any kind of health insurance for me and family, that was the best decision I’d made in this trade.
Base pay is around 70k, but full insurance for the fam and 401k and don’t forget the pension.
Best advice I can give to any plumbers is either start your own shop or go union.
 

Frederick

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I’ve been plumbing since around 15 years old, started with my step dad on the weekends and plumbing new houses in the summers.
Have been licensed since I was 20, so 13 years now, and while it does seem to pay pretty good compared to other jobs I hear of, sometimes physically it’s not the funnest thing I could think of.
A few years ago I joined the local in okc, after the shop I worked for wouldn’t offer any kind of health insurance for me and family, that was the best decision I’d made in this trade.
Base pay is around 70k, but full insurance for the fam and 401k and don’t forget the pension.
Best advice I can give to any plumbers is either start your own shop or go union.
i'm curious how things work in the Union -- what kind of jobs do ya'll typically get? i imagine its a lot of industrial.
 

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