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O/T If you could start over ??

O

Old Roy

Well-known Member
It hasn't been too far back people were looked down on for quitting a job so some of us stayed mostly because of future earned benefits there was a time that I wanted to be a truck driver , but after several years I wished I never saw the inside of one. But after losing a factory job after 16 years I had to go back to driving. I hated irt so bad it was affecting my health so I chose to retire early.

The only job I may qualify for is a wall mart greeter



Question is what would you want to do If you could start over?

I think in today's economy would be good to go into either Hearing or Eye care.[If a younger person].
 
I shouldn't have any regrets, but yeah, I do.

But now my philosophy is to slide into the grave completely dirty, wore out, upside down and calling life "what a hell of a ride!"
 
Farming. What else is there?

I think truck driving would be interesting for 2 years when young & not tied down - get to see something, get around the country. I know you don't see the good side of things & all, but you get to travel & experience & get money for it. I wouldn't want to make it a career, I have roots that want to set down. But be interesting for a couple of years.

--->Paul
 
When I was going to college, I was really good in economics and I liked it. My first husband discouraged me from getting a degree in economics because he said there wasn"t a good job market for economics. He said I should get a degree in accounting. Unfortunately, I listened to him. The real kicker is, if I had stuck to economics, by time I graduated it had become a hot field.
 
gotta be honest got outta high school 36 years ago & got offered apprenticeship as mech in steel plant been doing same thing ever since
guess i"m kinda lucky still enjoy fixing stuff, still working shifts, that mill has payed for everything i own & treated me more than fairly often thought about making a change but guess i just can"t climb out of my comfort zone
retirement is on the horizon & kinda scares me
don"t get me wrong i don"t look forward to going to work on saturday night shift more than the next guy, but after 4 days off i"m kinda climbing the walls looking forward to goin back in guess i better figure what i want to do before i pull the plug
bob
 
If I had to do it all over again--even though I have no DESIRE to go into the field--I would enter the medical profession. Medical people NEVER get laid off, because there's always a demand...and with baby boomers aging, the field is growing every day.

I once thought the mortuary sciences field would be the ultimate winner, but these days more folks are opting for lower-cost cremations rather than conventional funerals and burials. Still, I've never heard of a mortician being laid off, either.
 
I would have gone to college for Pharmacy. My wife is a Pharmacist and the demand for someone with her qualifications is much higher than for someone who can turn a wrench. I did the trucking thing too. After a couple months, it was H E double hockey sticks.
 
I would have waited to get married. No, I didn't "have" to get married either. We were married for 7 years before my first child was born. Now, 18 years later, we have different ideas and goals. I have to admit, things are gettng a little "uneasy" on the home front. Only time will tell the out come. I think I would still be a macinist, but maybe have a little side gig. Would definately save more money.
 
I would have finished my degree.
I doubt that it would have made me a better carpenter or voter but you never know.
I also would shy away from tractors. Maybe should have stuck to Diamond Ts and draglines.
 
In all honesty , I would'nt change anything . TODAY !.. I used to Say for years that, When I got out of hi school,, I shoulda got myself a Puptent and camped out over at Ford Motor Co ,..Until they Said ,," Come on in here Boy , We will find something You can Do" ,, i would probably have a nice retirement now , AND NO FARM , spoiled kids ,andwife ,And Worse than Anything I would be spoiled ,,.AT least with the farm , Golly , I always have something to Do !. LOL.. While a senior in School I tested well, And Had a chance to get financial aid to go to Engineering School, But there was a thoroughbred Gorgous Blonde Who would NOT stand for Me going to Purdue without her !..,Buzzman knows What I am talking about .. LOL,, AND, we were making money in those days hand over fist , raising 350 hoggs at home each year , Running the Cattle farm below Dads farm for Louisville Ladder millionaires , and doing Home improvement in My Spare time,.. Sure didn't get much Sleep .... How many 22 yr old kids,??...Had money in the Bank, a new Ford truck and 76Thunderbird paid for and half the money down For a run down house and 30 acre farm ??,, my Wife and I did in 1979 !,,. And ,We did it On OUR OWN , without a cosigner,. or one nickle from either of our Parents .. Besides Good Sage Advice , The one thing My dad did for Us was give My Brothers and I free rein of the equipment We needed ,, AS LONG AS WE MADE SURE , Dads work and business was taken care of 1st ..., He Taught Us to Work hard and Smart , and To shoot straight with everyone .. We had No problems ,, When we had FAMILY Thanksgiving Dinner at Dads , By Golly it was a FINE Celebration..
 
The way things are now and the way they where that is hard to say. If I had stayed in the navy for 20 years then maybe but then I might not have the farm I have now. To many of those if I had or if I had not to say. I figured out a long time ago if you 2nd guess what you did or do not do then you will never get any where and you can not go back and if you did well would you have the children you have now or would you have more etc etc etc
 
Be a US congressman get to raise your wages whenever you want and have a better retirement and health plan that cost you nothing.
 
Brian, I dated a girl in college who was going to be a Pharmacist... maybe I should stayed with that one.... naw! her dad didn't like me from the begining. Your wife didn't go to school in C.R., K.C.C. around 1987,88 did she?
 
Darn few regrets, married a great gal, raised three boys that don't write home for money, live on a very small farm six miles from town. I had a great career as a Mechanical Engineer, Journeyman Tool & Die Maker,& Master Electrician. My timing was very good and I ended up working for the same company for 45 years with a good retirement that is entirely in my name. Most of my success was due to what I learned farming with Dad. Doesn't get any better than that.
Paul
 
Ah! Just a few of the smaller things. Some disappointments were good learning events. But after 72 years, 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren, I"d say it all turned out ok.

Bob
 
I do not mind being a driver but then again I am home every night with the job I have.

If I could choose a better job I would wish I was related to someone that could get me a Mississippi River Pilot job.

The linked article is a little old (11/04/01) but it does explain how hard it is to get this job. The 2009 salary is $378,000.
River Pilot
 
Well, for starters, I'd take better care of my knees. ;o)

Probably wouldn't change much, except I'd not take time off for grad school and just stayed on the job instead.
 
When I graduated out of school in 1966 and started trades school and I started working at an aluminum foundry it was a hot place to work in the summer months. Wasn’t long after Oh Uncle Sam nailed me (drafted) in 68. ETS 1970.
Went back to my old job at the foundry put almost 10 years there quit as they due was thinking of getting a union in and owner threaten to closing the doors.

I took up driving truck after words for 10 years I got to where I hated doing it because most of the time I was hauling oversize and over width loads. The farm machinery kept getting bigger every year. And the laws from state to state kept changing every year.
I gotten so many tickets & fines from improper plates, permits over them years the state was going to take my license away due to having to many points.
One thing I don’t miss is the blizzard of 78 and stranded in the windy city for a week.
One other thing I don’t miss is going thru customs at Canadian border!!
I quit there and went to work at a machining factory machining brake rotors and drum for Ford & GM trucks.

I had to take an early retirement from there back in 2002 due to having open-heart surgery.
And one of my biggest things is if I had to do this over again I wouldn’t have taken up smoking back in 68 when I was over seas.
Over the years I was smoking up to 4 packs a day just before my heart attack in 2002.
It wasn’t to bad of a place to work just couldn’t take on the extra work my new boss wanted me to do. (Keeping a minimal inventory without running out of something in the mean time causing a job to shutdown due to downtime waiting on parts.)
It was never racking, as it was H if you do and H If you don’t
Situation.
 
Question is what would you want to do If you could start over?
Click to expand...
cary question... assumes that lived my life wrong way ;) Well, I would probably less "work for the future" and instead of studying did much more drinking and partying :)
 
would go to a different junior college and taken ag.mechanics (I did that part didn't get what i paid for) maybe part 2 of my idea would have worked out. i wanted to work for a john deere dealer for a few years save some money and dairy farm.
 
My Mother used to say: wish in one hand ,spit in the other and see which hand has the most.

That previous post about the Genie, I bet he wished he never made the third wish or if a Greenie may have wanted to get close to nature.
 
I wanted to Farm. Was in 4H, FFA, had milk cows, beef cows,loved to work in the shop on my '36 B. Mom & Dad sent me off to town to get a job. Worked for a small town street Dept for almost 36 years. Never made much money but did get a retirement out of it. I had several chances to get out, almost went to work for a John Deere dealer once. I guess I wouldn't change anything. The work wasn't too hard, dealing with people was the stressful part. Glad I don't plow snow anymore.Now I grow Herefords, corn & hay on 32 acres of Grandpa's place. I wish everyone could retire and enjoy life before they croak. Dad never got to, never saw a penny of his So. Sec.
 
What would I have done? Sold the farm back in 83 and invested the proceeds into the little start up company of Microsoft and prolly WallyMart. Got a dead end job that didnt require much effort, that earned just enough to live decent on until the later part of the 90"s and sold the stock and disappeared somwhere sunny with plenty of wimmins.

But knowing my luck, Microsoft prolly wouldnt have panned out and Walmart would have went bankrupt and Id be living on government welfare.
 
Don't worry he is alive and well along with MJ I got proof. wassat noise ? the poof monster I did it to myself AAAaaHHhhhhhh!!
a5615.jpg
 
I was born Rich but I have never had any $$ But that said I was born rich and good looking but when was the last time you looked in a mirror?? Bet you broke them all LOL
 
I've done pretty good considering I was basically on my own with no place to stay and just a few clothes when I was 16. Now I am an Electrician and pretty happy with it for the most part. I guess if I knew then what I know now I would have done a lot of things differently, but learning from mistakes is what makes us who we are. I have a Doctorate from the school of hard knocks, and I wouldn't trade that knowledge for anything, but I wish the lessons hadn't been necessary. No one to blame but me for that, though.
 
My number one coulda, shoulda, woulda is to have worn hearing protection. Wouldn't trade the rest of my experiences for anything in the world, but this constant ringing in the ears really sucks....

Dave
 
If I could go back, I would follow my heart and be some kind of wildlife technician or furbearer biologist. I really enjoy seeing the fruits of habitat work, wood duck nest boxes full of eggs, and running a trap line several years ago was great. May do it again when I retire.

Larry in Michigan
 
Maybe a few things I"d try to do different, but I"ve never thought I was so smart that I could decide how to make things turn out any better without already knowing what the future held.

Probably would have taken more precautions with my health. (Ear protection, better diet, not fell off a 2-story house when I was 23, ect) My carreer turned out well, I never really quit working on furthering my education so I"m happy with that, my marriage has been a success, kids turned out healthy, happy, and successful, so no change with that.

I would have DEFINATELY listened to dad a little better when I was young. I thought the old man was nuts. Found out later he knew a hellofa lot more"n I ever realized.
 
For the most part, I enjoyed my job field. I wouldn't change that. I would have moved out of the Midwest for a place with a drier, warmer climate. And, I don't think I would have ever married.
 
I liked my job as a telephone man. All of the different jobs I done frome climbing the poles to installing and testing of new central offices. It was interesting working in Instanbul Turkey. Just don't try the camel meat. Nigeria was a lot of fun but VERY hot. I did not like truck driveing when I tried it as a young man and the wreck convinced me to stop. Now that I am retired I have time to play with the great grand kids and my old Minnie Mos.
John
 
don't knock the wal-mart greeter ,just think of how many out their . the Ins is good.in some places $10+ a hr is not bad. people that use to look down at those of us who are employed.perfect way to earn!!!extra income by the way, be it part or fulltime are now applying to get in . wal=mart is now one of the largest enployers in the area.:ps spent 12K on tractors this year all WALLY WORLD money.
 
I never can remember the exact words, but Mark TWain summed it up best. He said (and I paraphrase) "I left home at age 16 to get away from my father. I'm 21 now. It's amazing how smart he got in 5 years".
 
Probably would have gotten a teaching degree. I did'nt because the probability of getting a job close to the family farm was poor. Teacher turnover in those days (mid 1980's) around here was fairly low. Should have just taken a chance given the other options. When I got out of college in the mid 1980's the ag field was over loaded with job seekers from businesses consolidating or going out.
Next, I would have worked on dad and grandmother to have started the turnover of the farm sooner so the payback could have been much more gradual. Grandmother meant well but wanting to control her share to the very end just made things that much more difficult for me.
The last big thing would have cut the small grains portion acre-wise and put it into soybeans about 7 to 10 years before we did.
I could go on but we know hindsight has always been 20-20. We will all goof up from time to time going into the future.
 
I would have tried harder in high school for starters. My folks pulled me out of Catholic school and put me in public and when I got there the teachers were more stoned than the kids. I'm lucky I can read and write. I would have got a degree in something other than Management. I learned exactly why I never wanted to be one. I could have been anything, doctor lawyer scientist. Instead I'm a heavy equipment mechanic. And some days I really get tirerd of being dirty. I'm doin ok, but I could've done better. I started out in carpentry but at the time they were going broke by the dozens, so I quit. a chum of mine stuck with it and got into really high end stuff:Rich doctor's homes, lakefront mansions w/hidden walls, etc. He'll easily be a millionare soon.
 
I look back now and I think I would have tried to get a State job, maybe with DOT, or work for the County Highway Department. Good retirement and good benifets, overtime pay ect. J
 
I would do the same thing if I had it to do over again is to work for the US Government. I retired after 43 years and that includes 2 years in the Army during the Korean War. I get my health care thru them and I can change health care plans in Nov if I want to. I can use the VA too. I'm 76 and been married to my high school girlfriend for 56 years. Hal
 
Yes. I never read his exact words but I saw Hal Holbrook do an impersonation where he said: "When I was seventeen, my father was so stupid I couldn't stand to be around him. When I was twenty seven, I was astounded at how much the old man had learned in ten years". Either way, very, very true.
 

I'm with you, Buzzman. School always came very easy to me - I could have been a doctor if I had wanted...

I sure see plenty of them buying up the scenic land for "play areas" for themselves (a doctor just bought my grandparents 1100 acre ranch near Lubbock for a "getaway") and driving half million dollar diesel pusher camping mansions down at Texas Motor Speedway every year...

But I just am not sure I could have handled poking and prodding on everyone that walked in the door... Thats just a bit too personal for my taste... ha...

Computer work suits me a lot better...


Howard
 
Lot of money lost to that habit over the years. Quit 4 years ago, and still have dreams about it at least twice a week.
 
No regrets really. Have a great job and family, and make enough money to subsidize my farming and tractors. Sometimes wish that I would have had more fun in college, chasing women. Also wish I would have started riding horses earlier in life as a teenager. I guess the reason for the horses would have to do with chasing women too.
 
I wish I would have saved more money. I've spent a lot of money over the years on booze, women, and farming; The rest of it, I wasted.

(apologies to George Best)
 
I went and dug around on google to find the exact words;

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years".

Mark Twain.
 
Wish I would have stayed away from the drugs and gone to college. With that said, I"m pretty happy with how things turned out. A winning lottery ticket wouldn"t hurt.
 
I went to nursing school at the age of 29, after a messed-up life prior: weird childhood, wasted college degree, numbing myself with drugs. Second-best thing I ever did. Though I"ll never get rich, it"s a recession-proof job, it"s deeply personally rewarding, and I work with some of the finest people I can imagine, all in their jobs because they"re friendly, caring, and there because they want to help their fellow-man.
Though it then took me until my 40"s to figure out how to take responsibility for myself in a relationship, I then ran into and married myself a woman who is my best friend, the funniest woman I ever met, and a redhead to boot, which means there"s never a dull moment. That was the BEST decision I ever made.
Working as a psychiatric nurse, I see folks who have made a disaster of their lives, and folks whose situations are desperate and heart-breaking. Between that, and the sh*t I went through in my own life, (and there"s much of which I am not proud, and there"s much for which I could wish), I am left with no other option but to count my blessings on a daily basis.
For me, it"s all in the perspective.
 
i would'nt change a thing,other than turning the clock back 40 yrs and doing it all over again minus a few mistakes made along the way.
I married a great Gall 38 yrs ago(had to) who has stood by me all those yrs(best thing i did).We raised 4 kids.
I always done things and work i wanted to do regardless of the money it paid.I moved 8 times incl immigrating from Europe to Can 30 yrs ago(sec best thing)
Only wish is to have had a kid interested in taking over the ranch i started from scratch 20 yrs ago.But i guess one can't have it all(bummer)
 
Very interesting reading all of the responses and think about what mine might be down the road! I am 26 now and a high school Industrial Technology teacher. So far probably not staying in tough with some of my high school friends. Thanks for the great post!
 
You know, I have to say, while there are many things I think I could have changed, I do not think I would have the people in my life that are now in it if I hadnt made the choices, poor or good, that I made. If I had not hit what I felt was rock bottom, I would not have made the changes that I did.No regrets I guess, just looking forward to what ever it is I have left to live.
 
I am not as old as many here (just 42 y.o.). One thing I would definitely do differently is to start farming earlier. I didn't because I didn't think I could afford it. Well, I still can't afford it now and I'm not 20 anymore.... What I couldn't do around here with all that energy!

Christopher
 
I'd a pulled the cigarette out of my old mans mouth each and every time.

Other than that. Maybe learned to play guitar or traveled a bit more.
 
I started out dairy farming and went to pharmacy
school. It was rough in the beginning never
seemed to have enough time. I worked both jobs
for years. (commuted and paid my own way thru
college. It has been a good life, but my only
regret is not spending enough time with my family
until the last five years. I still do some
farming and spend more time with my family.
That you can not put a dollar value on.
 
I'm 65, and in my 43rd year of teaching Ind Tech. It's been a very enjoyable career. Few other areas offer as much challenge and opportunity.
 
I spent eighteen years as a machinist,then I changed jobs and spent the next twelve in the tree trimming business now I work for the city and am hoping to put together a little bit of a pension before I retire.I always dreamed of being a farmer but after raising four kids now I think I'm getting to old to be a farmer so it will have to stay my dream I love the old tractors and am fortunate enough to have three acres where i can enjoy the few that I have.But I don't regret anything I have four wonderful kids and a loving wife of thirty two years.So I guess I wouldn't change anything.
 
If I could start over I think I would have done everything different. Looking back I never made a good decision, ever. No drinking at 16 till whenever, drank alot, drugs are bad. whole life a blur until 10 years ago. Passed up love of my life, alcohol and drugs seemed better. At 50YO I have had over 30 different jobs. When I was young jumped jobs in a heartbeat, now at my age, no one wants to hire me. I really wish Dad would have been around a little longer. Its a sad life when I look at what I did, but I did it, so I have to live with it.
 
I'm not sure. I am working on my second Million, My first one failed, and the second million isn't looking too good either.

I enjoy the simple things in life. Don't need all the fancy stuff.
Rollie
 
im 84 maried to the same wife for 62y she gave me 3 boys stayed home and made the boys act like men and i towed the line did what was needed to live well cant see a better life for me. with out her i would have been a bum and dead a long time ago last 40y an electrian doing control work for a contractor enjoyed the work... oldart.
 
You got that too!!?? 80% loss in left ear, 20% in my right, As long as I can still hear my 2 cyl. John Deeres I'll be fine.
 
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