What do you do for a living?

I think it doesn't have to be so bad. You can inspire kids and take notice of what they like and can expand on that (in a way you like/find useful ). It certainly seems one of the best subjects to teach in high school to me, as in my experience you are less bound to schoolbooks, a program/checklist of what kids should have learned at the end of the year.

Btw, as a kid I played the cornet in church. It sucked. I rather indoctrinate people about music

Would you tell if we guessed right? Lawyer? JK!

 

Good guess... but no!
I did actually study law at A-Level though.

 

I work at a coffee shop "part time" (I say part time because it varies).

And slowly but surely building my own photography business.

 

Do you use that in your work now? We want a hint!

 

That's what happens with their best students, and I'm sure that's why those teachers went into it.

I don't have the patience for that. If I was going to teach anything related to music, I'd much rather teach music history and theory at the college level, where everyone very much wants to be there and learn as much as they can.

Also, teaching intermediate piano lessons can be fun, where the students have more or less mastered the basic mechanics of playing and are now starting to run into personal limitations that are more mental than physical.

I would hate to be the person who has to deliver an ass chewing to a seven year old because she didn't practice her scales last week. I know that job has to be done, but it's no fun.

 

In a way... yes.

 

This is the most important part for me. I learned that the hard way (with history). Sure I like to motivate and trigger students to see how fun and interesting history is (besides being important to understand today's situations but that doesn't really motivate most teens ), but if I have to be busy with that all the time during class (besides playing an authority figure which I just am not) and then have to solely focus on getting them passed I don't enjoy it. I am pretty easy going, if a person doesn't want to do what I want I am ok with that, and I kinda felt the same way in front of a class.

So the job is not directly related to that study but you have a lot of use for it?

 

That is correct.

 

Hmm damn, that could still be pretty much anything! Does it fall in the category of government/municipal official?

 

Haha - yep.. lots of options.
Nothing to do with the government though. Couldn't stand that.

 

Well, you said we probably wouldn't expect it so...

 

True, true!

 

For me, the best thing about owning a bookstore, before the internet came along, is that it was a gathering place for people who were passionate about learning new things. When business was slow, I had time for conversations with customers about common interests, and I could read everything in the place for free. I didn't mind working long hours, because I enjoyed hanging out there.

My current office job is not as interesting or as much fun, but it's a mature business, so I don't have to work as much as I used to. It's a company that provides services to other businesses. We have plenty of long-established clients, and my experienced employees know what to do, so I work from home a good bit. The money is good and the work isn't hard for me, so I have no complaints.

 

I would love to own a fun book or record store. Just chatting with the customers in either case sounds great Even if I could barely live from it (without big debts) it would suit me fine.

 

You could combine the two, and maybe add a small attached coffee shop that could serve as a music venue at night. What an efficient sinkhole for money!

If you ever win five million dollars in a lottery, you could start up this business and just enjoy operating it until all the money is gone. :-(

 

Yeah, I couldn't start a business unless there's a real indication it would make a (little) profit. I'm not completely uneconomical Although the example you describe sounds so much fun it is tempting

 

One of our large national bookstore chains once experimented with live acoustic music on weekend evenings in its coffee shop areas. It lasted for about two years.

The biggest challenged faced by any small retail business is that wholesale merchandise costs are based on volume, so they aren't competing on a level playing field with Wal-Mart and Amazon.com. This sad fact has destroyed many small, high quality, interesting local businesses, and crushed the dreams of their owners.

These days, you have to find something that the big companies can't do, or aren't interested in doing. Nobody can compete with them directly.

 

Maybe get the profit out of online services just like them. Orders and stuff (ah well, this seems common now, you're almost stupid not to add some kind of webshop to your store) and indeed attract new customers with something fun or interesting. I guess in that case location is everything... and the best locations are (often) the most expensive

 

you're the cop assigned to catch the potheads on hipforums?

 

Parking meter reader