What did your parents do?

cabbitcabbit

cabbitcabbit

NeoGaf Donator
2,687
8,382
The other thread got me thinking about the difference between our currents jobs and the ones that our parents did as we grew up/continue to do.


My mother worked as a secretary for a local paper company for most of my younger life until I was around 18 when she decided to go back to college. She now is the head administrator for a university in Georgia for a division that collects and allocates funds from alumnus.

My dad has worked for Dow Chemical for some 35+ years. I can't even describe the technical aspect of his job because it's severely complex. Something about the programming and mechanical aspects of the heavy machinery used in their plants. He retired 5 years ago but they still hire him out as a contractor for start up of plants in India/Germany/Philippines for something ridiculous as 150/200 an hour for 3-6 weeks as a time (travel and expenses covered.)
 
Onoes

Onoes

Trakanon Raider
1,489
1,323
My dad was a traveling high voltage lineman, about 25 years ago went to work at the Ford proving grounds as the company electrician and maintenance man. The plant was bought out by Chevy maybe 10 years ago, and he retired. About a year later they called him and asked him to come back as the supervisor. He sits at a desk now and hates it.

My mom ran a babysitting service out of out house. I remember her having 17 kids at once, all by herself. We played outside a lot, and I never had a toy that wasn't broken or stolen in record time. After my parents divorced, my mom went back to school, and became a teacher. She works for a school that specializes with special needs kids, something I would have never thought her capable of (she was insane).
 
Borzak

Borzak

Silver Baron of the Realm
26,639
35,459
My dad and I do the same thing. I worked contract with him for 20 years. Now I work for the same small company he retired from. We do structural steel design and shop drawings. I do a good bit more of stuff he never waned to mess with like going to the field, estimating, and programming some of the CNC equipment. My dad had the dream job in my industry, those days are over. He worked at home, got a company car/truck, and mostly went in on Fridays to get his paycheck and eat lunch. He also was allowed to work on the side nearly full time if they didn't have anything to do. He wasn't paid as much as a lot of people but he made just as much if not more on the side most years and got insurance and guaranteed work at a minimum. He still does some work in retirement when we need help or someone has some odd stuff nobody else can do.

My mom worked off and on keepng books and running offices. She did some of it to get away from dad who worked from an office at home.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
16,146
9,615
My dad worked skilled trades in the paint repair department for General Motors (Buick City) for close to 28 years. When they shut it down he worked at some other plant briefly before retiring for medical reasons.

My mom managed a grocery store for 25 years. She tried to retire a couple times but the owner would offer her insane amounts of money to stay on another year. When she left they had to hire three people to do all the work she used to do. It's always been a point of pride for her.

When I was younger my dad also had his own business, he ran a bait shop and taxidermy place. He was very well known amoung the outdoors peeps, was on a couple TV shows like Michigan Outdoors (only on in Michigan obviously) and to this day still gets a call once in awhile from people who like to go into business with them doing the same thing.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,660
16,723
My father was an elevator mechanic most of my life. He got a series of layoffs recently so he retired and is now a state inspector for elevators.

My mom has always worked for the state taking care of the severely mentally retarded.
 
R

Remit_sl

shitlord
521
-1
Dad owned/operated a logging/trucking company. Mom did the books. Ax Men is a stupid reality TV show and isnt anything like what working a true crew is like.
 
T

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
607
My father was active duty in the Navy when I was very young then went into reserves. He worked as a roofing salesman for a local place and eventually went on to be a regional salesman for a large roofing/siding company.

My mother didn't work when I was very young and just traveled around with my dad for wherever the Navy sent him. She then worked at McDonald's for a while P/T then eventually as a secretary for a local insurance company. Through a series of company buy-outs and shifts she now is a senior project manager with her PMP at a national insurance company.

Neither of my parents were college educated and both are really a testament to how you can work your way into a nice and comfortable life through hard work.
 
B

Bloodfrenzy_sl

shitlord
10
0
Single father raised three kids (my older brother, myself, and my younger sister). He was in the US Army for 20 years then retired. Worked as a DoD Contractor for 5 years, and then moved on to work for the DoD directly. He managed to get his Bachelor's, then a Master's degree while raising us. Now he's a big wig that has a three letter word in his title.
 
Borzak

Borzak

Silver Baron of the Realm
26,639
35,459
Remit_sl said:
Dad owned/operated a logging/trucking company. Mom did the books. Ax Men is a stupid reality TV show and isnt anything like what working a true crew is like.
Click to expand...
Forestry degree here. Crews here aren't even allowed to have a chainsaw let alone use it anymore. They have one saw for cutting dragging ends off the trailer and it stays with the loader. Otherwise it's all mechanical here, feller buncher, skidder, loader, etc...Nobody ever touches a tree.
 
R

Remit_sl

shitlord
521
-1
Borzak_sl said:
Forestry degree here. Crews here aren't even allowed to have a chainsaw let alone use it anymore. They have one saw for cutting dragging ends off the trailer and it stays with the loader. Otherwise it's all mechanical here, feller buncher, skidder, loader, etc...Nobody ever touches a tree.
Click to expand...
Yeah we hand fell and bucked everything until about 2000 and bought a processor. About 3 years later my dad sold off all the logging portion as he was only making money on the loading/hauling side. Did that for 6 more years and retired at 54 (but he worked 14+ hours a day, 6 days a week for 25+ years to get there....)
 
P

Profundis

Silver Knight of the Realm
795
3
My dad is an attorney. He started as criminal, but apparently, one of his cases left a bad taste in his mouth and he switched to real estate law, which he's been doing ever since.

My mom owned her own craft/clothing store when we were kids. After my parents were divorced, we moved around a lot and she did secretary/bookkeeping type stuff wherever we settled. She's now a VP's assistant with Verizon.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
My dad was a redneck farmboy, my mom a city girl. They met in college, she basically wrote all of his papers for him and got him through to graduation, my mom became an English teacher and my dad became(after a few odd jobs) an Insurance salesman. A few years into teaching my mom quit that and went to work as my dads secretary instead(did all the work because she's honestly WAY smarter than he is). 20 years into that career path(and 20 years into my life) they divorced. My mom just retired, and my dad still sells insurance, and now I work for him instead(after 10 years of working in retail). He'll retire in about 5 years, and I have to decide if I want to take the business over or not. Its a good living, but my god does it bore me to absolute tears.

My mom kinda came out of 10 years of retirement last year to be our full-time nanny. She comes over to our house every M-F and babysits her 1 year old grandson, and she loves it, its hard to get her to leave and go home sometimes, lol.
 
khalid

khalid

Unelected Mod
14,071
6,775
My mom taught computer science. Stopped teaching and went working for defense contractors when she got divorced. Worked for Mcdonald Douglas (now Boeing) for 35 years until she retired recently.

My dad was a civil engineer, did bridge design until he retired. He had saved up a shitload of money after working for 20 years, put that money into farmland. Now owns a shitload of farmland and manages that.
 
Jx3

Jx3

Riddle me this...
1,039
173
My father was a military man, retired after 25 years as a Colonel in the Army. He now drives a bus so he doesnt get bored
My mom worked in MTMC (Military Traffic Management Command), retired after 22 years and now flips houses.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
15,110
-1,025
My dad had a bachelor's degree in psychology that he never used and worked as a cattle rancher for 30 years until he was killed in a ranch accident. Mom was an elementary school teacher with a degree in English who took 20 years off to raise my siblings and I and then got her Master's degree and then went back to teaching which she is still doing. She also does a lot of ranch work in the summer time.
 
Ronaan

Ronaan

Molten Core Raider
1,092
436
My father was a farmer's boy, but he and his family had to flee home as a young child, I want to say at the age of 10. Fuck wars.

He eventually learned saddler / upholsterer (sorry going with online translations here), but didn't really work in that field afterwards. Instead, he drove trucks and later operated construction machinery, mainly excavators. I think he did that for 35 years. He also worked with the same company for as long as I can remember.

Pretty steady guy. The job didn't get him rich, summer was shit because of heat and lots of work hours, winter was shit because you were laid off (and re-hired in spring) or just got minimum wage while waiting for the snow to go away.

My mother also had to flee home as a kid (same area of origin, maybe 20 miles apart). She worked at home most of the time when I was still a kid (small manual labor stuff), and later got a part time job at a supermarket.

Not so glorious. Still, they made the best out of it.
 
bixxby

bixxby

Molten Core Raider
2,750
47
Dad is/was an rv mechanic and hustles on craigslist buying low and selling high

Mom was a travel agent, then an unemployed alcoholic, now an insurance salesman. Also sold make up on the side all through the years.
 
lindz

lindz

#DDs
1,202
69
My mom is a teacher. She did a home daycare when I was little while she finished her degree and started teaching full time when I was in like 6th grade.

My dad... I don't know what he does. He technically is an accountant but he stopped doing that when I was a kid. He does some sort of consulting thing for companies now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.