My Job

[Crazywisdom]

I've been self employed since 2003. I fix and install refrigeration and air conditioning systems, ranging in size from domestic fridges up to a 700 cubic meter freezer room, and from a small single air con unit to the complete air con system for a local college, and dairy farms ranging from 400L of milk  up to 24,000L.

I like fixing things and knowing how things work, which i think is why i like Buddhism as it teaches us how we work    My job gives me the opportunity to do things at or below cost for people who are in need.  I always aim to be honest and fair with people though i don't always recieve the same in return.

Some days i don't see anyone to talk to as on most farms the work is done by machines, some even have robot milkers so the herdsman only has to check on the health of the animals and feed them etc. It can be quite lonely.
Many of the farm workers are Polish or Czechs so neither of us know what the other is saying!

I never really know what time i will finish work as it depends on what calls come in and how long it takes to repair, so one day i might do six hours and 20 miles and the next 18 hours and 250 miles! I think the longest day i have done is 36 hours 

This last week my customers have ranged from a Turkish kebeb shop owner to a Lord and the bass player of a well known band, i try to treat them all equally.

Jon 

[GonzoEnder]

I have an unskilled, minimum wage, seasonal, berry processing job. I love it and hate it: every moment is Dharma with the right mind. I hate it because it is extremely physically demanding and I am over-qualified for this job, yet I cannot do much better with no credentials or degree or demonstrable skills. I am getting a great physic that I never had before too. I don't really even work a lot of hours but, I earn my paycheck, let me tell you.

I think about Milarepa building 13 houses before Marpa would teach him the Dharma. My mind shuts up immediately and gives me no more fuss. Ice packs take care of my painful hands and feet. Dharma takes care of my attitude.

Give up. Give up your body and your mind. It is not going to last long anyway.


Here's to hoping I can get a permanent job... I hate falling back on Mom for a place to live, which is where I am at now. I have the karma to be where I'm at now--hopefully I can exhaust it and move on to a better way of making a living.

Oh I forgot to mention one more aspect of my job which is enjoyable: I get to process food that kills the least amount of beings possible for commercial food processing, which is fruit and vegetables. I even got to work with organic frozen veggies... Yay hard labor! heh heh.

Hey, Milarepa isn't laughing at me right now. He's probably aware of the fact that I'm an attached sissy puss who can't give up a dime to save my life. This is only slightly exaggerated...

[GonzoEnder]

Got a new job at Carl's Jr.

 I've been trying to get a permanent job for, oh, about  a YEAR and a HALF now. Today is a good day for me, my friends.

Part time leading to full time based on performance. I think I will perform well. I will hopefully be a shift leader very soon they are looking for 2 of them, plus I have 3 years experience at Taco Bell.
Also 2 new stores are opening up soon so I have good opportunity to advance and maybe land an Asst. Manager job.

You might not think fast food is not a career, but consider this:
Fast food Managers make around 50,000 dollars a year without a college education, which means I won't have tens of thousands of dollars of loans to pay back. I love college, and I love education, but I want to stack some money in the bank before I go back to college again...

I hope selling hamburgers and chicken strips won't give me too much negative karma though. That is my main concern about making it a career.

[Kaivalyananda]

Job...hmmm...that means, what? My mother says I've been retired without money since I was born. I have  a purpose in life that I have adopted and I do many things to earn a little money here and there. I teach ballroom and social dancing, twist balloons into some pretty cool creations, dig ditches, drive old folks around (in their cars since I don't have one), fix roofs, do counseling, plants and harvest veggies for others, pull weeds, mow grass, house sit, pet sit--the houses don't complain as much when I sit on them--basically I do whatever is mine to do. Then, while what it is that is being done is being done, I get "me" and "I" out of the way and let the doing do itself. So I guess one could say that I do nothing at all, yet somehow doing gets done. :-)

The purpose I've adopted is to be of benefit to others. It is that purpose that guides everything else.

Om Shanti

[Crazywisdom]

Last week i got called in to look at a milk storage tank in a factory thats a five hour round trip away, the maintenance manager insisted they called me in despite there being many more local companies, i'm sure without the benefit of the Dharma i wouldn't be the person i am today who people trust to do a good job and is more comfortable in the company of others.

In my younger years my fear of people was often mistook for arogance and prejudice as i only felt safe by keeping others at a distance both physicaly and emotionally. I still have much work to do 

Jon 

[wmw111]

Thats a lovely thing to share thanks Jon. How have u been ?