System,I really did think most of PW was basement bottom dwellers. Most with some sort of insufferable anxiety or arthritis preventing them from holding jobs. No joke, exaggeration or dig. Throw up a mental illness support thread and watch the flies come was the way it seemed. Whatcha Disability would have crushed it.

May 7, 2019 16:04:49 GMT System said:

Damn PW has grown up, 10 years ago I got the impression the vast majority of PW were college or unemployed kids that lived at home and smoked weed all day 😂

10 Years Ago I did live at home while working as an intern.

When I first joined PW in 2004 I was in the middle of realizing how deeply unhappy I was. My marriage was on the rocks, I had to have a surgery that meant I could no longer have kids at 27 and I was looking for anything to hang on to to get me through. Cue my love of wrestling and comics.

I was off work for a year after my marriage ended and DOMS/PW was my lifeline as I felt very alone like I couldn't talk to those close to me. I was trying to rediscover myself and I needed an escape from my depression and life crap.  I've said it a million times but people like Threedy, Benny & Rogue, etc. saved me.  I'm not kidding.  I was suicidal.  Heavily medicated.  I felt hopeless.  Through the late night talks and forging of friendships, posting about nonsense, it gave me something to look forward to and helped me rebuild myself and my life. 

I still deal with depression and anxiety, but I'm way more solid now.  I'm in a completely different field job wise, my mom lives with me and my daughter is grown.  It's crazy.  Still not where I'd seen myself but hey,  I'm still here and I've made friends to last a lifetime and met many of them in person. 

So you guys aren't completely wrong.

Up until September I was living in the Mom's basement. I had my own bedroom. Hell, the only reason I moved out was I took a job bid 40 minutes away and didn't wanna deal with a 2 hour commute 5-6x a week. Now I'm 25 minutes from work. I do question what exactly I have been doing with my life. I was passively going to school with ambitions of joining the Air Force as an officer. My goal was simply to get a degree to "be set" for life with an easy military career. LOL.

When basic failed I started working retail as a produce guy. Did that for 3 years until I joined the PO. Certainly doing a lot better than I was several years ago. I'm pretty happy where I'm at in life. I was depressed for a while when going to school and the first few years of working when I gave up on that. Not sure if PW helped with that at all, but it's been one of the only communities I stayed with. I've lurked elsewhere, but never felt the need or desire to post. During that time I very much was a basement dweller. Now we just gotta hope Jman eventually makes it out.

I’m not knocking living at home, if my relationship with my parents was different I’d probably be better off living at my mothers. I was just out of high school 10 years ago.

I had a housemate from hell that I kicked out, so I’m stuck renting a 3 bedroom house to myself atm which is just money down the drain in the long run.

I was not willing to deal with roommates. I watched a ton of People's Court and various daytime court shows when I lived at home and that seemed to be a thing a lot. All you can really do is grin and bear it and try and recoup in small claims. Thing is, simply getting a judgment means jackshit because that doesn't mean you get paid. You still gotta come after them in another way. But if that was easy, you wouldn't be here!

That and like my space. I figured if I couldn't afford my own place and needed to live with others, why move out? Towards the end we were starting to get on each other's nerves and I hated being the third wheel to my parents whenever they fought. I do wish I had started saving way before I did. I'm living in a one-bedroom right now and honestly I'm kinda of a minimalist anyways so it almost feels like too much.

@ness Do you ever have to take out open routes or ride around finding carriers to give them mail that arrived late? Or is it strictly cleaning stuff for you? I only ask because I was an RCA for almost five (long) years and it seemed like our two janitors spent more time doing that sort of thing than they did cleaning the place.

May 7, 2019 21:51:46 GMT Baker said:

@ness Do you ever have to take out open routes or ride around finding carriers to give them mail that arrived late? Or is it strictly cleaning stuff for you? I only ask because I was an RCA for almost five (long) years and it seemed like our two janitors spent more time doing that sort of thing than they did cleaning the place.

I've been at this station since July (before I transferred I worked at a local plant so that stuff was a non factor) and nothing like that. Every so often they'll send me to pick stuff up from the plant or other stations and bring back for the carriers before they leave, but nothing on an actual route. Just maybe jump a dead battery or something. The guy I replaced (retirement) did a ton of non-cleaning stuff from what I hear. I dunno if he was doing stuff like that, but I've certainly heard tales. And by the first month I was quite sick of hearing "but Ray used to".

I'm pretty much left to my own to do as I see fit. I'm sure that's all based on office to office though.

May 4, 2019 22:14:17 GMT iron maiden said:

@admin as mid management for a men’s fashion magazine.     

Haha, I love this! I do watch Project Runway. 💁

I'm actually a PA at a software company.

What's a PA?

Production Assistant?
Public Announcement?

Project Administrator?

PA System. @hr is just a living microphone.

Performance Analyst is the first thought that came to my mind.

Private Assassin?

Oooo being a Private Assassin would be cool.

Project Analyst

May 5, 2019 22:39:08 GMT @ness said:

Really thought C had 5 or 6 doctorates at this point. Seemed like he was studying even before PW was a thing. Every time a random topic came up he was always writing a paper on it. Did you ever publish your video game violence one you were always talking about?

Yup, sat in review for three years and my research idol ended up reviewing it and extending an offer to work with him on stuff.  Helped pen a few papers to congress afterwards.  Did two other papers, one of which is a fairly wide read paper in MOOC research.  My thesis can be turned into a book relatively easily on variable selection methods for social science and a series of articles but health not good enough to continue working on it right now.  

And since I had to do school part time and classes cost money I mostly volunteer time, so I did not get credit or the hours in for a PhD yet.  I was told two and half years should be all I need to graduate if I write up the rest of work I did for my thesis.

May 8, 2019 18:08:37 GMT Emperor said:

What's a PA?

Personal Assistant?

I like mine better @admin

I feel like you are a very stylish and in the 'know' kind of guy that you would fit in at a hip men's mag.   

May 8, 2019 22:26:41 GMT iron maiden said:

May 8, 2019 18:08:37 GMT Emperor said:

What's a PA?

Personal Assistant?

I like mine better @admin

I feel like you are a very stylish and in the 'know' kind of guy that you would fit in at a hip men's mag.   

Over here a PA is the universal term for a Personal Assistant.
I would love to have an Executive PA, I need someone to keep me organised and focused.
I am like a Category 5 hurricane with ADD.

My actual dream job would be a Business doing "Problem Solving Consultancy"
I found I have a knack for business problem solving and would love to run seminars and public speaking courses on it.

Are you offering me a job Incy?

May 8, 2019 22:26:41 GMT iron maiden said:

May 8, 2019 18:08:37 GMT Emperor said:

What's a PA?

Personal Assistant?

I like mine better @admin

I feel like you are a very stylish and in the 'know' kind of guy that you would fit in at a hip men's mag.   

I probably would like it better too! My artsy side probably doesn't even come across that strongly on here because of the demographic we've got...

May 8, 2019 23:46:34 GMT @admin said:

Are you offering me a job Incy?

May 8, 2019 22:26:41 GMT iron maiden said:

Personal Assistant?

I like mine better @admin

I feel like you are a very stylish and in the 'know' kind of guy that you would fit in at a hip men's mag.   

I probably would like it better too! My artsy side probably doesn't even come across that strongly on here because of the demographic we've got...

So ... what does "PA" stand for in your job? :lol:

May 8, 2019 23:46:34 GMT @admin said:

Are you offering me a job Incy?

I feel sorry for anyone who works for me.
My online persona is probably way more patient than my real life one... Let that one sink in 

May 9, 2019 16:48:28 GMT iNCY said:

May 8, 2019 23:46:34 GMT @admin said:

Are you offering me a job Incy?

I feel sorry for anyone who works for me.
My online persona is probably way more patient than my real life one... Let that one sink in 

You should look into Virtual Assistants.

I'm still in Aboriginal Child Welfare, same Agency for 12 years.

2007-11 - front line social worker. Dealt with some of the worst in humanity.
2011-13 - supervisor of front line social workers. Was in charge of 10 of them. Burnt me out.
2013-present - I don't know. I deal with funding and writing proposals and training social workers. I've found myself in the finance world of social work and it's weird. We're funded about 50% from the Province and 50% from the Feds. Dealing with two different type of governments, it's a whole different language. But I love it. I made up my job title and threw some acronyms into it. Makes no sense to anybody outside of a very small group of people.

I have flexible hours, generally work 7-3. Which means I pick up my son from daycare at like 3:15 and get so much bonus time with him. My wife is a lawyer, she doesn't get home until later and unfortunately loses out on so much time with him.

We met with our financial planner and now have a solid plan in place. We're already doing quite well in our investments and pension, and RRSP, TFSA, all that. I get to retire in 25 years when my wife turns 55. I'll be 62. Obviously things can change these projections significantly, but it's nice to know that we're so far ahead of all of our peers. KJ, very happy to hear that you're getting your retirement plans sorted out. Especially if you're making bank now. Get that money working for you as soon as possible.