Odd-jobs.

[Philip Davies]

Any of you odd-job men/odd-job women. Can’t say I was especially flattered to be introduced to visitors as one. (No, I was not narked, it set me to thinK) Vocational training in odd-jobbery? Which occupational education encompasses the widest range skills/knowledge? I should think, farming. What do you others suggest?

[Toolmaker51]

Difficult to single out 'widest' without background in every field. Farming & ranching would rank high, I should think. So will that of general veterinarian, or owner of an apartment block. However, easy bet says there are farmers who hire tractor mechanics, crop dusters, co-op planting, and seasonal harvesters. Same can hold for any
occupation. I equate accumulating skills/ knowledge to being absorbed by a chosen occupation. Essentially, a healthy form of addiction.

As a machinist these past decades, it seems every trade I worked on my way to machinist connect in fairly linear progression.
Fast Food? = People skills Check. Mason? = Hard work, planning and doing things in order. Check. Aircraft Handler?, absolutely useless, unless enduring 18 hour days regard as positive lol. Navigator? = Talk about detail, planning, and accountability! Besides, time-speed-distance not an iota different than RPM - feed, and both happen within a Cartesian envelope. Check. Leading Petty and Training Officer? = used all preceding traits. Check.
Accordingly, when vision for my shop came along, it drew what good or bad details every facility demonstrated. Including one with a low ceiling; insufficient headroom to load stock equivalent to swing of their largest lathe. Or parking a vertical bandsaw between 3 obstructions to stock length, width, or cut-to length. That supervisor always touted extensive background in manufacture and process engineering. I never saw any benefit of those. Turns out he had years in a check printing outfit...and farmed out maintenance.


A wee rant? Well, I relate via quite illustrative lyrics;

Straight up, what did you hope to learn about here
If I were someone else, would this all fall apart
Strange, where were you, when we started this gig,
I wish the real world, would just stop hassling me
And you, and you, and me
I wonder what it's like to be the head honcho
I wonder what I'd do if they all did just what I said
I'd shout out an order, I think we're out of this man get me some
Boy don't make me wanna change my tone, my tone
Matchbox 20 "Real World"