Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
In which I consider a Vocation Vacation
Quite some time ago, I heard a segment on NPR about Vocation Vacations. A vocation vacation is this cool program that allows you to “try out” your dream job. I got to thinking about this again when Bethany and Heather both commented on my Working Girl post that they had been Library Pages. You see, I am fascinated by the library. I love that things are so in order, I love that there is a place for everything, and I love that there is a definite process at a library.
I am not sure when my fascination with libraries began, I think it may have been around the time I took Library Science 101 at UofO. This class was designed to prepare Journalism students for the dreaded J202 – Information Gathering (nicknamed Info Hell). The class project for Info Hell was a two-hundred some page paper. So, yeah, you needed to know how to use the library. The class was only worth one or two credits and was only once a week, but I LOVED it. My love for it paid off, because it was the first college course in which I earned an A.
So, I began to wonder, if I were to take vocation vacation, would I do it in a library? Would I bag my big plans for a Masters in Strategic Communication in exchange for a Masters in Library Science?
And, does it has to be a vocation that I’m interested in making my own? Or, can it just be something I’d like to do for a couple hours, just to see what it’s like. Ideally, I’d like to take a week or so and try out each of these
Warning – The list below completely underlines what a strange girl I am. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Also, these aren’t so much jobs I’d like for a career, they’re just jobs I’d like to try out for an hour or two.
- Assembling the tiny meals for airline passengers
- Processing Netflix Returns
- Sorting Mail
- Doing the shopping for online orders grocery stores
- The person who makes the announcements on the PA at Nordstrom, but, I don’t want to answer the phones, I only want to talk over the PA.
- The person who gets to mix the paint at the hardware store
So, can any of you hook me up with one of the above jobs for a day? Pretty please? If you can’t, don’t worry, I suppose I’ll get over it. Just tell me, if you could go on a vocation vacation, what would you pick?
Comments on this post
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a librarian. I now know it wouldn’t be a good choice for me. I’d talk too loudly and/or I’d stop to read every single book I laid my hands on.
But here are a few things I’d like to give a whirl:
~ New Ice Cream Flavor Tester for Ben & Jerry’s
~ A Barista
~ A ball girl for a professional baseball team
~ A private detective
I think I might like the Netflix thing too. And maybe filling Amazon.com book orders.
30. April - 7:39 pmI’d like to try being an editor. I don’t even know enough about editing to know what kind of editor I would want to be, but I think I’d be pretty good at it. I’d also like to be someone’s personal assistant, working at a coffee shop, working in a used-book shop, and working as a counselor on a phone-in radio show.
30. April - 10:15 pmOooh, I have a friend who works for one of the airline food companies – but it’s in England, so a bit out of the way.
1. May - 1:48 amTrue story: once she accidentally ordered 10 times as many eggplants as they needed and everyone flying out of Heathrow for the next month had eggplant-based meals.
I’d like to be a hair stylist, a model or a cheerleader. I need to get this vanity out my system somehow.
1. May - 5:07 amI ditto you on the library thing. When we were younger, I got all the books together and had my sisters ‘check them out’. Of course the little buggers never brought them back in time. (Even though I had a ‘book return box’ availalbe 24 hours)
hee hee.
My vocation vacation? Working on a ranch or farm somewhere. Yep.
1. May - 10:51 amI wanted to be a librarian when I was little too! I think now I’d like to try being one of those chatroom detectives that pretend to be kids so they can catch pedofiles.
1. May - 2:18 pmOr a ballerina. :)
Cab driver. Lifelong dream.
1. May - 3:15 pmI have also thought about being the person who pulls orders for an online order grocery store. I do love grocery shopping.
3. May - 9:16 amI’ve always wanted to sort mail! Or be a cashier at a grocery store – I think I could be so fast. I’ve never thought about processing Netflix returns, but I’d be all over that, too.
6. May - 2:48 pm