Survey

 Woodsprite’s Survey

1. When you were growing up, what are some of the things you most seriously said you wanted to be "when you grew up"?

I wanted to learn to fly a plane.

 

2. Is what you ended up actually doing as an adult any of the things you were so ardent about wanting to "be" as a child or teenager?

Nope. Flying a plane , I was told, was a man’s job and not ladylike.

 

3. Have you had one profession or career for most of your adult life, or have you done various types of work?

I have been a teacher most of my adult life.

 

4. Have you ever been self-employed, and if so, doing what?

No

 

5. Have you ever done the same type of work either of your parents did for a living?

No. My mother trained as a teacher but became a stay-at-home mother which was not good for her or for her two daughters. My father was a police officer. The job never interested me which was just as well because I am pretty sure I would have been told it was not a lady-like job!

 

6. What’s the very first job you ever had? Was that a good experience for you?

I worked as a paper filer from 16 to 18 and although the job was excruciatingly boring, I liked my boss. He really built my self-esteem up because when he came looking for something, I could always find it for him. He encouraged me to apply for college, which, back then was not a matter of paying money and attending. One had to take tests and have good "school certificate" results.

 

7. Have you had any jobs you really hated, and if so, what was it you hated about them?

Oh, yes. I hated, hated, HATED standing behind a counter at Woolworths.

 

8. Did you ever have a job at which your boss was a major source of unpleasantness for you? What ended up happening about that situation?

No, I have always been fortunate in my boss. Although I do remember being interviewed by a principal and not liking him. By the time school began, he had died and the new principal was excellent.  As I write this, however, I do remember a principal I had and we ALL hated him. He kept a folder for each teacher full of things we were doing wrong. He was a FANATIC about children being supervised every minute. I once met him on the campus {my class was at music} and he rudely asked me why I was out of my classroom. I smiled sweetly and said, "I was changing my tampon, Mr. C!"

 

9. Did you ever have a job at which one or more co-workers made the workplace unpleasant for you? What happened regarding that?

 No, I have always liked my colleagues.

 

10. What was the most "fun" job you ever had?

Well, I actually liked teaching. Every day was different with seventh graders.

 

11. Did you ever have to stay at a job you absolutely hated simply because you needed the paycheck?

Yes, that afore-mentioned stint at Woolworths. I was in college at that time and needed the money.

 

12. If you could choose your own work schedule, and pick anyplace you chose to work at, where would you choose?

Well, it would have to be in the mornings. I am SO not an afternoon/evening person.If I had to work, I wouldn’t mind going back to teaching. Place? Well, I like Vermont.

 

13. What are some of the most important factors, for you, in making a job suitable and desireable to keep?

I like to be left alone to do the job. Actually, that was a big part of why I quit teaching. It got to be where someone was always telling me how to do my job and it wasn’t my boss. He was a teacher before he became a principal and understood. No. it was paper-pushers at the superintendent’s office…

 

14. Did you go to college? If so, what did you study? If not, did you simply not want to or were there other reasons why you didn’t or couldn’t go? If cost was not an issue, would you seek higher education now? And if so, what would you study?

Yes, I went to college with a double major of art and English literature. Odd you should ask this because I was just telling Fred I want to find out if I could do a degree course at the University of Vermont. I am not sure what I would study… Ummm, maybe art and English literature? But I haven’t thought this through as yet. It is just an idea rattling around right now…

 

15. Did you ever consider joining the military?

No. And even if I had been interested, I wouldn’t have been allowed to because {altogether, now!] It wasn’t lady-like!

 

16. Did you ever get fired from a job?

No

 

17. Did you ever just up and quit a job without giving notice?

Oh yes! That Woolworth job finally got the better of me…

 

18. Did or do you call in sick sometimes when you are not actually very sick?

Yes, I did.

 

19. What’s the longest and shortest amount of time you have ever held a particular job?

Longest was teaching at a rural school in MS–thirty years. Shortest–well, I can’t remember how long that Woolworths job was but not long.

 

20. Did you ever worry your parents to a frazzle over whether or not you’d ever settle down and make something of your life?

You have to remember I was born in 1934 and into an Irish Catholic family. We children did as we were told. My father told me that I would be a teacher and I said, "Yes, sir." Fortunately, I liked it.

 

21. If you’re married or a parent, have you spent much time being a stay-at-home spouse or parent, or was that never something you wanted to do, or could do?

I was very like my mother in that being a stay-at-home mother was not something I enjoyed. I tried it for about six weeks once because I thought I should. And I broke out in a nasty itchy rash. Three days after I went back to teaching, the rash was gone…

 

22. Did you ever have a period of time when you really struggled financially, for not being able to find a job or a job that paid you enough to get by on?

After I divorced my husband, I had a hard time financially because all the bills were predicated on two salaries. So, eventually, I got an evening job. I was fortunate in that there was a teenager who lived up the road from me who was a great babysitter.

 

23. Did you ever have to move back with your parents or other relatives due to financial or personal struggles?

No. Both my parents died when I was in my early twenties.

 

24. How are or were your parents, regarding being willing or able to help you when you needed help?

I never asked and when I most needed help they were both dead.

 

25. If you have adult kids, have you ever had to give them financial or personal help, and how do you think this worked out?

Ummm, yes, financial. And let’s say it didn’t work well…

 

"… A human activity having for its purpose the transmissionof the highest and best feelings to which men have risen." (on the purpose of art).

Leo Tolstoy

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."

Jim Rohn

"Enjoyment is not a goal; it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity."

Paul Goodman