Is your work a job or a calling?

[el_bryanto]

I am curious about this - do you work simply to get the money to pay the bills or is your work more important than that? I have an ok job which i feel is actually beneficial to society - but it is just a job - at the end of the day I set it aside.

I apologize for using the semi religious term calling - couldn't think of a better one to get the point across.

Bryant

12 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	My work is just a job
	6 (50%)
	My work is a bit more than job
	1 (8%)
	My work is more of a calling
	1 (8%)
	I have been called to my work
	3 (25%)
	I have been called to condemn this bullshit poll
	0 (0%)
	I like to vote!
	1 (8%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. can't really vote given the options

but i do love my job. it pays well. i work with good people. my boss is a minor annoyance. and i get to play with hi-tech toys.

sP

[pipoman]

2. I chased dollars for over 20 years

before I just quit one day..no other reason for the change beside I was done and couldn't do it another day..still making very good money, it wasn't worth it. I quit, took a year off to do what I wanted around my farmstead, Then got a job doing what I always wanted to do for a 90% pay cut..now I have progressed to making about 50% what I was making...love going to work now and others are happy to see me there too..oh..I found my "gift"..it was there all the time but I denied it because it didn't pay as well..it probably would have paid as well had I spent that 20 years in the industry..

[ismnotwasm]

3. I'm a nurse

I love it and I've always wanted to be a nurse. A "calling" though? I dunno. More like I make decent money doing something I love. A calling I guess.

[a la izquierda]

4. I'm a history professor.

No one does it for the $$. There isn't any for most of us.

[BillStein]

7. FWIW

I was a history major... and I had some wonderful teachers whom I will always respect.

Thanks for teaching history!

[a la izquierda]

8. No problem!

I try to make It fun and relevant.

[BillStein]

5. My job is more like a living hell

but that wasn't an option

[mgc1961]

6. My job started as part-time student employment.

It has become more than that, but compensation (pay, health care, travel) is the primary reason I stay.

If I had an opportunity at this point in my life to take a job in a field I really love without sacrificing my retirement, I would.

[closeupready]

9. Just a job, but I like it.

And I'm gratetful to have it, particularly when so many people I know lost their jobs in 2008 and 9, and only some are working again, and then unlikely to be making what they were.

[premium]

10. 30+ years as an armed USFS Ranger,

Loved every day I went to work up to retirement, no regrets about my chosen profession.

[closeupready]

11. That's interesting - could you do me a favor, and

recount (briefly or otherwise) your best and worst memories as a ranger? That has always sounded like such a terrific job. Thanks!

[premium]

18. No problem,

Start with my worse memories,
Recovery of the bodies of hikers in our National Forests, adults and children alike.
Saw many horrible, horrible deaths, falling off cliffs, drownings, etc..

Best memories,
Rescuing hikers alive in our National Forests, adults and children alike, those were always the best, worked with great search and rescue people.

[closeupready]

20. Where did you work, which park?

[premium]

24. I was assigned to Region 1 early in my career, working mainly in the Helena NF in Montana,

was there for I think about 15 years or so and then requested a transfer to Region 4 which encompassed my home state of Nevada, working the Humbolt-Toiyabe NF.

[closeupready]

29. Lucky you.

[premium]

31. Here's a map of the different USFS Regions.

Region 8 & 9 were the largest while Region 5 covered CA only.

Not many people get to get up every morning and say I love going to work, I was one of the lucky ones.

[GeorgeGist]

12. I'm a leech.

I retired from a calling that digressed into a job.

Science gone corpolitical sucks ... all the fun out of it.

[nolabear]

13. One yes, one no but I love it anyway.

I think writing is a "calling". I literally broke apart emotionally from ignoring that part of me and finding it compelling me again to take the risks. Shrinkdom is a deep pleasure and I think I'm good at it but its another way to dwell in the part of the heart from whence good writing comes.

I'm happy and very very lucky.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Explain who you think is doing the 'calling' please.

Lots of room between 'just a job' and the religious sort of thing you are foisting here. There is no need for that.

[el_bryanto]

17. What term would be preferable?

I tried to think of one, as I mentioned above, but couldn't come up with one.

Bryant

[Bluenorthwest]

23. That depends on what you are actully asking.

Are you asking if people derive non monetary value from their work or are you asking if people feel fate or God controls what they do.
I'm going to be honest. My primary work has been in a field that many fantasize being in. I came to avoid using any words that suggested my position was 'ordained' or chosen because others heard that as 'I have what I deserve, as do you'. It is rude, really to say 'I have it all because God called me, while you work at the mall.'
Most claims of a 'calling' are excuses for bad behavior and backhanded ways to insult those who have been called to work at the Gap.

[el_bryanto]

26. I don't agree with that last statement

Or at least not in this case.

Perhaps to get at it better I might say what role does work play in your life - or in defining you as a person. In your case, are you what you do? If what you do is where you get your principal satisfaction and your principal worth as a person, than that would be more on the calling side of the equation - at least I intended the term. If you get your self worth and satisfaction elsewhere, than more the job side of the equation.

I don't know about working at the Gap; I usually assume most of the people I see there are college students doing that while they head elsewhere, but I suppose rationally I know that's not always the case.

Bryant

[Bluenorthwest]

33. I just don't see outside forces selecting who gets the gravy.

My principle worth as a person is intrinsic and not derived from work. Self worth just exists.
All I'm saying is that language about fate and callings really hurts those who have similar goals that are not yet attained. I take great care in language around this subject.

[KatyMan]

32. I didn't take it as meaning that

More a sense of "do you do your job because it's the one skill you have that pays the most money or do you do something you love" rather than some sort of religious reading (altho far be it from me to put words in the mouth of the OP, but the response above suggests s/he meant it the way I read it).

For the record, if someone paid me the same amount of money to stand in a bucket of shit all day, I'd consider that as a career change. I'm in IT and completely despise it, but I don't have any other skills that pay as well. As MrSlayer said, there aren't a lot of openings for "rock star"!

[Bluenorthwest]

35. And I have often done what I do for free.

I was lucky, I like to do that which people like me to do.

[The2ndWheel]

15. Just a job, but no complaints

Get along with co-workers, and the boss is pretty laid back. It's not some huge company though. Small, just a handful of people. Not big money either, but, I'm single with no kids.

[MrSlayer]

16. Just a job. My passion is writing and performing music.

But there are very limited amount of rock star jobs available and my family has to eat.

I'm also quite passionate about cooking. I am considering making a go in that field.

[closeupready]

22. Being a cook/chef is a LOT of work - LONG hours, on your feet forever,

little money - I tried but hated it; there were things about it I enjoyed, but the negatives overwhelmed any positives.

[supernova]

19. Somewhere between craft and passion

Last edited Tue Jun 4, 2013, 11:07 AM - Edit history (2)

I turned my passion for cooking into a career. I went to culinary school last year. This year I'm part of a small business incubator, making and selling my own food products over the web and at my own stall at two local farmers markets.

I was in Admin and IT for about 20 years, dreary dull office work. But I've always loved the idea of a craft I could do and pursue excellence, seeing products from scratch start to finish. One of the best parts is seeing someone else enjoy the results. To get paid for it is a bonus and one I hope to grow in the coming years.

[PRETZEL]

21. Mine is more than a job but not really a calling

although I do really enjoy what I do and with whom I work. Also, the field that I'm working in fits me pretty well also.

I'm a Fiscal Manager working for a county agency for the elderly.

[darkangel218]

25. Excuse me, but where is the kitteh option??

[Chan790]

27. What job? n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. I worked a lot of "jobs" for 30 years

Now I feel like I'm finally doing something worthwhile.

The downside is that my organization is in significant peril, and if I don't do the job right, my fellow employees won't have jobs, and the need we serve will go unfilled.

[AngryAmish]

30. Was a calling, now just a job

It is tiring managing people. I'm sick of it.

[cilla4progress]

34. I'm a paralegal

for about 25 years. I've had some positions (in legal aid - low income nonprofit providers) that I felt were important in contributing to justice. I have stood my ground on not working for the corporate side...all plaintiffs, if a private firm. (one exception - 9 mos. on the dark side in a corporate firm; quite an eye-opener! There are folks out there who can, will, and do pay whatever they need to, in order to get what they want. And their attorneys facilitate them.).

Presently work for a sole practitioner primarily filing bankruptcies and doing elder law, as well as repping homeowners in foreclosure cases. There's a lotta hurt out there, and a lot of folks living on the edge. It's a bit soul-killing, repetitive, and dealing with lenders / creditors is nasty.

My only position though I would consider a calling was a 4-year grant stint writing wills for tribal members on Indian reservations. It brings tears to my eyes and a tug on my heart when I think of how much that job meant to me, and how much I miss it. At the end, the sucky attorneys who ran the program turned something beautiful and successful into something tarnished, however, I didn't have to interact with them much, was on the road and in the field the bulk of the time, and I met the most amazing, interesting, lovely folks in my work, as well as seeing beautiful country and culture.

[hamsterjill]

36. My job is my means to practice my calling.

My job is just a job. I go there week in, week out and I do my job well. I don't particularly enjoy the job or the people who I work with.

But I have the job to pay my expenses and to make money to practice my true calling - which is animal rescue.