# What would you be doing..



## tkern (Jan 20, 2012)

If you were not doing your current job? 

I've been in the restaurant industry for around 14 yrs. But if that didn't work out, I'd like to work in an antique bookstore. I collect more books than I do knives and I love worlds that books reveal.


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## Johnny.B.Good (Jan 20, 2012)

Dream job or realistically speaking? I wouldn't mind working in a bookstore either. I was an English major in school and have a massive collection of books. I plugged this site in another thread once, but check out "www.librarything.com" if you find yourself with more books than you know what to do with.

Dream job would be to work as an artist (I like pastels and oil painting). Working in the restaurant industry sounds fun too, but it also sounds like awfully hard work, and maybe not always "fun."

Realistically speaking, I suppose I would go back to real estate (I made construction loans before people stopped building houses!).


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## JBroida (Jan 20, 2012)

i've thought about becoming a professional sharpener in Japan (i.e. apprenticing to someone and the whole thing), but its hard work and money would not have to be an issue in my life... also, i love what i do.

I also really miss cooking professionally... i guess i wouldnt mind going back to that if i wasnt doing this.

Total dream job... Food Critic. I love eating


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## ecchef (Jan 20, 2012)

tkern said:


> If you were not doing your current job?
> 
> I've been in the restaurant industry for around 14 yrs. But if that didn't work out, I'd like to work in an antique bookstore. I collect more books than I do knives and I love worlds that books reveal.



That sounds good to me! I love the smell of old books. Restoration might be fun too.


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## TamanegiKin (Jan 20, 2012)

If I wasn't in the kitchen I wouldn't mind being a traveling bluesman. Just me, an old Harmony archtop guitar, hoehner harmonica, stetson hat and a box to stomp on as a drum. I used to play music full time before I had to get "real" and the only place worth returning to was the kitchen haha. In my next life I'd wanna be a boxer, It's the Puerto Rican in me.


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## apicius9 (Jan 20, 2012)

Interesting question I have been thinkinga bout a lot because my contract ends in the summer and I need to find a new job anyway. But I really like what I do as a university professor. I enjoy research (well, except for the grant pressure) as well as teaching smart graduate and doctoral students, and I like translating my knowledge in science into work that helps communities. Unfortunately, there are always just a handlful of jobs like that out there nationally, and the competition is fierce - especially for someone who has not gone his way through the US system.

Alternatives? I would love to do more trainings for professionals and community agencies, but they never have money to pay me... I could also see myself as a director of a foundation that awards research money in the health sciences. Maybe I should call Bill Gates and see if his foundation is hiring...

Of course, there was a time when I wanted to run a small restaurant, but over time I have learned that this is a recipe for disaster, and I have much to much respect for the hard workers in the business to meddle in that as an amateur. 

Full time wood working would be a 180 degree turn from everything I did in my life, i.e. from academia to honest work  But I am really only an amateur, so I don't think I could survive. 

Just rambling, but if I haven't found another job in academia by April/May, I will be in real trouble and may be forced to just follow the money. Getting screwed with contract renewals is no fun... 

Stefan


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## Eamon Burke (Jan 20, 2012)

I'm doing what I want to be doing, at the pace the Lord brings me to it. But if I got hit by a bus and couldn't do this stuff anymore, I'd be writing. I still plan on writing heavily again in the future. I've just got no time for it now.


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## stevenStefano (Jan 20, 2012)

If I wasn't a Chef what would I be doing? Ideally I'd be a Chartered Planning Consultant because I spend 4 years studying it at University and I have a pretty good qualification in it. Sadly with a recession and nobody building anything there is no need for any planners. I've thought of moving country even Continent and it seems to be the same everywhere, it is pretty much a dying profession. I always imagined that's what I'd be doing so it is a little hard to get used to the idea of being a Chef for the rest of my life


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## Lefty (Jan 20, 2012)

I'm lucky, in that I landed my dream job and it is everything I had hoped (knock on wood). I get to play with big hydraulic tools, axes, haligans and carry a knife, all to help out the general public. To make things even better, I get to cook when I want to, for a bunch of hungry and appreciative guys. 
I wasted away in factories for long enough, and I really appreciate my career...smoked out, puked, pissed, and bled on or not, it's better than anything else (again, knock on wood).


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## sachem allison (Jan 20, 2012)

I would probably go back to sculpting, probably continue with the woodworking and metalsmithing. jewelry making again. be a renaissance man.lol


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## ejd53 (Jan 20, 2012)

apicius9 said:


> Interesting question I have been thinkinga bout a lot because my contract ends in the summer and I need to find a new job anyway. But I really like what I do as a university professor. I enjoy research (well, except for the grant pressure) as well as teaching smart graduate and doctoral students, and I like translating my knowledge in science into work that helps communities. Unfortunately, there are always just a handlful of jobs like that out there nationally, and the competition is fierce - especially for someone who has not gone his way through the US system.
> 
> Alternatives? I would love to do more trainings for professionals and community agencies, but they never have money to pay me... I could also see myself as a director of a foundation that awards research money in the health sciences. Maybe I should call Bill Gates and see if his foundation is hiring...
> 
> ...



I sympathize completely. I got my Ph.D 30 years ago and taught at the University and Medical School level up until about 2 years ago. While I love the teaching (especially my grad students) the grant carousel finally got to be too much. I had enough grants to last me that long and I wasn't looking forward to the next round and the next etc., so I retired and became the IT manager for my wife's medical practice. I don't get paid a lot, but I get to play with computer networks all day and, of course, I get to sleep with the boss with no chance of a sexual harassment suit:rofl2:.


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## WildBoar (Jan 20, 2012)

I'd look into working in a high-end stereo shop, although it may be a tough to make a good living at it. Down the road, I keep threatening my wife we'll open a small place and I'll be the barista and gelato maker while she runs yoga classes in the back. :cool2:


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## mateo (Jan 22, 2012)

Hypothetically? If everything had worked out career wise (and, well, life-wise) I would be doing research on canopy ecology either in the Redwoods or in Central America.



I'd still love to -- funny where life takes you sometimes...


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## mr drinky (Jan 22, 2012)

Interesting question. I have a few that I think about.

* Working in a cool boutique kids toy store. 
* A butcher.
* Artisan bread maker.
* Travel writer. 

k.


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## DwarvenChef (Jan 22, 2012)

Geeze I have already done soo many things it isn't funny. Aquarium specialist, Reptile specialist, Fabric sales, Airport ground crew, Gunsmith, Infantrymen, bouncer, werehouse forman, custodian, wine and spirits order/sales, pizzia delivery, comic game sales/manager, cook lead sous, butchery dept, and several more I just can't recall at the moment.

Seems everytime I move I have to find a new career. Food has been my focus now that I have a degree but that one gets me so far. I supose if $$ where not a problem (RIGHT!!) I'd love to be working or own a currios antique shop dealing in reusable wares from past years. Kind of a recycle system of things you can still use but from days past. I've also been studing blackpowder gunsmithing just incase I can do that when I'm an old fart


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## tgraypots (Jan 22, 2012)

DwarvenChef said:


> I've also been studing blackpowder gunsmithing just incase I can do that when I'm an old fart



I am an old fart! Will soon be 62. When I was in my 20's my dream job would have been shaping surfboards. Instead, I discovered clay and have been working with that sometimes magical stuff since 1976, full-time since 1978. I also opened my own retail shop that year, allowing me to talk to my customers face-to-face, which has been half the fun. Now, I'm learning to make knives and slowly putting together the necessary tools that will make this endeavor _*somewhat*_ efficient. I've sold a few and have a waiting list. I've recently closed my retail shop (last July) depending on others in more high-vis places to sell my pots, but also host kiln openings/open houses. My goal is to have a few chef's knives available at my next kiln opening, after it warms up a little bit, let my customers unload my kiln and pick through the pots while I talk about the importance of gathering together with friends and family and putting our feet under the same table. Of course, that whole experience involves appropriate, sharp knives and nice hand made pots  making things with my hands has always been magical to me, and I guess it still is.


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## bieniek (Jan 22, 2012)

I would go to live in Thailand, studying beauty of thai boxing, which would take two lifetimes to get to know decently. 

I would live humbly in a small hut and talk to people who dont watch MTV

I would be vegetarian and focus on every aspect of being a warrior with breath control etc 

If my wife dumps me, Im going to do it anyway, thats for shure


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## joec (Jan 22, 2012)

I'm actually doing it now. I am part owner and operator of a self storage facility which gives me time to pursue other interest from cooking to guns. It is the best way in the world to spend ones retirement and still have a steady income to say the least.


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## bcrano (Jan 22, 2012)

Guitar builder.
Food critic. 
Film festival programmer.


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