- Sep 6, 2000
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This is a subject i've thought about before, but i was just reminded of today when i met a guy who is a M.D., and Podiatrist.
Now, i'm not talking about people who do certain unsavory work just to put food on the table, say a single parent. Then i would completely understand you taking whatever work you could find. No, i'm talking about people who make good money, professionals even, who choose to do things which are just, let's say, nasty. Sorry, but i just don't get it.
Take my new acquaintence the podiatrist. You're bright enough to get accepted to, and graduate from medical school, yet you choose a specialty where you look at nasty, rotting, stinky feet all day. Yeah, i know that any doctor will pretty much make good money, but i don't see how helping Esther with her ingrown toenail problem can be a satisfying way to spend my time.
I mean, certain jobs just make me wonder, "what in the hell were you thinking?" Perhaps my favorite has to be one from my military days. Our Group Commander, an old-school Special Forces Colonel, tells of a deployment he went on once. It was a long trip, and the flight stopped to refuel enroute, on a tiny little Air Force base called Thule, in Northern Greenland. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting there, here's an idea of where it's located: (map), and here's its homepage.
Anyways, like i said, the aircraft had a layover there to refuel and such. Everything went fairly smoothly at first, and all that was left to be done before the aircraft would be ready to depart, was have the sumps for the onboard latrines vacated. Hours went on, with the passengers and crew getting more and more pissed off, after all, layovers aren't much fun in any event, much less in that particular location. After a couple of hours, a young enlisted man, probably not much older than 18, finally pulls up in the septic truck, obviously in no hurry. Well, this p!ssed the Colonel off to no end. He jumped up, goes over to him, and starts cussing up a storm. "You lousy #!@#U)@!!! Get your @##@!@ in gear!!" and so on.
The young guy just waited for him to finish his tirade, stared blankly back at the Colonel and calmly responded, "Sir, i'm 19 years old, i have no stripes for you to bust, and i'm driving a sh!t sucker truck in Greenland. What punishment do you think you could possibly threaten me with?"
The Colonel, absolutely dumbfounded, thought about it for a minute, and responded, "I don't know," and quietly got back on the plane.
Anyway, that story proves one thing.... this took place after the draft, so the guy enlisted of his own free will and CHOSE his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). Now, if i couldn't understand why someone would chose to be a podiatrist, i sure as heck don't understand why you'd choose to drive that truck. But to get back to my question, can anyone explain why on earth people would voluntarily choose to do some of these whacked jobs?
Now, i'm not talking about people who do certain unsavory work just to put food on the table, say a single parent. Then i would completely understand you taking whatever work you could find. No, i'm talking about people who make good money, professionals even, who choose to do things which are just, let's say, nasty. Sorry, but i just don't get it.
Take my new acquaintence the podiatrist. You're bright enough to get accepted to, and graduate from medical school, yet you choose a specialty where you look at nasty, rotting, stinky feet all day. Yeah, i know that any doctor will pretty much make good money, but i don't see how helping Esther with her ingrown toenail problem can be a satisfying way to spend my time.
I mean, certain jobs just make me wonder, "what in the hell were you thinking?" Perhaps my favorite has to be one from my military days. Our Group Commander, an old-school Special Forces Colonel, tells of a deployment he went on once. It was a long trip, and the flight stopped to refuel enroute, on a tiny little Air Force base called Thule, in Northern Greenland. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting there, here's an idea of where it's located: (map), and here's its homepage.
Anyways, like i said, the aircraft had a layover there to refuel and such. Everything went fairly smoothly at first, and all that was left to be done before the aircraft would be ready to depart, was have the sumps for the onboard latrines vacated. Hours went on, with the passengers and crew getting more and more pissed off, after all, layovers aren't much fun in any event, much less in that particular location. After a couple of hours, a young enlisted man, probably not much older than 18, finally pulls up in the septic truck, obviously in no hurry. Well, this p!ssed the Colonel off to no end. He jumped up, goes over to him, and starts cussing up a storm. "You lousy #!@#U)@!!! Get your @##@!@ in gear!!" and so on.
The young guy just waited for him to finish his tirade, stared blankly back at the Colonel and calmly responded, "Sir, i'm 19 years old, i have no stripes for you to bust, and i'm driving a sh!t sucker truck in Greenland. What punishment do you think you could possibly threaten me with?"
The Colonel, absolutely dumbfounded, thought about it for a minute, and responded, "I don't know," and quietly got back on the plane.
Anyway, that story proves one thing.... this took place after the draft, so the guy enlisted of his own free will and CHOSE his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). Now, if i couldn't understand why someone would chose to be a podiatrist, i sure as heck don't understand why you'd choose to drive that truck. But to get back to my question, can anyone explain why on earth people would voluntarily choose to do some of these whacked jobs?
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