Lets see if I can even get into this without getting too pissed, and deleting everything.

Do I like my job?

Short answer: No.


Before starting where I am now, I spent about 5 years chasing med. calls, car accidents and fire. I was fun, felt like I was doing something good, blah blah. BUT, there was always a call here and there to bring me back to the reality of what I doing; emergency response. Emergencies don't always end well. Trying to cut the top of a car off as fast as you can, while the occupant is screaming, "CUT MY f"ING LEGS OFF!!!", his bilateral femur fractures easily diagnosed by the bones sticking out of his pant legs. Or the car accident where five of the people I grew up with were killed. Or breaking the back window out of a sinking car in a canal, so I could sit in the back seat, stabilizing the broken neck of a pregnant woman, while the rest of the guys worked to pull the car out...Or, or, or... $hit that sticks with you, steals your sleep at night.

*Career change*

Next, I spent 9 years chasing forest fires around the country. Exciting, different, no car accidents or med calls! Instead, I spend three weeks in one state, get a day or two r&r, and be in some other state for three weeks, r&r...., repeat. My two week time sheets, 212 hrs. Flying around in helicopters, taking expensive fire trucks into holes they don't belong... great stuff for a single, young dude. I felt like I was making more money than God. I paid my way through four years of college, and paid it off before graduating. I bought a new diesel pickup, and paid cash. Then a drift boat, and another car...all while still being able to squirrel money away in the bank. But then I found out $hit happens in that career choice as well. Family life suffers, free time is non-existant, and then there are bad fires. Cramer Fire This one blew up in our face. I had stayed with these two guys at their helibase the night before, and less than 24 hrs later, sat looking through the smoke wondering where in the hell they were at up the hill from us. We heard them call time after time for a pick up. Our helispot had burned over as well, so we made the call to hike down to Cache Bar, on the Salmon River. Hiking out through that fire, we heard one last call, "We're buggin out"... and nothing more.

*Current*

I graduated with a B.S. in Fisheries Science, hoping to work with what I loved most; fish. I intended to be in a Bio position somewhere, working to correct the errors of our past. Alas, Bio. positions are more rare than leprechaun gold. After 4 years of looking, I finally decided a job, is better than no job, and began working at, choke, a hatchery. Now, before you burn me at the stake, the majority of what we do, is make planter trout for lakes/ponds, with no native populations, no outfalls, just a bunch of people and happy kids with bobbers and worms. I drive the 'fish truck'. I have to have a CDL, and if I ever blow over .04, be it on a road stop, or even a random 7:30 a.m. workday screen test, I lose my job. I had to pay for the license, and future renewals, and get no added pay for having it. I am required to live on station (in a 79 year old house, with no insulation), and rotate duty shifts with a couple co-workers. Run out of milk, or t.p.? Next week when I'm off duty I can drive 20 miles to get some. Someone has to be here 24hrs a day, every day of the year. Thanksgiving, I'll be cleaning raceways (no holiday pay, but I do get an extra day off next week!) The pay is beyond horrible... Last month, my check was $1,547.20 "But you have benefits" I always hear. True...but I don't utilize them. Can't afford to add the co-pay to my other expenses. I suppose if I had a family, it would be more beneficial...but can I afford a family? With one child, I literally qualify for low income assistance; food stamps. My annual income is less than what I paid each year for the damn degree that got me here. "But you get to live on a river!" True... but how many of you would really like to live on the hatchery stretch of a river? Countless shifties rummaging around your home before dark, making campfires they burn garbage in, rocking out to pre-dawn masterpieces such as Eminem. Not to mention dealing with the public, many of whom are extremely anti-govt. Last year, while planting trout into a fishing pond, I was cornered by two drunk dudes, and spit on, because ODFW is raising fees. Guess I missed the memo that I had something to do with that. Then there was the guy on another popular fishing forum, who made a post, complete with the contact info for the higher powers to be in Salem, urging people to write in for me to lose my job because I didn't stock a location for Free Fishing Weekend. A location that was not scheduled to even get a plant.

Thank God, I have a few side gigs which, combined with my pay, almost covers my monthly expenses...almost. Thank God also for that squirreled away fire money.

My boss asked me just last week, "How long are you going to be here?"
I answered, "I look for something new everyday."

So, to answer JDarr's question... No, with things the way they currently are, I do not like my job. It wouldn't take much to train a monkey to do what I do, and that pisses me off. I didn't bust my ass in school (only getting 4 C's in 4 years of college) to do this. I feel like I'm selling myself short, and it frustrates the hell out of me daily.


whew... I'm out. Gonna go walk the dog down the river.