What did you do when you realized your career change was a mistake?

I moved home, until I was 35.

I changed from my career as a librarian with a Master’s degree to a job in my family’s insurance business when my kids were growing up. After several years, i realized how damaging it was to my marriage since my husband was an owner and to my self-esteem. I quit and went back to my career as a librarian for the last several years of my working life.

I went from nuclear technician in the Navy, to nuclear technician at a civilian plant, to nuclear supervisor at that same plant, to a nuclear supervisor at a different plant to getting laid off. None of those were really major changes and I didn’t regret any of them. Once I got laid off, I wanted to work for a few more years before pulling the trigger for retirement. But trying to find a job when you are 58 and for it not to be in the field you had worked in for 36 years is a bit difficult. I ended up getting a job delivering beer and wine, then moved into a supervisory role, then moved into a manager role. Then I got pissed off and quit. Retirement here I am.

I don’t regret the move to the different industry. It was a good job with a good company. But they hired the exact wrong person to be in charge and he drove the place into the ground.

It took about three months. I wasn’t liking the new job and wasn’t doing well.

I went back to what I was doing before; the company I had worked in prior to my career move took me right back.

Ten years later I made another change and never went back to the former career.

@seawulf575…I got as far as “I got laid…” LOL!

@Dutchess_III Well, at first it felt like I was getting screwed, but not laid ;-)

LOLLL!

For 17 years after I graduated from high school, I worked at a grocery store. I started as a cashier, was promoted to customer service, and eventually worked in the pricing department. I loved my job and it fit my skills perfectly of being very meticulous and detail oriented. But sometimes the hours were kind of crazy, like on Saturdays when I had to work until noon, then go home and eat, go to bed, and then be back up by 7:00 p.m. to eat before I started at 9:00 p.m. to work the overnight shift to put the ad on.

But at some point, my sister enticed me to come work at her school as an assistant teacher. And at the time the fact that it was a Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:00 job was very appealing after my weird hours. I even took a pay cut to go work there! But I realized later that it wasn’t all that I had hoped. For instance, I wanted to teach but most of what we did was behavior management. And that ended up being a very stressful job. So yes, I did regret it and that’s my first very long answer to one of your questions.

As far as to what I did about it, I’m not one to hop around from job to job. So I actually stayed there for 12 years. That may or may not have been a good idea because it did take a toll on my health, and thankfully I’m not working there anymore. I have what I would almost call a plush job at a church. Not because I just sit around and twiddle my thumbs all day because I wouldn’t like that at any job. But it’s just the right amount of work with not too much stress. All the people there, both that I work with, like the pastor and assistant pastor, and then everybody who I interact with is just super nice, and the stress is maybe 5% of what I had at my other job.

@seawulf575 posting this separately so it doesn’t get lost in my very long answer, but I just have to say I’m a little jealous at hearing that you worked in the nuclear industry. Not that I would have ever seen myself doing so, but ever since I saw Chernobyl, the miniseries they put out in 2019, I have just been fascinated by nuclear power. I have a whole bookshelf of books, not just about Chernobyl but how nuclear power works, nuclear disasters in the past, you name it! So to actually have somebody that I interact with, even if it’s just on Flutter, that has worked at a nuclear power plant is really cool!

@LifeQuestioner Nuclear power was very interesting. I learned about a lot of the accidents that happened in the industry both while I was in the navy as well as in civilian plants. In just about every case, it boiled down to human error. The possible exception would be Fukashima. If you want to learn about a really bizarre one that sails under the radar, look up SL-1. One of the early test reactors in Idaho.

@seawulf575 I will, thanks! Yeah, Fukushima was just horrible the way everything played out, what was the earthquake and then the tsunami.

Rick knows Kansas like the back of his hand. Once we were road tripping when he said “There’s Wolf Creek!”
I yelped!
A guy passed us towing a pontoon boat.
“That used to be a canoe!” Rick said.
Oh the adventures I’ve had with that man!

@LifeQuestioner I left grocery to work at a hospital and I’m miserable. I’m making good money and have great benefits and a state pension but I don’t feel appreciated liked I did in grocery. I was working in receiving in grocery and felt valued and respected. I got along with everyone and the store was only two blocks from my home. There’s so much I miss and I wish I hadn’t left.

@jonsblond I hear you. I worked with a great bunch of people, well, for the most part. You always have a couple, like the meat manager who you would walk by early in the morning and say good morning to and he would barely look your way. But some people just really can’t handle mornings. I remember when I first got a job there when I was 18. The pay was so much better than anything McDonald’s paid. Remember of course that this was years and years ago too. But I remember wondering why anybody would want to flip burgers when they could work at a much higher starting rate where you definitely had the chance for advancement. And I really liked that job. I kind of wish I had stayed there although then I might have developed foot problems because after standing on that hard floor all day, a lot of people did start having problems with either their feet, their back, or their hips. Still, I probably would have been a lot healthier today because in my line of work, you walked a lot through the store.

^omg, the meat manager! Yes, he was a curmudgeon.

@jonsblond wait, yours too? So maybe it’s something about being a meat manager? Lol! I mean they actually have their own Union and they make a decent amount of money so I don’t know why they would be uniformly unpleasant to people.

“Curmudgeon”! Loving it

@LifeQuestioner it took him almost two years to recognize my existence. Once he did he was still grumpy. He ended up leaving to manage at a sister store and I was relieved! The new manager who took his place was a very sweet man.

@Dutch it’s one of my favorite words. :)

@jonsblond did you work in the meat department then? I worked in pricing so I had to work with all the different managers in the store to some extent.

Curmudgeon: It’s who I am!

@LifeQuestioner I worked in receiving so I also had to work with the managers of each department.

@jonsblond yes, sorry, I remember reading that in your earlier comments now.

^No worries! It’s easy to forget things here. :)