About the author:
Born and raised in a small town in East Texas, Kramer Wetzel spent years honing his craft in a trailer park in South Austin. He hates writing about himself in third person. More at KramerWetzel.com.
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Ouch, indeed. When I was but a sprout, my mother told me that, no matter the state of the economy or my personal circumstances, people keep having children (thus needing child care and teachers), people keep getting sick (and need medical attention) and big important men continually need women (secretaries) who have clerical skills to keep them afloat (know what’s really going on).
She insisted that I learn to touch type (thanks, Mom) and encouraged me to get a teaching credential, the logic being that no matter what, I could always support myself and any feckless men I happened to drag along with me. (speaking of male bashing…!)
My current career is a male-oriented career (very few women in transportation planning who have driven trucks and buses), but I do indeed have the clerical skills and the lifetime credential. Push came to shove, I could support myself, though I would really despise having to do one of them. Can you see me answering the telephone and soothing my boss’s ruffled ego and dressing up pretty? Yeah, right.
But I could if I had to, and that gives me the confidence to enjoy a job I really like (most days), though it could be cut in the massive budget cuts at any time.
I feel sorry for those 700,000 men who lost their jobs. One’s self-identity is so closely tied with one’s career and purpose in life, it would be very hard to be out on the bricks. Especially for a man, I think.
Ouch, indeed. When I was but a sprout, my mother told me that, no matter the state of the economy or my personal circumstances, people keep having children (thus needing child care and teachers), people keep getting sick (and need medical attention) and big important men continually need women (secretaries) who have clerical skills to keep them afloat (know what’s really going on).
She insisted that I learn to touch type (thanks, Mom) and encouraged me to get a teaching credential, the logic being that no matter what, I could always support myself and any feckless men I happened to drag along with me. (speaking of male bashing…!)
My current career is a male-oriented career (very few women in transportation planning who have driven trucks and buses), but I do indeed have the clerical skills and the lifetime credential. Push came to shove, I could support myself, though I would really despise having to do one of them. Can you see me answering the telephone and soothing my boss’s ruffled ego and dressing up pretty? Yeah, right.
But I could if I had to, and that gives me the confidence to enjoy a job I really like (most days), though it could be cut in the massive budget cuts at any time.
I feel sorry for those 700,000 men who lost their jobs. One’s self-identity is so closely tied with one’s career and purpose in life, it would be very hard to be out on the bricks. Especially for a man, I think.