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[The Voice of Time]

what prevents you from being a little faster and more dependable

i mean those things are not skills, exactly

as i understand it in your part of the world you could have a minimum wage job and your life would not completely suck you'd have socialized medicine and shit

minimum-wage is no problem. 3000 € a month easily. We don't have to work either for full medical coverage, everybody has that from the day they are born till the day they die. No more and no less.

When it comes to dependability and speed those are not things you can just choose to be. Ay, I can choose to make an extra push, push myself further, but that doesn't mean I'll become much more effective necessarily, it could just mean I'll do more mistakes because my brain can't catch up with all the work I'm trying to do or I'll grow more aggressive because i can't handle the pressure. Dependability is a part of my problems with such things as angst, but also non-health-related problems, like the fact that I find many capitalistic mentality-situations unnatural or even unethical. Like sales jobs (door salesman, phone salesman, advertisement, or other forms of direct or indirect sales) and security jobs (night clubs, malls) etc. In the first one I don't like pushing people like you'll have to do in those jobs, I find it unethical, if people wants to buy something then they'll reason by themselves, and one shouldn't try to persuade them into choices they may regret or be cheated off either in terms of quality, price or product type, in the later I find it hard to be hard on people, I very much don't like the idea of saying no to people who try to enter clubs, or going about suspecting people all the time of stealing. Both are very indelicate situations, and I mostly dislike both kinds of people when I meet them, as I don't like people capable of running such lies in their life.

you are in sweden right

absolutely not and to a Norwegian that's an insult to suggest!

dont you guys have free education

primary, secondary, thirdiary (high school) and university (with some student loans on college and university levels, but only to cover bills, there's no student fees and government covers your apartment up to 4000 NOK I think it is, or about 700-800 Dollars, as well as some of your bills)

what would it take for oyu to get the driving certificate

hmm... about 5000 Dollars?

well why can't you be efficient dependable and well-managing

i spent some time working at mcdonalds

as far as i can tell anyone who is not a retard can show up on time and take whatever shit shifts they give you and generally tries to work hard will eventually become a shift supervisor - now the shit shifts on demand part is tough if you have kids - do you have kids?

No kids. And it's not a matter of pure will, as explained above. And careering in MacDonalds would be worse than being lowest level employee. I hate the thought of being a boss supervising and managing my nightmare type of work more than I hate my nightmare type of work. The smell of food all day, the complete lack of conversation with people above anything imperative, the stress which my body doesn't handle very good, and the complete full-time dullness of it all... nightmare!

i dont see why those things would be any different in sweden or finland or wherever it is that you are

but if you are single and willing to work whenever they ask you to - and can string a few words in the local language together - you should be ok

MacDonalds probably have the lowest threshold in the country for workers. And there's a reason for that, and those reasons is why I make it a nightmare of a working place and environment.

are you any good with kids?

i quit working at mcdonalds to do babysitting and i charge twice the going rate

people are willing to pay me cause they know i will not spend the time doing homework and wont have my boyfriend over and if the kid is asleep i will clean the house and whatnot

can you do those things?

i know its easier to get into that market if you are a girl but that is not as important as it used to be

Those jobs are offered to you by people you know (there's no babysitting agency in Norway... that I know of, remember Norway is not a highly populated place) and you can't live on those jobs with an apartment and bills to pay. I like kids in general, but not many at a time (like kindergarten), I don't know how "good" I am with them because all kids are different. Some kids have found me extremely funny and play-worthy, some kids love me, and some kids are more inclined to be on their own and do whatever they want to do, either by themselves or with their friends, and with those kids it's hard not to die of boredom and not fall asleep or something while you're waiting for them to reach bedtime/and or eat or something, and given the fact that I'm supposed to supervise them I can't sit on the computer either, and I don't like watching TV, and I can't listen to music as that'll take away my attention as well. But anyways, the problem lay at finding customers, and many people seeing me may think twice least they don't know me beforehand, and I don't have a particular network of people with kids so that I could make a living off it.

[Lynn]

Those jobs are offered to you by people you know (there's no babysitting agency in Norway... that I know of, remember Norway is not a highly populated place) and you can't live on those jobs with an apartment and bills to pay. I like kids in general, but not many at a time (like kindergarten), I don't know how "good" I am with them because all kids are different. Some kids have found me extremely funny and play-worthy, some kids love me, and some kids are more inclined to be on their own and do whatever they want to do, either by themselves or with their friends, and with those kids it's hard not to die of boredom and not fall asleep or something while you're waiting for them to reach bedtime/and or eat or something, and given the fact that I'm supposed to supervise them I can't sit on the computer either, and I don't like watching TV, and I can't listen to music as that'll take away my attention as well. But anyways, the problem lay at finding customers, and many people seeing me may think twice least they don't know me beforehand, and I don't have a particular network of people with kids so that I could make a living off it.

My friends are visiting Norway this week, staying with a sister who moved from Scotland to Norway to work as an au pair a number of years ago, stayed and got married. She is no longer an au pair and I don't know if the man she married was her former employer - not that it would really matter and I'd be accused of pot calling kettle black if I suggested it. Nor I am also suggesting to you Voice that becoming an au pair and marrying your boss would be a goal you should aim for .

There was a tv program on BBC last week, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mrcl3, which included looking at how Norway is said to be the best place in the world to be a woman and where men are encouraged to take up to nine months paternal leave after the birth of a child - which perhaps isn't really the best example when suggesting childcare as a employment route for you but it probably means that the early period is taken care of by the parents and there is a demand for pre-school care.

[The Voice of Time]

That last point, pre-school care, is problematized by the fact that virtually 99.99%, or every parent in Norway send their kids to kindergarten, and kindergarten is covered by the government.

Anyways, as before said, it is about having a network of mums and fathers who would put their faith in you, and I don't think I or the place I am at is one such highly possible situation.

[Lynn]

That last point, pre-school care, is problematized by the fact that virtually 99.99%, or every parent in Norway send their kids to kindergarten, and kindergarten is covered by the government.

Anyways, as before said, it is about having a network of mums and fathers who would put their faith in you, and I don't think I or the place I am at is one such highly possible situation.

Sorry to hear that. Is the market for temp Christmas staff or cover starting up in your area in Norway? In the UK I have seen the shop adverts go up but more importantly the temporary Post Office jobs for both sorting office and delivery staff, which would suit my 19 year old nephew and I thought a similar temp job in Norway might suit you as there should be a mix of staff - students etc - which would give you the chance to get to know a wider range of people and make some contacts?

Did you come across any interesting opportunities in your travels that you might consider?

I guess I have been quite lucky job-wise. I worked in a local cafe and snack during school summer holidays, year out in civil service and garden festival work at weekends before university, baked potato shop once during university (the smell clung too much), two six-month student placement stints as part of my degree (in Liverpool ICI and London civil service), civil service again, call centre car insurance sales during post-grad and then finally local government, 17 years so far . I would, of course, still consider working away from home again or re-locating if the correct opportunity arose.

[The Voice of Time]

will be looking out for them But still some time before Christmas!

I have many dream-jobs. All of them as free positions being kind-of my own boss, although with a few responsibilities which I'd like to have.

Game Director is first one, but where I make the rules and I am the resource and not some guy just put there to do "a" job, but "the" job, if you know what I mean, although I guess everybody would kinda like to have some form of importance, being valued by their fellows, in the job. Second is university lecturer, but not hired professor, teacher or researcher, as that would break with my freedom and give me more responsibility than I'd want. Then I'd also want to be a writer, help making movies (most likely as a supporting actor and/or script-writer), and influence politics (but without being a politician... at the very most I could be a freed technocrat somehow, maybe consultant, where I may note that the Norwegian government uses extensively consulting bureaus).

I already have kind-of a plan on how to achieve the first, and I'm working in a direction heading for the second one. The third one I'll probably be as part of the second one, and help making movies is just about organizing with people making movies and then throw in your support when they need you. The last one is pure fantasy and would only happen by chance. I mostly want the later though because I have a lot of practical ideas on state spending. From ideas on collective transport and goods movement development to ideas on international space program initiatives.

[Lynn]

will be looking out for them But still some time before Christmas!

I have many dream-jobs. All of them as free positions being kind-of my own boss, although with a few responsibilities which I'd like to have.

Game Director is first one, but where I make the rules and I am the resource and not some guy just put there to do "a" job, but "the" job, if you know what I mean, although I guess everybody would kinda like to have some form of importance, being valued by their fellows, in the job. Second is university lecturer, but not hired professor, teacher or researcher, as that would break with my freedom and give me more responsibility than I'd want. Then I'd also want to be a writer, help making movies (most likely as a supporting actor and/or script-writer), and influence politics (but without being a politician... at the very most I could be a freed technocrat somehow, maybe consultant, where I may note that the Norwegian government uses extensively consulting bureaus).

I already have kind-of a plan on how to achieve the first, and I'm working in a direction heading for the second one. The third one I'll probably be as part of the second one, and help making movies is just about organizing with people making movies and then throw in your support when they need you. The last one is pure fantasy and would only happen by chance. I mostly want the later though because I have a lot of practical ideas on state spending. From ideas on collective transport and goods movement development to ideas on international space program initiatives.

Notes for one and three:-
My mate always had a keen interest in games and movies and got to set-up a role-playing games design company after his accountancy degree with government youth funding in the late 1980s. He didn't really make any money out of it but enjoyed it greatly. He then ended up in education, teaching kids how to make movies http://strangeboat.com/ but still writes stories and scripts for himself. He recently was inspired to make a movie of one of his early stories, has completed it, got it screened in select locations and is trying to get it distributed . He would be very surprised, and also annoyed, that it has taken me all these months from joining the forum to publicising his movie, Electric Man http://electricmanmovie.com/ , storyline as below

Jazz and Wolf need money to save their comic shop. When the rare and valuable first issue of Electric Man shows up, they think all their problems are solved. But things are never that simple. They are not the only ones who want to get their hands on it.

Notes for two: University lecturer would be good but depends where you end up and if your key role is research - and getting funding for it; or teaching - the thinking/prep time or lack of it, the kids, the late night marking, the lies about the long holidays etc .

[Kayla]

well you have to start somewhere

that sounds kind of american sorry

but i mean you do

finland or whatever probably has much better social assistance for those who do not work - unlike texas which pretty much has fuck all - although if you are a member in good standnig of a church and do a lot of volunteer work there you can basically couch-surf indefinitely if you are down on your luck or just a chronic fuck-up - as long as you make a decent houseguest

but anyway can you just live indefinitely on state assistance?

some people might find that worse than working at mcdonalds

[The Voice of Time]

Not indefinitely, but pretty long, and somebody who actively pursue a path of cheating may find many people very trusting of you and putting their faith in you, so you can go on for pretty long until either opportunities run out or people find out you are cheating.

If you have health-related problems you may easily also get compensation for it, up to two-three thousand dollars a month doing little to nothing for it, though even in these circumstances there are programs actively trying to get you back into working condition. I was offered to apply for it, but declined, I want to try and get a job instead, hopefully one easy to keep.

[duszek]

How about code-writing ?
A friend told me once that it took about three months to learn it if you were hard on it. He himself is a doctor who worked for the Siemens company at that time.

[duszek]

One can at least do some maths at breakfast to keep one´s mind alert and fresh. So that the next time an opportunity arises one makes a good impression on an employer.

Or an exercise from a C++ book. Or something similar. A grammar exercise.

A cross-word is option B, I would say, good for days when you have a headache, but perhaps I am wrong, I am not sure.

Reading a newspaper seems too passive, unless it is some high quality indeed.

[Kayla]

how about being a security guard

i dont know how things work in findland but here if you want a job that does not require doing much except staying up all night you become security guard i am told its a good way to catch up on your reading

in my neck of the woods you would have to carry a gun the down side of which is that you might encounter other nutbags with guns

but finland or iceland or whatever does not have a gun problem right

[John]

how about being a security guard

i dont know how things work in findland but here if you want a job that does not require doing much except staying up all night you become security guard i am told its a good way to catch up on your reading

I've got an uncle who worked as a security guard at a local steel works (it was a few years ago as there are no steel works left here any more) for a while. My mum bumped into him while shopping one day and he told her that he'd just bought an alarm clock. "Is that to wake you up for work?" she asked. "No," he replied, "it's to wake me up when it's time to go home".

True story.

[Lynn]

how about being a security guard

i dont know how things work in findland but here if you want a job that does not require doing much except staying up all night you become security guard i am told its a good way to catch up on your reading

I've got an uncle who worked as a security guard at a local steel works (it was a few years ago as there are no steel works left here any more) for a while. My mum bumped into him while shopping one day and he told her that he'd just bought an alarm clock. "Is that to wake you up for work?" she asked. "No," he replied, "it's to wake me up when it's time to go home".

True story.

I have heard that about my area too but car repairs works

[The Voice of Time]

how about being a security guard

i dont know how things work in findland but here if you want a job that does not require doing much except staying up all night you become security guard i am told its a good way to catch up on your reading

in my neck of the woods you would have to carry a gun the down side of which is that you might encounter other nutbags with guns

but finland or iceland or whatever does not have a gun problem right

What the fuck is your problem? I LIVE IN NORWAY! I'm NOT Swedish! I'm NOT Finnish! I'm NOT Icelandish! NORWEEEEEEGIAN! How can you go through ALL the Nordic countries and forget about Norway? We are damned more important than Iceland at the least!

No, Norway does not have gun problems. There are very strict laws for keeping guns, you have quotas, and then you are obliged to keep them in safes so that nobody can steal them, and you are not allowed ever to carry a gun. Not even police carries guns. Only special forces carries guns, but they only come out if there's something serious going on, they don't patrol the streets or anything like that.

I already told you about my problem with being a security guard. Besides you'd need to take a course which costs like 20 000+ Dollars, and you have to pay for it with your own money.

[The Voice of Time]

How about code-writing ?
A friend told me once that it took about three months to learn it if you were hard on it. He himself is a doctor who worked for the Siemens company at that time.

It's a bit more complicated than that. Writing code is easy, but these days you need to know a lot more than writing code, you need a full-flex education to understand all the important aspects of computer programming, so that your employer can make full use of you. And that's not done within 3 months, and you need to prove your worthiness against other applicants, you need shiny certificates and proof of your skills and experiences.

Norway does not lack either jobs or people to fill them, we have a very mature IT-industry, and it's not letting people in just because they now how to code.