Career Advice

Yesterday, I received a phone call from an old friend, a guy I'd gone to high school with.  He's a hapless sort... every friend group seems to have one of these, but generally well meaning.  He called me to tell me that the CVS chain of drugstores was administering COVID vaccine booster shots.  Readers of mine will recall that I had already gotten my COVID booster on Monday.  Like I said, he's generally well meaning.

In the course of our conversation, he decided to give me some career advice, even though he's been unemployed for four years.  THANKS, BUD!  Although he's never heard me complain about work or money in all the years he's known me (I had a big mop of curly blond hair when we met back in MUMBLEMUMBLE), he told me that he thinks that I would get higher pay and a better benefits package if I took a job at the Yonkers Raceway Casino.  Please note that he has no idea what my pay and benefits are like.  I noted his concern, and told him that I preferred working in a position which gives me a lot of outdoor time in the fresh air, observing the flora and fauna, and (when she's not out on sick leave with a cone) playing with a delightful cat (Ginger should be out for another week-and-a-half) than working in a windowless building, probably in a dark room watching camera monitors for the subtle hints that someone is tampering with a slot machine.

Of course, he's not the sort of person who ever takes advice himself- for instance, a mutual friend told him to pare back his resume to one page, and even offered to edit it, but he declined her offer because he thinks that someone in a Human Resources department cares about his high school extracurriculars.  Yeah, he's smarter than everybody around him, as is evidenced by the sound decisions he has made throughout his life.  Every friend group seems to have one of these guys.

As an aside, the pandemic was the best thing that ever happened to this guy- he was just about to lose his last unemployment extension when COVID hit, and he was able to receive a pandemic-related continuation of his unemployment benefits.