In all my 20 years as a contractor I have spent most of that traveling to and from a job from one location to another with one or more cities. So I am asking you how far would you travel or are willing to travel for a job?
So what prompt me to write this piece was one I was on the last bus for home and there was this lady young who was still young in her mind. There was also a third person in this conversation and she was able the same age as I am. Anyway, somehow our conversation went to where do you work at? So the young explained that she worked at Walmart, not in our neighborhood but somewhere else. She ask asked the other older woman where she was calling from her job and the other woman responded with that she was traveling from Addison, Texas for her job. And when the young lady ask me where job was, I explained that I worked in Fort Worth (that is 42 miles in distance). Then the young lady responsed to both of us “There is no way in hell I would travel for any job regardless of the pay”. (Please keep in mind that she was 21 yrs old, she is still young.)
When it come to work, most of us know that you have to go where the money is. Or for other reason we choose to accept a job, and it may not be about the money but the job opportunity or status in which it holds. We get to that job by any means whether it is by car, bus, train, or plane like what Tom Joyner did when he traveled from Atlanta to Chicago to do his show in the late 1990's or like today with Mr. Steve Harvey. (But some us don’t have Tom Joyner’s or Steve Harvey’s money.)
If you have been to Chicago t hen you know they have a huge transportation system in place that runs 24 hours with the exception of the Metra which starts running around 4 a.m. to about 1 a.m. depending on which line you are riding at the time. In Milwaukee, their first bus run is around 5 something in the morning with the last bus running in the 1 a.m. and Dallas has the same time system as Milwuakee however Dallas DART system can be compared to that of Chicago.
Why did I add that part in about the cities? Because I don’t have car and I have never brought a car, and I did not let that be my excuse as to why I could not get around for work. Those with a car, some of them will not be willing to even travel a distance for a job. But they will to go shopping. People keep asking if I am ever going to get around to buying a car. Mostly not however I will get faster than getting a specific other in live.
I would say that I have spent most of my 20 years as a contractor traveling to from point to point for work. While living in Chicago, most on my assignments were within the downtown area. I would get one or two jobs that would call for going to one of nearest suburbs like Naperville or Joliet. I once had several positions for Pearson Education which was located in Glenview, IL. I had to literally travel through the Chicagoland and past several small towns to get to Glenview by Metra. That was some 30 miles at one point that I had traveled for work. My last assignment at Pearson Education, I was traveling from Milwaukee, WI to Glenview, Il and to go from Glenview to Chicago from school and ended my day by traveling from Chicago to Milwaukee.
Was I tired during that last assignment at Pearson? Yes, I was.
While temping at my last assignment, I met a co worker who lived in Waxahachie, Texas and came to work in Fort Worth, Texas, that is some 38 miles between the two cities. There was another worker who lived in Forney, Texas which is about 50 - 53 miles depending on which way, East or West, you are traveling at the time. Besides them, I have meet others who were traveling at an even greater distance to come to work. But here is what I learned about all of them when it came to this company. They are not just working at this company to be working here but they all have worked for this company for more than 20 plus years. So throughout the years they have transferred from one position to another which mean that they also had to transfer from one facility to another regardless of where that facility was located.
Now I have living in the Dallas area for 2 years and I have learned of areas that some of my family members who have been here for 19 -20 years have not known or knew nothing about. With the help of DART, Uber and Lyft I have learned how to get around Dallas not only for work but also for entertainment.
Isn’t that just sad? So not my fault that they don’t get out much. Or is it the fact that I can not keep my ass at home. (Who cares?)
Well, in my days of riding the TRE to and from Fort Worth, oi read a few books to pass the time and one of them was from my Twitter friend, Rajiv Bakshi is the author of the book “Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara”. The book is about his journey to work and the things he encountered at work, and also about some of journeys of his life. I enjoyed it some much that I brought two copies.
But was something to think about when looking for that next job. How far are you willing to travel for it?
And on that note Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy!!
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