Working For A Living Rather Than Living For Work

I worked for thirty years as a professional animator, before that I was a published cartoonist and throughout those years I played lead guitar in my rock bands. After the Animation Industry sent the last of the jobs overseas and to computers, also overseas, I took the first jobs in my life that were not art oriented.

In 2005 I worked for several banks doing site inspections for businesses applying for SBA loans. I had to drive sometimes hundreds of miles to a small business like a gas station or a car wash or a liquor store, take photos of the property and write up a report describing the property for the bank making it a loan. In 2009 / 2010 I worked for the US Census starting as an enumerator mapping addresses to eventually a trainer and then a crew leader.
When I took these jobs I thought I’d hate them. I was an artist and had been a professional since graduating high school and these jobs were average, nine to five jobs where no special skill or talent was required. I just needed some training and a deadline oriented work ethic and reliability I acquired in the film business.

To my very pleasant surprise I actually enjoyed these jobs. The Census was temporary since the Census only hires people once every ten years and the job for the banks disappeared with the banking scandal and the financial meltdown of 2008 but then the Animation Industry is a seasonal job as well so I’m used to layoffs.

What I liked about these otherwise mundane jobs was that for the first time I could do a job that didn’t put my ego, sense of self worth and artistic integrity on the line every day. I simply had to show up on time, complete the day’s assignment and turn in my paperwork filled out correctly. A piece of cake compared to animating a full length feature or recording on 24 track analog equipment. When the job was done there was no one telling me how he would have done it better, or different, no one saying what crap the product is in general or saying the mix had too much bass, the footage needed more green or the timing was too fast. No one criticized my taste or decisions. Everyone has an opinion but when that opinion disagrees with yours it is dangerous since you’re suppose to be the professional and know what’s best. If your customer, the audience, disagrees enough with your decisions you risk losing your job, your sense of self worth and your artistic integrity.

It was a virtual vacation being able to earn a paycheck for day’s worth of honest work and not have to deal with some house wife telling me how horrible Saturday morning cartoon shows are, right to my face, when that’s how I was making a living. Those shows weren’t for forty year old women anyway. We rarely, if ever, got that crap from six year olds. They actually liked it.

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