I’ve had a few cleaning jobs (and mostly enjoyed them) and get where you’re coming from. And there’s something very satisfying about swapping a big heap of sparkly clean dishes for a paycheck. You can see what you’ve done. You’ve made a visible difference and people get to eat off clean plates.
It’s not like working for ages on a tiny unimportant detail in a tedious project knowing it’s pointless only to have that small part left out at the end, robbing you of any motivation.
I’m right handed****
*except for batting
*and golfing
*and sprinting
*and lifting
I get this. I’ve worked as a dishwasher and it’s very zen. You leave it there when you go home, you get a free meal, and if you’re good the front of house will tip you out. I also enjoyed a stint in college as a janitor, it was just me and Frank Black mopping floors a couple hours a night. Honest work.
It’s a house chore I kinda miss having now that we have the appliance to do it. Yes it is a very zen thing and was great for getting my brain to decompress after a day of work.
I feel strangely lucky that there are only two of us. We have a dishwasher but never use it because I enjoy doing the dishes by hand, especially in the winter when it steams up the window and I see a distorted reflection.
I don’t even know who you are anymore.
Consider it a chance to get reacquainted. 
Have you considered machining? That’s one shop trade that offers many opportunities to work largely solo and unsupervised. The work is more repetitive than that of other shop trades (which is desirable to some, I suppose). Just realize that with the advent of automation, you’ll be entering a shrinking labor market where CNC programming skills are quickly becoming as vital to the trade as manual machining skills if not more so.
ETA: If you’re sensitive to loud, sudden noises even with hearing protection, this might not be a good path.
Strange that you should suggest machining. My dad was a machinist. This coincidence trips me out pretty hard. I have not considered becoming one. So many smashed fingers. This also plays on this weird fear I have about uncontrollably morphing into Christian Bale. And reminded me of an interview with Phil Collins I read ages ago where he said he liked washing dishes. That stuck with me and I liked Phil Collins a bit more ever since.
I worked overnight at a convenience store for a while and I didn’t like the job, but around 4 am when the store was quiet I’d mop the floors. That was my favourite part, especially since it was winter and they were filthy. You get to watch your progress. It’s almost like painting (I hate painting).
Frank Black as in the Pixies? If so, super nice guy, worked with him on some stuff.
I worked at Kmart for awhile in high school & college, and while it was a fairly typical crappy retail job for the most part, every few days they’d send me to the back room to crush boxes. That was my joy. Several solitary hours of throwing cardboard boxes into the box crusher, watching them compress into cubes.
I can’t remember who it was but many years ago I read about a writer who took a job as a janitor with the idea that it would leave them feeling eager to write once the shift was over. That’s stuck with me because I imagine there being something really great about having a life of both mental and physical labor.
That’s actually my optimal working balance: half manual labor and half intellectual/creative.
I need to get back to that.
yes, but he was in my headphones, if that wasn’t at all clear.
Oh! Gotcha. Well, I knew he worked at bars and restaurants in his teens, so mopping floors wouldn’t be far off for the guy.
I was reminded last night of a tiny freak flag…
In our family, sandwiches are for dinner, not lunch.
We matched her with Kevin who makes funny YouTube videos of ants being burned with a magnifying glass and writes Dexter fan fiction.
They’re getting married in April.
Was April very large when she was alive, or did they stretch her out a lot after?
sandwiches are great anytime!
