Better than I, who has a tendency to run away and scream when the toilet overflows.
Yes, I am working on this. 
Sort of related, but…I have a new car and am not working. So… do you need a ride to the doctor/grocery store/baby shower/hospital/cemetary/Walmart/Macy’s Big Sale/physical therapy appointment? Do you need 50 lbs. of rock salt in the winter for your driveway? Do you need your driveway shovelled/car inspected/basement cleaned/rugs vacuumed/chest freezer cleaned out/old mail and papers shredded? If so, call Salinqmind, on duty, on call 24/7. Call me and I will drop everything in my useless life and come take care of your problem. I have done, can, and will do what I can to bail you out of any problem. I get copious praise, much gratitude, and the occasional $10 bill for gas. I do this because I can’t NOT refuse. (just didn’t know it would be so often!) However, can’t say I take any pleasure in my services, except when I’m on my way home, relieved the crisis is solved, and wondering what and when the next crisis will be.
Oh, and I’m good at giving medication to cats and dogs, I can stick a pill down a critter’s throat before he knows what hit him! It’s a real feeling of accomplishment, though I take zero pleasure if I get bitten for my efforts.
There used to be an electronic breadboard technique known as wire wrap. I could sit at a bench and do boards like this for 8 hours at a a stretch. Engineers here would specify me for the job because I was quick and error-free. Hated it.
Nowdays, among other tasks, I’m still a go-to guy for surface mount PCB construction and rework. I can still do it largely without a microscope and with a skill and accuracy rivaling that of work done by an automated process. I don’t truly hate it. It can be kinda zen but it’s not my favorite activity.
Programming. I can do it with some alacrity and creativity. And, I guess, once I get started, I don’t really mind it. It’s the thought of doing it that I hate.
Scuba diving. Used to be a fun, exciting hobby. Now that I get paid to do it, it’s just a job.
I forgot to mention PCB Layout. I can layout 6 layer SMT PCBs in my sleep. I’m a wiz with the software, my layouts are compact, neat, and organized. All of the documentation is up to spec and the artwork goes out to the board shop without questions, comments, or concerns. Hate it.
Hunting for me. I’m a very good shot and I’m good at tracking game animals and am patient enough get the high percentage shots. But, much to my brother’s dismay I have no desire to hunt. I’ve gone with him and have been successful more than not, but I just have no desire to do it again.
I’ve got no ethical issues with hunting. But, if I want to eat meat, the stuff in the grocery store is much easier to sneak up on.
That…that sounds wonderful.
Sort of like Patty O’Furniture, people tell me things. It’s incredibly bizarre; I’ve had people come up to me at coffee shops and start talking to me as if we’ve known each other for years. I used to be cold and brush them off but now I try to be comforting and slightly kind and just try to end it relatively quickly.
If I’m walking down the sidewalk with friends on either side, someone will stop and ask me - in the middle - for directions. Perfect strangers and new friends and acquaintances all seem to trust me. I’m not sure why - I don’t go blabbing what they tell me to others but I wouldn’t undergo waterboarding to keep them secrets, either.
I wouldn’t say I hate it, I just find it incredibly bizarre. Although sometimes I hate it, because every now and then I’ll make a new acquaintance who will try and pretend that we’re bosom buddies.
I should really be a therapist. ETA: I don’t have much sympathy per se, though…but people feel comforted often by the mere act of talking.
My husband says I am very good at rubbing his back. The enjoyment for me has passed quite a while back.
Home improvement.
I’m not a pro caliber builder, but I’m better at this stuff than 80%-plus of the DIY jobs that I see in other people’s houses.
I hate it with a passion though. I’m not sure why- probably because it’s boring, dirty and expensive, plus usually there’s time pressure on me to get it done, so we can use the shower/sink/dishwasher/door/lights/etc…
I write extremely well-received Educratese. I hate it, but I seem to be good at it.
I’m curious…what was so terrible about this job? I’m sure it didn’t pay a lot but what made the working conditions so bad?
This one I find fascinating. How does one become a good fighter? Aside from practice and being in shape, are there specific strategies or tips for not getting your ass kicked?
mmm
I’m curious, too. Maybe it depends on the grocery chain, but my 18 year old cousin worked in the middle of the night stocking shelves at a grocery store, he said they were allowed to play music as loud as they wanted, and they generally had a blast. He said you would not believe how many ‘night people’ and creatures of the night shopped then, it was like the carnival had come to town.
I have two, salesmanship and cooking.
I do not want to cook at your BBQ,or sell shit for you,leave me alone.
Mean Mr. Mustard
Practice, and a lot of it. Not just time in the ring or dojo but actual time dealing with assholes trying to hurt you. Size and strength help a lot as most bar fights quickly devolve into wrestling. Luck and sobriety help.
I can walk up to almost any piece of industrial equipment and diagnose why it’s not working properly. Whether I’ve seen it before or not. Electrical controls? No sweat. Mechanical failure? No sweat. Hydraulic malfunction? No sweat.
But doing this as a job for other people - sucks ass. Perhaps it’s dealing with them that I hate so much. There’s entirely too much extrapolation and interpolation on the part of the operator (or the dumbass undereducated "manager) as to why X machine doesn’t perform Y function well anymore. No, it’s not because of the coffee you drank this morning. No, it’s not because there’s a storm outside. No, it has nothing to do with the color of the paint. Idiot. And a part which failed after 1 year of normal operation is not going to re-enter normal operation through a minor adjustment of a setting which is factory provided. Idiot.
Anyway…I think it falls under the “general aptitude” category. I figure stuff out quickly. But dealing with other people about it? The way they get all weird because the guy who just walked up can tell you what’s wrong after you’ve been banging your head against it all day? I wish there was some way to do this job without dealing with other people; I’d love it.
Alas…without the idiot people - there’d be nobody to call me in. So I hate it.
Yeah, haha.
How to become a good fighter: fight often. If you’re still doing it after a while, you’re probably a good fighter.
I took a minor in computer science (my major was technical writing, and the CS minor made me more attractive to employers, supposedly). I got As in all my programming classes with very little effort, and one of the professors begged me to consider majoring in CS*.
I just couldn’t bear the thought of it.
*(Please note that I have no idea whether this would have made me a good programmer in real life.)
Well, this isn’t quite the same thing, perhaps, but I feel I have some talent at mathematics, yet I am growing increasingly certain that I would be rather miserable pursuing the career of a mathematician. But that’s perhaps just like the common situation of enjoying cooking and not at all wanting to be a professional chef; more may be associated with a job than the parts one likes. (Similarly, I once considered myself quite good at programming, but I’ve absolutely hated every programming job I’ve ever had. Again, though, it’s just the difference between interest in a a thing and enjoyment of the typical profession involving that thing. Which is not quite what the OP is after, probably.)
Organization and routines. Generally making things work. You do this, you do that, we’ll be done in two hours, give or take five minutes. This would go faster if you do this instead of that, except under the following circumstances. Scheduling and effectivety.
It’s not so much that I hate it - it can occasionally be an intellectually stimulating puzzle - as that I hate telling people what do to. I always feel people resent it.
For instance, the process for telling students their usernames and passwords when they’d have forgotten them, used to be like this:
- Log into database 1, query student number.
- Log into database 2, query student number.
- Log into database 3, query student number.
- Write usernames and passwords on a post-it.
- Spend 5 minutes explaining that username and password combination 1 are case-sensitive (Microsoft requirement) and are used for service 1, which is similiar to, but not the same as service 2, which isn’t case sensitive. Oh, and service 3, which is case sensitive but will also tell you to change your password if you haven’t used it for one month.
Now it’s:
- Enter student number into text field, hit query. Hand printout to student, all information provided. (Note that copy of printout is also sent to the secure e-mail address and the vital information is sent to the phone number we have on file. )
It’s a testament to the system that despite the fact that the IT boss hates my guts and I was let go over a year ago, they still use my system religiously.
Perhaps this doesn’t count, since I don’t actually do the thing I’m supposed to be good at, but I can be very authoritative and firm when I want to be (other times, not so much). A former coworker of mine saw this and said “you’d make a great mother.”
No. Fuck that. I hate kids. Well, no, that’s not true. There are some that are very sweet. But I tire of them very easily (after about five minutes of charming cuteness I just want to say “okay, I’m done with you, go away now”), I have very little patience, and I am a lazy loner. Motherhood, for me, would suck.
I’m also quite good at directing crowds. Too bad I hate dealing with masses of people.