Lack of money, jobs, and waffles (but mainly the former).

I wasn’t too sure whether to make this a rant, or just a generally wafflely story. By this I don’t mean a story about waffles - that would be a bit surreal, considering I’m not too sure what a waffle exactly is - or how you would iron one. I know it involves syrup, but then so does the Acer saccharumcan and in certain cases sex. (I’ll stop there before I get arrested, or this thread goes to the pit.) I decided to just start typing and stop when my fingers bled, it was time to go and play football, or I run out of space in the message window.

I’ve been recently trying to juggle various financial aspects of my life - mentally juggle, not physically, although if I was good I could juggle with money, for money - and have come to the conclusion that I should get a job. Not that I don’t have a job or two at the moment, I’m no slacker - in fact I have rather tight muscles apparently. (Incidentally, I’ve found that you can’t run out of room in the message window easily - it just starts scrolling your typing up, either that or it deletes the top line, I haven’t checked.) One of my problems is maintenance of my midget - it costs a lot to keep it going (grease, oil, rubber bungs, new pistons, etc.), sometimes I get in it but however hard I pump my feet it just fails to turn over…

Anyway, I have been stretching my bank balance out to keep the bank happy and to avoid having to resort to drastic measures like selling myself to medical science (I’m sure they could do with a laugh, or at least a brief snigger). My current employment involves either writing up a thesis (one reason for procrastinating and surfing the SDMB), or selling tickets for the local theatre on a part-time basis. As a physicist I’m sure I should be able to get a better paid job (e.g. as an accountant or a computer programmer, which is what most of my fellow graduates seem to have done) and my parents agree.

So, where to look? I could start begging - that seems to have nice, flexible hours although the pension plan is not very good, I hear - I’m not too sure I have what it takes to go up to a total stranger and try and bum a fag. Especially not in America, where I believe that sentence takes on a whole new meaning. Plus if I wanted to live off other people I could just stay at University. Or become a vampire.

It seems that there are several vacancies for teachers of all types which is not surprising considering the amount of friends who have given up and gone to more profitable, and less stressful jobs like bomb-disposal. Bomb-disposal being similar to waste-disposal I think, a camoflaged truck pulls up outside at some unearthly hour and the box of bombs (or whatever container you have for them) is thrown into the back. Sounds plausible - not too sure where the kevlar jackets and wire cutters come in to it, but I guess road rage incidents are more common nowadays. Research is probably my best bet, but I’m a bit squeamish of having injections, plus I rather keep my relative state of health. That’s my health state, not that of my close kin.

I have considered going into the theatre, but that just leads to the box office or backstage (and the law department, which joins on to the theatre). I think that trying to walk the boards would be risky - I’ve never been good at keeping my balance.

Another option would be to ask you, my fellow dopers…

…but that’s rather like painting a target on yourself and running through a subsidised NRA convention shouting “ban all guns” - it wouldn’t be long before someone took a cheap shot. I’m hoping that eventually someone will give me a job out of sympathy, or just to get rid of me.

Well, my fingers aren’t bleeding yet, and I’ve not even touched the topic of waffles. Perhaps I should, although I’m not an expert on such matter - I’m better at crumpets.

Feel free to inform me about job opportunities (or waffles - I’m ever ready to learn about new breakfast experiences).

<sitting, and waiting for the usual dearth of replies>

PT

Mmmmmmm, waffles.

I don’t have any money either, though. And since I live in the most depressed economy in Canada outside the Maritimes, can’t help you on the job thing, either.

But I could look up gramma’s waffle recipe, if that’s any help.

I wanted to hear about waffles. sigh

Hey, I’m always willing to oblige - something my parents told me could get me in trouble when I grew up, so I cunningly avoided that by not growing up. Hah!

I have actually grown - it’d be rather silly to stay my original size for the whole of my life, not to mention inconvenient (I’d never be able to reach the bottom shelf, let alone the top one) - but lots of my friends say I have still not matured. I don’t know if I want to mature, I mean look at cheese.

Mmm, cheese on potato waffles! There - see, I managed to get back to waffles. You can always return to waffles, they are the staple diet of…um, well waffle-eaters I guess. Not that I wish to denigrate waffle-eaters by using that term, and not to imply that waffle-eaters eat staples. Although they might, I don’t know.

So - waffles…hmmm, what to say about these grid-shaped food products? Well, let’s give a recipe:
[ul]
[li]A couple of eggs - doesn’t specify if they are Ostrich or not. I’ll go for quail in this instant. Quality not quantity.[/li][li]Two cups of flour. Um, self-raising I think.[/li][li]Half a cup of oil or butter. I’ve not got any butter so I’ll nip down and syphon some oil out of my Midget. On second thoughts I’ll just grab the can out of the boot.[/li][li]One and three-quarter cups of milk. One and three quarters?! How in tarnation are you supposed to fill a cup that’s not all there? <thinks> Ah, right. Okay, I’ve got some condensed milk in the cupboard, that should do.[/li][li]A tablespoon of sugar - isn’t that a Mary Poppins song?[/li][li]Four teaspoons of baking powder.[/li][li]A pinch of salt. Oops! Well, I can clear up the spill later…[/li][/ul]

Right, now what do we do with those ingredients. And I’ve still got no idea how you use a waffle iron…

<turns cookery book page>
Okay, what do we do now? Heat the iron - easy. I’ll just plug that in over by the kettle.

Beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Okay, I’ve got my bat… smash…one…smash…two.

Well that that didn’t take long…

…ah - beat the eggs into a medium sized bowl. Damn! <scrapes eggs off work surface with spatula> I don’t feel particularly fluffy, but I am quite light-headed and I don’t think those eggs will take much more beating. I guess they’ll have to do. On with the next instruction…

Beat in remaining ingredients, until smooth - do not over do! I guess these are to go in the bowl as well. Okeley-dokeley one (and a bit) cups of milk - shame about the cups, they were my nice ones. Oh well, as they say you can’t make an omlete…

Two cups of flour…smash poof cough Hmm, almost over beat those. Sugar and baking powder, and the ahem small heap of salt.

Pour batter from a cup onto the greased iron. Batter? That’s not on the ingredient list! Oh, wait a minute that’s probably what this gloop in the bowl is supposed to be.

Right, first grease the iron…

Ow! Bloomin’ heck, that’s hot! <turns tap on> I think I’ll wait for about oh, I dunno, ten minutes before I continue…

PT

So, are people in the UK less entrepreneurial than in the U.S. – or other parts of the world? Instead of seeking “job opportunities,” how about creating your own business of some sort? BTW: I like your writing, PT.

<wanders back in, blowing on fingers>

Sorry for the delay, my egg timer was broken - I knew I shouldn’t have put it in the saucepan with the eggs.

Us Brits can be entrepren…enterpre…entripunn…
can take risks and start up our own businesses. I have a friend who has done that, and employs other mutual friends. And they’re still friends!

The main problem is that I’m still not too sure what I want to do in life (I know, I know, I’ve have plenty of time to think about it).

Feel free to suggest a business I could start - I’ve considered a consultancy which de-bureaucracizes company documents (e.g. turning “Our mission statement is to proactively synergise our core efficiencies and create a more globalised structuralization” into “we’re in it for the money, mate!”), or, my personal favourite, become a door-to-door laser salesman…

*ding dong

“Hello?”

“Good afternoon, ma’am. I was wondering if you would be interested in purchasing a class 4 excimer laser? I have both the KrF and the XeF in stock, and can get it installed for less than £10,000 in under three months.”

“Oh, I’m not too sure. My husband usually deals with those sort of things…Um, what colours do you have?”

“Maroon red, avocado green, white with a hint of black, and laser blue (450nm). For a small extra fee we can do a structural survey and colour-coordinate your clean-room facilities with the laser.”

“White sounds nice. Can they be used to boil water?”

“Certainly - these little babies…”
<pulls out snazzy brochure>
“…produce enough heat to boil a kettle in a little under half an hour. With our optional extra heating element this can be reduced to 2 minutes!”

“Go on then. My husband will probably kill me, but then he did buy the partical accelerator without telling me, and they had to dig up my begonias to put that in…”*

Anyway, back to the waffles - the iron’s been turned off so I just need to grease it. This lump of lard should do the trick…

Right, what’s next? Where did I put that recipe… ah! Pour batter on iron. <shrugs> Okay, I don’t see how the mixture’s going to stay on though…

…see. It’s sliding off onto the surface. Hmm, how can I get around this? Ponder, ponder…

A-ha! I have it! <pours batter onto work surface and places iron on top of mixture> There.

I’d better turn the iron back on now.

<reads> Cook for 5 minutes or until it starts steaming. Oops! I forgot to fill the water reservoir up. Oh well, I’ll just give it 5 minutes, presumably from when the light on the side goes out… [sub]now which setting is batter? Nylon, cotton or silk?[/sub]

PT