I guess the idea is to see if anyone admits the social standing issue is important to them. To some it’s probably really not, but I’m guessing for others it is but they are unwilling to admit it. I would admit that would factor in somewhat if the scenario was plausible, but the main reasons are other.
Basically retired now but before that my comp reached a point where a 50% bump to be a driver just wouldn’t have been realistic nor the extra money meant much to me. Before that when the scenario was plausible I’d have been giving away the upside potential of what later happened. And in the career before that I was young, didn’t care about money and felt I was accomplishing something worthwhile with the skills I’d worked to develop which would have been wasted driving someone around. So I’d never have taken that deal, and while I wouldn’t claim social status aspect is zero, it would have been mainly for other reasons. I’m not against nor do I look down on any honest work though.
I already work 50-60 hours a week. Working fewer, not especially physically taxing hours for vastly more pay? With even more for overtime and holidays? Sign me up.
Social standing doesn’t matter that much to me. Sure, it’d be nice to use my brain more on the job, but hobbies can fill that void quite nicely. I like what I do now, and it requires enough training and expertise that not just anybody could do it. But I don’t like it so much I’d do it forever. And my boss and clients can be real jerks enough of the time that I wouldn’t miss them at all.
Sounds pretty appealing. I’m glad to have had the experience of being in executive roles, but my identity is not too tied up in it. Less stress for more money and more time for personal interests sounds like a pretty good trade-off. The part I would miss the most is coaching and developing people. Although I suppose a relationship with the child could have an element of that, unless the job expectation was “speak when spoken to”.
As long as I don’t have to interact with the kid, I’m in. A uniform? No problem. I’m gonna need a GPS in that car though.
I was a cab driver for awhile. (A very short while. Bad sense of direction.) The pay was not as great but it was fun to be able to drive around.
This is not menial in the sense that being a waiter is (which I’ve been, and was good at, but I didn’t like it). However, if the job entails changing the oil or dealing with any other of the vehicle’s greasy little secrets, I’m out.
Why no moonlighting though? That seems harsh. I can’t sit there and write novels while I wait?
The biggest question mark for me would be the vacation time, really. I’ve been at my job for almost 18 years, and get about 5 weeks a year now, so I’d be giving up a good chink of PTO.
I also have a 403b and an employer-paid pension (assuming I last at least another 7 years), but for a 50% salary bump I might be able to overlook the lack of those benefits.
I’m not quite sure my job qualifies as “professional” - it involves working with specific software systems for a university - but yes, I would happily become a chauffeur if it increased my pay by 50%.
No. My work is intellectually stimulating and takes me to cities where friends and family live, with that travel time billable. And taxes eat a big chunk of the pay bump. And my pay is already rising steadily. There is some pay level where I would trade my work for drudgery, but it’s not at $150% of current net.
I hate to drive. To me, it’s a necessary evil. So, no, there’s no way I’d take such a job, regardless of the money. And, frankly, I don’t think I’d want any job where I’d be at someone’s beck and call. I spent 11 years in uniform, knowing if I was called in, I’d have to go in. That was fine when I was young and single, but at this stage of my life, no thanks. I prefer more control of my time.
A difficult question, but ultimately I’d take it for a few reasons. First, I hate sitting in traffic, but a big part of that is because, in general, when I’m sitting in traffic it’s at the expense of my OWN time. I have a long commute and driving in DC area traffic is soul crushing. However, most of that is because it turns an 8-hour day into a 10+ hour day, and those two extra hours are stressful. However, if I’m being paid to do it, then unless we’re in a particular rush, I can coast. Second, money is not a motivator for me, I already make more than I need for the lifestyle I desire. However, if I were making 50% more than I am now, then I could easily stock away all of that extra cash. That would add up REALLY fast and I could probably look at investing that money and have enough of an egg to be able to not have to “work” after only a few years and be able to focus on my passions instead. Third, it says I’d have access to a high quality tablet while waiting around, so I’d still have time to pursue things I have interest in while I’m waiting and, chances are, I’d even be able to spend a non-trivial amount of time on the clock doing that.
All of that is assuming that when I’m actually driving, I’m likely sharing the cab with them, but if it’s a separate area, such that I can listen to my own music and the occasional podcast or audiobook, that makes it a much easier decision since, hell, that’s a significant amount of what I’d want to do on my free time anyway.
So, yeah, I think I’d do it for a few years, use that time to stock away a few hundred grand from the large pay raise, then semi-retire at a young age.
I’ve driven a large vehicle professionally before. It ain’t much fun, especially running (someone else’s) errands in it in an urban setting (particularly DC). But this sounds like just running a kid around from home to therapy and school and the park and shit. I’d totally do that.
I’m perfectly happy with my current job, but there’s no advancement whatsoever. I get a decent raise every couple of years, but I’ll never ever get a 50% bump and 5-10% every year.
Not to hijack, but in many (most?) situations, a nurse wouldn’t be allowed to drive a minor patient around, anyway.
My wife does pretty much exactly this, and driving the child in anything other than some weird-hypothetical emergency is absolutely forbidden. She needs to be able to attend to the medical needs of the child, and that means not doing anything that would prevent her from noticing or responding to a medical event immediately, even if such events are relatively rare or widely spaced in time.
That’s really my question as well. There’s a lot of menial, penny-ante bullshit in most professional jobs, especially when you work for a company above a certain size.
But I’m not sure if I’d get absolutely, totally bored if my days consisted of driving a 3 year old (and his nurse?) to preschool at 9 am, hanging around the compound until I pick him up at 2:30, driving him to a play-date, and then taking him home, and hanging around until 5, with the likely not uncommon weekend birthday party, play-dates, etc… that I’d be on the hook for as well…
That’s an awful lot of down time, and I don’t know if I could polish the limo enough to keep myself from losing my mind.
I’m not in that position now, but I used to be as a sales/marketing manager for Japan for a US company and made enough money that 150% for a couple of years would pretty much set me up for a nice early retirement.
Love kids and driving and would have have no problems with the conditions.
My current job consists of driving around did hours then sitting and waiting for hours. According boredom is not that difficult, it’s called a tablet. Want to read? Kindle app. Want to play games? Can’t list all of them. Want socialization? Twitter, Facebook, SDMB, etc…