Right now, it’s being a virtual class instructor. As some may have noted, I traveled around the country teaching 2-day classes as an individual instructor. The company recently switched to virtual classes. Here’s why it’s “easy”:
I already know the subject thoroughly.
The company does all the marketing, registrations, and collects the money.
I do this from my spare bedroom, using a webcam and laptop.
The class materials (printed and PPTs) are developed by others. I do nothing in that area.
I have a secondary instructor and he and I usually alternate the class modules so I present only 50% of the material.
We have “hard” breaks and a 1-hour lunch.
Classes are 8:00A to 5:00P, with adjustments for different time zones.
There are no grading requirements.
The pay is $500+/day, with no expenses beyond my internet connection. Plus, I choose what classes I want to do.
I’m 65+ YO, so it’s nice to have something I can do while I’m just sitting and drinking my Irish coffee.
For a year when I was 55 I had cashiers job in a casino gas station/convenience store. It was a blast. I was assigned the graveyard shift. It took six months for my brain and body to acclimate. Once I did I had a great time interacting with casino patrons who wandered down during the night for a pack of smokes or munchies. Many women, young and old, came in from the casino during the wee hours. I might have been 55 years old, but I had no scruples when it came to schmoozing with any of them. What a cad, knave, bounder! If I had to work again that would be the job for me.
Low stress, easy work, fun people and full benefits.
Dee-jay (if that’s the proper term) on a radio station playing classical music.
Once every 5-10 minutes, somebody whispers in a monotone "that was the Concerto in F minor by Brahms, opus number 34, played by the Swedish royal philharmonic orchestra. "
I suppose you need a BA in musicology. but after that it looks like you’re on easy street.
Actually, there’s a lot more than that. I like classical radio with a DJ that will point out interesting things about the music and/or the composer. Or, perhaps there’s something interesting about the recording itself, maybe it was made during the Cold War and someone defected or it was the first time the orchestra was conducted by an American.
I’ve gone out of my way to find programming like this since the lockdown. I don’t want the news, I get enough of it. Just music but tell me something about it, I don’t want just a stream showing me title and composer where I then have to look it up if I’m not familiar with it.
Math and reading interventionist at local public school, decent hourly rate plus summers off. Limited time with students, and no parental units to answer to.
After our last trip to a national park (Joshua tree - way cool!) I actually looked up what was involved in becoming a park ranger, leading tours. I’m currently a fed employee, and wondered if I could retire from my current position, receive my pension, and get a much lower paying park ranger job. Unfortunately, there would be a 100% set off of any wages against my pension. But I would love being able to live in/near national parks. I like studying and talking about nature and history. I asked if any couples were able to get postings together. My wife was WAY supportive of me going off somewhere for months at a time, but had no intention of doing so herself!
A more likely option is golf course starter. Most golfers are in a pretty good mood, golf courses are pretty places … All you do is sit/stand around the first tee, check a clipboard, and make small talk w/ golfers. Generally include free golf as a benefit.
I have a friend - a huge Civil War buff - who aspires to be a tour guide at Gettysburg when he retires from his career as a lawyer. He’s been there enough times that he’s friends with the people who work there, and probably knows enough of the history already that I’m sure he’ll qualify.
I talked w/ one ranger. He said a lot of the positions are VERY competitive (so I can imagine it being tough to expect to get a slot at a very popular park), but the key for him was to apply for just about ANY opening. I forget where he was before Joshua Tree.
They are pt-time, so you can only work something like 10-11 months out of 12. Most postings were approx 6 months. So he drove to each posting in his camper where he lived w/ his cat. Has considerable appeal for me (well, not the cat part!) Wonder if and when we’d be able to swing the $ …
In a “I-can-do-whatever-I-want” world, I think I’d like to have my own computer business. It would entail Tech Support for seniors who can’t afford the rates they charge at places like Best Buy, etc. It wouldn’t be a 40 hour a week thing. That would be too much like a regular job.
Same here. I have got to know some folks that own distilleries and they are willing to let me hang around on an occasion to learn. Started helping with bottling and labeling and have progressed from there. At one distillery I have a barrel aging with my own whiskey blend. The raw whiskey was pretty good, after aging 4 years in a new medium char barrel, it should be really good. It’s been almost a year at this point, still have 3 to go.
Through the other distillery I bought a 32 gallon barrel of whiskey made by a wholesale distiller in Idaho. The mashbill is 40% corn, 30% wheat, 15% malted barley and 15% straight barley. It is currently on hold due to the current situation, I hope to get it by July. It will arrive at 110 proof, I’m going to cut it down to about 90 proof. That should get me almost 200 bottles. I have almost $3500 into this project. I’m still waiting for my label to be approved and my bottles to arrive. If this goes well, I am hoping to do a port wine re-barrel next. My wife is kind of freaking out over the cost of all this. I’m trying to keep it more at a hobby level. A license to do my own product, even just bottling stuff made by someone else, is about $50,000. I don’t think I want to go that deep into making and/or selling spirits.
I wouldn’t mind doing that - if wheelchair accessible =)
I once tutored kids in French as a Second Language [more or less - I had a couple free class hours a week and needed something to do besides sit in a study hall going nuts from boredom, so they gave me 4 kids who were having a bit of trouble in first year French so we read comics [Asterix =) ] played word games and I went over their homework with them to see where they were having issues to see if it was something I could help with or we needed to get the teacher. ]
Our roomie Lavender [not her real name =)] and I plan to forage the desert for components to craft stuff to sell at vendor booths and online once we move to Nevada. We can score grape vines from a friend who has a hobby vinyard to make the wreath bases to secure stuff to, and I am decent with a dremel to make small wood bone or stone carvings, and we can both sew. I also have been known to sew medieval and renaissance clothing for a fee. I also would love to make reproduction bezantsfor the re-enactor market.
I’d like that, but as far as I have seen, school districts don’t like to hire those from outside because they have advanced degrees and cost too much. Hiring from within is much more palatable.
I thought I wanted that, but couldn’t find that job. I now work part time as a paraprofessional (with a M. Ed.), so no benefits and lousy pay, but I don’t hate my job or dread getting up in the morning. My administrators love me and as far as I know no parents hate me.
I’ve offered my services as amateur proofreader to websites I read regularly. Seeing obvious typos in their articles drives me up the wall. These are supposed to be professional writers!
If I could have any job, we’d buy a big RV, wrap it with our band logo, and travel the continent, performing at Renaissance Faires, music festivals, churches, fundraisers, whatever.
I spent half of my adult life cleaning sewers… municipal, residential and industrial. it was HARD work. I eventually got hurt and had to find something else.
I went on to become a freight train conductor, then a yardmaster (he who is charge of train yards). Then on to a yardmaster for a national passenger railroad (wink).
All of the above jobs are fun but hard and require a bunch of qualifications that have to be kept up. The riding on the side of train cars is unequaled in my opinion!
Now I am a freight train inspector for the same national passenger railroad (wink). But it’s lovely. I go to foreign railroads (because their trains will head to our territory) and inspect their trains as a safety precaution. It’s an important job but I’m never quite around my home territory to ever get into it with anybody and when I visit foreign railroads they’re mostly nice to me because I’m somewhat of an enigma to them. So I am a happy wanderer.
I’d enjoy working the counter at a hot dog & beef joint. I small talk with strangers pretty easily and I’ve always enjoyed that sort of environment as a customer. Nothing is too difficult to prepare so I could help out when it gets busy. I worked as a barista at a corporate coffee chain (but not that one) years ago and it was fun.
I sometimes think that about the vehicles that collect images for things like Google Streetview. They don’t drive in bad weather, during periods of heavy traffic and go down all the weird little streets (and some alleys).
I would become an artist. I already master some basic skills but lack the time to improve and produce more stuff. Being an artist is one of the most beautiful ways to lead one’s life.
