While I’m taking some holiday time off, we have a good group of guest columnists to fill in the blanks. Some are still on the job, some are retired. They come from different agencies and different places.

Our first contributor is an IRS employee who muses on her dream job and the career she ended up choosing. She writes:

When I was younger, adults would ask kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some kids would say,”I want to be a doctor” or “I want to be teacher,” or something like that. The only thing I wanted to be was a jockey. I loved horses and the thought of riding them really fast seemed like the best thing ever. I begged my parents to buy a horse and I couldn’t understand why they thought it impractical that we convert our suburban garage into a barn. That dream was quickly quashed as I got older and bigger, a lot more so than any of the jockeys I watched racing.

My next career paths involved either being a rock star or an astronaut (possibly both). Unfortunately, reality intruded once again and I learned that apparently, unless you are really good looking, being a rock star involves having some musical talent. And while I eventually recognized I didn’t necessarily have the physical abilities to be an astronaut, I did at least pursue the idea of studying astronomy. Then I ran into quantum physics classes — effectively slamming shut the door on any possibility of a career in space!

So there I was, having exhausted my potential “ideal” careers, and still trying to figure out just what was my best option, the path that would get me into a thrilling, well paying, meaningful career from which I would derive not just a paycheck, but personal satisfaction. I stayed in school as long as possible, dragging my feet about entering the “real world” of work.

While I was still in school, a friend mentioned to me that the IRS was hiring for seasonal help. She knew I was a poor graduate student, and thought a seasonal job would be a good way to make some money while I tried to finish that degree. I applied for a job, and lo and behold, I was gainfully employed! It was a low graded position, but I got regular paychecks, and even at that low grade, I was taking home more than a graduate student normally does. I had a regular, predictable schedule, paid holidays, annual and sick leave and affordable health care. Even to someone like me, who had stubbornly resisted the idea of a boring, Monday – Friday type job, this sort of situation began to seem pretty appealing.

‘d always worked part-time as a student, and I’d had regular, full-time employment in “real” jobs, between my episodes as perennial student, but dissatisfaction with those jobs was partly why I kept going back to school. But I guess I’d reached an age (and student loan debt level, perhaps) that the grind of academia (and it is a grind — long hours, always more work that could be done, and very low pay) had lost a lot of its appeal.

Surprisingly, in all my years as a student, I’d never taken a single business or accounting class. After my second season at the IRS, I switched focus and started taking accounting classes, and applying for permanent positions. When I started that seasonal job, I had no intention of being with the government, or at least, not with the IRS, for any length of time. Fourteen years later, here I am, still gainfully employed. OK, it isn’t always a job with a lot of personal satisfaction; after all, no one wants to talk to the IRS! Except maybe members of Congress, and they aren’t exactly friendly when they do talk to (or about) you. There are a lot of stresses as a federal employee, especially in recent years — pay freezes, negative press, government shutdowns, furloughs, being everyone’s favorite whipping boy (or girl). No kid growing up ever said, “I want to be a tax auditor!” In spite of all that, I recognize that I have been really rather fortunate. I’ll never get rich (like a rock star), but I earn a decent living. And I still have those paid holidays, annual and sick leave, and health insurance. I even earn enough to indulge my love of horses and go riding regularly! Some days, I wonder if I can last until retirement, but a lot of days, I go home thinking, “OK, it’s no one’s dream job, but I got a lot accomplished, and it’s important work.” It is important — it’s necessary for any civilized nation to have some means of assuring a revenue stream to do the people’s business (how our elected officials spend we the people’s money is a topic for another day).

I still don’t know just what I want to be when I grow up. Some people may say I’ve left it a bit late. But for now, I’ve at least got that paycheck every two weeks, and some sort of retirement to look forward to. And the knowledge that as a federal employee, I’m doing important work for We the people.

— Nancy Crosby

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

Compiled by Michael O’Connell

Of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Wally A. Schirra was the only one to fly in the three NASA “Moon Shot” programs — Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

Source: NASA

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