Your dream job

[Jazzy G]

5 hours ago, HandsomeButchIII said:

Doing fuck all and watching daytime TV with 500 quid just magically entering my account every weekend. That'd do me.

If it's repeats of Tenable and The Chase on Challenge, then yes. If it's Good Morning followed by Loose Women then I would want at least double that.

[LaGoosh]

At the risk of sounding like a complete knob - my dream job is probably working on a creative team for a wrestling company. I've always fantasy booked since first getting into wrestling at about 11. I've never really stopped doing it. Even now I have a Notes doc on my phone that in a spare moment I'm filling up with fantasy booking stuff. I feel like I would be pretty good at it.

Working in film production in some capacity. I've done some zero budget short films and even though they all turned out pretty ropey I had a blast doing it and enjoyed the challenge. Seeing shorts that I wrote and directed being played in a cinema at film festivals and hearing the audience laugh at jokes/gags I had written was a huge thrill.

Light house keeper. I know they don't have them anymore but there's just something so romantic about it. Getting to be by the sea all day with the endless crashing of the waves...

EDIT: Oh and my dream if I somehow came into loads and loads of money would be to open a non-profit cinema. I'd play loads of films from throughout cinema history, have special nights, events etc. and it would all be at a very affordable price so everyone can go and it won't break the bank to watch a film in the dark with family and friends for the evening, build a real community of film lovers. I'd even fork up to play short cartoons before the films start just like the old days. The theatre itself would be built to ensure it's fucking impossible to get a signal in it so no one will have any reason to go on their phones during the film. And an American diner would be connected right to it so straight after you can hang out and discuss the film you just saw with a burger or a slice of apple pie. 

Edited February 26 by LaGoosh

[Lorne Malvo]

I'd love to own and run my own independent HMV-esque store, selling Blu-Ray, DVDs and I'd absolutely have a retro VHS section too. It would specialise in films, so if you want Scrubs season 4 or Nick Hancocks Presents Division Ones Greatest Goals you'll have to go elsewhere I'm afraid.

I would however have a section for books and music, and a little cafe section much like you get in some branches of Waterstones. There would be a little 30-man showing-room / cinema in the back where once or twice a week I'd show a classic film of a night and sell tickets and popcorn.

I'd make absolutely no money and run at a loss until I retire, but we're dreaming right? Being able to chat film and books with like-minded people for a few hours a day would be lovely. 

Obviously I'd be closed on Thursdays while I'm catching up on Dynamite. 

[Bruce85]

42 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I'd love to own and run my own independent HMV-esque store, selling Blu-Ray, DVDs and I'd absolutely have a retro VHS section too. It would specialise in films, so if you want Scrubs season 4 or Nick Hancocks Presents Division Ones Greatest Goals you'll have to go elsewhere I'm afraid.

I would however have a section for books and music, and a little cafe section much like you get in some branches of Waterstones. There would be a little 30-man showing-room / cinema in the back where once or twice a week I'd show a classic film of a night and sell tickets and popcorn.

I'd make absolutely no money and run at a loss until I retire, but we're dreaming right? Being able to chat film and books with like-minded people for a few hours a day would be lovely. 

Obviously I'd be closed on Thursdays while I'm catching up on Dynamite. 

When I was about 15 my mate worked in an independent video shop on a Saturday and Id hang out there all day with him, it was amazing. I always wanted to own a vintage vhs/record store but like you said I think I’d be running at a loss and bankrupt in a few months. 

[FLips]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Light house keeper. I know they don't have them anymore but there's just something so romantic about it. 

My dream job is the night shift at the petrol station for this very same reason.

[SuperBacon]

16 minutes ago, Bruce85 said:

I always wanted to own a vintage vhs/record store but like you said I think I’d be running at a loss and bankrupt in a few months. 

All of you stop being so pragmatic! This is your dream job, don't worry about profit and loss.

You think I'd be making a profit selling my cold brew (Ghostface Chillah) for 2 months a year? 

Live the dream brothers and sisters. 

Edit: yeah on lighthouses etc, I get insanely jealous when you see those stories of people applying for and getting roles where you're manning a cafe on some far flung island or looking after penguins for a year in the remotest part of the Arctic Circle. 

Complete seclusion. That's really what I'm after.

Edited February 26 by SuperBacon
Penguins are the best aren't they?

[tiger_rick]

18 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Would love to hear more about this when the time is right mate!

Will spoiler so people can skip over.

Spoiler

The club was a nomad for 40 years relying on hiring facilities and failing in several attempts to find a permanent home. 10 years ago, we were able to secure the playing fields of an old secondary school and we now have a 30 year lease on the site. The site had a sports hall but no other facilities. We refurbed the sports hall and then we got planning through for an attached clubhouse with changing rooms, toilets, function room, kitchen, patio, etc. We've gone from having 1 girls team to 9 girls and 2 women's since 2018 so having proper facilities is a must.

Over the last couple of years, we've secured over £600k in funding, raising over £100k ourselves and the rest by years of talking to various trusts and grant givers as well as the Football Foundation and local council.

We were able to start building in September and should open in the Easter holidays. It's a game-changer for us. It's going to be miles harder to maintain and run a full facility but it's a great challenge. It also allows us to start the next phase of the plan to try and build and run our own 3G and to consider our senior teams playing higher up the pyramid.

 

[deathrey]

A lady of leisure. 

That's never going to happen so I have been trying to narrow it down but I have a few vastly different ones that I would love to do.

The first one is the most realistic one and has aspects of jobs I've done in the past. I'd like to work across a variety of schools working with Year 9 - Year 13 students doing  one to one mentoring/coaching type role, supporting with things like mental health, dealing with the pressure of school, motivation, social mobility, everything. I've done jobs that have had elements of that before but it's always been overtaken by things like dealing with general attendance, behaviour and all the other crap that I came to loathe - especially attendance, it was an absolute ball ache and some parents were awful. I'd be happy to do some safeguarding but wouldn't want to be a lead or responsible in any way. I loved the one to one work with students and it was some of my fulfilling time at work. I've kept in touch with some of my ex-students and amazing to see them flourish as adults and it's really nice to know I played a little part in that. I am really passionate about education and fair access to it for everyone but the current systems around schools are destroying it. 

I'd love to work in textiles in some way, specifically haute couture involved in making really high end bespoke clothing. I'd like to be involved not in the design but the making and craftsmanship. I have amateur skills in this but would love to actually be able to do and work at a professional level.

I'd like to run a bookshop/cafe that's a community hub.

Something related to carpentry and making things, particularly woodwork. I think it's an amazing skill being able to make something out of nothing and I am a pretty creative person but I don't think my creative output is particularly good if that makes sense. But I enjoy it immensely.

[DavidB6937]

7 minutes ago, deathrey said:

I'd like to run a bookshop/cafe that's a community hub.

Oh! A local bookshop would be wonderful. My parents ran a photography shop and then a newsagents when I was younger and it was genuinely so nice to have a high street where everyone knew everyone and you'd be friends with the regulars etc. It was a wonderful community. When my dad passed away they all stood outside their shops and paid their respects as we went down the high street and I don't think I'll ever forget that.

I can only imagine it's really tough to replicate something like that these days with high streets but I do love the idea. Especially with books. I've often wanted my own proper home library but a shop? Even better.

[BomberPat]

my uni job was in a record shop, and it still might be the best job I've ever done. My dad worked in a video rental place when I was a kid, and still says it's the best job he ever had. 

I have less patience for the general public than I used to, otherwise independent record or book shop would be up there for me. If you could somehow do that without any expectation of unwanted customer service expectations, I'd be all over it.

[deathrey]

11 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Oh! A local bookshop would be wonderful. My parents ran a photography shop and then a newsagents when I was younger and it was genuinely so nice to have a high street where everyone knew everyone and you'd be friends with the regulars etc. It was a wonderful community. When my dad passed away they all stood outside their shops and paid their respects as we went down the high street and I don't think I'll ever forget that.

I can only imagine it's really tough to replicate something like that these days with high streets but I do love the idea. Especially with books. I've often wanted my own proper home library but a shop? Even better.

What they did for your dad is absolutely lovely. Must have been so nice for you as a family to see that.

I think sadly, as high streets and communities are in 2026, it would be something that was financially unsustainable, but if I won the lottery, maybe something I can do as a passion project? Maybe throw some music in there too?

A home library would be an absolute dream. When you see the interiors of rich people's houses and they have a library room, that's often the one I'm most envious of.

[DavidB6937]

2 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

my uni job was in a record shop, and it still might be the best job I've ever done. My dad worked in a video rental place when I was a kid, and still says it's the best job he ever had. 

I have less patience for the general public than I used to, otherwise independent record or book shop would be up there for me. If you could somehow do that without any expectation of unwanted customer service expectations, I'd be all over it.

I'd pop into Blockbuster literally every day on the way home when it was still open. I know it's a whole different ball game these days but just discovering new films and TV shows by their covers and blurbs, or getting recommendations from the staff etc was one of my only experiences at a young age of being able to share that passion pre-Internet.

I like to think you still get that to a point now, especially with record stores or local book shops. I love being able to just walk in and say 'oh I need a new book for holiday' and get talking to a staff member about what they like.

[SaitoRyo]

I'd like to run my own vintage clothing shop, with a particular focus on Americana (western, sports, work wear etc.). 

I have actually been working full-time as a writer/content creator for the past six years now. Was supposed to be something I just did after a move/between jobs, but I get paid to write about stuff I like (with the occasional editing job) from the comfort of my kitchen. I am very thankful of it, but am now thinking about the future and considering starting a vintage clothing resell business as a side hustle as a way to, hopefully, get closer to my (current) dream job.

[Lorne Malvo]

@SaitoRyo you've just bought back a memory of this shop that was near me growing up; I never went in but always remember thinking it looked like the coolest thing in the world as a little kid, with it's cowboy outfits and assorted Western paraphernalia in the front window.

Spoilered as the image is massive.

Spoiler

 

Edited February 26 by Lorne Malvo

[Carbomb]

36 minutes ago, deathrey said:

I'd like to run a bookshop/cafe that's a community hub.

26 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Oh! A local bookshop would be wonderful. My parents ran a photography shop and then a newsagents when I was younger and it was genuinely so nice to have a high street where everyone knew everyone and you'd be friends with the regulars etc. It was a wonderful community. When my dad passed away they all stood outside their shops and paid their respects as we went down the high street and I don't think I'll ever forget that.

I can only imagine it's really tough to replicate something like that these days with high streets but I do love the idea. Especially with books. I've often wanted my own proper home library but a shop? Even better.

12 minutes ago, deathrey said:

I think sadly, as high streets and communities are in 2026, it would be something that was financially unsustainable, but if I won the lottery, maybe something I can do as a passion project? Maybe throw some music in there too?

It's not completely unsustainable, but it's a lot of work. 

I've posted on here a few times about the community co-operative-owned bookshop & event space in north London that I and Chris B are stakeholders and directors of. Despite a lot of interest and support - we started with something like 180+ stakeholders, and are now at nearly 300 - we have been up against it from very early on.

We've also been very lucky in some ways; our first premises was in an "incubator space" run by Haringey Council - these are huts with cheap rent, cheap bills, and cheap Wi-Fi for businesses that are too big to be pop-ups, but not big enough to be full businesses yet. We might not have even got off the ground if we hadn't had that facility.

After running the shop there for eight month or so, we opened our new, proper premises on Turnpike Lane - two weeks before the pandemic hit. 

Despite lockdown, our manager showed why we were right to appoint him: he took orders for books, got on his bike and delivered them to people's doorsteps. It kept us alive.

Six years later, we're doing much better: we've got events on almost every evening, we've got a bar licence, and we're getting new customers all the time. But we're still not "there" yet. We're getting there, but we're in it for the long haul, because that's what it will take.

Running it as a community hub is a very good idea, because a bookshop by itself, unless it's in a particularly affluent and well-educated area, is unlikely to do well. You won't out-do Amazon for just selling books; you need to offer something more. And you'll need to be patient.

12 minutes ago, deathrey said:

A home library would be an absolute dream. When you see the interiors of rich people's houses and they have a library room, that's often the one I'm most envious of.

I would just love a reading room. I've managed to create a little reading nook in my house, but I haven't had much use of it because my dad will insist on storing stuff in it, the bloody hoarder.

 

 

 

As for dream job, I had it - I was trying to work as an actor. For a whole load of personally-horrible reasons I won't bore you with (at least not yet), I had to give it up. It's a heart-breaking moment, and I wouldn't wish it on any decent person.

 

A dream job now? A bit like @BomberPat I wouldn't mind being a "self-facilitating media node".