What did you want to be when you grew up?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
Any aspirations?
A survey was taken in 2019 of US, UK and Chinese children.
Almost a third of the children surveyed said they wanted to be a vlogger/youtuber when they grew up. 11% said they wanted to be an Astronaut.
In order, UK/US children voted vlogger/youtuber - teacher - professional athlete - musician - astronaut.
56% of Chinese children voted astronaut as their first choice with vlogger/youtuber being the least popular.
 

At the time I was growing up we thought our only options were nurse, teacher or secretary. When the possibility of "dental hygienist" came along we thought that was glamrous. I never wanted to be any of those, though I am not sure what I did want to be. I don't think we were aware of many possibilities for women back in those days.
 

I had 3 things I aspired too back in the days 🥺 and I pretty much hit all three.

  • Wanted to do accounting (yup, got two certificates)
  • Wanted work where I could write and type (yup, did that for 11 years before had to retire due to health problems)
  • Finally, using those studies for CW, became an independent author, self-publishing soon...
  • Also, became a friend, a fiancé, a wife, a mother and sadly too soon a widow.
  • Overall, a wonderful time...
 
I wanted to be a firetruck. I also wanted to be a superhero. Batman. Robin. Superman. As long as they had a cape. I used to put a bath towel as a cape attached with a clothespin and run around the neighborhood climbing fences and making a lot of noise. Good times. I found it very difficult to grow up.
 
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What did you want to be when you grew up?​


Bretrick said:
Any aspirations?
Click to expand...
This subject keeps coming up

and I keep posting my little story...

Almost a Cop


When I was about four, five maybe, all I wanted to become was a cop.
Not a Dragnet, Sgt Friday cop, but one that wore the blue, the boots, the service cap, the badge, the…gun…and holster.
OH YEAAAH
Not a doubt in my mind.
Thing is, I was never around cops per se, at least not for a few years.
So all I had for ready reference was the local service station guy. The ‘almost a cop’ guy.
He had a uniform, and if I recall, had some sorta badge.
And he had a service cap. The one with the glossy bill, and high rise front.

service station guy.jpg



Yeah, he was almost a cop.
I always liked stopping there.

‘Fill’er up?
‘Ethyl?’

He’d get the pump going, cranking the numbers to zero, sticking the nozzle in, flipping the lever, filling the back seat with the glorious aroma of gas fumes of which I breathed deep (couldn’t get enough).

‘Check ‘at oil?’

He lifted the hood and did….something, appearing at the driver’s door, showing Dad the dip stick, resting it in display on a really cool red rag, then tucking that rag in his back pocket. Letting half of it stick out……cool.
Sometimes he’d go to the rack of oil, grab wunna the glass bottles with a stainless steel spout, and pour in a bit of oil.
Then he’d spray the windshield with some sorta soapy liquid, wiping all that off with the magic blue towel until the grime and streaks was totally gone. All the while talking about the weather or the ‘damm Yankees’, or Joe Louis.
And he had BO…yeah, real big guy aroma…..wow.
Man, I wanted to be him, only I’d strap on a gun, as that was the only thing his was missing.
What a cool job!
Just doin’ that all day long.
‘Check ‘at oil?’
‘Whuddaya think about them damm Yankees?’
tuck
wipe
pump
….kids in the back seat, lookin’ at me in awe…wide eyes ogling my holster…and ivory gun handle….and red rag.

One day me and Dad were headin’ down the road.
Just him and me,
and he sez, ‘Whaddya wanna be when you grow up?’

‘A service station guy!’

Things kinda turned south right then.
Dads.
Go figure.
Whud he do for a living? Work in a warehouse?
Prolly jealous.

pout.jpg




After that, I never shared my true thoughts with him….for years….decades maybe.

Heh, turns out folks rather frown on service stations guys….with guns.

But, hey, if that ever happens……..
 
When I was a kid, window washing the skyscrapers windows seemed an exciting job.
One of my friends almost fell when his belt catch broke while swing over to the next window.
I didn't measure up to the risk factor used to make lots of money way up there. ....haha .....
 
Gary O' said:

What did you want to be when you grew up?​



This subject keeps coming up

and I keep posting my little story...

Almost a Cop


When I was about four, five maybe, all I wanted to become was a cop.
Not a Dragnet, Sgt Friday cop, but one that wore the blue, the boots, the service cap, the badge, the…gun…and holster.
OH YEAAAH
Not a doubt in my mind.
Thing is, I was never around cops per se, at least not for a few years.
So all I had for ready reference was the local service station guy. The ‘almost a cop’ guy.
He had a uniform, and if I recall, had some sorta badge.
And he had a service cap. The one with the glossy bill, and high rise front.

service station guy.jpg



Yeah, he was almost a cop.
I always liked stopping there.

‘Fill’er up?
‘Ethyl?’

He’d get the pump going, cranking the numbers to zero, sticking the nozzle in, flipping the lever, filling the back seat with the glorious aroma of gas fumes of which I breathed deep (couldn’t get enough).

‘Check ‘at oil?’

He lifted the hood and did….something, appearing at the driver’s door, showing Dad the dip stick, resting it in display on a really cool red rag, then tucking that rag in his back pocket. Letting half of it stick out……cool.
Sometimes he’d go to the rack of oil, grab wunna the glass bottles with a stainless steel spout, and pour in a bit of oil.
Then he’d spray the windshield with some sorta soapy liquid, wiping all that off with the magic blue towel until the grime and streaks was totally gone. All the while talking about the weather or the ‘damm Yankees’, or Joe Louis.
And he had BO…yeah, real big guy aroma…..wow.
Man, I wanted to be him, only I’d strap on a gun, as that was the only thing his was missing.
What a cool job!
Just doin’ that all day long.
‘Check ‘at oil?’
‘Whuddaya think about them damm Yankees?’
tuck
wipe
pump
….kids in the back seat, lookin’ at me in awe…wide eyes ogling my holster…and ivory gun handle….and red rag.

One day me and Dad were headin’ down the road.
Just him and me,
and he sez, ‘Whaddya wanna be when you grow up?’

‘A service station guy!’

Things kinda turned south right then.
Dads.
Go figure.
Whud he do for a living? Work in a warehouse?
Prolly jealous.

pout.jpg




After that, I never shared my true thoughts with him….for years….decades maybe.

Heh, turns out folks rather frown on service stations guys….with guns.

But, hey, if that ever happens……..
Click to expand...
You brought back a lot of memory good sir. My uncles had service stations when i was a kid. Then my dad and an uncle bought one together. Was around the time self serves were transitioning. Gas was still very cheap compared to today but people complained even then. I remember guys wanting a 2 barrel carb installed because the 4 barrel burnt too much gas. I filled up lots of muscle cars in my day. Drove a few of them too.
 
papa tiger said:
When I was a kid, window washing the skyscrapers windows seemed an exciting job.
One of my friends almost fell when his belt catch broke while swing over to the next window.
I didn't measure up to the risk factor used to make lots of money way up there. ....haha .....
Click to expand...
My husband was a high rise window cleaner/business owner for 35 years. It's a hard job, weather can be brutal, customers cheapskates, employees attitudes a real pain and the result was he has some stories to tell.
 
The normal trades as a young boy, sholdier, Fireman, etc.
Around 13 when I was learning to sail, thought I'd be a skipper of an America's Cup boat.
When I got my car in high school, I thought about being a Pro Surfer and Shape Boards/Own a Surf Shop.

After Graduation thought I'd do a couple of years in the military, then get on with my life.
Life had other ideas and I retired from the USAF in 1994.

Best part of my life.
Learned a Strong Work Ethic and it opened my eyes to a more Global View of the World.
 
When I was a kid, I too wanted to be an astronaut. It was in those heady early days of the Mercury program, and they would round us kids into the school auditorium to watch those first launches on a black and white television set screen. 📺. Of course back then, my school library had books optimistically predicting that we’d be having manned explorations of the inner planets by the 1990’s… 🧑‍🚀

IMG_2100.jpeg
 

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