toughest jobs

[Pekka]

There are plenty of tough jobs. But I'd say one of the toughest is being a fighter. You train your whole life, get your ass kicked every once in a while, and you must go on and on all the time forever. To be a fighter, it's not enough that you are good. It's also huge straw of luck that plays in it, in some fights at least, plus you need someone to take you to the top, because no one walks alone. You need to get that chance, and not everyone gets their chance. And those who do, only get one chance, if you blow it, that's it.

Because you don't make money by fighting. You might make the salary to be able to train somehow, but even that's a strech, most likely you have a day job. But you have to give it your all, there's no champion who never gave his all in the process of becoming one. There are tons of fighters, and yet only few champs, and only a small group who actually makes a real living, and even a smaller group who makes a good living, aka champs.

I know a lot of jobs are extremely though., were you might lose your life and you aren't getting paid but you do it anyway because you want to do that particular job. But fighters are not talked about often so that's why I want to talk about that profession.

It's a calling. The stupidest attempt is to become a fighter to make a lot of money. The odds are SO much against you, even if you are very talented and good and work hard. There's absolutely no guarantees, there's almost like a guarantee you'll never make it, really make it.

So you train hard, you love what you do, but then BOOM at some point of your life, you have a family. Now you are in a situation where you need to provide, but only thing you do is fight, because you had to give it all, absolutely all to have that chance, or the dream of a chance. But now you have responsibilities, and now you MUST fight. It's not up to you anymore like ti was before. Don't feel like fighting? Too bad. Injured and hurt, fight coming up? Quit crying and start making the weight. It's not very rewarding when you go out there, train weeks and weeks hard, only train, eat and sleep for something, and then you get knocked out brutally in front of your family and friends, and to everyone else it's just entertainment, for you unfortunately it's your life and maybe it was just your future that went riding fast passing you.

Or for someone who never lost, with reasonable talent, and some dude just lays the beating of your life to you. Knocks you out at the end after making you pay for every second. Your heart is in there, you swear he has to kill you to win you, but lights out and it's over and there's nothing you can do to it. Now, you have lost, and there's nothing sadder than a great future promise, a guaranteed shot for big leagues that gets knocked out and never is able to be the same fighter again. Fighting is so mental, and so physical at the same time, and it's something that is 100%, you don't do it 8-5. You do it all the time. And your family pays the price also, you being always training, watching how you eat, being a jerk making the weight or before a fight. And what they get is a beaten sorry ass loser who cries like a baby when the dream got killed.

Now that is one helluva job. When you make one mistake, you get your face smashed in and you fall to the ground without any control in front of everyone and you lose the winning bonus and the next step and maybe you lose it all, in one hot second. That's all it takes.

[Pekka]

I'd say it's the same for every fighter, doesn't really matter.. if you're fighting in K-1, hey good luck odds are you'll be KOd even if you become the champ one day. In boxing, the same thing, not easy. Not to mention it's prolly the most popular, meaning most people trying to be some kind of a champ so the competition is not exactly easy. Or MMA, where getting KOd is only one way to lose big. You can also lose by getting your head used as a soccer ball for 10 minutes. Scream never quit attitude then, when 95kg brazilian dude who trains to kick you in the head when you are on your back on the ground comes and pummels you, and 50 000 japanese fans are screaming in excitmenet and few million watching it from TV. Lose big enough and be not too promising there, good bye that was your last one, don't bother again. Or getting your arm broken, or leg broken, or ankle broken, what a nice career ender right there. Or get choked out, not the worst way to go but it's not exactly fun either. Or just good old TKO where you get 10 knees in the face and then a good old slam your head first in the ring. Then you get up, when you can walk, shake the hand of the one who just wasted you and hug them and thank them for the chance and scream for a re-match.

So yeah.. I respect that career choice very much. There's also something magical in it. Something pre-historic almost.

Then again the rewards are great. You walk to the ring, looking impressive, with your tune blasting from the PA, you feel good, you feel aggressive, you beat the **** out of your opponent, standing there with your hands raised, thousands of people giving you huge applauds, get the purse, take the belt, put it around your waste and be the champion. Can't get any better than that.

[Pekka]

True, true.. not an easy one either.

This thread however is about fighters yeah even though pootiepoot has black belt in Judo, it doesn't count because he didn't make it as his career. In the ring.

[Traianvs]

if you're a fighter, then that's your job. you have a chance to die. gotta live with that. Working in a goddamn facotory doint ghta same work 16 hous a day and still earning **** has gotta be worse than bein g a soldier. At least you have died for something, even if it's not something you really support.

[Pekka]

16 hours a day in factory would truly suck, yes. That's different kind of toughness though.. that's like the no dream at all at the end of this career kind of job. Unless you REALLY want to be a factory man.

[JohnT]

Heh. Try spending your summers with a set of grandparents who's motto in life was "a little bit of hard work never hurt anybody."

When I was 7, I worked 8 hours a day for 6 days a week installing mobile homes - laying sod, attaching electrical/water/cable connections (I was small enough to crawl under the things), grabbing lumber for my grandfather as he did one project or other, digging ditches, etc. A couple of years later, we installed an 800 foot fence. I wasn't good at hammering, but I did my share of lifting/holding and digging post holes. Fortunately we were digging in Florida sand so it wasn't so tough that a kid couldn't do it... but it was tough enough.

Which was good preparation for the 1,500 foot seawall we installed when I was 10. There were four of us on the crew and my tasks included digging 15 foot holes (luckily the backhoe (sp?) did the first 10 feet, so I was only needed for the last five feet) and then being in those holes, positioning galvanized steel rods as the concrete was being poured. This was done in high summer and the temperature in the hole commonly reached 110F, meaning that I could only work in 15-30 minute shifts. There was a hole for every slab, meaning that over the 1,500 feet of the seawall, I had to dig and position rods in 279 (we counted) holes. Add in the noseeum attacks and you're talking about a fun experience for all!

[Pekka]

in the ring Tass, in the ring.. poisoning folks and ordering the use of silencers hardly makes one a fighter... just a leader.

JohnT, yeah.. but it gives you some edge doesn't it?
I won't try to compete with hard work, but I've spent most of my summers working in constructions for my dad, from little lad. Mostly carrying stuff all day long. So yeah... it sucks. But it paid OK. The stupid part is, when you are feeling down or something, and you've worked hard for long time never complaining anything, say for a month you have worked solid, not *****ing about getting all the crap jobs and you do it anyway, then you get a short downer going on and the first thing you hear is 'you never do anything. You are so lazy, you never do anything and you think you'll just get by like that. You never even try and this has been the way always.'... It makes you mad like you want to kill someone. You know you worked hard, and then someone comes and says everything you did don't matter, you're a lazy bastard adn that's the way you were, you're now and will always be. It's such a knock in the chin it just makes you want to kill. But what can you do? You just suck it up and continue. Until the next one comes.. it can be the next week, it can be a year after, it can be 5 years after, but the moment you're not 100%, it's all the same 'you never do anything. NEVER. You are always like that. You don't know anything about working.'.. I remember when I was .. what... 18? 19? Anyway I was working again in the roof, and I fall down to the ground on my back. It was scary stuff, but luckily I wasn't hurt too bad. My ankle twisted a bit, I just sprained it, but nothing else. I guess I landed and was lucky. It was freaking horror moment and I screamed like a girl. Anyway, so it happened on friday. I wouldn't even go to a doctor to see if my back was ok, or how bad my sprain was. All I knew was I couldn't put any weight on it, but that it wasn't broken so just a sprain. On monday morning, 6AM, he comes and knocks on teh door 'why are you still sleeping!! We're going to be late now! Get up right now!'. I was so pissed off, I mean, I came down from the roof on my back just few days ago and fortunately wasn't paralized, I couldn't put ANY weight on my other foot and now here he is, demanding me to get to work? wtf? I got so pissed off I shouted back I'm not coming and who he thinks he is. Did I get paid for being away about a week, because it was work related injury? No. Did I get to go to a doctor? No. Did I get any bonus from that? No. Only thing I got was to be in bed for 5 working days, so I could work again, and I didn't get paid during that time, not a single cent. Oh, and I got the electricity cut off from my room (was separate from the house, kind of like garage type of thing), so no lights, nothing. Felt like being a captured spy behind the lines or something.

But it taught me a valuable lesson. I would never be as tough as him, and that he surely is. I respect him, even though the decisions and words he said and did back then were so stupid I feel, that I still can't understand it. But nevertheless, it's a characted builder in a way. I know, that as long as there are intesive guys like that, with that attitude in the business world or any other field, I would never become the number one. Just impossible. You know guys like 0 sick leaves in 30 years and stuff. Tough SOBs.. old school tough. But it was a lesson to be learned from. It's a motivator, because I know I'm not giving my all, I could always try harder and just think about few situations, I'm not even pushing it that hard yet. Not even feeling that dizzy. Of course I'm not talking about working yourself to death, but purely about trying, how hard you can push and when you think you've had enough is just the beginning if you have the right attitude.

[JohnT]

It made the 36, 48 hour days early in my career a lot easier to handle. Now I'm the same way:

"Sophie, pick up your room. Honestly, child, a little bit of work never hurt anybody!"

[Jon Miller]

working in a cannery was a nightmare

although being a dishwasher at a pizza place sucked too

Jon Miller

[Lawrence of Arabia]

forest fire fighter has gotta be a tought job too.

[Pekka]

Right

I guess I'll become like my dad as well, but little softer version. 'Shut up don't cry. You are not even bleeding THAT bad. What can I say. The cut is above your eye. Looks worse than it really is, what are you, captain poopiepants?! You will never success and you will die alone because your attitude is rotten.'. Something like that. Of course my dad is softer version of his dad. But he's the first one to make it from nothing to normal. I want to make from normal to great, but I don't know, from nothing to normal for him was absolutely as tough or harder than I would have, and he would be right, he started working full time from age 14 (he tells me, but I believe him), never having a chance at anything else, making his own way to a normal household. Then seeing me, mr poopiepants, I would be freaking pissed off too if I saw myself 'well I don't feel like it! The trash I should take out, yes maybe tomorrow if I feel like it'. SHUT PUNK! Get the hell out of here....... I'd throw myself out, even though I was a good kid. Then again now I have to make it since my dad got the raw deal in life, even though he worked hard every day, and even today he works every now and then, he still got sucky sucky pension that is hardly liveable. So .... I can pay back, and I must I must.. So.. I should get used to the idea of drinking my own puke and twisting my nipples to get up whne the feelings gone and you don't know why it's tragedy... etc. Got a little lost there! Anyway. YEah. It's like some people you know they must become something because it's their legacy and their responsibility. Like some folks are all cops in the family? I need to become a success to raise the par and pay back. YEahs...........

[RGBVideo]

in the ring Tass, in the ring

Yes, in the ring. Judo, IIRC.

I think being a surgeon is a very tough job. Trying to stay cool and having a steady hand when youre ripping human body apart at least sounds hard.

[Pekka]

As far as I know, Putin has not excelled in Judo ring. Beside, Judo is not fighting in the ring. Even though it's a martial arts and Judo competitions are there, it's not the same. You say he's a martial artist. For another person, that person is a fighter. And I mean fighters.

[RGBVideo]

As far as I know, Putin has not excelled in Judo ring.

In the universe, there might be things you haven't known before. Google is your friend.

[Pekka]

And no I'm not trying to portray myself as a hero here, and make it glorious to say 'uuh I've worked in constructions, I can take hard work uuh ooh'. Read carefully. I say that my attitude of toughness doesn't match my old man's. doesn't even come close, even though I consider myself tough. And he's not the only one out there, many more like him. So the competition on that intensity level will be tough and that's not the fight I'll win. I need to use my brains and focus on what matters instead of just throwing the weight around and doing it all.

But then again, Edison said I believe when he failed about 2000 times before makign the light bulb work, that it wasn't a failure first, he just learned 2000 ways not to make it work first. What can I say? Hit me with an axe and I'll go down. Hit me with a marshmellow stick and I'll be there, arrogant and loud again and again. Me and my rotten attitude, huge ego and large genitalia.