New Beginning

[trayhop123]

1) Becoming very familiar with certain areas and the country in general (knowing your way around the UK), this is obviously a big advantage and helpful for other work possibilities.

good post mog ,,,,, and i agree with all except the above ,,,,,,,,,,, it used to be a an advantage ,,,,,,,,,, but the advent of sat-nav , has pretty much levelled the playing field for courier/deliveryman/taxi jobs

[Noels Beard]

I would say that outside areas of work that require specialised skills and/or knowledge, there are those who are capable; those who are not; and a whole spectrum of mediocrity in between.

However, we all have characteristics which will define our suitability for work. For example, I think in a lot of jobs I would excel within the first couple of months, but quickly get bored at the lack of variety and challenge that many jobs offer. At that stage I would probably try and socially manipulate myself into an easy/lazy role and become sluggish and unproductive.

The kind of skills that work well within our strange little community do not translate well into other roles. Unfortunately, at all but the most senior levels, capacity for independent thought is now seen as a negative and not as a positive. Whereas fifty years ago you may have been spotted, and fast tracked to the top, now you're more likely to been seen as a likely candidate for usurping authority, and rejected at the interview stage. [actually this may always have held true, I just have a warm, fuzzy; rose tinted view of the past].

The problem with employment in the 21st century is that humanity is having to deal with an imbalance between the amount of work that needs to be done/the amount of people who want to be employed / and the greed of the private companies that have monopolised many services that would have been better off as publicly run. The off shoot of this is that lots of people are sitting on their arse without a job, but companies would still rather hire foreign call centre staff with poor English, rather than set up a centre here and be forced to pay minimum wage.

[Roll_With_It_Russ]

I think that as long as you claim to have done something you know you can confidently do, they would never catch you out.

Being a long term fruity player I think gives you various skills (if you use your brain):
1) Becoming very familiar with certain areas and the country in general (knowing your way around the UK), this is obviously a big advantage and helpful for other work possibilities.
2) Knowing how to deal with people diplomatically, in uncomfortable situations (bar staff, punters, angry/nosey bar staff/punters + those nosey arcade attendants) - people skills obviously very useful in the service sector.
3) Self management - pretty obvious but stuff like your banking, organising routes, etc.
4) Team player/leader - if you're in a little 'gang' of fruit players or a duo, you should have ample experience in this.

You couldn't PROVE any of the above but you'll know you can do it so why not say you can in a CV under a fake job which can't be traced? You'll never get caught out unless you're claiming to do something that you can't.

thing is if you was any good at the above you wouldn't need an employer would you... the reality is many employed people could make it "on there own" in the world, but some jobs require the network and infrastructure, brand, monopoly, assett value, diverity of the business for the job to exsist in the first place.

[redlinesman]

Some good points made by roll with it russ & Noels beard and JG.

Noels beard - forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions but it sounds like you are trying to justify your existence as a fruit machine player by harbouring a belief that a 'job' wouldn't stimulate you. I think I had a similar mentality in my early years of fruit playing, a job was regarded as a big no no and there could never be a job that would fulfill me or provide me with the freedom I desired. I'm now convinced I was wrong for several reasons I don't have time to go into. Furthermore, professional fruit playing or gambling isn't that mentally stimulating, you learn how to do it and then are basically repeating a process. Sure, there is some thinking involved but I reckon it's the buzz and prospect of winning money that is the overriding fact here rather than mental stimulation.

I think the skills on CV thing is open to debate and I think it depends on the individual. Fruit playing has taught me the importance of organisation and how crucial it is. Without organisation and structure the tricks simply stand in a shadow but when you put them together, that's when everything suddenly takes off and effiency increases so much. I think these types of organisational skills would be certainly transferable into employment.

[Cf]

Why's being up early such a big thing?

Spoons for doors, or Spoons at 10pm the night before. What's the difference?

Unless of course you mean doing a 7-midnight shift.

[AMK]

Yep I was getting at working the long hours for bigger money. Still I guess people have to have a life/ and or a lie in.

[Noels Beard]

Some good points made by roll with it russ & Noels beard and JG.

Noels beard - forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions but it sounds like you are trying to justify your existence as a fruit machine player by harbouring a belief that a 'job' wouldn't stimulate you. I think I had a similar mentality in my early years of fruit playing, a job was regarded as a big no no and there could never be a job that would fulfill me or provide me with the freedom I desired. I'm now convinced I was wrong for several reasons I don't have time to go into. Furthermore, professional fruit playing or gambling isn't that mentally stimulating, you learn how to do it and then are basically repeating a process. Sure, there is some thinking involved but I reckon it's the buzz and prospect of winning money that is the overriding fact here rather than mental stimulation.

I think the skills on CV thing is open to debate and I think it depends on the individual. Fruit playing has taught me the importance of organisation and how crucial it is. Without organisation and structure the tricks simply stand in a shadow but when you put them together, that's when everything suddenly takes off and effiency increases so much. I think these types of organisational skills would be certainly transferable into employment.

It's not really a case of justification, rather a realisation of ones own flaws and an honest appraisal of why I'm doing what I'm doing. Without doubt, there are jobs that I would find infinitely more stimulating, but in my mind I've both missed the boat academically, and I have demons that would render me inappropriate. Application, rather than raw intelligence is what renders people appropriate for jobs which carry status. Let us not forget a rather lovely quote by Einstein:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

For many people that arrive playing fruits, there is a sense that they're not quite fitting in with the world. This is nothing to be ashamed of: the way society is forged and the roles that are open for us to acquire often seem at odds to our very biology. It's unsurprising to me how as a nation we're so depressed, I myself suffer from chronic depression. Prescriptions for anti-depressants are at an all time high. Whilst deciding to play fruits for a living is often a remedy to the curse of an addiction, it also reaches back to our ancestral role of hunter/gatherer.

So to conclude, there are two important points to take on board. Firstly, playing fruits is a legitimate way of making a living at the moment, and has been for at least the last 20 odd years. There have been bubbles of employment that have had a shorter lifespan. Just because you can't write it on your CV, and people often despise you for it, you are just playing the game in the same way as Doctors, Lawyers, Stockbrokers, Politicians, etc. Secondly, and leading from this point, the whole notion of justifying your existence (be this by CV, or in an angry argument in the pub with a guy who has just realised why you're there), is something which is at odds with many of us psychologically. Whilst it is necessary and speedy in terms of employment, the idea of summarising your life on a piece of paper no doubt contributes to both expectations of oneself and feelings of failure.

I said to my father the other day, whilst discussing my 30th birthday (looming ominously).

"I'm moving from the point in my life where people talk about what I might do, to a point where people ask what I haven't done."

[Roll_With_It_Russ]

Surely a basic facet of slotting for profit organisation involves getting up early in the morning, and starting out early, so as you can have the opportunity to win more money? I notice you are a late owl Sir Linesman. Do you have trouble surfacing in the early mornings?

Perhaps you get by on precious little sleep. I could see it being a case of

3am BED
6am AWAKE

This gives you time for a 26.2 minute cardiovascular workout, a shower, breakfast and out on the road for 7:46

The only way time invested would translate into larger profits is if you had a constant edge, with out that then playing at only the optimum times would be more beneficial for a win rate per hour measurement.

[Ruler of The World]

It's not really a case of justification, rather a realisation of ones own flaws and an honest appraisal of why I'm doing what I'm doing. Without doubt, there are jobs that I would find infinitely more stimulating, but in my mind I've both missed the boat academically, and I have demons that would render me inappropriate. Application, rather than raw intelligence is what renders people appropriate for jobs which carry status. Let us not forget a rather lovely quote by Einstein:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

For many people that arrive playing fruits, there is a sense that they're not quite fitting in with the world. This is nothing to be ashamed of: the way society is forged and the roles that are open for us to acquire often seem at odds to our very biology. It's unsurprising to me how as a nation we're so depressed, I myself suffer from chronic depression. Prescriptions for anti-depressants are at an all time high. Whilst deciding to play fruits for a living is often a remedy to the curse of an addiction, it also reaches back to our ancestral role of hunter/gatherer.

So to conclude, there are two important points to take on board. Firstly, playing fruits is a legitimate way of making a living at the moment, and has been for at least the last 20 odd years. There have been bubbles of employment that have had a shorter lifespan. Just because you can't write it on your CV, and people often despise you for it, you are just playing the game in the same way as Doctors, Lawyers, Stockbrokers, Politicians, etc. Secondly, and leading from this point, the whole notion of justifying your existence (be this by CV, or in an angry argument in the pub with a guy who has just realised why you're there), is something which is at odds with many of us psychologically. Whilst it is necessary and speedy in terms of employment, the idea of summarising your life on a piece of paper no doubt contributes to both expectations of oneself and feelings of failure.

I said to my father the other day, whilst discussing my 30th birthday (looming ominously).

"I'm moving from the point in my life where people talk about what I might do, to a point where people ask what I haven't done."

This WOULD have been a good post except for that ridiculous Einstein quote. If he really did say something so ridiculous then I have no respect for him and he's a fucking TWAT in my book. For you to use that quote and actually believe it puts you in the same bracket, I'm afraid. Not wanting to start an argument here, but there are a plethora of examples on this forum alone of Einstein's alleged quote being complete and utter nonsense. I include myself in that group of people and the word genius isn't one that should be thrown around like it is these days and used so cheaply.

[Noels Beard]

Hmm...ok. I'm not sure it warrants such a vitriolic response but fair enough. It's surely just another way of saying, "we're all good at something - you just need to find out what it is."

For decades mothers have doted on their children telling them this self-same thing. Do you curse them as well? Would you not offer the same advice to your own children. Maybe it is a little saccharine for my own tastes, I've known some pretty useless people over the years: but as a rule of thumb, most people are good at something.

[Noels Beard]

If your beef is with the definition of genius: then that's fair enough. But let's remember that this is a quotation and the hyperbole is no doubt intentional. From what I know of Einstein, like many very gifted people he struggled sometimes with the expectation of genius. No doubt this quote itself pokes fun at people constantly telling him how much of a genius he was. Genius is such a loose term, would be a shame to lose your respect for Einstein over it. Or indeed your respect for myself, a keen lexicographer.

[redlinesman]

Good explanation of your thinking Noels Beard. Don't agree with the bit about how we are playing the game just like Doctors, Solicitors etc. They have a geniune stake in society and are of purpose to the world, we have no use.

[Real Pro gamer]

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end!

[Real Pro gamer]

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!

[Roll_With_It_Russ]

Good explanation of your thinking Noels Beard. Don't agree with the bit about how we are playing the game just like Doctors, Solicitors etc. They have a geniune stake in society and are of purpose to the world, we have no use.

essentially any body who does not produce/manufactuer is just a parasite on the economy, solicitors is a very poor example indeed.