The Irony of Life
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From: Vegas baby!!
Morris, no disrespect to you, but in my previous post I said I'd bow out of the debate... or atleast prevent any further diversion from efthimios' purpose for posting (a cute story, a smile, a laugh...) so I'm going to just allow what I posted speak for itself and leave it there. but please don't feel snubbed, I'm just trying to let sleeping dogs lie. 
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From: Between Hell/Ann Arbor
Hey Tim that's my perspective!
BTW I used to be a fisherman, fished for Snapper and Grouper off SC and FLA.
Fishermen when I fished didn't get unemployment benefits, we got paid by what we caught. I've been out on trips where we made a couple 1000 dollars in a few days, and I've been out where I made $38 in ten hard days of fishing in seas that were 15-20 feet high. I loved it all, maybe I complained in the winter when it was cold and the weather was bad, and I complained in the summer when it was boiling out and no breeze. But nothing compares to living out on the ocean a hundred miles offshore, no bugs, no lights and the only noises were the slap of the water on the hull. Our trips usually lasted 7-10 days, and no we didn't make tons of money, but our needs were simple. I didn't care if I had the latest and greatest of everything. I wore comfortable clothes, labels didn't matter, Tim can atest to this, (still don't except on my Hawaiian shirts) overall I was quite happy. I quit because of my impending fatherhood and a need for steadier income and the need to be ashore everyday. Had I owned a boat I would have continued even with the 7-10 day trips, I would have hired another captain to take the boat out every other trip. The split on the fish would have kept me in money, as owner I get half of the catch, as captain I would get 10% off the top, plus a share as a fisherman.
A $10,000 trip would break down this way:
captain: 1000
Boat owner: 4500
Crew: 4500
Out of the crew's share they split the expenses of the trip, Fuel, bait, ice, groceries. The boats that I fished on were usually manned by 3-5 people including the captain.
Some boats you got paid by what you caught and everyone marked their fish with notches in the head. When it came to the split you paid out the same for the captain and the boat owner, but your share depended on your weight and thus your pay, and your expenses were still a proportion of the the total.
BTW I used to be a fisherman, fished for Snapper and Grouper off SC and FLA.
Fishermen when I fished didn't get unemployment benefits, we got paid by what we caught. I've been out on trips where we made a couple 1000 dollars in a few days, and I've been out where I made $38 in ten hard days of fishing in seas that were 15-20 feet high. I loved it all, maybe I complained in the winter when it was cold and the weather was bad, and I complained in the summer when it was boiling out and no breeze. But nothing compares to living out on the ocean a hundred miles offshore, no bugs, no lights and the only noises were the slap of the water on the hull. Our trips usually lasted 7-10 days, and no we didn't make tons of money, but our needs were simple. I didn't care if I had the latest and greatest of everything. I wore comfortable clothes, labels didn't matter, Tim can atest to this, (still don't except on my Hawaiian shirts) overall I was quite happy. I quit because of my impending fatherhood and a need for steadier income and the need to be ashore everyday. Had I owned a boat I would have continued even with the 7-10 day trips, I would have hired another captain to take the boat out every other trip. The split on the fish would have kept me in money, as owner I get half of the catch, as captain I would get 10% off the top, plus a share as a fisherman.
A $10,000 trip would break down this way:
captain: 1000
Boat owner: 4500
Crew: 4500
Out of the crew's share they split the expenses of the trip, Fuel, bait, ice, groceries. The boats that I fished on were usually manned by 3-5 people including the captain.
Some boats you got paid by what you caught and everyone marked their fish with notches in the head. When it came to the split you paid out the same for the captain and the boat owner, but your share depended on your weight and thus your pay, and your expenses were still a proportion of the the total.
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From: Russkii Hill
Originally Posted by tritium_pie,Jul 20 2005, 08:45 PM
hate to be the fly in the punch bowl but the important thing the MBA left out is that by only fishing enough to sustain his current happy state of life, he is not building up a nest egg for any contingencies. what happens if he gets ill and isn't able to fish for a season? or if his boat sinks? what happens to his family if he goes down with his boat?
perhaps in that little village, the local residents will step in and help them out... but will they support his wife and kids forever? and in the US, it's so highly competitive that there is no such "village safety net"... unemployment benefits aside.
that's what having excess income does-- it smooths out the bumps and dips in life; the scary ones, not the fun ones. and as people grow more wealthy, they find that they are able to smooth out other bumps-- not just the scary ones that threaten the family, but also the little annoyances, the tedium, etc.
if I was flat broke, I'd work my butt off at minimum wage to try to afford a beat up car. that beat up car would allow me to get to job opportunities farther away, so now I'm making more. and now I can save up and go to a trade school, or maybe college. and with my newfound training I can afford a car that starts up every time, and isn't as likely to leave me stranded. and the smarter/harder I work the more I can save, and so maybe now my car isn't just a form of transportation, but is actually a form of entertainment, and a reflection of my newfound success and my appreciation for excellence.
like an S2000.
(and of course have saved $ along the way should life take a turn for the worse.)
perhaps in that little village, the local residents will step in and help them out... but will they support his wife and kids forever? and in the US, it's so highly competitive that there is no such "village safety net"... unemployment benefits aside.
that's what having excess income does-- it smooths out the bumps and dips in life; the scary ones, not the fun ones. and as people grow more wealthy, they find that they are able to smooth out other bumps-- not just the scary ones that threaten the family, but also the little annoyances, the tedium, etc.
if I was flat broke, I'd work my butt off at minimum wage to try to afford a beat up car. that beat up car would allow me to get to job opportunities farther away, so now I'm making more. and now I can save up and go to a trade school, or maybe college. and with my newfound training I can afford a car that starts up every time, and isn't as likely to leave me stranded. and the smarter/harder I work the more I can save, and so maybe now my car isn't just a form of transportation, but is actually a form of entertainment, and a reflection of my newfound success and my appreciation for excellence.
like an S2000.
(and of course have saved $ along the way should life take a turn for the worse.)
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