Would your job still be necessary if disaster struck?

For me, yes. Depending on where disaster struck, I'd be expected to get as much heavy equipment to the area as possible, provided the disaster called for heavy equipment, which it almost always does.

What about you?

6/5/2012 3:59:22 PM

Yeah, all of our clients are non-profits, like the American Red Cross, so when a disaster hits we go into overdrive.

6/5/2012 4:01:08 PM

No. I sit at a computer all day...

6/5/2012 4:02:02 PM

Nope. I don't do anything important.

6/5/2012 4:04:13 PM

Quote :

"No. I sit at a computer all day..."

If its a worldwide epidemic, I'm in the clear. But if its just domestic, I'd still have shit to do.

6/5/2012 4:05:25 PM

as long as folks are still using electricity i'll have to work i guess

6/5/2012 4:07:22 PM

yeah, I work for two nonprofits, one works with at-risk youth who could be affected if there was a local disaster and the other gives grants and gifts to organizations some of which help people affected by natural disasters. So instead of moving heavy equipment I'd be moving money

6/5/2012 4:08:08 PM

As part of my disaster preparedness plan, I realize my stock pile & supplies may go unattended while I work during a disaster....guess I need to consider that & hire a guard or partner up with someone else & pool supplies.

6/5/2012 4:09:41 PM

No

Thanks for making feel insignificant

6/5/2012 4:19:16 PM

if the government continues to collect taxes

6/5/2012 4:25:17 PM

Depends on the level of disaster. If it's a true apocalyptic scenario, then no. Lawyers are no good in anarchy, since there's no one to enforce the law. If it's just a natural disaster where the government is intact, then yes, I would have to keep working.

6/5/2012 4:25:48 PM

FYI for all you folks working for non-profits:

If true disaster strikes, your organizations will crumble immediately. If you are working in the field, chances are overwhelming that you are going to be completely abandoned and no one is going to come looking for you. There may be a couple of exceptions to this for NGO's who have very close ties to NATO or other military outfits, but that's about it.

My current job would completely disappear during a major catastrophe, but I don't doubt that most of my company (and most of the folks in my industry) would be out helping others in an organized manner instead. Say all the negative shit you like about tech companies (Microsoft, Amazon and Google all have huge presence in the Puget Sound), but these organizations work like gangbusters on whatever task they're put to.

I'm amazed every year at the amount of charitable work employees do, both on the company dime (Days of Caring) and on their own time. I have no doubt that Seattle would survive and thrive from a major disaster. Between the techies in the west the farmers in the east, foresters in the south and fishermen in the north, this region has a whole lot of fucking brains and balls in it.

6/5/2012 4:33:35 PM

except when youre murdering each other in coffee shops

6/5/2012 4:35:09 PM

No one has instant coffee listed in their go packs in the other thread....

May I suggest Starbucks VIA? It tastes just like fresh brew

Perhaps we have the zombie risk all wrong & it's actually caffeine addicted people who are the "zombies" when disaster strikes?

6/5/2012 4:37:23 PM

^ and ^^ Everyone would just switch back to tea. Lot easier to grow, carry and keep, with enough caffeine to pack a punch. Black tea has about 2/3 the caffeine of coffee, white & green teas about 1/5.

6/5/2012 4:52:20 PM

I'm in construction, so it would depend on what type of disaster struck. We did lots of cleanup when the tornado came through Raleigh a year ago.

If it was an EMP, none of our equipment would run. Also, would the infrastructure remain such that we could get paid? Would civilization still exist?

6/5/2012 4:56:44 PM

it'd be easier to think of which jobs ARE necessary?

without thinking too much into it, no jobs would be necessary seeing as how the entire power/utilities infrastructure would collapse.

[Edited on June 5, 2012 at 5:00 PM. Reason : except prostitutes]

[Edited on June 5, 2012 at 5:00 PM. Reason : btw i'm thinking of post-Skynet type world]

6/5/2012 4:59:53 PM

Quote :

"No. I sit at a computer all day..."

Now I want some Starbucks VIA though...

6/6/2012 12:02:08 AM

Not sure if I consider academic research on the same level of 'necessary' as research at Monsano or Merck.

During Hurricane Katrina, I wondered how those P.I's handled the loss of the hundreds of cell lines and DNA contructs they developed in their careers. Grad students as well. Those finishing up their thesis now have to start over, somewhere else.

6/6/2012 12:14:08 AM

I'd immediately quit my job, raise an army, and model myself after Dennis Hopper in Waterworld.

6/6/2012 1:07:38 AM

I've never had a job that I'd hesitate to quit in a disaster. Not because I'm paranoid, but because my jobs have all sucked. I live way the fuck away from everything, so my jobs involve a long commute over poorly-tended rural roads. Trees down? My area is the last cleared. Ice? Summer will be here before the salt trucks. I'm not gonna drive through that clusterfuck to make eight bucks an hour stocking shelves.

Fortunately for the next couple of weeks I'm unemployed and don't have to worry about it.

6/6/2012 1:59:12 AM

Why the fuck are there multiple threads on this???

Venus?

Miami face eater?

6/6/2012 2:14:15 AM

Good gracious, The Lounge really is turning into the Survival Forum.

6/7/2012 1:29:30 PM

y'all ought to be reading John Robb's Global Guerrillas blog. These are exactly the kinds of topics he covers, but at a more macro level. If our globally interconnected supply chain of cheap food and goods were to cease, how do we survive? how can individual communities be resilient?


http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/


It's a mixture of good, informative analysis with a helping of paranoid tin-foil hat bullshit here and there.

6/7/2012 1:35:21 PM

no, my job wouldn't be necessary. i sit at a computer all day writing proposals.

6/7/2012 1:40:01 PM

as long as there's an internet i'll be at work.

Otherwise i'll be repairing/defending my domicile/area.

[Edited on June 7, 2012 at 2:12 PM. Reason : ']

6/7/2012 2:11:52 PM

Nope. Work on computer systems (which would be gone after the EMP) at the University (which would crumble with the government).

6/8/2012 9:39:32 AM

Me, my Job is on a computer and that woudl go to shit, but luckly I am a former ASM certified mechanic, plus I am trained to be a machinist. I also dabble in small engines and gunsmithing. I think i will be ok.

6/8/2012 9:49:15 PM

I'm a teacher. I wouldn't have much to do DURING the disaster (other than surviving and keeping my loved ones safe), but I think afterwards I would be suited to guiding surviving teenagers into gaining skills they would need (almost certainly NOT in a traditional classroom method)

[Edited on June 8, 2012 at 10:07 PM. Reason : ]

6/8/2012 10:07:15 PM

end of days? nobody needs a damn patent

6/8/2012 10:08:59 PM

Yes. Even if the world goes to shit, I still have my obligations to "do the right thing." Im not going to start lowering my standards, such as stealing from grocery stores, to eat. If prices inflate, so be it. I'll keep working if the world goes to shit. Chances are, my industry will be busy...

6/8/2012 10:10:56 PM

my current job is systems testing and verification.


do i think i'll still be testing mechanical systems if SHTF (shit hits the fan)???

Nope..

But... who knows how to build robust systems? the guy who used to try to break them.

I'm paid to double check other engineers because.... i know more/ have seen more then the majority of them.

So basically do i have skills that will be more then useful in a shtf situation... most defiantly. will i be doing my current job..... nope...

6/8/2012 10:24:09 PM

Working in a lab? Not so much.

As a nurse (when I get my licensure in a year), or even still as a nursing student? Most def.

6/9/2012 12:05:56 AM