I don’t get too into detail when it comes to my employment situation all that much here on StarCraft Fan. I’ve talked about school, relationships, and all sorts of things related to StarCraft to boot. I’ve also talked about how I’m a freelance games journalist doing anything to get by and pay the bills. Well, dear reader, today I’d like to give you a closer look at what it is I do to survive on a daily basis. I’d like to get into a bit of detail regarding my second job.
Yes, I am an up and coming games journalist, and one with hopes of making it big someday. But as I pay my dues, I have a second job to help me get through the week. This is a job that I don’t care all that much for, yet one that provides me with enough cash to pay for my gas, bills, and food. I am a licensed security officer. I believe I’ve mentioned that before, and I’ve also mentioned that I’ve had to deal with a lot of underhanded business when dealing with my boss who bounces checks and pays me the wrong amount almost every two weeks. (Although admittedly these two negative aspects have changed in the past couple of months.)
I’m not a huge guy. I’m not all muscular like some other security officers, and I’m only 5’10”. Still, I was given the ball so I ran with it. What I lack in size I make up for with my voice. When working a nightclub, you have to be aggressive. And if you can’t use force, you use your voice. That’s the case with me. Whether I’m telling people to put out their cigarettes (which they shouldn’t be smoking inside) or getting people out of the VIP areas that they didn’t pay to be in, I have to constantly use an aggressive tone. Here’s the funny part: I’m not an aggressive guy at all. I hate conflict, I hate raising my voice, and I hate dealing with people; especially people that are drunk at a club.
And this is why sometimes I wish my job was solely to play StarCraft. I may not be too crazy about ordering people around in the real world, but it sure is a lot of fun doing so in a computer game. I never have any trouble commanding my units and taking out hordes of zerg, but I do find it difficult ordering people to stay out of the VIP area and dealing with drunk, belligerent club goers.
The pay isn’t even that great. I would gladly play StarCraft over dealing with these people at the club. But I don’t just work the nightclub. I also work concerts. Granted the people that attend these events aren’t as bad, but I do tend to get some pretty foul supervisors. Basically, I’m pretty much screwed with whatever event I end up working.
So that’s why I get such satisfaction whenever I play StarCraft. It gets me away from the real world, if at least for an hour or two a day. When I play the various wonderful campaign StarCraft has to offer, I don’t need to deal with intoxicated firemen or substance abusing hipsters. I just need to worry about surviving and plowing through the enemy. Yeah, playing StarCraft is definitely better than my second job.
