by Charity Buntz

Created on: October 13, 2008

I was 18 and I had it all planned out. I knew where I wanted to go to college, what I was going to major in and where I would be in 10 years. In college I looked at those kids with "undecided majors" as unmotivated students with no direction in life. Boy, was I wrong. Turns out they were the smartest kids in school. In this society we're expected to already know what we want to do with the rest of our lives soon after our 18th birthday. How crazy is that? So kids all over are choosing professions that they know nothing about! I mean, how many chemical engineer majors really know what it's going to be like to work as a chemical engineer?

My chosen profession: advertising. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? That's what I thought too. I just knew that it was going to be so much fun to sit around a cozy room with a group of equally creative people brainstorming the next great Superbowl commercial. Instead, I got a drab cubicle and a non-existent budget. Since I don't live in a town with large renowned advertising agencies, I must work for the privately owned companies. In this business you're expected to take $100 and turn it into $10,000 worth of sales.

And then there's the hours. I love the whole "salary" concept. It's just a corporate system that allows employers to suck as much time and energy out of you as possible without paying you any more. After all, the more you work, the more dedicated you must be. I do, however, have two weeks of vacation every year. Ten measly days out of the approximately 250 working days. Did I forget to say 'thank you'? In Germany, the average annual leave amount is 6 weeks, triple the US average. What do they know that we don't?

So what would I have chosen if I had it all to do over? I would be a teacher. While still probably overworked and underpaid between the months of September and June, they have a purpose. A real obligation. One that challenges and encourages. One that allows you to go home at night feeling like you made some kind of difference to someone other than a money-hungry CEO. And I would encourage those kids to learn as much as they can about as many different things as possible. To allow themselves the time to really figure out their futures and research the things that interest them. Because when you spend more than 1/3 of your week away from your family and your home, you better make sure you enjoy what you're doing.

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