Careers for people who need to travel

[CdnWriter]

I'll jump right into the query.

I have a story that I really like and I am developing in greater detail, but I need a profession or a career for a working man/woman that would allow exhaustive travel. Gender of the person is irrelevant for this story.

You can see the start of what I've been developing in Workshop, Fiction, "Body Count 231....and climbing!" (or maybe it's "rising!")?

I do need this individual to be able to travel regularly to all the states and provinces on the North American continent. I can make semi-regular work as well but s/he does need to be earning an income even if they are not traveling every week/month.

I see the professions that allow this being airline pilot, stewardess, although I wonder about other airline employees? Truck driver and traveling salesman/woman. It can be a higher level c-suite position if necessary as well. Like.....do the various airlines have people that go around "fixing" problems at the airline's various locations? Maybe a trainer who flies into a city and works to help the airline incorporate its operations in a new airport or to revise procedures in an existing airport?

Is there any ONE profession that does this better than the others? It doesn't matter when the character gets to state X or Y or T or B, just that over a 30 year career they will have visited each state at least two or three times.

Thank you all!

 

[Naomasa298]

Ground engineers do travel, but mainly if they need to go and service a plane at an outstation where the airline doesn't have a base, and a plane is otherwise unserviceable.

Is there a reason why you would prefer them not to be a pilot or flight attendant? (not a "stewardess", They do more than just serve you drinks. Men can be flight attendants as well)

 

[CdnWriter]

Ground engineers do travel, but mainly if they need to go and service a plane at an outstation where the airline doesn't have a base, and a plane is otherwise unserviceable.

Is there a reason why you would prefer them not to be a pilot or flight attendant? (not a "stewardess", They do more than just serve you drinks. Men can be flight attendants as well)

There's nothing wrong with either profession but because of the time this occurs, 1970 to 2030 it would force someone who works as a pilot to be a male, someone who works as a stewardess (remember the time) to be female, the same problem is seen in any profession like mechanic that is dominated by males. It can change over the course of the story.

I am toying the the idea of perhaps a woman who started as a stewardess and then becomes a pilot during their career.

One of the big things in the story is that I don't want the reader to know for sure, for a really, really long time what gender this character is. All they are supposed to know is that they fly into various cities, check into a hotel, shop for necessary items at the local grocery, then check out and fly out the next day or two. If I say it's a pilot...."The killer is a MAN!!!" or if I say it's a stewardess, "The killer is a WOMAN!!!"

I've thought of other issues such as a cross dresser or a transgender individual but given the time, it doesn't work. I also don't know how to write such characters and I don't really want to try because I'll snuff it.

Truck driver would also work, especially if it's a trucking tandem team like a husband and wife pair that are trucking together. They'd need to buy various items for the road like coffee, chocolate bars or later, energy bars and so on. I do think a weakness is that their shopping would be focused on truck stops and not necessarily the local Safeway or Piggy Wiggy.

It's vital to the story that the person is both nondescript, in the sense that they BELONG to the environment, like look at the shoppers at the local grocery or drug store - everyone fits in as a customer or an employee. I like the truck driver for this, it's not like they have a uniform on. (Yes, I know pilots and stewardess' can change their clothes.)

 

[Naomasa298]

There's nothing wrong with either profession but because of the time this occurs, 1970 to 2030 it would force someone who works as a pilot to be a male

The first commercial female pilot in the US flew in 1973. You could play with your readers' expectations by using that.

However...

Circus performer or carnie - their shows travel all over the US. Or else some other kind of performer, such as a musician. Or maybe a reporter, but it would have to be for a major media outlet.

 

[CdnWriter]

Circus performer or carnie - their shows travel all over the US. Or else some other kind of performer, such as a musician. Or maybe a reporter, but it would have to be for a major media outlet.

I'm now thinking wrestling roadie, not an actual wrestler but more a road agent or a ring crew member that travels with the wrestling company and sets up the wrestling ring. It does expose them to a drug sub-culture as well that is necessary for the story and in the pre-WWF/WWE days with the territories, there was a lot of travel around different circuits.

Thanks!

 

[Sandor]

I'm now thinking wrestling roadie, not an actual wrestler but more a road agent or a ring crew member that travels with the wrestling company and sets up the wrestling ring. It does expose them to a drug sub-culture as well that is necessary for the story and in the pre-WWF/WWE days with the territories, there was a lot of travel around different circuits.

Thanks!

I think roadie is good, as is trucker, especially if you want to get into drugs. Both would be into stimulants, cocaine, modanifil, etc. If you're into wrestling as an option, I've started watching "Dark Side of the Ring," which is a documentary series on various controversies and tragedies in wrestling. I'm part way through the first episode, but my friend said it can get pretty intense so watch yourself with that.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I read your thread title and immediately thought "salesman/woman". But then, Arthur Miller is one of my favourite playwrights.

I don't know if travelling salesmen in the strain of Willy Loman still exist, though. But if you choose to go down that route, it might be wise to avoid Miller's model.

 

[CdnWriter]

I think roadie is good, as is trucker, especially if you want to get into drugs. Both would be into stimulants, cocaine, modanifil, etc. If you're into wrestling as an option, I've started watching "Dark Side of the Ring," which is a documentary series on various controversies and tragedies in wrestling. I'm part way through the first episode, but my friend said it can get pretty intense so watch yourself with that.

Being around drugs is necessary to the plot and being nondescript is also necessary. When surrounded by the larger than life wrestlers and their antics, my main character would definitely NOT stand out. When you watch wrestling, you notice the people you're SUPPOSED to see - the referee, the wrestlers, the announcers, the commentary team....but the people who put the match together, the people who book the arenas, the people that transport all the equipment, the photographers....none of those people get any attention.

As for "Dark Side of the Ring," I LOVE that series. I grew up watching rasslin' in the 80s and I loved the older wrestlers - Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair (and the 4 Horsemen), Hulk Hogan, King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage, Honky Tonk Man, Brutus the Barber Beefcake, Jake the Snake Roberts. I did like the new "Attitude Era" with Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Diesel, Al Snow (and Head!), and so on. Some of the older 80s era wrestlers really didn't transition to the 90s very well such as the Road Warriors - they went from being the biggest guys around, to being in a group of bigger guys and fading into the background.

It's also....I guess sad? To see the state some wrestlers are in. Look at Jake Robert's height. Look at his body type from video in 1985 and then 1995, 2005, to get that large, he definitely wasn't eating right and taking care of himself. Or Ricky Morton of the "Rock'n'Roll Express" tag team. HOW do people that thin and tall end up weighting like 300, 400 lbs???

Nowadays.....there's no art in wrestling that I can see. It's just two people doing move after move after move, trying to top each other with their moves. I try and watch...I can't tell who the babyface is and who the heel is, the story isn't there. There's a lot of "Holy SHIT!!!" moments but after that....there's no story, it's non-existent.

It's disappointing to learn about the struggles so many of the wrestlers had. I'm honestly amazed that Jake the Snake is still alive, that Hulk Hogan for example passed away before Ric Flair and Jake the Snake. The amount of substances people were using....GAH!!! The schedules they worked - traveling for like 320 days a year...there's only 365 days in a year....and missing things like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc because they were on special wrestling events like "Survivor Series" or Christmas Specials such as "Starcade" so family relationships were non-existent or destroyed.

EDIT: "Nic" to "RIC"!

 

[CdnWriter]

I read your thread title and immediately thought "salesman/woman". But then, Arthur Miller is one of my favourite playwrights.

I don't know if travelling salesmen in the strain of Willy Loman still exist, though. But if you choose to go down that route, it might be wise to avoid Miller's model.

I've read "Death of a Salesman" but I don't really remember it probably because it was required reading in school and I absolutely HATE being told what I HAVE to read. Let ME pick a book! Give me a list but give me the choice.

Traveling salesmen/women in the vein of people who travel to different hospitals and sell medical equipment or new drugs to doctors.

I do think someone who sells franchises and services a territory would work. I could also see a military soldier who gets moved around from base to base but that's overdone.

Thank you for the thoughts!

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I've read "Death of a Salesman" but I don't really remember it probably because it was required reading in school and I absolutely HATE being told what I HAVE to read. Let ME pick a book! Give me a list but give me the choice.

Traveling salesmen/women in the vein of people who travel to different hospitals and sell medical equipment or new drugs to doctors.

I do think someone who sells franchises and services a territory would work. I could also see a military soldier who gets moved around from base to base but that's overdone.

Thank you for the thoughts!

Sorry for my short post; I wrote it when I should've been WFH. Please let me clarify:

I'm sorry that "Death of a Salesman" was required reading at school. It wasn't for me, and I read it and thought about it for my own enjoyment. (I had to read "The Crucible" at school, and my school is nowhere near the USA, which shows you how influential the play is. We watched the film with Daniel Day-Lewis as Proctor, and even went to see the play performed, with David Wenham as Proctor -- both very good).

I would still consider "Death of a Salesman" superior to "The Crucible", although they are obviously very different and both excellent. "Salesman" concerns the death of Willy Loman, a failing travelling salesman in America during the Depression, and his estrangement from his wife and sons, who love him dearly but don't understand his lifestyle.

If you get a chance, I would urge you to re-read "Salesman" and think about the characters and the setting. They might provide you with some insights into life on the road, and the attendant pressures on family life, in 1930s America. My impression (as a non-American, of course) is that "Salesman" is as good as -- and maybe even superior to -- "Of Mice and Men", another novel that deals with life on the road in the same period. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" also deals with the same issues and the same setting -- life on the road in 1930s America -- but for me, "Salesman" examines and brings to the fore the psychological pressures that men like Willy Loman, Lennie Small, and Frank Chambers endured while on the road, looking for (respectively) the next sale, the next job, or the next ... high, perhaps? Frank's goals change from chapter to chapter. It was undoubtedly a harsh life, and broke many men like Willy, Lennie and Frank.

If your setting is America in the 2020s, it's obviously a very different world to the 1930s. But some things -- the loneliness; the familial, psychological and financial pressures; the temptations (financial, sexual, and other) -- don't change much.

I hope this helps!

 

[CatrionaGrace]

A friend is a consultant for a company that manufactures windows and doors for big buildings, including skyscrapers. He goes all over the country and parts of Canada to help clients deal with specifications, etc. By training, he is an engineer. On the rare days he is home, he mans the helpline on the phone. He flies both commercial and pilots his own plane.