Subj : Re: how hard can research science be?
To   : August Abolins
From : Charles Pierson
Date : Thu Dec 17 2020 01:58 am

On 17 Dec 2020, August Abolins said the following...
 AA> > Research science, depending on what's being researched, if obviously les
 AA> > physically demanding than other career paths, but it can be mentally
 AA> > demanding.
 AA> 
 AA> > I would guess in your work, you have to research your clientele. You tra
 AA> > what types of books or what authors your customers buy, and figure out w
 AA> > upcoming releases the are likely to be interested in.
 AA> 
 AA> You make it sound that I just sit around all day studying sales data!  ;)
 AA> 

Not what I meant. I was expanding on one particular aspect of your job that
shares similarities with part of reesearch science and that I have similat
experience with as well.
 AA> > I'm not sure of the particulars of dealing with publishing houses, but
 AA> > you might have to figure lot quantities or minimum quantities of a book 
 AA> > need to order, and compare that to how many you anticipate selling, and 
 AA> > many that will leave on your shelves, suseptible to inventory tax. For
 AA> > example, if two or three people show interest in an upcoming release, bu
 AA> > have to order 50 or 100 copies from the publisher, does it make business
 AA> > sense for you tto order that book? Can you return unsold copies, and how
 AA> > does that cost you if you can>
 AA> 
 AA> That's less than 1/4 of whatever else there is to do.  In addition to
 AA> the research I need to do, you missed, accounting, bookkeeping,
 AA> marketing, sales, advertising, promotions, in-store assistance and
 AA> recommendations, repairs, cleaning, deliveries, and a few more things -
 AA> all that and I cannot guarantee what $'s I take home at the end of the
 AA> day.  Not cushy.
 AA> 

Other than sales and marketing related tasks, which I can do, but it drives
up my anxiety, the rest are things I enjoy greatly. 

I'm probably weird, but money isn't a factor for me when considering cushy.

Doing things I like is cushy.
 AA> > i'm oversimplifying, but that's what I see as a comparison to a part of 
 AA> > job, and at least a part of what reasearch scientists do.
 AA> 
 AA> Good.  You have confirmed that they have far less to worry about whilst 
 AA> securing steady pay. Seems to me that they have it very cushy!  ;)
 AA> 

No. As I said, I was oversimplifying. There are other aspects to their jobs
beyond research, just as there is more to you job than analyzing sales data.

They have to worry about budgets and funding and the like as well to
guarantee that steady pay.

But as I've said, your idea of a cushy job and mine aren't the same.

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