This is an attempt to collect a thought, and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

American men have a tendency to identify themselves by their profession. It's how introductions are made: "I'm Bob - I'm a lawyer/teacher/doctor/insurance salesman/Mafia hitman." (Okay, maybe not so much the last one.)

I've held a wide range of professions - one of those people who keeps pushing up the average number of careers you will hold. For careers, I've been a theatre technican and then was a school librarian, and had started on potentially career #3 by entering law school. For "jobs", I have also been an archivist, music store salesman, desk jockey, Muzak installer, convenience store clerk, food service worker, Diet Dr. Pepper promotion person (you want to try this, really!), and Tony the Tiger impersonator. And I've been able to announce most of them with pride. (Tell someone you dress up as Tony the Tiger for a living, and just watch the smile. It's fun!)

However, at the moment I am none of those. For reasons that require way too much explanation (and occasional bouts of TMI), I have taken a year's leave from law school and I am currently working as a Student Loan Recovery Specialist for a local company.

Yes, that does mean what you think it does. I am a bill collector, calling people all through the day, telling them to pay their student loans. My line of work is for a west coast loan agency, which I specifically requested due to knowing fewer people on the west coast. (Our company also handles collections for the Finance Authority of Maine, which I politely told them was a business line I didn't want to work. Ever.)

It has been an interesting experience so far - I've received fairly extensive training on many aspects of financial law relating to third party collections, which I'm hoping will have some application when I'm back at school. I've learned how to find people using common sense and advanced skiptracing tools. I've learned how to argue with people and generally win, not scream at people who are blatantly lying in the face of all reason, and that someone changing their ringback tone specifically for you is a sign that you're actually doing your job.

I'll have much more to say about collections in later posts, but I'll just tell you about the ringtone. Called the individual, and he didn't answer the phone, as he hadn't the many other times I've called. The new ringback tone was: "I'm not away from my phone. I'm just not answering your call. And yet you keep calling. Which makes you sad and pathetic." As it is a short ringtone, I heard it twice before it went to voicemail. It then went to his name and request to leave a message. Which I did. And will again.

It's a funny story I would love to share. But the stigma attached to my current job has made me reluctant to tell people what I do currently. I've already got one friend who is not speaking to me over it, which has made me a bit gun-shy about sharing with others.

But if Life hands you lemons, you must make lemonade. Or, as the sage Jim Rodda put it once, "When Life hands you lemons, throw them at Life's head. Then steal Life's pocket change while it's unconscious."

So, it's fodder for restarting the blog. I'll post about what I've learned, interesting things, with other personal stories interspersed as well. To follow the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, any and all personal information will be removed to not identify the person I'm speaking about. (I do plan on passing the New York Bar ethics exam, and it might be hard to explain away a charge of, well, breaking Federal Privacy laws. Always dicey, even at work.)

So, off to bed, and to finish off the month tomorrow. More on the importance of that later.