My coworkers often ask me how I am able to remain so cool under intense pressure. I explain that when I was a young man, I worked breakfast-rush drive thru at McDonalds. It's like Paris Island for the world of work.
I worked at my town's buisiest as station from 4am-noon during the summers. Talk about Paris Island. 8 pumps (pre-CC pay) that I had to keep track of ( and often an impatient customer who wants to pump immediately after someone hangs up the nossle), two huge coffee pots, people tossing money at you for papers/coffee/gas because they don't want to wait in line, guys buying smokes.
So much to keep track of it was amazing how little I got paid to work it. But it was strangely fun and a big challenge.
Yup. When I'm getting interviewed and the ever popular "how do you handle stress" question comes up I have the same answer every time: there's nothing in the software industry as stressful as being the only guy in the grill area when the entire Catalina High School football team comes in after practice. Compared to those days what I do now can barely even be called work, forget stress.