Police departments are not looking for smart cops...

[Buckeye_Democrat]

15. It happens. I have a degree in mathematics...

... and received a full academic scholarship to get a Master's.

My IQ was measured at 148 on the CTMM exam (proctored by Mensa), which was easily in the top 1%.

Solved some problems in the Putnam Competition as a junior undergrad student, when over half of the test-takers score a zero.

My mistake was getting married before completing the Master's program. The woman proved to have addiction problems, and I got stuck with the credit card bills that she had secretly racked up with ATM withdrawals.

I divorced her, and dropped out of school to work full-time. I was only working part-time for the school as a research assistant, and it wasn't enough money for all of the bills. It was the most satisfying job in my life, however, working with a math professor and doctors/students at the medical school for statistical analysis.

I've only had blue-collar jobs ever since. Employers often stereotype based on previous jobs, of course, and I'm now like the actor who chose to perform in a B-movie at the start of his career.

The main problem for me has been the stupidity of coworkers and managers, NOT the actual work. I can always find ways to make a job more interesting.

And the math skills have been handy a few times, calculating measurements of parts with simple trigonometry when it was impossible to measure them by hand (at least with the tools available). Calculating the length of a roll of material based on the core radius and overall radius, and the thickness of material. That sort of stuff. Managers would often come to me for my "math tricks", then back to my regular job I'd go.

Not having enough common ground with coworkers has truly been the hardest part for me.