Once in a while I dream about the base I worked at in Germany. Those dreams are always about going to different buildings, or trying to finding a building that isn't there anymore.
@D'Ellyn Dottir I worked for a large, family-originated and owned company having numerous large manufacturing plants. I worked primarily in the largest, which covered an entire city block, parts 7 stories high. It took a long time to become thoroughly acquainted with it's innards; my job entailed interaction with many departments, mainly those of a maintenance function. Thus I met various department foremen: Electricians, Pipe-fitters, Welders, Machinists, Millwrights, and specialty shops such as Rule Die Production. These leaders grew to both hate and respect me, for eventually they all learned I possessed skilled trades abilities. I dream often lately of being lost within one of those plants. My most disheartening experience happened after I had been assigned a long-term job out of state, and returned to my old plant for some reason. I walked in the unlocked front door; the magnificent lobby was still the same, but my old friend Helen Fox, receptionist there, was gone. The tool and die shop which once had 50 employees was deserted. The vast Maintenance shop was all but empty, save for two young guys who did not remember me. All those familiar faces of people I dealt with were gone. I had spent 10 years in that plant, the happiest years of my employed life, and it was all gone. I nearly cried. Some years later, those Chicago facilities were razed to the ground............. Frank
Occasionally The dream covers one of 2 situations. I'm working on something that I don't have a clue how to solve the problem. the other is trying to find a working toilet. The last place that I worked had a lot of toilets but very few of them were in working condition. And before you ask when I have the toilet dream I don't get up and go to the toilet.
When I have a searching for a toilet dream, it's always my body telling me I'd better get up or be sorry I don't! Sorry for the delay in seeing your question, @John Brunner . I guess the shortest answer is, I don't really know. I do know the usual academic theory is that the dreaming mind processes emotions we have about waking life situations, using imagery that is familiar to us, or metaphorically representative of the various factors the mind is trying to balance, or sort through, or resolve. Therapists who work with dream interpretation say that if we can figure out what the dream imagery represents we can then face and release the emotion that is bothering us in waking life.
When he was playing he said he only had dreams of not knowing which team he was playing while he was on the field. When he retired he dreamt of not being able to tie his shoes. When I was working I had dreams of women and not being sure how to get home or where I parked my car at the end of the night out on the town. Now seven years in to retirement I often dream I am working somewhere I don't recognize dealing with the same issue I had while working.
That's interesting. That seems to be a common theme; I spoke of it in my thread, Dreams of Incompetence, as I dream often of being in a factory where everyone seems to respect me and to be glad that I am there, while I am wondering what it is that I am supposed to be doing. I've had similar dreams about college - being enrolled in a college and living in the dorms, but not knowing what classes I am supposed to be attending, or when. I wonder why we do that.
I relive parts of my life during the hour before I wake up in the morning, all the way from the two-banger John Deere Tractor as a teenager to the tenure as adjunct prof at the local two year college, which ended 3 years ago. I miss all of them, especially the teaching. Wife and I are considering moving to a seniors only village. Maybe I can trap a group in a room and stand in front and blather.
I have a variety of dreams, some nights more than others and YES, I've had dreams about what I did in my jobs and so happy to wake up that it was a dream.
Since the OP is asking if YOU dream of past jobs, are you indicating that you need some form of verification that what you dream is the same as others? Back to the OP. Lately I haven’t been dreaming about much of anything let alone past jobs. It’s been so long since I was in a commercial kitchen and I like the idea of my dreams staying quiet on the subject. A week or so ago, I did however have a dream about a very obstinate professor I once studied under. Funny thing though, he was a bit more lenient and gentlemanly in my dream than in real life. It might have been one of those revisions that the mind makes when things aren’t very nice. The things that you wish shoulda, coulda and woulda happened if things were different.
I've mentioned it before in this thread, but I'll bring it up again since I had such a dream the night before last. I dreamed that I was running a paper bag machine and that I was having a very good night on the job. In my dream, I would be doing everything that I did on the job as a machine operator, checking for potential problems, checking ink levels, glue levels, and for quality. Every so often, I would break a bale of bags open to check for problems such as excess glue or ink smears, as I would have done on the job. I worked as a paper bag machine operator for only a couple of years before being promoted to machine adjuster, and then to adjuster/supervisor, and that was about fifty years ago. Yet, as is always the case when I dream of having a good night at work, I awoke feeling good about myself, and that feeling lasts well into the day. How about the rest of you. Do you dream of being back at work?
Your story reminds me of my early work life where the majority of my work content was doing physical "stuff" and not messing with the politics and other human crap as I did after getting into "office work." Although I learned a ton of stuff and there were aspects I really enjoyed in the white collar world, in some ways I sold my sanity for a few pieces of silver. I rarely dream of the more satisfying legacy hands-on jobs. I don't know why the happy stuff does not imprint as strongly. I have vague recollections of a recent dream of my most recent office job. That dream was not too anxiety-filled. They usually are. I don't even recall many details of that dream, other than my boss was pleasant (that's how I know it was a dream )