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I worked at the Safeway from Midnight to 9 stocking shelves, so I could race to catch a bus to my college classes and afford the rent on my glorious 1 room bachelor apartment.

The job was fairly easy, but the two guys I worked with were something else. One fellow couldn't wait for retirement, and he let everyone know it, and the other was, well, finicky about everything.

"Face the can labels FORWARD, Gary! People want to know what they're buying."

I was lucky my eyes were even open, but this odd couple had a remedy for that, too. Though I had to take a Music Appreciation class for my general education degree requirement, nightly we listened to Beethoven's 9th at least once, blasted at top volume over the worst speakers you can imagine.

Let's just say the job got me from A to B, and I got into sales soon after that, and it was my ticket to sleeping normal hours.

Here are five clues that you're in the wrong job or business:

(1) There's zero turnover among your supervisors. They're all "lifers," as these Safeway vets were. You know the expression that it's only the lead dog on a sled team that enjoys a change of scenery, right? If you're going to be stuck looking at the same mugs year after year, I pity you. I ditched a tenure-track professorial post for this very reason. Gee, here was the deal. I got to work really hard for about seven years and then these Einsteins would vote on my tenure, permitting me to keep working with them for the following 23 years. Does it get any better?

(2) Someone else, or a team, or tradition designed your job and you didn't. There's no room for creativity. Like an actor that has been hired to play a single role, you're stuck doing a non-changing script. My grandfather drove a streetcar in Chicago, and bored with the fact he had no passengers on 73rd street, he and his partner decided to change routes and to move their conveyance one day to 71st street. They didn't bother asking for permission. It wasn't long before gramps cashed in his change maker and became an entrepreneur.

(3) There's absolutely no chance to hit the jackpot, financially. There's an old joke about the fellow whose job it is to pick up the droppings from horses at the circus. "Why don't you quit and do something else?" someone asked. "Are you kidding? And leave show business?" he replied. He thought he'd be a star someday, that he'd hit the big time. If you have no chance to really cash in, and at least get ahead of the game once or twice, so you can buy that great car or house or dream vacation, why bother?

(4) You're counting the days, weeks or years until retirement. Surprise: Most of us won't have enough dough or the desire to retire, so why wait to do what you'd rather be doing? Chances are pretty good that your career(s) will continue for a good 10, 20, or even 25 years longer than you think.

(5) You think you have no alternatives. Wrong! There is an incredible training infrastructure, at least in the United States that is geared to offering continuing education to adults, along with financial aid if you need it. (I teach at one of these institutions: UCLA Extension.) People are going to law school in their 50's and are getting bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees into their 90's.

If you're feeling stuck, note, it's probably more than a feeling.

It could be a signal that it's time to change that job or career, and happily, it's never too late!

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard" in negotiation, sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

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