Colette Grinevald was previously Colette Craig. The title of this chapter was suggested to me by Nancy Dorian whom I wish to thank here for her generous sharing of ideas and materials, and whose pioneering work in the field of endangered languages, including its issues of fieldwork, I wish to acknowledge here. I also want to thank Roberto Zavala for all the brainstorming time and effort he invested in the production of the original version of this chapter. While I think of myself simply as a spokesperson for the fieldworker colleagues from various continents with whom I know I share the concerns expressed here (in particular North American, Latin American, European, and Australian colleagues on career tracks parallel to mine over the last decades), I am also sure others could have been more eloquent and I will therefore take full responsibility for the likely awkwardness and roughness of my own statements.