People Share What Careers Look Glamorous From The Outside But End Up Being A Nightmare (30 Pics)
To succeed in this competitive world, you gotta make smart choices early in your career. Or at least we are taught that from an early age. So no wonder that most of us have compared ourselves with others at some point in our lives.
According to a recent study, more than 75% of people reported feeling envious of someone in the last year. But what if some career paths don’t even deserve that painfully nagging feel?
To shed light on how we glamorize particular professions and demonize others, people are busting careers that are “actually a complete nightmare” in this r/AskReddit thread. Let’s read on and let us know whether you agree with them in the comments!
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Veterinarian.
Insanely competitive schooling that crippled you with debt, with a depressing debt:income ratio after graduation.
Most of your patients don’t like you, and most of the owners think you’re getting rich upselling them unnecessary services when their dogs’s exploding eyeball cancer can be cured with raw organic exotic meats/cbd/coconut oil, but you’re withholding that information because you’re in bed with Big Kibble.
High stress, stagnant wages, long hours, [poor] holiday leave. Rampant depression. Lost count of how many colleagues have committed suicide. Sometimes tempted to join them.
Hey,just wanna say thank you for taking care of the critters, good boys and girls and street cats of all kinds. I cant donwhat you do or know what you know. Without you to take care of our furry friends, our lives wouldnt be a lighter shade of darkness.
Law Enforcement.
I went into it with the naive belief I would be making a difference. I wanted to protect people and make my community safer. Instead, I got to see the worst humanity has to offer day in and day out. Lets see if I can list all the negatives:
Most departments are filled with arrogant a-holes with inflated ego's that love to condescend to other officers or the public when they themselves can barley read.
Many officers have severe anger issues and love to take it out on the public (never saw it happen physically but verbally or by issuing ever ticket possible).
Try to suggest changes to bring about better relations with the public? Prepare to be ostracized and bullied till you tow the line.
The overall level of incompetence is staggering, with some officers barely knowledgeable of the firearms they carry everyday.
Your view of the public and people in general becomes very dark. The amount of EDP's (emotionally disturbed persons), druggies and alcoholics you deal with each day is ridiculous and you start to wonder how society hasn't collapsed.
You arrest a violent offender just to see them quickly released over and over, whats worse is how many times an abuse victim files a complaint because you arrested their "love" despite almost being killed.
Very few people are actually grateful when you cut them a break. They DO take it as a sign of weakness and try to push the envelope. This is an often overlooked reason why some officers become a-holes. You try to help people out and they spit in your face (sometimes literally), this gradually tears you down until you can barely recognize what you are becoming.
The uniform is a target. You can be the nicest most patient officer in the world but to many the uniform means you are the enemy. You will get cursed at, attacked and have your private life laid bare.
Low pay not even remotely commensurate with what you have to deal with.
There is sooo much more but I was lucky enough to get out and change careers before it all really got to me.
Ballet dancer
Parents spend tens of thousands (or more) on training. They give up their entire teen years and schooling (most elite ballet dancers are homeschooled and a large percentage move away from home for training in high school).
Most dancers you see on stage in a ballet are paying to be there. The bottom rungs of ballet companies are pay to play. Then when you have paid to dance a few years you might be able to get a position that pays you with a dozen pairs of pointe shoes and a stipend for performances. Then maybe you'll be promoted to the bottom level where you get paid 20K a year and have no health insurance. All while putting your body through major torture.
A picture of a ballet dancer's feet. Enough said. bellet-fee...1a94b6.jpg
As someone in the medical rehabilitation field, this is terrible !! I am shook.
Load More Replies...My feet were destroyed by my late teens from ballet. My joints are worn in a similar manner to arthritis but my passion for this dance.
Notnto mention how unhealthy the ballet groups can be. They want women who are extremely skinny so bidyshaming is very usual as well as smoking to be less hungry. One of my best friends has done amateur ballet for years and she has bordered anorexia a few times because of all the crap that the teachers and dancers would say
Ballet dancers are 100 times more fitter than your average Olympian. Why is there not a ballet category in the Olympics?
Oh wow...and this is glamorized so much in movies. Young kids wanting to do ballet.
The type of ballet young kids do is very different, it isn’t even technically real ballet until about seven, at least that’s how they did it where I went as a child. It’s a great extracurricular for kids.
Load More Replies...ballet needs to die. it is a disgusting abuse on young people's bodies and straight up boring as hell. google photos of ballerina feet and you will understand.
Just because you find it boring, doesn't mean others do.
Load More Replies...But THANK YOU for what you do! I have loved watching ballet my entire life.
Yeah I'm loosely related to Miko Fogarty and she puts in unbelievable hours and effort
Any sport has physical and mental health issues (both short and long term). Dance, like any sport, can be extremely good for people.
Load More Replies...It’s absolutely not hysterical nonsense. In college I lived with a ballerina, and while she loved ballet, she was adamant that she would NEVER let her kids get into it because of how it wrecks your body.
Load More Replies...I don't think it matters. It's not the money, it's what the art does to the body and that's something that's unrelated to money.
Load More Replies...When you find yourself constantly comparing your career to others, you may succumb to painful sensations of envy, allowing someone else's accomplishments to make you feel inferior. And according to a recent study, more than 75% of people reported feeling envious of someone in the last year.
So to find out more about this often overwhelming feeling, Bored Panda reached out to Dawn Moss, the founder of “Your Interview Coach” who has been helping both candidates and hiring managers through the recruitment and selection process since 2013.
Dawn said that career envy can happen to a lot of people and for various reasons. “Career envy can happen when individuals aren't doing very well in their own career. Often there's a perception that others are doing much better than them and there's some jealousy.”
I don't know if nightmare is the word, but my wife has finally reached her lifelong goal of becoming a zookeeper at one of the top zoos in the US. She is very happy to have the opportunity to hand food to otters, have reindeer eat out of her hand, and brush okapi. However, she took on tens of thousands of dollars in student loans and did months of unpaid work at the zoo to get the job, which is seasonal, requiring she be off 2 months a year. She gets up at 4 AM and does farmhand style physical labor for 8 hours a day for about $9 an hour with no benefits. I am thrilled that she reached her goal, and I am happy that she is happy, but I am pretty disenfranchised with the whole thing.
I agree. Being a caregiver is an amazing job but extremely difficult as well. Most job positions are unpaid and sometimes they even ask masters or long experience to be an unpaid intern. Even if you get paid the salary is extremely low. You can get all kinds of infections (i worked with animals with diseases that could kill me) and you break your body lifting sacks, digging soil etc. All to become 40 and be unable to keep doing the job because you are too broken.
Chef.
Long hours, sh**ty environment, nothing is ever good enough.
And so hard on the body. Standing for ten hours straight for days on end takes a toll.
Teaching for sure. I mean, people know it sucks, but still the idea of becoming a teacher and changing the lives of children simply by caring enough exists in a lot of people and sadly it's just not like that. The very sad truth is it doesn't matter how much you care, there are so many people who just want to make your job near impossible and people drop out of the position left and right.
I was shocked when my friend who is a teacher showed me bags and bags of school supplies he bought on clearance for students. I was confused, I asked wouldn't the kids parents buy that stuff? He said no, surprisingly many of them send their kids to school with absolutely no books, papers, writing utensils, nothing. The school won't buy them. The parents won't buy them. The kids won't pay attention or learn anything without them. He has to buy them or they'll end up failing. Combined with the fact he hardly makes enough to pay for rent, transportation, and student loans. It's ridiculous.
In other instances, it can also happen to career ambitious individuals, Dawn said. “Although these people are likely to admire and aspire to be like those with successful careers. It will drive them forward and they are likely to put a plan into action,” the career consultant explained.
“Career ambitious individuals will strive to be better and spend time networking with those they admire. Others will avoid the successful people and miss out on opportunities and the outcome will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Having said that, Dawn added that hanging around successful people will impact positively on your career. “You'll naturally up your game and want to gain their admiration too. These people with successful careers can be coaches and mentors and it's wise to network internally. If you want to be truly successful, then hang around with successful people. You'll learn so much about navigating complex work politics and environments. You'll learn how to build relationships and negotiate.”
The video game industry. A lot of kids and teens want in it so bad because “I grew up playing games blah blah blah they take me to another world blah blah blah.” Then you become an adult and learn that it’s all math and physics, and making a video game has NOTHING to do with what you experienced growing up. It’s all black screens of code, polygons, and being criticized for your work.
What’s worse, if you make games you probably never have the time to play them anymore. The gaming industry is notorious for implementing 60-80 hour work weeks.
EVEN WORSE depending on what company you work for, you may never have stable work. You finish a project and then the company tells you “we don’t have another project for your particular skill set.” Then you gotta look for more work.
AND IF ALL THAT WASNT BAD ENOUGH, you’ll probably never work on a game you want to work on. All those big, fancy games and indie darling on Steam are a very small fraction of what exists. Barbie’s Horse Adventure? Those people got degrees and we’re inspired by the same games as you. Crappy Candy Crush knock-offs? Same degree and inspiration. Stupid table-top games that you only see in the family section at Walmart? Those also utilize game designers/programmers.
Don’t get into videogames because you like videogames. Get into videogames because you’re passionate about math and science.
I'm a developer and I love games but I couldn't make games dev my career. I'd be terrified that the long hours and instability would taint my view of games and ruin what I like to do with my free time. Right now I'm in a software dev job for pretty standard business software and games dev is a side hobby. I wonder if the industry will ever change, I can imagine if people were able to keep a work/life balance and had consistent contracts they would stay longer and build up more exp which would benefit the industry as a whole.
Medicine, a close friend is a doctor, he doesn't have a life.
Modeling, too competitive and not enough food.
When asked how to stop comparing yourself to others, Dawn said it’s less easy. What it takes is an understanding that “What makes one person successful and others not.” “When you compare yourself to others and feel disappointed with your own performance or progression, then this will be less than helpful and will impact choices and decisions.”
On the other hand, she said that a little bit of competition is healthy since it will drive performance and productivity, which in turn increases profitability. “It's all about mindset and attitude and how you frame this situation that will either help or hinder someone's career.”
Film crew.
Yes, you sometimes meet famous people. Sometimes they're cool, often they're really not. The days are 14+ hours of work with a commute of who knows how long on either end, depending where you're shooting. You have half an hour for lunch. Coffee breaks are whenever you're not needed on set, so depending on your job (I was in camera, and we rarely had a down moment), it could be almost never. More often than not, someone on set is yelling. People lose their minds over making really [poor] entertainment. You start work by 7am on Monday, and by Friday you're coming in at 4pm and leaving when the sun comes up on Saturday. There are no paid holidays, no paid sick days, no paid vacation. If you don't work enough qualifying hours, the union kicks your healthcare.
And this is if you're IN a union. Non-union, much worse. Sexual harassment is through the roof, but the kids who get it the worst are afraid to say anything or they'll lose their jobs. I have been told some real horror stories about famous actors, some of whom I still haven't seen get outed by the Me Too movement. And I'm not talking word-of-mouth, second-hand stories. I'm talking about young women who whisper to each other what shows to avoid and make them swear to never use their name because if they want to work in this industry, they can't be known as a troublemaker.
I watched so many co-workers fall into addictions, lose family, miss their children's lives, over the dumbest TV shows in the world. If you go union, the money can be good, but it's not worth it. It's just not worth it.
Political staffer. Most jobs in politics pay very little money and require you to work 80+ hours a week for a boss who is guaranteed to have a gigantic ego. You also have to look for a new job after every election day.
Being an artist. People think it's just fun drawing time in art class, but it is so stressful. Especially if it's a job you do. When I get commissions I spend hours just THINKING of the idea. I start sketching it, person (usually a non artist, artists are usually more gentle about it or don't mind) says it's not how they wanted it. Redo the sketch. HOPEFULLY it's okay now. Do the 2 hour line art. They say "Oh, this is wrong, this is too big, wtf is that, etc." After spending another 1-2 hours fixing it, you color it in. There's usually no problem with that unless it's an artist with a color pallet you're not used to. When you're done you send them to picture and hopefully they paid you while you were drawing because there's a lot of people who just make excuses. Also, if you're a small artist, you probably under charged that commission. That drawing you slaved over for 5 days... the person was only willing to 15 dollars and you'll take anything because everyone loves to ask for free stuff
My SO is an attorney and isn't loving life right now. She says "You know how you did term papers in college? Well I do term papers every day, all day, endlessly."
As someone who once literally translated a report about paint drying, writing term papers for a living isn’t necessarily bad if you’re into that kind of thing.
DO. NOT. WORK. FOR. TELEVISION NEWS.
Unless you like being underpaid, over-worked, unappreciated, actively bullied, over exposed to the depths of human depravity, on the clock 24/7 and ready to be completely disillusioned with the world and the monsters called people living on it.
I always think this when I watched the news. They switch from cherry blossom season in Japan to the death of 50 children in Yemen, like it's nothing.
Behavioral health. I spent a long time working towards a career in therapy, and I’ve noticed that a lot of new people/people looking to get into the field go in with the starry-eyed “I want to help people” mentality. I did, too.
You do help people, but it is [freaking] hard to help people. A lot of jobs are high stress/low pay type of deals, because a lot of the jobs available are through nonprofits that only have so much funding to go around. You are vicariously exposed to other people’s trauma, and it does affect you, no matter how good you are at creating boundaries and practicing self care. It’s an admirable profession, but a grossly under appreciated one, and it most certainly isn’t for everyone who wants to “help people” for a living.
I'm a professional, full-time voice actor. I'm blessed to be successful and happy, but about 99% of the voice actors I know are depressed most of the time, struggling hard to find work, wrestling with impostor syndrome, questioning if they should give up, and barely able to make rent. Particularly videogame/anime/animation actors.
Farming on a large scale. I was living in debt up to my ass ($500k-$1 mil depending on the time of year), haggling for every input (land, fertilizer, seed, equipment), at the mercy of the weather, and got to watch the commodity markets kick me in the nuts every business day. The real cherry on top was everyone thinking you are trying to kill them with GMOs and copious amounts of chemicals that we dont use. Not to mention farms are passed down through generations so you've got a bunch of dead and living ancestors watching your every move. Oh and a lot of farmers work a second full time job for the health insurance. There's a reason farm suicides are high and farm "accidents" and accidents are higher.
There's a million young rural FFA kids that would give there left leg for a chance to farm.
yes, all to this. but, when it comes to the GMOs, most people don't understand that they have been eating genetically engineered food for decades as most of your food you are seeing to day do not look anything like it started out before farming started to get standardized in regards to size, color, etc.
TATTOOIST... it's crazy hours, no hourly rate, if no one comes in to get tattooed you don't get paid that day, you often spend more time drawing for tattoos than actually drawing and more often than not your doing that at home. There's so much more BS than anyone thinks.
I don't know why anyone thinks it's glamorous I know I certainly don't.
Dude, my artist earns £90 an hour and lives an extremely comfortable life, he loves art and never gets sick of coming up with designs and pieces for people, you can hear and see the enthusiasm when he is talking about it, this is someone who shouldn't have been a tattoo artist.
Architect is really bad. Most people don’t complete it and the mental health issues are quite serious. There’s a lot of criticism and stress in the beginning, lots of late nights and hard work. At the end of the work you get insulted in public.
There’s no real reason for this. You aren’t going to be saving lives or anything, there’s no need to make it so expensive either.
So three years later, you get a degree and have to do a year of intern work, then it’s time for another year of study and projects and exams. Then two years of minimum wage work.
Then you come back for more exams, essays and projects.
It’s really too hard for what it is. I get paid very badly and I don’t really use any of my training. It was pointless really but girls like it at parties when I say I’m an architect. That’s a lie I don’t go to parties I
Idk if military is glamorized, but I saw a bunch of people who joined cause they wanted to be badasses and they couldn't wait to get out. Long hours, sometimes dangerous work, mind-numbingly repetitive tasks, being stuck with a-hole bosses at times (not like you can just quit), not the best pay, etc. Add it all up and you get a large portion of people who do one enlistment and never come back.
In the US its seen as a ticket out of poverty for a lot of kids. The only way they can go to college is potentially be shot at. Makes it pretty clear inequity is part of the system design not a bug
Acting.
There's no sure-fire way into the business. You can just have natural ability and take direction well, audition, and nail the role. You can follow a fine arts degree in theatre and acting and hone your skills which may help in the audition process, and further. Even at that, you've got to grind and grind and grind until you get noticed...if you ever get noticed.
If you end up being a star, you can expect a career of destroying your body. Want that latest role? Gain 30 lbs. Want the next one? Lose 50. If you're a woman, expect to have to maintain your figure through your relatively shorter career, and that doesn't mean an "average" figure. For an extreme example, Christian Bale lost 63 lbs for his role in The Machinist, eating an apple and a can of tuna a day, then had to bounce back and gain weight for Batman Begins.
To be honest some actors choose to be extra for their role, like the examples given.However even simple movies like those in the MCU are now setting unrealistic body standards for actors who've signed on as well as for their viewers who largely fall in the impressionable teen-young adult age range.
Radio announcer. Like a lot of other jobs in the entertainment industry, it’s full time work for part time pay. Second jobs are common. Your pizza delivery guy just may be your favourite morning show host! At least, that’s how the morning guy at my station made ends meet, until he was laid off in the last round of cutbacks.
Now we’re a “hybrid station,” which is the preferred business model these days. That’s a fancy way of saying one person does everything while you run a ton of syndicated programs. 12 hour days of minimum wage.
Opera singing.
The famous Maria Callas said if she could do it all over again, she wouldn’t.
Takes countless years, hundreds of thousands of dollars, hard to hold a day job due to rehearsals, bouncing from place to place to place, people in music don’t always consider you to be a musician, people with “regular jobs” constantly asking you what you’re “real career” is, or they do the polar opposite and think you’re some famous diva when in fact you aren’t. Incredibly difficult to keep long term relationships due to the constant travel, you literally pay hundreds of dollars for job interviews (since that’s what auditions are), you perform most holidays since Christmas and Easter are the prime biblical times which = lots of singing and NYE means operetta or “A Salute to Vienna” where you sing Johann Strauss Jr all night. It’s rarely fur shall’s and champagne, and you work in the evenings and sleep in the day. It makes it difficult if you have a family, especially a young family because you have to decide if you work on Christmas to help pay for things or you stay home to open presents.
It’s a string of tough decisions. It’s taxing and a lot of people take breaks. It’s truly a passion that drives you forward because it’s hard and thankless and less and less people support it. You really gotta love what you do.
Opera is the meeting of all the art forms, music, visual art, dance, literature, and acting. Please give it a shot before dismissing it. Please support the arts.
True! Don’t forget living in a continuous exam, being always judged, pressure for finding an agent that really believes in you…. But the stage is everything!
This is kind of niche but, scuba dive instructor. I did it for 3ish years, I can't begin to tell you how many times people wished they had my job.
A decent portion of the job was selling. I hate forcing people to buy things, but I had to have a certain percentage of people buy a mask, at least. The mask was about 25% of the cost of an open water course. Chances are they'd never use it again.
Dive shop politics are insane. I worked 6.5 days a week for 90% of the year. If I turned down a course, I wouldn't be given another until there were no other instructors available. If there were no courses going on, I still had to be in the shop incase someone came in. During slow times there would be 7 or 8 instructors hanging around doing nothing. We all lived less than 5 minutes away. My dive shop would only hire people who were attractive enough. They'd also refuse to hire people who had trained at certain other dive schools in the area. The owners would go out of their way to be charming to the customers and then take the piss out of them as soon as the were out the door.
The amount of responsibility is huge, and nobody even thinks about it until you point it out. You're taking 4 people into a deadly environment and have to bring them back in the same state they went into it in. If something goes wrong you can lose your license or go to jail. Where I was working, these were pretty exclusively early to mid 20 year olds. Not only that, but if someone you trained has an incident at a later date, you can also be investigated and possibly prosecuted.
I was diving in 30C (86f) water. I constantly had an infection. Could be from a small cut, or my ears or my throat. It was constant.
Long, very hard work days. 12 hour days were about the norm. I'd teach, be dragging around the tanks I was responsible for weighing 20kg each as well as tonnes of other gear, and putting on my 'be happy around the customer face' whilst keeping them from dying. It's like a combo of retail and warehouse work.
It also diluted my love of diving. Even when diving with professionals now I have a hard time not constantly being on alert, waiting for someone to do something stupid, rather than enjoying the dive.
Pay is [really bad].
It's an amazing job, but it turned my hair grey by 25.
This is so accurate. I did it for a few years part-time. Other things to add: dealing with asshole parents of child divers (kids themselves were a blast though. SO much fun), fighting/arguing couples attending together (usually one made the other sign up), panicky students who hysterically freak out during ocean dives (your other job is therapist), and the absolute worst: the macho, "extreme sport" morons who ignore your instruction (every. single. class.). Our shop also routinely overbooked classes to pack as many paying customers as possible - minus the extra divemaster support required. Leaving me too many divers to keep track of, which was dangerous.
Fashion designer You won’t even get a job if you are willing to work for free
The requirements for a fashion designer are difficult: you have to totally hate women, for a start, and insist they have bodies of 10 year old boys to even look good in what you create...
Nonprofit sector.
You’re mostly putting a bandaid on issues. You go into it wanting to help people, but far too many people are ungrateful, not willing to help them selves, or complain no matter how much you’re trying. I cannot tell you how many people have made threats even when you’ve gone well above and beyond for them. So many people abuse the system for freebies. I had people come in trying to get freebies who make over 100k a year.
The pay is always [poorly] unless you’re at the executive level. It is ridiculous how much executives make compared to the workers doing 90% of the work. The CEO of my organization makes well into the six figures while we have to work 3 years to get a 3% raise on our low salary. They also devalue you constantly. You have people with master’s degrees working entry level positions being bossed around by some old lady with zero education but who’s friends with the CFO or something.
You’re constantly working with a ramen noodle budget expected to come out with steak and lobster results. 9/10 volunteers are only there because they’re trying to get hours or a reference and complain a lot.
You’re constantly battling other nonprofits even if you’re just trying to share resources. You can do completely different things and are just trying to refer clients back and forth so they can acess all available resources, but they’ll guard their clients like gold.
The amount of shady practices that occur as well... Inflation of numbers, total lies, etc... it is really sad how many places do nothing or very minimal, but are galmorized as “doing good”.
Most non-profit companies' management exploit the enthusiasm and hard work of young people who genuinely want to make the world a better place. On the other hand, management make a lot of money for very little work. Not to mention, most non-profits are shady and opaque about their expenditure. Donors may think they are sponsoring school education for a little girl in 3rd world country, that will change her world....but in reality they may be sponsoring religious conversions....or worse, spread unrest and terrorism in that country.
Pro Wrestling.
Like a small chance of making not only WWE but any other company in general
And injuries and travel. Some people are forced to retire young
Even if you never been in the independent scene WWE has an infamous schedule and travel time.
i like all the pushes to get people into stem fields specifically science. they do all those demonstrations that make smoke or foam appear and make color changes, they are like LOOK SCIENCE IS FUNSIES, when in reality its the most grueling repetitive high stress miserable work you can get plus countless industries just contract out the positions so you aren't even guaranteed benefits plus any business is first and foremost a business so you have to spend countless hours in board room meetings explaining science and why things won't work to people who think the disc drive on their computer is a drink holder
For all of you smart kids with advanced degree of from Top 50 colleges , don't go into consulting. You can do better. Find a line of work that is not as soul-sucking, and energy-draining. Those frequent flyer miles and free hotels, wining and dining in glamorous suits are just a smokescreen, to cover up the misery from constant travelling, networking, guaranteed overtime and no weekends are not worth it.
Many people do it as a stepping stone to a real career, which is smart. Staying in consultancy for 5+ years will likely turn your life upside down.
Can confirm. It's crazy, also the worse part is that it's hard to leave the industry. Few people have the specific skill sets of a consultant, and when you apply to any other role, the company decides that they can't let you go there because few other people have the skill sets you have. I'm not even in a top consultancy or from a top university, but goddamn it is as hard getting out as it is getting in.
Scientific research
First you bust your ass in undergrad to get accepted to a good grad school. If you're like me and did biology, that means you're going to be taking the same classes and stressing out about a lot of the same stuff as pre-meds. Then you go to grad school which lasts on average 5-8 years (in the sciences). That's most or all of your 20s spent making ~$26k/year on a student stipend. But hey, at least school is free.
Then after you graduate you've got your PhD and can go work, right? Not really. If you're extremely "should play the lotto" lucky, then yes, you'll get a coveted research job. If you're like the vast majority of people, however, you'll be forced to get a post-doc position. That's where you work under a professor in a lab (just like you always have) and get paid a whopping ~$40k/year. They also last for only 1-2 years, and once it's up it's time to try to get a real career job again, or, more likely, apply for yet another post-doc. People can be stuck post-doc'ing for 10+ years.
This is the first real piece of the nightmare. Turns out twice as many PhDs graduate every year than there are jobs available for them in the sciences. That means there's a ton of competition all vying for the same tiny handful of professorships. "What about industry?" you say. Industry has even fewer openings and is a pipe-dream for most since they only want practical experience and skills. You're also still working under someone, unlike being a professor where you're free to explore any interest you want (kind of). So most people go for being a professor, where the average opening gets 200-300 extremely well qualified candidates.
But maybe you get lucky and get your job as an assistant professor (entry level). You're now making ~$60k/year, and you better bust your ass getting tenure because if you don't meet your tenure requirements by the time you have your tenure hearing (after about 5-7 years at most places) you're fired. And the problem with that is, a typical part of tenure requirements is getting one to two R01 grants (the grant name is only relevant for biology, I have no clue what the physics/chemistry/etc. equivalents are). The R01 is a big grant, considered to be the bread and butter grant for research...too bad it's funding rate is around 10%. Go to a scientific conference and chat with people and I guarantee you will have no problem at all finding scientists with stories of applying for that grant for years with no success.
Now lets say you do miraculously make it past that hurdle and get bumped up to associate professor. Now you're making ~$75k/year and things are smoother sailing. Think you can stop worrying about grants? HA! Even if you work at a university that still has real tenure (i.e., can't be fired) they probably have a clause in there about you funding your own salary through grant money. So no grants = no salary. Even better, as you have your own lab, you're also the person funding your workers' salaries. So if you lose too much grant money, you have to fire everyone. This happens all of the time, even to great labs.
Finally, if you've had a successful career, then around the time you're in your 50s or 60s you'll get promoted to full professor, where you will finally make ~$100k/year.
It's worth noting that scientists' work lives are stressful. Working weekends and holidays is common. Working late is very common. You screw up one detail in an experiment and you may have just thrown away months of work. You are constantly stressing out if you'll reach the next goal or not. "Will I get into grad school?", "will I finish grad school?", "will I ever get a professorship?", "will I ever get grant money?", etc. You get exposed to dangerous stuff like radiation, biohazards, chemical hazards, carcinogens, hell, I've even been in rooms that had magnet hazard signs up.
Don't do science kids.
Graphic design. The whole "we're looking for a passionate, creative blah blah designer blah blah" thing is just an advertisement,especially if you're looking for a job at an advertising company. The non-graphic designers only care about the image of the company and their exposure (awards and s**t) while making graphic designers work for more hours than what was agreed, not paying them enough and generally the whole "passionate and creative" criteria is a bait. You might start as a passionate and a creative human but you'll end up a wreck eventually.
it usually is quite stressful: so may demands for "urgent" work, crazy deadlines, insane requests (fit this 10 page document of text into this 100x50pixel banner, or "make the black 'lighter' - no, I don't mean grey - just LIGHTER!" ), chasing payments, plaigerism, etc etc... However it greatly depends who your working for. Some studios treat you like garbage, some are wonderful. Freelance can be both fantastic, or soul destrying depending on the clients you have. Some in-house teams work like a factory, or are utterly tedious or toxic. Others are genuinely fantastic. I've seen almost the full gamult of this industry, and it's a mixture of luck and knowing when (if you can) to move on or say no. So honestly, from a designer and illustrator of almost two decades - yeah you'll encounter the arseholes, but it can be a genuinely rewarding, challenging vocation.
Nursing. In today’s consumer-centric world, RN stands for Refreshments and Narcotics. Overworked, understaffed, underpaid, and expected to do it all with the graces of a Chick Fil A employee. My pleasure! eye roll
Sometimes it's a thankless job but you gotta I absolutely love it. It's frustrating at times but once I can have positive effects on my patients, I consider my job done.
Wedding photographer. The day of the wedding is just the precedent of two solid weeks staring at a computer screen editing images.
Investment Banking. People talk about the fancy plane rides, expensive dinners, wild parties with your colleagues or a client. The reality of it is you're never trully off work, always on-call like a surgeon.
Works weeks are usually 60-100 hours and can be brutal if one follows another.
It's really more like working from 9AM-10PM in office and then get home to work another bit and have any given presentation ready stat. I've gone all-nighters followed by client meetings where all I have time for is a quick shower and a 7/11 coffee.
I hear being a YouTuber is pretty s**t work. Constant pressure to conform to a mysterious algorithm that's constantly changing around you, and doing or saying something that it, or the advertiser's don't like means that the plug is pulled on your wages, possibly even your whole livelihood.
I would like to do YouTube as more of a hobbby. If I make money, that’s great. But if I don’t make a lot, then whatever.
Academic.
It's not super glamorous, but I hear people talking all the time about university professors sitting on their asses in an ivory tower. It's not like that at all.
You spend years in grad school--in my field it takes 6-7 years for a PhD student even if you already have Masters. If you stick it out through grad school and get the doctorate, there's a good chance that no university will hire you, even if you did good work. Sometimes your particular niche research interest is out of fashion, so you're screwed.
If you are lucky enough to get a tenure-track job in your field, you're constantly balancing teaching, research, writing articles and monographs, begging for funding, networking at conferences, serving on committees, reviewing other people's books, and generally trying to justify your existence to a crumbling system of higher ed that's suffering from budget cuts.
Academics usually are able to work in fairly safe environments, but not always. Field work can mean diseases, parasites, and political violence. Lab work can mean back pain, repetitive motion injuries, and long-term exposure to dangerous substances. The hours alone (I'm in grad school, and I work 60-70 hours per week) grind you down.
It hurts to hear someone with tenure whining. Most academics are untenured, meaning no job security and a huge portion are now adjuncts who get brutally exploited for 2-3k a class a semester. Most work multiple jobs or at multiple universities for a pittance and have no research time, are not eligible for grants or conference funding because they aren't full time associated with the University and lets not even talk about how unwlecome independent or non university affiliated scholars are at conferences and in publications. Plus there is so much gate keeping and so many overinflated egos and getting a job is really all about who you know not the quality of your work. SO many scholars with bad reps and straight up abuse claims or plagiarism scandals are still employed at big name universities because of their networks.
Musician.
Everyone knows the money is s***, but people think you either starve early and give up, or you're talented and you break out. Not so. There are "normal" music jobs out there. Unfortunately, they're subject to the following constraints.
Nobody who hasn't also trained for 20 years knows whether you're doing a good job. Many of them don't either.
The products produced by the music industry have value; the services involved in producing those products can't easily be assigned a value. As a result, you have no leverage in pay negotiations
Everyone ignores wage laws, and nobody is interested in enforcing them. The government never enforces them; there is only effective unionism in the US and UK, whereas, e.g., in Australia, musicians are represented by the same union which represents actors and journalists, which laughs at the idea of giving a [damn] about musicians.
This includes things like state and federal minimum wage overall, not just the sector minimum. It's not uncommon to be making approximately $5 an hour to be working your ass off constantly without breaks.
You will eventually be able to find work that pays above minimum wage. It will have nowhere near full-time hours.
You will do as many unpaid hours as you do paid hours, minimum. Sometimes you will do 2x as many.
Oh lawd, Im so glad I didnt pursue this kind of work.Started out playing as a teenager and after awhile, I realized it became work and sucked any enjoyment out of playing. Now, many many Autumns from those days, I play for my own enjoyment and still love playing. Dont let something you enjoy doing bexome a job kids. Once it becomes something you *have* to do instead of something you *want* to do, its no fun anymore.
Psychologist: (Talking to a drug addict in a very low unemployment economy)
Q: "So, Ralph, have you thought about getting a job?"
A: "Are you kidding me? If I get a job I'll get money. If I get money I'll buy drugs."
errr....
Foreign Service Officer.
You are paid to live in a foreign country and meet interesting people. You get to travel. You are paid tax-free allowances.
You also have to defend all government policies and practices to foreigners while keeping a straight face, even the ones you disagree with or are totally inane. You have to politely and respectfully deal with foreigners you know are lying to you, trying to rip you off, corrupt, criminal or just generally horrible. This includes foreign officials, visa applicants, business people and others. The Ambassador acts like he's the king of the world, and expects you to kiss ass, when in fact he's nothing special. Administrative regs mean allowances don't always cover genuine expenses. In most countries, locals think they can rip you off and charge you ten times the price because you're a dip. Dip plates on your car are an invitation to smash-and-grab. Offices always look like they were fitted with cast-offs from government surplus warehouse rejects. You have a fancy title but not budget for local initiatives, so you always look like a cheapskate. You're the last to know what is going on in office practices and politics, and coming back to HQ means "surprise!! everything changed while you were away!!". Genuine promotions few and far between which means competition hinges on ass-kissing, unrealistic job appraisals, and cut-throat competition with sociopaths. Postings seem to be assigned in order to make everybody miserable, with the good gigs going to people the Posting Officer wants to kiss up to.
And when you come back to HQ, you realize it's even worse there.
I'm sorry but this person is whining. My parents did this my whole life, so I wanted to too. In my teens and 20's I did it. This is a job people should feel lucky to have. Sure, you'll have all the regular office politics crap like this person said, but that's just like any office job. The benefits of living in foreign countries FAR outweighs any of that other crap. Not to mention you don't have to worry about housing, or medical, or anything like that. Great job, great benefits
Game development.
Work on the next AAA title? You will be one among hundreds.
Indie developer? Take huge financial risks without even knowing whether you will even see your investment give any returns.
The amount of work you have to do to make a game is enormous.
Any mistake you make (unbalanced weapons, too much grind, pay2win, etc) will blow up in your face with huge negativity.
I am the official photographer at a famous beauty pageant and it's not as glamorized at it looks.
To start off the girls barely sleep, you can always see them worn out and wearing eyebag patches at rehearsals, at the photoshoots I'm always a hot mess, I sweat, I get dirty because I have to drag around ln the floor, I run here and there, and on finals night it's a complete chaos... people running around, dressing rooms with clothes all over tha place, makeup stains and so on...
Professional sports: people have no idea how much time, effort and resources goes into competing at elite levels of any sport/esport. It is soul-sucking. Think a 50hour work week is hard? Nah fam, try living and breathing what you do. That’s why I hate that people think talent is what gets you there, but in reality those people are just extremely dedicated to their craft.
This is freaking me out can we get a list of people who love their jobs and think they're worth it
Hmmm I am a professional magician. I admit that it can contain long hours of travel time and I'm not getting rich. That said I fill blessed that I make a living doing recreational activity.
Thank you for lightening the mood after that depressing list.
Load More Replies...well this is it, I'm becoming a professional asshole. ive got no hope with any other job
I think you should. You’ll earn more money that way if you are a smart asshole.
Load More Replies...This list shows me less that these jobs suck and more how utterly broken the system in the US is.
I couldn't even bother reading through this list. Seems like all jobs are bad. Although it also seems many of these are from a country (US?) where proper wages etc doesn't seem to be a thing. I think (hope!) it's not this bad in my country, when it comes to working hours and pay.
Every job has it's donkey work. You just have to decide if it's worth putting up with for the money you make.
Load More Replies..."Hey kids! Never follow your dreams cause they'll either kill you or break you mentally. Instead pursue normal jobs that will kill you and break you mentally."
This thread is simply poisonous and useless. Where is the solution? A profession does not bring glory to us, we bring glory to our profession.
My experience has always been that the quality of the job has been based more on the people I've worked with, not on the job itself. EVERY job sucks at times. For every job that has ever existed, somebody doing it, somewhere, has burst into tears or put their fist through a wall. Or both. At the same time. But when I've had good, decent, caring people working beside me, I've survived (mostly) intact, even on the roughest days. Unfortunately, good coworkers are not something you can train for. The only way to get them is to be one. And luck. Lots and lots of luck! Also: see my comment on Capitalism.
I agree , most of the jobs would be atleast manageable if we were surrounded by good, understanding coworkers, bosses.
Load More Replies...Architect here. Went trough college, internship, all the way to leading projects. It is stressful, hard work, HUGE responsibility, people not apreciating you nor your ideas, pay should be much higher, but I do love it. I feel rush every time new project comes in, and do my best for every one. I do often feel discouraged, sometimes even dissapointed. You can't win them all, you did your best and life goes on. But the main problem with all of our jobs is that we are mainly understaffed, overworked and underpaid. It's not the job per se, it's capitalism. And I don't see how things could get better any time soon.
Can you please give me some advice? I'm still doing the course, done with half of it basically, and I'm losing my hope of getting an okay job and life. Will I even have any free time?
Load More Replies...I think this is a depressing read, for its fatalistic appeal. The generalization is not justified for all of these jobs, and often there are ways to adjust into the one or the other direction. Moreover, there is no indication here how to either leave the treadmill or how to improve the job situation. I am convinced that in most of these jobs you CAN change the world for good WITHOUT giving yourself up, although likely not at all places where you can exercise that job.
Maybe the problem is not so much the jobs but a society that thinks overworking and underpaying people is glamorous. Where working 60+ hours a week is glorified. Where people have to pay unbelievable sums to even get an education (and if they don't or can't are stuck in minimum wage).
Nursing is on this list but I absolutely love my job and I love bed side nursing. Yes, I have difficult days but the good far outweigh the bad. 18 years and counting with no regrets.
I feel like though it is true that some jobs are nightmares, every job is hard. Unless you are born wealthy and are good with money, chances are you'll have to work hard to live. I don't want to undermine pointing out those horrible jobs where you're treated like crap and won't get rewarded, but you're always going to have a lot on your plate, so you might as well enjoy the meal
I'm a career secretary / executive assistant. I've been doing it for 35 years (my first job was at 15 in a real estate office) and I'm 50 now. I love it. It's hard to get up the C-suite level, but once you're there, the pay is fantastic, the work is more event planning and collecting work from others and consolidating it for the bosses. You do a lot of blocking of phone calls, responding to e-mails for them and if you become their right hand person, you're irreplaceable. In addition to the great pay, you get to travel with them for important events (retreats, etc.) and they usually let your spouse come with. I've been to the Greenbrier twice and stayed in a suite both times - something I would never ever be able to afford on my own.
You're Donna from Suits!You are amazing.
Load More Replies...Some of these are The common cause in all of these is CAPITALISM! Destroy capitalism and you destroy most negative aspects of these jobs! No capitalism: no poverty, crime or rich a$$holes to kowtow to. Without capitalism, there will be no billionaires bleeding society of money and resources that should be going to professions that need and deserve it, to services and supports for our brothers and sisters in need and pain, no incentive to define someone as 'other' due to race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, etc. Am I pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking? Of course I am, but we've got to start somewhere. EAT THE RICH!
While I am sure no one would ever say that customer service is a glamourous job, I think people often take them because they seem easy. That is not the case, I think it is one of the most demeaning jobs anyone could ever have. We get a lot of younger people and college students taking positions because they think it will be easy and help get them through college and such. Well unless you work for a company who requires their managers to have compassion for their workers, usually the management team has a chip on their shoulder, getting promoted outside of your current position is very hard. I will say though a lot of customer service positions pay a lot more then they used to and I am lucky to work for a company who does a lot for us, but management in our dept go on power trips a couple times a day. Again while customer service is no ones dream job, college students beware its not an easy one either.
So basically... all jobs are underpaid and long hours unless you're at the top elite, executive level. Hmm... almost like the job isn't the problem... what else could it be... guess we'll never know!
Childcare. Burnout, overstimulation, policies you can’t change, parents who shouldn’t be parents…
Back in the early 2000s, cake shows were HUGE. I've been a cake decorator for over 20 years and not only can I not delve into your mind which shade of blue you want(unless you bring a sample in), I won't know that Sasha (for a birthday) is for a girl's or a boy's cake(unless you specify). And on top of that, I had carpal tunnel surgery on BOTH of my hands with piercing pain that woke me up every night. I stopped decorating after the surgery and almost cried the first night after surgery because the pain was gone.
Charity Shop Deputy Manager. Best. Job. Ever! Seeing volunteers start work at the shop, perhaps timid or scared. Quite quiet. See them blossom.We have a young man who another charity shop didn't want, he couldn't work their till, they said he smelled. Just awful to him. He joined our shop, he now works our till for whole days at a time, and can now do customer refunds and petty cash transactions for the shop. His confidence has soared, it's like a different person, and he is so happy. That alone brings me joy. Also, sorting through customer donations is enjoyable, you never know what you'll find. Perhaps some treasure ! (or dirty nappies, as happened once! I like to think they donated that in error, but I'm probably being naive!).
This is sad, I feel some of the stress could definitely be alleviated if the position had job security,sick pay and guaranteed holidays .Very lucky to live in the UK where all that is mandatory! And healthcare is free so you don't have to take a sucky job just for insurance.For such an advanced country, some practices in America don't make sense to me.
I was a medical interpreter and loved it. Loved the patients and families, was their advocate and sat through treatments, surgery, chemo right beside them, you name the procedure, I was there for them. The trouble were my coworkers: many of them bigoted, didn't care whether the patient got any info, didn't value having a trained interpreter who ensured effective and confidential information. They'd use family, the patient in the next bed, children, cleaning staff. It was a constant battle with the staff. But the patients kept me going.
Well in my first job I got to express myself creatively and enjoy time with my peers. Room and board was provided, and I never really felt I was not earning enough money. Health care coverage seemed fine, as well. Then I turned 5 and had to start going to school...Things became more challenging after that.
Lawn service. The name implies it. I am a servant to the master of the house. Nothing more. Doesn't matter how good the yard looks. No glory.
My best jobs were all Silicon Valley startups. Long hours and hard work, but the pay was insane and if it was a successful startup it was always a wild ride. Beautifully designed office spaces that including foosball tables, ping pong, billiards... and loads of perks such as catered food, lavish parties and outings, weekly happy hours with alcohol, stock options....
Wow I guess I'll just like my boring retail pharmacy job that suck$ dealing with pis$y customers but I don't have to take work home, and i get great health insurance.
Basically every job comes with stress and a feeling like you aren't getting paid enough for this crap. A huge part of this problem could be solved if we, the general public, stopped acting like jerks to other people just doing their job. I'm sure many of us knows the type of person who complains about their customer service job, but then goes and acts rudely to a veterinarian.
Any job can be heaven, hell or just OK. If you don't like the job you're doing, you should start making preparations for a career change. There's nothing stopping you to make job-inquiries. Perhaps you're happier being a gardener than a banker.
The reality really is that very few jobs are “glamorous” because a JOB is when you work for someone else and make money for someone else, and they share part of it with you. It’s not your own. And the second reality is that if you’re making a ton of money, you’re suffering for it on some level. Usually losing your personal time and being stressed or busy. WORK itself isn’t glamorous. By definition almost. The glamor comes once you’ve earned a lot of money and can take time off. Very few people want to live that way or know how to be an entrepreneur, so very few people go from poor to rich. The barriers aren’t what you may think.
Change the title to “jobs people are crap at and expect the world to give them a living” ??
So, according to this article all jobs suck, so go get a gun and shoot yourself before it's too late. I have the feeling that the problem with these people is not that their jobs suck, THEY suck, and they would still be a failure in any other job.
No. The article is about how jobs that people think of as glamorous are not. Healthcare is not like on TV or movies, which make it look glamorous. They don't show nurses cleaning up s**t and vomit. What it's really like to look after someone who is dying and you can't control their pain. They show stuff that makes it look glamorous and never a shift from hell. Yep, you heard from me a lot of the really difficult things about being a nurse. The point is there's nothing glamorous about it. And just because I said those things doesn't mean it totally sucked. But these days there are far more bad days than good days. It didn't used to be that way at all. It has changed so much that there actually is no way that in this day and age I would decide to be a nurse. And there are so many excellent nurses who are leaving because enough is enough.
Load More Replies...No, it is that not everything is as it seems on TV. It is not as glamorized, and can be pretty boring/ tough. Like, don't go into video games because you like them do it because you like maths and science and coding.
Load More Replies...This is freaking me out can we get a list of people who love their jobs and think they're worth it
Hmmm I am a professional magician. I admit that it can contain long hours of travel time and I'm not getting rich. That said I fill blessed that I make a living doing recreational activity.
Thank you for lightening the mood after that depressing list.
Load More Replies...well this is it, I'm becoming a professional asshole. ive got no hope with any other job
I think you should. You’ll earn more money that way if you are a smart asshole.
Load More Replies...This list shows me less that these jobs suck and more how utterly broken the system in the US is.
I couldn't even bother reading through this list. Seems like all jobs are bad. Although it also seems many of these are from a country (US?) where proper wages etc doesn't seem to be a thing. I think (hope!) it's not this bad in my country, when it comes to working hours and pay.
Every job has it's donkey work. You just have to decide if it's worth putting up with for the money you make.
Load More Replies..."Hey kids! Never follow your dreams cause they'll either kill you or break you mentally. Instead pursue normal jobs that will kill you and break you mentally."
This thread is simply poisonous and useless. Where is the solution? A profession does not bring glory to us, we bring glory to our profession.
My experience has always been that the quality of the job has been based more on the people I've worked with, not on the job itself. EVERY job sucks at times. For every job that has ever existed, somebody doing it, somewhere, has burst into tears or put their fist through a wall. Or both. At the same time. But when I've had good, decent, caring people working beside me, I've survived (mostly) intact, even on the roughest days. Unfortunately, good coworkers are not something you can train for. The only way to get them is to be one. And luck. Lots and lots of luck! Also: see my comment on Capitalism.
I agree , most of the jobs would be atleast manageable if we were surrounded by good, understanding coworkers, bosses.
Load More Replies...Architect here. Went trough college, internship, all the way to leading projects. It is stressful, hard work, HUGE responsibility, people not apreciating you nor your ideas, pay should be much higher, but I do love it. I feel rush every time new project comes in, and do my best for every one. I do often feel discouraged, sometimes even dissapointed. You can't win them all, you did your best and life goes on. But the main problem with all of our jobs is that we are mainly understaffed, overworked and underpaid. It's not the job per se, it's capitalism. And I don't see how things could get better any time soon.
Can you please give me some advice? I'm still doing the course, done with half of it basically, and I'm losing my hope of getting an okay job and life. Will I even have any free time?
Load More Replies...I think this is a depressing read, for its fatalistic appeal. The generalization is not justified for all of these jobs, and often there are ways to adjust into the one or the other direction. Moreover, there is no indication here how to either leave the treadmill or how to improve the job situation. I am convinced that in most of these jobs you CAN change the world for good WITHOUT giving yourself up, although likely not at all places where you can exercise that job.
Maybe the problem is not so much the jobs but a society that thinks overworking and underpaying people is glamorous. Where working 60+ hours a week is glorified. Where people have to pay unbelievable sums to even get an education (and if they don't or can't are stuck in minimum wage).
Nursing is on this list but I absolutely love my job and I love bed side nursing. Yes, I have difficult days but the good far outweigh the bad. 18 years and counting with no regrets.
I feel like though it is true that some jobs are nightmares, every job is hard. Unless you are born wealthy and are good with money, chances are you'll have to work hard to live. I don't want to undermine pointing out those horrible jobs where you're treated like crap and won't get rewarded, but you're always going to have a lot on your plate, so you might as well enjoy the meal
I'm a career secretary / executive assistant. I've been doing it for 35 years (my first job was at 15 in a real estate office) and I'm 50 now. I love it. It's hard to get up the C-suite level, but once you're there, the pay is fantastic, the work is more event planning and collecting work from others and consolidating it for the bosses. You do a lot of blocking of phone calls, responding to e-mails for them and if you become their right hand person, you're irreplaceable. In addition to the great pay, you get to travel with them for important events (retreats, etc.) and they usually let your spouse come with. I've been to the Greenbrier twice and stayed in a suite both times - something I would never ever be able to afford on my own.
You're Donna from Suits!You are amazing.
Load More Replies...Some of these are The common cause in all of these is CAPITALISM! Destroy capitalism and you destroy most negative aspects of these jobs! No capitalism: no poverty, crime or rich a$$holes to kowtow to. Without capitalism, there will be no billionaires bleeding society of money and resources that should be going to professions that need and deserve it, to services and supports for our brothers and sisters in need and pain, no incentive to define someone as 'other' due to race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, etc. Am I pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking? Of course I am, but we've got to start somewhere. EAT THE RICH!
While I am sure no one would ever say that customer service is a glamourous job, I think people often take them because they seem easy. That is not the case, I think it is one of the most demeaning jobs anyone could ever have. We get a lot of younger people and college students taking positions because they think it will be easy and help get them through college and such. Well unless you work for a company who requires their managers to have compassion for their workers, usually the management team has a chip on their shoulder, getting promoted outside of your current position is very hard. I will say though a lot of customer service positions pay a lot more then they used to and I am lucky to work for a company who does a lot for us, but management in our dept go on power trips a couple times a day. Again while customer service is no ones dream job, college students beware its not an easy one either.
So basically... all jobs are underpaid and long hours unless you're at the top elite, executive level. Hmm... almost like the job isn't the problem... what else could it be... guess we'll never know!
Childcare. Burnout, overstimulation, policies you can’t change, parents who shouldn’t be parents…
Back in the early 2000s, cake shows were HUGE. I've been a cake decorator for over 20 years and not only can I not delve into your mind which shade of blue you want(unless you bring a sample in), I won't know that Sasha (for a birthday) is for a girl's or a boy's cake(unless you specify). And on top of that, I had carpal tunnel surgery on BOTH of my hands with piercing pain that woke me up every night. I stopped decorating after the surgery and almost cried the first night after surgery because the pain was gone.
Charity Shop Deputy Manager. Best. Job. Ever! Seeing volunteers start work at the shop, perhaps timid or scared. Quite quiet. See them blossom.We have a young man who another charity shop didn't want, he couldn't work their till, they said he smelled. Just awful to him. He joined our shop, he now works our till for whole days at a time, and can now do customer refunds and petty cash transactions for the shop. His confidence has soared, it's like a different person, and he is so happy. That alone brings me joy. Also, sorting through customer donations is enjoyable, you never know what you'll find. Perhaps some treasure ! (or dirty nappies, as happened once! I like to think they donated that in error, but I'm probably being naive!).
This is sad, I feel some of the stress could definitely be alleviated if the position had job security,sick pay and guaranteed holidays .Very lucky to live in the UK where all that is mandatory! And healthcare is free so you don't have to take a sucky job just for insurance.For such an advanced country, some practices in America don't make sense to me.
I was a medical interpreter and loved it. Loved the patients and families, was their advocate and sat through treatments, surgery, chemo right beside them, you name the procedure, I was there for them. The trouble were my coworkers: many of them bigoted, didn't care whether the patient got any info, didn't value having a trained interpreter who ensured effective and confidential information. They'd use family, the patient in the next bed, children, cleaning staff. It was a constant battle with the staff. But the patients kept me going.
Well in my first job I got to express myself creatively and enjoy time with my peers. Room and board was provided, and I never really felt I was not earning enough money. Health care coverage seemed fine, as well. Then I turned 5 and had to start going to school...Things became more challenging after that.
Lawn service. The name implies it. I am a servant to the master of the house. Nothing more. Doesn't matter how good the yard looks. No glory.
My best jobs were all Silicon Valley startups. Long hours and hard work, but the pay was insane and if it was a successful startup it was always a wild ride. Beautifully designed office spaces that including foosball tables, ping pong, billiards... and loads of perks such as catered food, lavish parties and outings, weekly happy hours with alcohol, stock options....
Wow I guess I'll just like my boring retail pharmacy job that suck$ dealing with pis$y customers but I don't have to take work home, and i get great health insurance.
Basically every job comes with stress and a feeling like you aren't getting paid enough for this crap. A huge part of this problem could be solved if we, the general public, stopped acting like jerks to other people just doing their job. I'm sure many of us knows the type of person who complains about their customer service job, but then goes and acts rudely to a veterinarian.
Any job can be heaven, hell or just OK. If you don't like the job you're doing, you should start making preparations for a career change. There's nothing stopping you to make job-inquiries. Perhaps you're happier being a gardener than a banker.
The reality really is that very few jobs are “glamorous” because a JOB is when you work for someone else and make money for someone else, and they share part of it with you. It’s not your own. And the second reality is that if you’re making a ton of money, you’re suffering for it on some level. Usually losing your personal time and being stressed or busy. WORK itself isn’t glamorous. By definition almost. The glamor comes once you’ve earned a lot of money and can take time off. Very few people want to live that way or know how to be an entrepreneur, so very few people go from poor to rich. The barriers aren’t what you may think.
Change the title to “jobs people are crap at and expect the world to give them a living” ??
So, according to this article all jobs suck, so go get a gun and shoot yourself before it's too late. I have the feeling that the problem with these people is not that their jobs suck, THEY suck, and they would still be a failure in any other job.
No. The article is about how jobs that people think of as glamorous are not. Healthcare is not like on TV or movies, which make it look glamorous. They don't show nurses cleaning up s**t and vomit. What it's really like to look after someone who is dying and you can't control their pain. They show stuff that makes it look glamorous and never a shift from hell. Yep, you heard from me a lot of the really difficult things about being a nurse. The point is there's nothing glamorous about it. And just because I said those things doesn't mean it totally sucked. But these days there are far more bad days than good days. It didn't used to be that way at all. It has changed so much that there actually is no way that in this day and age I would decide to be a nurse. And there are so many excellent nurses who are leaving because enough is enough.
Load More Replies...No, it is that not everything is as it seems on TV. It is not as glamorized, and can be pretty boring/ tough. Like, don't go into video games because you like them do it because you like maths and science and coding.
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