You think of an average office job which is way more boring and not even close to as entertaining as the one we’ve seen at the Dunder Mifflin office, and you wonder… What would your dream job be like? Let me get this one for you. Sommelier? Travel photographer? Private investigator? Video game tester? Each has their own vision of what that job would be like, but most definitely, everyone has one.
So let me just tell you that this viral thread on AskReddit may ruin it all. Maybe even in a good way. You see, someone asked “What is an overly romanticized job?” and the people who dedicated their lives to such romantic careers spill all the tea.
The responses may strip them of their accolades, but they also show that the grass is always greener on the other side, and you may as well stick with your job because hey, no job was made perfect.
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Working at an animal shelter. Everyone thinks that you get to sit around and love on animals all day, but in reality you are exposed to alot of death and the worst of human nature. And the pay sucks because people just can't quit it because they want to help.
That if they pay you. Most wildlife rescue centers dont pay half of their staff, treat them like worthless tools, put their life in danger all while acting as if they are doing the interns a favour leting them work for free. In the last one I worked in, some of my coworkers wanted the interns to not be allowed to have a break in our break room. So they were supposed to walk back to the cantine (5m), get changed (you cannot enter with working clothes) have the tiniest break and walk back in a 20m break all to not having them around. I told them that they worked really hard (harder than those caregivers) and they deserved the same time to rest as us. They hated and bullied me for treating my interns like people and not slaves.
Teaching. Yeah you get summers, nights, weekends, and holidays off but it’s the most frustrating, mentally and emotionally draining job I’ve ever had. You aren’t paid enough for what you have to endure.
Every other week I grade 100 essays @6+ minutes per essay. I don't GET summers off. I earn them. My 9 month salary is divided by out over 12 months. So like many other teachers I have side jobs/skills I have to keep my (family) afloat.
Thank you for all you do for the children in your community. Teachers are truly a blessing!! 💖
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My wife is a teacher. I can confirm that teachers do not have much spare time; she works a lot. It's not just the teaching, it's also about meetings, grading, tutoring, planning future lessons, etc. I have so much respect and admiration for my wife, it's a full-time position being a teacher. But, it lifts my heart when I get to read all the thank you cards from her students who she’s helped growing up.
Teachers/tutors/mentors/advocates don’t get summers or any vacations off. We need to plan for the next semester and take a boat load of CEUs. And don’t forget our side jobs because the pay absolutely sucks! Wanna become a teacher, mentor, advocate? You’ll work 120+ hours a week and need to be adept in emergency and crisis management.
Oh yes, the ever exciting Professional Development
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Or go through endless paper work to claim it back
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I work with primary school teachers a lot and I get the impression that all that time off they get is very rarely actually time off.
Kindergarten teacher here. I don't sleep at night because I am worried about your kids. I don't eat lunch because I am trying to solve behavior problems and interact with the students. I go in on the weekend to finish things that I didn't get to during the week. I am there an hour early and sometimes 2-3 hours after school working on plans. I have cried at school and at home about school. I have had a parent flat out say I just do "daycare" and they would do it better. I have been pushed, hit, kicked, bitten, and stabbed. Teachers are quitting in droves and I am almost ready to join them. Then I get a note from a 4th grader about how they loved being in my class and that I am still their favorite teacher, and they know that I loved them. And that makes it all worth it again.
I totally know what you mean about the offset when you find out how much of an impact you have had in a child's life, and even to parents at times (though sometimes it is harder to remember the good interactions with parents). I have worked in Preschool (both 3 & 4 year olds) the last 5 years though, so more often than not, when the kids go off to school you don't hear about many of them again, unless they have younger siblings.
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The people that can’t see past the “holidays and summers off” part
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So true. It’s exhausting and children now rule the classroom or nursery. Parents still think school is like it was in their day. It isn’t.
Mind you, even in the early 1900s (at least in Australia) teachers were required to work long hours, including warming up the classroom by lighting the fire at 7am. They also had classes of 50+ students, which in country schools in particular, were often mixed age. They also had more frequent teacher inspections.
Load More Replies... I loved being a teacher but admin knows that teachers love their students and routinely exploit them because of that. Even in independent schools, where teachers get a much better teaching environment and resources, there's a definite "Just take on this one more thing, you can handle it right?" vibe that just gets repeated over and over again until everyone is super stressed and overworked.
Yes, when I worked at a Catholic school you had to sign up to a certain number of extra-curricular events/duties and the newer teachers were always the last to choose so it's the less desirable/more involved options left.
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As an ex-primary school teacher, when you work all weekend , before and after school planning and marking. Now I'm a secondary school teacher who has homework to Mark and essays to prep, because if you want students to write amazing you must give them amazing models. Plus reading the texts, study guides, lectures etc.
And even Early Childhood teaching, there are observations and learning stories (which can be more complicated depending on whether they use an online or hardcopy portfolio), Individual Development Plans, services for additional needs etc. Even a teacher who only has 10 in person contact hours can easily work 15-20, especially if they are in leadership positions.
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I want to be a teacher when I'm older, I'm sure I have no idea how hard it is but it's been my dream job since like 3rd grade
Definitely give it a go! Don't be put off by our complaints. In general it is worth the trade off of time and money. It is better to try and live your dreams than live with regrets.
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Not just a pain- they can make you or break you as a teacher.
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And most of that "time off" is filled with grading, planning, meetings, continuing education, seminars, and breakdowns because of everything else combined.
Unless you teach in Nigeria. Then you can work for months and not get paid. Teachers are owed six, seven months wages.
A lot of my former high school mates became teachers and I got to see the job from the outside while being invited to speak to kids, so that's one job I would not touch with a barge pole - it sounds like a lot of stress for very meager rewards, especially at for-profit schools, where some kids are entitled hellions and the school management is very rarely on your side, since they're more interested in their own butts and keeping parents happy to keep the funds coming...
You don't get night or weekends off as you're busy developing your courses and marking.
And creating materials for, setting up and setting up all those learning centers you are required to rotate every week - never mind you have a full classroom and will have to crowd all your desks together to meet this requirement. I can't tell you all the Sunday afternoons/evenings I had to spend just on learning centers! And that's just a small segment of all the non-teaching work you are required to do on your own time. (Good teachers do not give their students busy work so they can get their own busy work completed during school hours.
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Lol you'll be working and prepping on those days off. Basically non profit work
the paid part depends where you live. I live in NYC, right of college it is 57K a year for 180 days of work, caps off at 113K after 23 years with retirement eligible after 25 years (though you must be at least 50 years of age as well) where you retire with half pay and full benefits. And tenure after 3 years (which is why we have teachers on the payroll but are not allowed near a classroom. Can't fire them). And Nassau County pays even better. There are lots of places that pay teachers well. If you are underpaid, blame your union reps for doing a bad job.
In our district you can no longer count on having a job the next year. All contracts are year to year. Admin can and does let you go for any or no reason at all.
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same goes for youth welfare, exept for the weekends, nights, summers, my workplace fosters 7 young people from 16-21 and we are open 24/7/365 and the pay sucks, especially for the mental challenges you daily face.
F**k multimillionaire sports figures. Teachers have grueling hours, are mentally and physically abused and can barely make ends meet. I come from a family of what used to be educators. Glorified babysitting imbeciles while trying to impart knowledge is becoming a reality.
This one aggravates me. As the daughter of teachers, I can say that your “time off” isn’t really “time off.” You need a summer job to pay the bills, and teachers DO work on the weekends.
Most do not get summer " off". There is always work to be done, workshops, additional education for the teacher and in college , it's year round. Salaries are never compensated for all the hours of preparation and post classroom responsibilities and the mentoring that occurs because most care about their students. It's all taken advantage of, just like other professionals like nurses and other medical professionals. Never ending attention to tasks at hand because they do care. It's all taken advantage of whenever possible. When a Physics professor makes one tenth of the salary a football coach does, you know the balance of priorities is very skewed!
The person who wrote this was obviously a slacker and a shitty teacher. Step-mom was a teacher. Spent her nights, weekends, and holidays grading papers and making lesson plans. Spent her summers in college to increase her teaching degrees and therfore her paygrade. After 35 years got tired of shitty pay, shitty administration, shitty parents, and shitty kids. Good retirement though, as she makes some serious cash from it.
I've been teaching junior high and high school English at a school in Japan for almost 20 years, and I honestly love it. I love the kids. I love the HUGE amount of freedom I have to set my own curriculum and develop my own program. Yeah, it's not all perfect, but I consider myself very, very lucky. If I were rich and didn't have to work, I'd still want to come here every day and do this job.
I believe wholeheartedly that teachers in America are working for pennies. I’m so many places morale is abysmal and we are turning out kids who have no idea the extent they are being cheated out of a good basic education. It’s criminal. I can not imagine how Mrs. Bush felt where her husband instituted the No Child Left Behind program, which was a slap in the face to all teachers and students
I don't know much about the American education system (except what I read on here and watch on tv) but No Child Left Behind sounds like one of those things that sounds good in theory but leads to far more problems than it solves. It was probably meant to make learning (or at least achievement) more individualized, but really just pushes the masses through without ensuring they are actually learning in reality.
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Yeah that's what I say about something like aged care :) I love teaching in general, but the daily grind is very wearing.
Load More Replies... Your life must be truly sad and tragic. So sorry that everything is so sucky for you
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Military. It's 99% standing around waiting to hear orders from a bordering-on-inept superior. The paperwork is Neverending. You'll long periods of time away from home and will probably get divorced. Also, your knees and back will go to sh*t.
Bored Panda spoke with Redditor ColSurge who is a video game developer about why so many people romanticize their job and what it is that they don’t know about it. “Most people look at this as a dream job because they have a picture in their minds of MAKING a game. Like they think about making a story, or cool levels, or cool weapons. They have ideas! And they want to use the amazing ideas they have,” ColSurge told us.
However, the reality couldn’t be more different. “The reality is that it will be a long time before you get any creative control in game design. The overwhelming majority of people will spend the overwhelming majority of their career doing things like making tree textures. Then being told that the green on the trees they made is a little too green, then being told that the shadows aren't quite right and you need to make them ‘better,’” ColSurge said and added that this is a very far cry from what most young people think when they want to get into game design.
Journalist. Long hours, weekends, holidays, middle of the night. Pay sucks (especially in non-profit journalism) and being so plugged into the news every day is depressing. I worked in journalism for 16 plus years, maybe I did it wrong but never once did I sleep with sources to get information nor did I ever blow some giant story wide open, and worst of all - I met zero super heroes. Tv and movies lied.
Librarian. It's not quiet, we don't read all day, we clean up our fair share of bodily fluids, plunge many toilets, and interact with homeless/mentally ill patrons fairly regularly depending on our location. Sure a bulk of our job is recommending books to readers and coming up with fun programs, but sometimes I feel like a community secretary who had to get a Masters to have any chance of a decent salary. Or a social worker, which I did not sign up for. One day I'm looking up phone numbers for psychics for a man who called around to police stations and threatened to kill cops in our town and making 60 copies for a rude lady who's rushing to get ready to teach a yoga class and I'm thinking what have I done?! But then the next day I'm getting picture books for an adorable kid and their appreciative mom, or 3D printing a missing piece from one of the board games we lend out instead of having to charge the patron to replace it, or helping a lonely old woman with no children nearby with her phone and having her look at me like I'm a genius, or helping a lady with her sister's visa so she can come to the US from a war zone (she made it here by the way and the lady told me she loves me for it). I love my job, but it is absolutely exhausting and gross and stressful and scary sometimes.
I appreciate libraries and librarians. I love the whole concept so much that I donated a dozen boxes of used books I bought from the library book sales to ship to prison libraries. Win win win. I was kind of bummed out that the Government would not cover shipping costs, but I felt it important to do. I continued it for about s year. I could not imagine being locked without good reading materials
Chef. It involves getting screamed at, and it takes a really big person not to pass that down the line to younger chefs. It's lots of work and lots of expertise with little pay and little appreciation.
The video game developer confessed that they don’t think their job is very creatively fulfilling at all. “It's almost no different than making burgers at McDonalds. Your job is to churn out burgers the exact way your boss tells you to, just the burgers are digital assets.”
For anyone who is considering a job in the video gaming industry, ColSurge suggests realizing that you are not going into the video game industry. “You are actually going into the graphic design/computer programming industry, and choosing to apply for jobs in game design. When you get into the industry you quickly realize there is no difference between making a digital asset for the new Halo game or making one for Allstate insurance.”
ColSurge continued: “You think it would be so cool that you are working on Halo, and that it would be awesome to tell people you are making Halo, but that glow wears off after about a week.” According to them, “if you can't see yourself being happy making digital content for an insurance company app as your day job, DO NOT get into video game design,” and added that it’s “because they are the exact same job.”
How has this not been said already: Video Game Developer.
So many people want to go into video games thinking they will get to design a game. The reality is 99.9% of people that work on video games get no creative input at all. That just make/place/test assets exactly as they are told. All the while being forced to work 60-70 hours a week in a terrible work environment.
I can't agree. I'm an UI/VFX/character animator and I currently work for a mobile game company in Poland, it is the best job i had ( was working earlier in commercials/ events/ movies industry). I work 40 hours a week and my payment is 2 times better than my last job. I do get to propose how animations will look, i see my feedback about game is heard and have real influence, and it's the friendliest work environment I had. Not to mention benefits like private health care and Multisport card
Fashion.
"Why dont you have your own brand?" "B***h, do I look like I can afford to ship a container of tshirts made in Pakistan for 3 cents to compete with some fashion conglomerate?"
Everything abt fashion sucks...anyone can do it with no degree, pay is sh*t, hours are sh*t, people are b***hy and souless, the industry is shameless and zero concious abt sustainability.
You will work and study very hard to lose a position to a model looking daughter of some rich guy.
Its basically become a profession for rich girls who dont know what to do and like consuming goods.
The very few people who make it, usually do it for reasons other than talent.
Yes, I've heard this elsewhere. That if you want to work in fashion, you're going to have to compete every step of the way with no-talent rich girls who aren't interested in much except clothes, and whose connections will get them further than your talent... and who don't need a living wage because they're living on family money.
Airline pilot. People think you area like Leonardo Dicaprio in Catch Me if You Can; swaggering through the airport, wearing sunglasses, surrounded by hot flight attendants. In reality, we're like glorified bus drivers whose job is 1% excitement and 99% absolute boredom just sitting in a cockpit waiting for life to pass by.
And when it comes to challenges of work in the video game industry, there are plenty of them. “The challenge comes from burnout and the burnout comes from two different places: deadlines and monotony,” ColSurge said. Moreover, “Projects are always behind schedule for reasons way beyond your control. So you are being pushed harder and harder to hit deadlines to fix the delays. This has gotten a little better, but the 24-hour workday leading up to an important deadline is still a very real thing.”
The other challenge you gotta tackle is the monotony. “You are constantly doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. For people that got into this line of work to be creative, that really can drag people down,” ColSurge concluded. No wonder the Redditor considered changing their career many times, since according to them, “everyone in game design has.”
Having said that, they added that just like “any career, the longer you stay in the field, the further you move up the ladder, you start getting that creative control you probably wanted from the beginning.”
Film worker. Hours are gruelling, production doesn’t give a f*ck about you, good luck spending time with your kids, and most of us are addicts/drunks.
I work with post production, what happens after filming. It really is crushing hours sometimes, and good luck planning around that because there is no foresight for when you have to work overtime. And it's very unusual with paid overtime, you get a monthly salary and are expected to pull an extra leg. Netflix shows are extra hectic and have short deadlines but they and Amazon are the new Hollywood, so they decide what they want and you just have to try to adapt.
Private Investigator. I worked for a PI a little bit. It was nothing but sitting in a car watching people who were supposed to be on disability, doing stuff they claim they can't.
As someone dating a PI, I can also say that it is not great for having a relationship, as they're home when the client stops being suspicious. And when they are home, there's the paperwork.
Video game testing. I had a boyfriend who did it for several years, so I know all too well that it's a horrible job. You play the same five minutes of game over and over again, hundreds of times (sometimes thousands). The job kinda killed his passion for gaming, and as far as I know, he still doesn't play anything for fun.
That actually sounds really fun to me. I like minutiae and finding the errors in things. I'm the sort of person who will happily read every cell in a multi-page spreadsheet to find a typo. How does someone get started in video game testing?
Another job industry that’s been constantly idolized in our society is working in the fashion industry, so we spoke with Redditor After-Woodpecker-595 who said that fashion jobs are very overestimated these days. “Well, in the '90s, the only people in the industry were weirdos, really, the intent was mainly making clothes and there wasn't a proper career path like other professions. Around the 2000s the universities started catching up to the fact they could cash in on it, making it a bachelors and teaching people nothing, basically,” After-Woodpecker-595, who’s also the creator of r/Toxicfashion, told us.
She added that “around 2008/9 things went awry... we're talking Devil Wears Prada, Gossip Girl, Project Runway… The industry was filled with people who had no interest in sitting behind a sewing machine.”
Ultrasound tech
You don't look at babies all day.
Even if you did look at babies all day that could be so sad the first time one of those babies don't make it!!
Architect. Seems like lots of good romcom boyfriends are architects. In reality, the hours are long, the stress is extremely high, and pay is really poor for a skilled profession.
EMS(I.E EMTs and Paramedics). We're not some heros who save lives. Saving lives is about 10 percent of the job. The other 90 percent is dealing with a broken Healthcare system, getting paid minimum wage, dealing with patients who don't need help and abuse the already broken Healthcare system, and if your lucky working for a company that doesn't give a sh*t about you.
I agree with some of this. I was a Paramedic before I moved from front line medicine into Physiotherapy. I agree that the job is rarely as it is portrayed, the shifts are very long, often with long periods of boredom. Then there are the patients, most of whom are very pleased to see you and very appreciative but many are not. The weekends are worst, 90% of the cases on weekend evenings involve dealing with people who have drunk themselves into a stupor. Their reactions towards you vary from inappropriate affection to violent rage and I often ended a Friday and Saturday night shift covered in blood, vomit, urine and other disgusting substances. I disagree about the minimum wage part though. In the UK, Paramedics are required to hold a minimum of an Undergraduate Degree and are actually paid well above minimum wage. Ambulance Technicians, which is the equivalent of most US Paramedics, only need an advanced first aid qualification and are not well paid at all.
One of the most common misconceptions about working in fashion according to After-Woodpecker-595 is “that you will draw clothes or use creativity or be famous and so on,” she said and added that “truth is, most fashion jobs are pretty standard office jobs these days.” According to the Redditor, what makes working in fashion particularly demanding is the people in the industry: “It is competitive and cutthroat. Much like you saw on Devil Wears Prada, except you don't get to go to Paris in the end.”
For anyone who’s still considering working in fashion, the Redditor urges you to do it, “because you're going to do it anyway, like I did.” However, you have to realize “it's not easy money and you have to have very thick skin to even stand a chance.”
Trucking. In over 42+ years I saw the finest warehouses in 43 states and 2 Canadian provinces. There are ZERO shows/movies accurately showing trucking for what it is. It's a soul sucking exercise in frustration. There are positive aspects in that you can generate a decent paycheck without extensive education or advanced training. All it will cost you is your soul, your friends, your family, and your health.
Except when you find your truck has a weird robot face logo somewhere on it.
Academia. First of all, most people undergrads call "professors" aren't at actual professors (by rank). And people who aren't professors are likely not getting paid a whole lot above the poverty line, have few to no benefits, have little to no input on what they teach or how, not to mention having to put up with nonsense I've not seen or heard of in any other field. The amount of unpaid labour that goes into getting a single article published is unreal.
I teach in Russia. while unpaid labor is part of academia, I live so much more comfortable than adjuncts in the US and basically can teach whatever I want with no oversight and if I was a citizen would get healthcare free. Instead I get it at a still far cheaper rate than in the US.
FBI Special Agent.
I dated a woman who was with FBI and she enjoyed what she did most of the time but wow was it dry.
Imagine sitting in a car watching a house for 6 hours then going back to the office and spending a few hours writing a report. Or looking through 10 years of purchase records and receipts that you pulled out of the trash to build a case. Or sitting in a room at midnight listening in on a dude having phone sex with his mistress.
The overwhelming majority of her job was writing reports, status updates, and reviewing financial documents in an office. The hours were terrible, the work seemed boring, and the bureaucracy was thick.
I remember reading somewhere that the most common degree amongst FBI agents was accounting. Because "follow the money" is a major part of any criminal nvestigatin
Zookeeper. You spend most of your time cleaning poop and you're paid like sh*t.
Most dont mind the poop part but you are usually understaffed, need to do an incredibly phisically demanding job (brushing floors, walls and ceilings for hours, carrying food crates, food sacks, carrying soil/litter for the cages...) with a low pay knowing that once your body breaks (many have hernias very young) you wont be able to do the job anymore and will need to find a different one. This also applies to my comment about rescue centrums, zoos also use very often unpaid interns to do the cleaning, tours or even research and treat them like crap.
Writer. You picture yourself at a typewriter in a cabin by a lake, crackling fire in the fireplace, a golden retriever asleep at your feet and a glass of lagavulin in your hand dreaming up the next great American novel. Contrast that to reality where the writing jobs that actually pay the bills usually involve long nights and weekends sitting in a cube farm writing the instructions that come with a toaster that nobody will ever read while your spouse f*cks her coworkers.
Working in a popular nightclub. Everyone knows you is kind of the fun part.
But everyone parties, you don't if you want to keep your job. It pays very well but man there are so many downsides.
On holidays, you are there to watch all your friends party but you have to keep it together enough to make it through the rush of customers and by the end of the night you better have the correct amount in the registers or end up flipping the entire bill and ripped a new one for f*cking up.
Fights happen several times a night. Some comical, some really violent. There is blood and even deaths happen.
Bodily fluids everywhere all the time, that comes out of every possible orifice and you come out every night smelling like piss, sh*t, sweat and cigarettes. I would imagine that's what an orgy smells like.
You lose all sense of time. You get home at 4am and when you wake the world has passed by and you have to get into work again. Days start to blur together, holidays don't matter because that's the busiest nights so you celebrate nothing. Weeks turn to months then years. It all goes by in a hangover haze of sleep deprivation.
Drugs are everywhere, with drugs come crack heads that are totally out of their damn minds. I had to fight a guy trying to steal my car while he was having a drug/alcohol fueled episode.
Getting molested. I got groped too many times to care to remember. Both males and females. You never get used to it. I'm an easy going person but man its a horrible feeling when someone grabs your privates without your consent.
Last of all the depression of seeing regulars. Yeah sure regulars can be fun but more than not some are there everyday to drink their problems away. They are about the most depressing people you come by and they will latch on to you because you are conveniently working there every night. You also see a lot of creepers/predators who regularly get in but you can't pin them with anything because they are good at hiding what they trying to do. I tried to kick out as many as possible and save as many customers as I can but some nights, you know in the back of your head, someone out there is going to have a bad night out on that big dark, fake fog filled dance floor.
That was my time 4 years of working in a popular night club in a huge city basically.
this is just sad.......and completely different from what I have seen in shows and movies
Youtuber. I remember reading about how Pewdiepie and a handful of other Youtubers made millions of dollars a few years back and thinking "Oh, cr*p. Now kids are going to think they can easily make big money doing this." And I was right.
Now I know kids have always wanted fantastical jobs for money and especially for fame. I myself wasted a ton of time imitating martial arts movies and TV shows in hopes of becoming a Power Ranger.
I am not a Youtuber, so please correct me if I'm wrong. But unless you have millions of subscribers who watch every single video you make and share them on their social medias so they get even more views, I doubt you'll be making those big bucks anytime soon.
Plus, Youtube's rules or whatever you call them seem to change constantly. You can spend a long time editing a vid to fit their standards only to find that you let one f-bomb slip through. Or maybe they change their policies and that video you made 2 years ago violates the new rules. Whoops! Now you can't make money from this video. But Youtube can still put ads on it and make money through it.
I know there are many Youtubers who are successful and rich, but I know there are tons more who fail, even if their content isn't bad. The amount of young people I know who genuinely think they can forsake education and career prospects for Youtube fame is staggering.
For some reason some of my old coworkers got in their heads that my traveling sales job was whisking me away to exotic places and gourmet meals on the company dime.
No. No no no.
Unless you think Syracuse is basically Paris and eating a poorly wrapped burrito while driving because you don't have time to stop for lunch between appointments is fine dining, sales is not sexy.
It's a lot of drinking alone and working late nights in hotels with sh*t internet. If you have a family it's hard on your partner because they're taking the kids several nights in a row.
You'll miss a lot of you don't have to freedom to schedule around your personal life.
I'm glad I got out.
Almost any job that involves a lot of travelling is romaticised, because people think that you spend your time sightseeing. Well, no. You barely have time to get your job done; and then you are so tired that you only want to go back to your hotel room. You leave and return at impossible hours, missing hours of sleep. And you have to be quick with reporting results and planning the next trip. You can take a day off now and then (I did that when I really wanted to visit the city), but that's rather an exception. Gourmet meals on company dime are also not realistic, because yo have an expense limit; what's extra goes from your own pocket.
Small Business Ownership.
I can't in a million years recommend it. For most people, they 'switch' off at 5pm and go into a mental state that isn't work. That's not the case for small business owners. You're always "On". For many of us, that also included working 7 days a week in the first few years of opening up shop. Everything is our problem. The toilet is broken. The employees drama. The internet is down. Customer complaints. Inventory. Marketing. Most people have one role & responsibility; not the small business owner! No paid holidays or vacations. No PTO. No "mental health days". No sick days. I probably work the most hours out of all my corporate friends & family.
Lots of disgruntled employees often get recommendations to "open up their own business". I always chuckle at those comments. As if opening up your own business means you'll work less or have less stress. Quite the opposite!
What you mentioned is true. But that same level of responsibility is also a huge plus. Got a "Karen" working for you? Get rid of her. Jerk customer? Give them the boot. And that hustle and being always on? That translates to dollars. You are in control. And the best part is that your dedication can result in real financial reward. Working for an employer is safer. But the trade off your employer is offering for that safety is any extra financial benefits that come from you, the employees, busting your butt goes to them.
Touring professional musician.
I’m not talking about the guys on top who fly in private jets and stay in five star hotels although it’s not always easy for them, believe it or not.
I’m talking most of the bands you’ve seen anywhere.
It’s often grueling and lots of running around catching flights (if you’re lucky) or getting in the van or bus at 5:00 am after a sh*tty complimentary breakfast at the hotel where you shared a room with the bass player then driving all day with a break for cr*ppy fast food and getting to the venue just in time for load-in (which you often have to do yourself).
Then there’s sound check and a quick dinner at another fast food chain with no time for a shower before you rush back to play the show.
You put on your stage outfit, which smells like sweat, beer and grime from the last three cities.
After the set you man the merch table and talk to a few fans, sign some CD’s, count the take and try to find wi-fi to catch up on emails, pay bills, etc. Speaking of bills, you count the take from merch and have almost enough for that.
You hang around forever for the venue to pay you. If you’ve got a tour manager, he’ll do a lot of this stuff for you but it’s still a pain.
Good news though. The hotel has laundry machines so you can either get your clothes clean or catch up on sleep - you can only choose one
Get up and do it all again.
Yes, it can be fun but there is a lot of work that goes into it and it’s not always glamorous.
In fact it’s almost never glamorous.
I was a professional keyboard player for ten years. Driving to the next gig we could see a road sign that said "Fifth Wonder of the World: next left" and we never had time to stop and see it. Traveled the country, but rarely got to enjoy its attractions because we were always working or driving to the next gig.
Freelance Artist.
We often work over the healthy hour limit, constant need of looking for the next project, and you never finish with your studies.
On the other hand, love it and can't imagine myself doing a different job
Playing movies at the cinema. Everybody thinks this is a dream job-relax, watch movies, and get paid. Its actually very boring and you do plenty of other stuff.
I did that for 3 and a half years. Constantly getting screamed at for telling preteen kids that their parent needed to purchase their ticket for rated R movies. Being screamed at for a movie selling out, or not having a certain picture. It's your fault concession prices are so high. Cleaning up after a movie, I don't just mean the popcorn buckets, cups, and spilled popcorn, I'm talking about dirty panties, chewed tobacco & spit cup, dirty diapers, vomit; just fun little suprises like that. Finally getting blamed for the customer not liking the movie (my apologies I'll try to make a better movie next time.)
Geologist.
In school you go camping, learn cool stuff about the earth and get to have all these ideals about saving the world. In a career you manage construction workers who dislike you at best and are often a field b***h to collect contaminated dirt or test soil compaction on construction sites. Good luck getting a job without a very rough field component.
I lucked out and work in mining, and at least get to do fairly interesting work often, but it still is a drag compared to what I thought I’d get to do and the people I went to school with are drowning in rough jobs or unemployed.
Agricultural researcher/ scientist sounds very similar only no one thinks of it as glamorous 😂😂
The trades. People on Reddit seem to pitch it as the only sensible career choice, but a lot of them will just destroy your body.
Very high demand and pay currently, though. Yes they can be absolute hell on your body (roofing and masonry come to mind) but if you are uneducated/ undereducated it is a very viable option for a livable wage. You can also work your way up to master of the trade you're in and usually that would be about the time your body starts rejecting the physicality of the work. When that happens you're basically instructing interns to do the yard parts for you and signing off on the work orders. This work as not for everybody but it definitely gives a certain percentage of the "hands on" population a place to build a career. I definitely don't think it's emphasized enough, honestly, in the real world. You don't need to be a CEO, you can be a tradesperson and still live a decent life.
Working in music. Most of the industry runs on contingent and part time workers. Full time jobs are difficult to get so if you’re one of the others you’re constantly chasing your next gig. During busy parts of the year you’re too busy to have a life and the slower parts of the year you’re broke. I worked in it for 4-5 years, it was a lot of fun though.
Note: this post originally had 59 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
So, imade it to "Call centre Representative" and realised that everyone must think their sucky job is romanticised by someone, or that they're disillusioned with the realities of capitalism working. From what I can see, the only ones not represented are accountants (the list is still open, so give it time), fast food workers and garbage collectors. No job is romantic, no job should be glamorised to the point where reality hurts that you're posting your discontent on the internet.
These just sound like the testimonials of folks who picked the wrong job, but didn't realize it until it's too late. I've done one or two things here and the outlook isn't nearly as pessimistic.
All right, reading through comments made me realize what a great community BP readers are, many with cool jobs and mindblowing careers. There.
I have been illustrator, comic artist and comic colorist. It sounds cool, but it pays peanuts, or nothing in some cases, you freaking loose your sight and develop carpal tunnel syndrome, and chronic neck pain. And in case of coloring it quickly becomes boring and tedious work where you just can't wait to finish!
Anything called a career, will take your soul, turn you into something you abhor in order to keep your "career", and dominate your life. Now I just work to pay the bills. My life is based on what interests me, what gives me fulfillment, and when that changes go on to the next interest. I have tried many, many things, and will try more, but I am the master of my life, and no job, career, will dictate who I am, what I do ever again.
Not true and if people have a bad attitude it doesn't help
Load More Replies... I'm a travel agent. People think that means I get to go all over the world for free or super cheap, and that I'm always off to the next exotic place. Nope. Discounts we get on flights are not that great. Hotels on the other hand are usually very good to travel professionals. There are parts of my job I love but, it can also be a pain in the a$$. If the weather is garbage and a flight is canceled, no one blames the weatherman but, they sure as hell will take it out on their travel agent! Because obviously, I can change the weather. I'm just that good. LOL
Dog walker. “Oh, you get to play with dogs all day?” No, I walk on pavement all day. The best part is when I get to a client’s house, because the dogs are happy to see me. Then I have to walk them and their problems. I have to keep Fido from peeing on everything, Rover from eating everything, and Daisy pulls HARD non-stop because she’s excited but has no leash training, while Max simultaneously drags behind because he actually hates walking. Bailey hates puppies, Bolt is terrified of children, and never let go of Lily’s leash, because she will chase a skateboarder to the ends of the earth. You step in more dog poop than anyone else, because you go where dogs poop, even though you always pick up after yours. No lunch break, because you’re busiest midday and you always have dogs. You work in the heat, rain and cold, trying to keep yourself AND a handful of dogs comfortable and safe. I love my dogs and my clients are the the sweetest, but it is not puppy play time.
The best thing to do is to shoulder the Heaven's Will and become an Immortal Emperor. All problems solved, until the day you're targeted by the Old Villainous Heavens.
Rather depressing for bored panda! Maybe some inspiration for a change would be good for this time of year?
I know it’s not “glamourised” entirely, but the whole “nurse fantasy” - sexy nurses in little dresses coming to give you a sponge bath, making out with and marrying doctors, being this angelic character who selflessly holds hands and brings you your meal tray - it all makes me want to vomit. It is the most unsexy job ever, it is so politically charged, so frustrating, the relationships between colleagues are forged in fire (and rarely end in making out in empty beds….because there are never empty beds) and the reality of shift work is rarely represented in those fantasies (free for dinner tonight? Nope - working. Do something spontaneous on the weekend with your friends? Should have told me 2 months ago). Rewarding and fulfilling - absolutely. But not in the way you are thinking.
It's only been since about the 50's that people looked at work as something that should be fulfilling and bring you happiness. Prior to that it was just a way to pay for food and shelter. I have to wonder whether looking to work to be fulfilling has made us less happy. Reading this thread, it sure sounds like it.
Sounds like lots of people on here need to go out and get a better job ! Your jobs sound like they just suck. !!
The secret is, don't necessarily look for a meaningful job. Instead, find meaning in the job you have. If you feel your job is meaningful, you'll enjoy it more. If I'm a janitor (I'm not, but let's say "if"), and I realize how NICE it is to work in an office that's clean, with empty trash cans and lights that work, and how everybody feels better and works harder and is kinder in the place I keep clean, then my job is one of the most important jobs at the company. We can do that in almost any job. Find the meaning, or find another job where you CAN find the meaning (if possible). Life's too short to spend it in a job you hate.
Well, call the waaahmbulance!! Who thinks any job is 'glamorous'? The best you can say is that a job is sometimes meaningful and satisfying, like, you know, life. Who is so naive or spoiled enough to believe that you're supposed to be, or can, live inside a shiny perfume commercial, 24/7? It's work, it requires effort and it's often dull. Like life, kids. And the information is out there about how a day in the life of (specific job holder) goes, so researching that might be an idea.
Actor/Voice Actor - take that favouritism problem up to 111%... racial bias with folks who don't even understand they're being biased (and refuse to accept that they are when told) - and saying anything, even when not directed at them could get you 'blacklisted' because so-and-so was having a bad day (and so-and-so can be a... studio executive... a casting director... we're not talking mid-level management). Since it's all subjective too... you'll hear a whole lot of "Well, they just had the RIGHT look/voice" - Think of every film, ad or video where you've thought "That is so awful. Why'd they pick this person?" - THAT person was thought of as "the best fit" out of hundreds upon hundreds of applicants... MANY of whom were likely far more talented and better for the role... but were discounted due to anything OTHER than skill.
So I see two things here. 1) This is from a country where all jobs suck your soul. Long hours, little pay, probably US again. 2) People are raised thinking jobs and working is amazing and something to aspire to, romanticizing everything. Probably also US. I have not read anything here that was surprising to me. I guess we are more realistic about work here in NL.
All the jobs in the list have the same advantages / disadvantages in every country. It's quite bold to bash the USA for the existence of romanticised jobs that exist in every country and people falling for the trap. Your somewhat overconfident statement about how realistic Dutch are about work has no basis at all. Just because a lot of Dutch workers have the option to quit a job without any severe consequences, doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of Dutch people working jobs that suck big time. But they can't quit because it would get them into big financial troubles. All is not as bright in the Netherlands as you would like it to be.
Load More Replies... So, imade it to "Call centre Representative" and realised that everyone must think their sucky job is romanticised by someone, or that they're disillusioned with the realities of capitalism working. From what I can see, the only ones not represented are accountants (the list is still open, so give it time), fast food workers and garbage collectors. No job is romantic, no job should be glamorised to the point where reality hurts that you're posting your discontent on the internet.
These just sound like the testimonials of folks who picked the wrong job, but didn't realize it until it's too late. I've done one or two things here and the outlook isn't nearly as pessimistic.
All right, reading through comments made me realize what a great community BP readers are, many with cool jobs and mindblowing careers. There.
I have been illustrator, comic artist and comic colorist. It sounds cool, but it pays peanuts, or nothing in some cases, you freaking loose your sight and develop carpal tunnel syndrome, and chronic neck pain. And in case of coloring it quickly becomes boring and tedious work where you just can't wait to finish!
Anything called a career, will take your soul, turn you into something you abhor in order to keep your "career", and dominate your life. Now I just work to pay the bills. My life is based on what interests me, what gives me fulfillment, and when that changes go on to the next interest. I have tried many, many things, and will try more, but I am the master of my life, and no job, career, will dictate who I am, what I do ever again.
Not true and if people have a bad attitude it doesn't help
Load More Replies... I'm a travel agent. People think that means I get to go all over the world for free or super cheap, and that I'm always off to the next exotic place. Nope. Discounts we get on flights are not that great. Hotels on the other hand are usually very good to travel professionals. There are parts of my job I love but, it can also be a pain in the a$$. If the weather is garbage and a flight is canceled, no one blames the weatherman but, they sure as hell will take it out on their travel agent! Because obviously, I can change the weather. I'm just that good. LOL
Dog walker. “Oh, you get to play with dogs all day?” No, I walk on pavement all day. The best part is when I get to a client’s house, because the dogs are happy to see me. Then I have to walk them and their problems. I have to keep Fido from peeing on everything, Rover from eating everything, and Daisy pulls HARD non-stop because she’s excited but has no leash training, while Max simultaneously drags behind because he actually hates walking. Bailey hates puppies, Bolt is terrified of children, and never let go of Lily’s leash, because she will chase a skateboarder to the ends of the earth. You step in more dog poop than anyone else, because you go where dogs poop, even though you always pick up after yours. No lunch break, because you’re busiest midday and you always have dogs. You work in the heat, rain and cold, trying to keep yourself AND a handful of dogs comfortable and safe. I love my dogs and my clients are the the sweetest, but it is not puppy play time.
The best thing to do is to shoulder the Heaven's Will and become an Immortal Emperor. All problems solved, until the day you're targeted by the Old Villainous Heavens.
Rather depressing for bored panda! Maybe some inspiration for a change would be good for this time of year?
I know it’s not “glamourised” entirely, but the whole “nurse fantasy” - sexy nurses in little dresses coming to give you a sponge bath, making out with and marrying doctors, being this angelic character who selflessly holds hands and brings you your meal tray - it all makes me want to vomit. It is the most unsexy job ever, it is so politically charged, so frustrating, the relationships between colleagues are forged in fire (and rarely end in making out in empty beds….because there are never empty beds) and the reality of shift work is rarely represented in those fantasies (free for dinner tonight? Nope - working. Do something spontaneous on the weekend with your friends? Should have told me 2 months ago). Rewarding and fulfilling - absolutely. But not in the way you are thinking.
It's only been since about the 50's that people looked at work as something that should be fulfilling and bring you happiness. Prior to that it was just a way to pay for food and shelter. I have to wonder whether looking to work to be fulfilling has made us less happy. Reading this thread, it sure sounds like it.
Sounds like lots of people on here need to go out and get a better job ! Your jobs sound like they just suck. !!
The secret is, don't necessarily look for a meaningful job. Instead, find meaning in the job you have. If you feel your job is meaningful, you'll enjoy it more. If I'm a janitor (I'm not, but let's say "if"), and I realize how NICE it is to work in an office that's clean, with empty trash cans and lights that work, and how everybody feels better and works harder and is kinder in the place I keep clean, then my job is one of the most important jobs at the company. We can do that in almost any job. Find the meaning, or find another job where you CAN find the meaning (if possible). Life's too short to spend it in a job you hate.
Well, call the waaahmbulance!! Who thinks any job is 'glamorous'? The best you can say is that a job is sometimes meaningful and satisfying, like, you know, life. Who is so naive or spoiled enough to believe that you're supposed to be, or can, live inside a shiny perfume commercial, 24/7? It's work, it requires effort and it's often dull. Like life, kids. And the information is out there about how a day in the life of (specific job holder) goes, so researching that might be an idea.
Actor/Voice Actor - take that favouritism problem up to 111%... racial bias with folks who don't even understand they're being biased (and refuse to accept that they are when told) - and saying anything, even when not directed at them could get you 'blacklisted' because so-and-so was having a bad day (and so-and-so can be a... studio executive... a casting director... we're not talking mid-level management). Since it's all subjective too... you'll hear a whole lot of "Well, they just had the RIGHT look/voice" - Think of every film, ad or video where you've thought "That is so awful. Why'd they pick this person?" - THAT person was thought of as "the best fit" out of hundreds upon hundreds of applicants... MANY of whom were likely far more talented and better for the role... but were discounted due to anything OTHER than skill.
So I see two things here. 1) This is from a country where all jobs suck your soul. Long hours, little pay, probably US again. 2) People are raised thinking jobs and working is amazing and something to aspire to, romanticizing everything. Probably also US. I have not read anything here that was surprising to me. I guess we are more realistic about work here in NL.
All the jobs in the list have the same advantages / disadvantages in every country. It's quite bold to bash the USA for the existence of romanticised jobs that exist in every country and people falling for the trap. Your somewhat overconfident statement about how realistic Dutch are about work has no basis at all. Just because a lot of Dutch workers have the option to quit a job without any severe consequences, doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of Dutch people working jobs that suck big time. But they can't quit because it would get them into big financial troubles. All is not as bright in the Netherlands as you would like it to be.
Load More Replies...