29 Professions That Attract The Worst Kinds Of People, As Shared Online
Interview With Author
Every workplace has gone through a questionable set of employees. Perhaps it's a case of "they are who they are," and they portray the same personality outside of their professional life, or maybe assets like power and money are to blame – who knows?
This netizen, however, took to Reddit and posed this question: "Which profession attracts the worst kinds of people?" The thread has garnered over 34K upvotes and almost 30K comments establishing what careers do, in fact, attract a greater number of jerks.
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Unpopular opinion but nurses. There is a lot, A LOT, of toxic abusive high-school girl drama type behavior among nurses.
It's such an important job and about half the people doing it shouldn't be responsible for a yogurt, let alone a human being's life.
I've seen some s**t, man.
As someone who worked HR for a medical clinic, I can vouch for this. I never wanted to yell "Grow the F-up!" more than when I had 30+ nurses to deal with. It's insane.
Bored Panda was lucky to get through to the author of the thread, and we posed them a couple of questions.
First, we asked what inspired them to make the post: "I keep in touch with my college friends. Inevitably, some of our peers are brought up in conversation, and not all of them in a good way. Some of the latter were political science majors who seemed more concerned with basking in their proximity to power than anything else."
We then invited the author to answer their own question: "I don't have an objective answer to this. I can only speak to what tends to get into my head the most, personally. And the response above answers this question in not so many words. (I also disdain certain movie and TV directors who appeal to an audience's most shallow, nihilistic impulses for easy views, attention, and money.)"
Last but certainly not least, the OP added: "I'm an extremely flawed person. I'm judgmental, self-centered, and a touch petty. It's possible that had I the skill and drive, I would have done something in politics myself, because a part of me is attracted to power. The bottom line is that while I have opinions and a right to express them, I claim no absolute moral high ground. And I think that should be the same for everyone."
Law enforcement seems to have some problems
On the whole less than 1% of Law Enforcement Officers will ever have a problem of doing something bad or crossing the line. However that tiny group tends to commit a lot of problems (like the guy with Floyd's death, he had 17 excessive force and abuse complaints on his record before then), but DA's and Police Unions protect the bad ones, which allows them to flourish)
If you're a cop who knows a bad cop and you do nothing, you're a bad cop too.
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Just a little something to think about when someone says oh it's just a small minority of cops that are corrupt, criminals, scumbags, racist, murderers, etc... How many turds can you add to a punch bowl before it's no longer punch and is instead sewage? Would you be ok with one turd in the punch? Of course not. In case the moral of this allegory is unclear, the bad cops are the turds and the police force is the punch. It's crude, but it really makes you see things differently.
Well written. "Turds in a Punch Bowl". I feel a song coming on!
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I still remember the kind of push back police departments had when everyone was talking about making body cams standard. The problem seems so much worse than I expected.
I live in Memphis. That so called scorpion unit that murdered YES MURDERED Tyre Nichols has destroyed my faith in law enforcement forever.
In all fairness, every profession has its problem people, it's just that with law enforcement, problem people get innocent people killed. There needs to be a way to weed them out so only the good ones remain (there are lots of good ones).
But the "good ones" enable the bad ones. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I have never heard of a single instance of this supposed good majority taking a stand against corrupt, abusive cops. I've never heard a story where a single cop did something wrong and those around them immediately denounced them and did anything about it. The only times you hear of bad cops getting their comeuppance is when the issue is brought to light by the public. And then we always hear about the cops around them doing their best to cover it up. I could give example after example. All I ask is for a single example where the "good" cops do the right thing when dealing with bad cops, on their own, without being forced to by the public only after the stories come to light. I'm not a fan of clichés but "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" fits pretty well here.
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Coming from prison, I will say that the cops here have been far kinder than expected. They treat me like anybody else. My neighbors used to play very loud music every night until about five in the morning. I made a few complaints. The cops treated my complaints seriously, and my neighbors now either turn the music down or off at a reasonable hour. The cops could have harassed me, refused to take care of the problem, or ignored me completely. They didn't. I appreciated that.
The police officers who put on the uniform so they can pretend to be better than what they really are. They hide their true selves. I know this on a personal level. They hide their darkness behind the uniform.
"But it's only a few bad apples." Cry the apologists completely oblivious to the idiom they're referencing.
Not surprising at all. Most are d***s that were irrelevant in high school
Worked as a first responder amongst them... a shocking amount of people in Law Enforcement just aren't smart. Like Chief Wiggum level dumb. Someone hit a moose on the highway. Fire department, Ambulance, City workers all there doing their job to save the people in the car that was damaged. Cop directing traffic? Hell no! They straight up walk to the fire truck, pull out their power saw, proceed to carve up the moose and package it to take home in the trunk of his cruiser. His partner... watching the fire department crew get the people out of the car. Traffic? Backed up 3 miles, no one directing people.
When I was in the USAF, your punishment for failing out of your classes during tech school was to become part of the security forces. Or if you placed poorly on your exams it was the same fate. We always joked how dumb they were as a group. It's honestly scary how incompetent the vast majority seemed to be.
Load More Replies... TBH what sort of person do you think would voluntarily go into a job like that? (a) a person who likes telling others what to do, (b) a person who wants to be legally allowed to assault others, (c) a person who thinks that poor people are to blame for their rotten circumstances and that if they just "obeyed the law" as Chris Rock puts it in an attempt at humour, they'd be middle class. If you look at (a)-(c) the state of american policing is unsurprising.
THIS. I was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by an on-duty officer. He also sent naked pictures of me to a fellow officer, who had looked up a woman he had arrested and hooked up with her. Total abuse of power all around.
Cops have too much power and too little oversight. They should be held accountable in all incidences and have a cap on time they can serve. They honestly shouldn't be married either. And they signed up to potentially die so that's a risk they take. They need to follow the damn law themselves and quit being treated as if they're some almighty force selflessly serving. They don't even have to legally protect or serve us so what's the point? A bunch of bullies is what they are. You don't see many good cops because they get fired for calling out their colleagues on their s**t.
It seems you have to be really psycho to not pass the psych eval for cops. I've met a few, total power hungry psychopaths. I can't imagine them with a badge
I'm probably gonna get some hate for this... the military (The US Army to be precise). Probably 99% of the Soldiers are good, honest people. The nature of the job just simply attracts some sickos. The Army does what it can, but It takes a long time to kick someone out of the Army. Source: 6 years Active Duty
I was in the marines and most higher ups are sociopaths, got promoted by kissing the a$$ of the sociopaths, have questionable mental stability, negligible intelligence, and power trip like it’s heroin. I couldn’t believe my life was in the hands of these people.
Academia.
Intelligent people in very niche areas, with no consideration for the real world and social interaction, whilst simultaneously being told they are the best in the world at certain specific subject areas (which is true, but just not as many people care as academics think they do). You end up with an unnecessarily toxic environment of people trying to intellectually one up each other and throw anyone off the ladder on their way up.
It's a cruel, nasty, petty, and poisonous environment.
Yep. The absolute worst, those people will see you and talk to you like you're nothing because they believe they know so much and are touched by God. Ugh! I have a graduate degree. Had to deal with this bs from these fools who wouldn't make it outside academia
My mum worked in a prison. She said that a lot of the men in there for sex offences against children had/were looking for jobs like driving ice cream vans, dressing as Santa at shopping centres etc as they liked kids sitting on their laps etc. Apparently it's way more common than people would think
Human resources
Youth Pastor
Mine was fired for trying to turn our youth group into a cult. Perhaps it's a power trip thing.
Hollywood producer it seems.
Over and over and over.
Investment banking. Not all of them are terrible but to be successful its benefical to be a complete c**t
They basically make their money by siphoning wealth away from those who do actual work. They're pretty much economic parasites, like landlords
Stockbrokers. I have some friends who are stockbrokers. I love them, but man, they are some b******t artists. And not like, "Oh, they're a good salesman, and could sell you anything," No, it's like they make s**t up as they go along and try to sound confident in what they say.
I went looking for a stockbroker five years ago. I didn't find one. They're an extinct species, in my country anyway. You can only find "investment brokers" these days.
Psychology. There are lots of great people in that field, but it also attracted the most manipulate and destructive a*****e I've ever known. He's a licensed therapist now, and I feel sorry for anyone who crosses his path.
Police
Absolutely not true. There are black sheep in every profession, but police are not shady figures in general.
Sales, estate agents, recruiters
I had many jobs and the recruiters have been nice and hardworking people.
Substance abuse mental health professionals seem to fall into one of the following categories: a) wonderful, angelic and highly competent souls who truly want to help drug addicts/alcoholics (they're maybe 20% of the counselors, optimistically); b) burnt-out incompetent/lazy/don't-care types (another 60%); or c) absolute personality-disordered, narcissistic/ Machiavellian sadistic types who really get off on the enormous power/control they have over the lives and fates of the people under their care (maybe another 20%). YMMV. The last group can do a LOT of damage.
Actually... Idk I disagree with this one! I'm in recovery and have worked with many, many substance abuse counselors and professionals and I can truly, honestly say I've never had the misfortune of meeting a bad one they have all been super kind and helpful and just amazing. They saved my life I have nothing bad to say about any of the ones I've worked with ❤️ that's a good thing right?! Most or a lot of them are also recovering addicts so it's possible that is the reason for my good experience. Actually I've had a lot of terrible experiences at hospitals like emergency rooms and stuff and once the ambulance people were really mean and scary to me.
I thought I wanted to be an architect… but then I met a bunch of architects. And architecture students. And architecture professors. And they were pretty much all A******s. It was weird. I mean… how could it be so consistent? But there ya have it.
George Costanza wanted to be an architect, so it sounds like he would have fitted in just fine
Sales.
Ironically i am also getting into sales 🙄
Depends on the sales by extension: marketing. There’s some truly amazing people in that industry but also some genuinely scary psychopaths
Ok so not really a profession but… there is a certain subset of musicians who are also wannabe influencers… particular people who are very on twitter. so back-stabby and clout hungry
Tow truck drivers. At least 80% of all the tow truck drivers I've met have been felons, and about 98% have been shady d**kheads.
Maybe I've just been lucky, but every tow truck driver I've interacted with has been extremely kind. One pulled me out a snow bank and refused payment, another drove me several miles looking for an open motel (before smart phones).
Insofar as psychopaths tend to be dangerous kinds of people, heres a [list of the professions that seem to attract a disproportionate number of psychopaths]:
* Civil servant
* Chef
* Clergy
* Police
* Journalist
* Surgeon
* Salesperson
* Media
* Lawyer
* CEO
Personally, I'd go with sales because there's simply a lot more salespeople than CEOs or police, so it's a lot more likely that you're going to encounter a terrible person who's in sales. My anecdotal experience would also tend to confirm this.
Prisons are full of unsuccessful psychopaths, c-suites are full of successful psychopaths.
Private equity
Bouncers. I swear those people are always looking to create trouble so they can exercise their right to kick a*s
Line cook. A lot of them are great people, but every beyond horrible person I've met has always been a cook
I dunno my buddy was a landlord, but he quit because people trashed his houses and many times didn't pay rent, staying through the whole eviction process. He was really good to the tenants too... but they took advantage of him.
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-Jobs that come with power over other people -Jobs that put potential predators in close unsupervised contact with their prey of choice -Jobs with structural incentives for dishonesty
It's all about the culture.not just at 1 organization but amongst the profession. People are taught one way when they become new to that job and think that that's how they have to treat the next generation coming up and so you end. Up with a vicious cycle that is very hard to break.
It's not jobs, it's just people. A LOT of people are f*****g psycho a******s. I hate people. I LIKE some individuals.
Insurance sales people. They act uppity, entitled and have power trips. If you're and honest person, they will eat you alive and abuse you. They fired me unlawfully for pregnancy complications. Then they had the gall to try and collect premium payments from me. I threatened a lawsuit for wrongful termination after months of verbal abuse if they didn't drop the collection. They left me alone and I kept my word on not pursuing it further. I just wanted to be left alone and forget I ever worked for their internationally well-known supplemental insurance company. Honest to goodness: I just wanted to be left alone and forget the emotional trauma of being screamed at at the convention and Subway parking lots over my personal choices. Getting fired was the last straw about me giving a f**k. You leave me alone and you won't have a PR nightmare worse than the other one that happened 1 year prior to that. It's now been 11 years since then. And yes, everyone in the office was like that. -_-
And no, for legal reasons of it possibly coming back up again, I won't say who the company was. But insurance sales people are THE WORST. Never again.
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Surprised IT Help desk, isn't on here. Some of the rudest, most condescending people I have ever had to deal with... I grew up building my own computers and troubleshooting networks, so I didn't take their c**p. But the way they talked down to other managers and co-workers was shocking. More than once, I had to take the phone and chew them out for their rudeness. Incredible god complexes with that group.
"Influencers" are not mentioned but should be tied with the number one spot
People who sell untested, useless 'healing' products and services. Half are deluded, the other half are con artists.
So, who is left? This list about wipes out a quarter of the human race.
Ob/Gyn's. At least in med school. The most unhappy, heirarchical, bossy, overworked, competitive people ever. And totally lacking in empathy. Maybe it gets better when they get out of med school.
Where’s the 🤬 lawyers??? They’re one of the few professions that are actually anti-productive. They actually lessen the value of anything that they are involved in and delay the activity in the process. OK, to be fair, not ALL lawyers - 99% give the others a bad name 😊
Can those who marry for money then divorce, then marry again for money, divorce, then marry again etc etc be included? They seem to treat it as a profession.
It's not the art of marrying well but the art of divorcing well
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Telemarketing manager should be on there, too. I get there are people who get into this line of work either because it was a job quick to hire or they thought "customer service rep" really was about customer service. Many don't last long in the entry position of being on the phones. But those who got promoted to anything higher up proved they don't give a s**t about anyone, all about making money at any length, and are often hyper, cocky hot shots loaded on morning coke and taquitos, telling his team they can work at McDonalds and get acne if they don't produce more sales. (based on a true events.)
We have to worry about the people who step on others to get to the top not those who worked hard to get there.
Have to agree about nurses, and it's both male and female, not just the women. I worked in healthcare a total of 40 years before retiring a few years ago, though alongside nurses, not as one of them. Mean! Hoo-whee, some of them are so mean, they could kill a tough boar hog with just one sharp-tongued word! They'll be super nice to the patients and fams, but absolute, utter witches with each other. And to the "lesser" staff? We weren't even considered to be human beings by quite a number of RN's, which is all most hospitals can hire now (and they usually have to have their BSN anymore just to be an RN in a hospital).
School deans? Maybe it's just my school. I realized today how much of control freaks they really are when it comes to dress code, late passes, missing school for anything, and what we can and can't access on our computers, there's even a sign on every door leading outside stating that you'll get suspended if you open it for another student whose locked out. Arrived just after the bell rang? Too bad, you have to go to the office and wait 15 minutes in line for a tardy pass. It's ridiculous, the principal is super chill about almost everything, and most people actually really like him, but the deans are such strong enforcers of tiny rules that most of us hate them.
Nobody mentioned actors. Imagine someone who could talk about themselves for hours and still say nothing. Actors.
Can't class it as a Proffession, but it you think about it, it actually is. Middle managment, all the do is manage other managers. It can be a shoe factory or a investment bank, they never manage assets or inventory only department and people. Yet they never direct there attention to where the company is going, only bicker about resources, margins and the bottom line. I fired a lot of them, as good ones are hard to find. But the worst is from above (C*O) you are not allowed to promote lower managers who might be good at the job, no we need outside expertise! F**k the career Middle-managers screwing up millions.
Hmm I do not see system administrator here. Those guys are megalomaniacs. Google "bastard operator from hell" if you want a sample.
Are there technical problems on BP currently? I can´t post comments under the pictures, only replying to other peoples comments.
Accountants. I became a member of an Facebook group for us accountants in my country. I was there less then a week. It was the most poisonous social media group I have ever come across. Full of know-it-all that (because they were accountants) knew exactly how everything in the world works.
I dunno my buddy was a landlord, but he quit because people trashed his houses and many times didn't pay rent, staying through the whole eviction process. He was really good to the tenants too... but they took advantage of him.
Load More Replies... -Jobs that come with power over other people -Jobs that put potential predators in close unsupervised contact with their prey of choice -Jobs with structural incentives for dishonesty
It's all about the culture.not just at 1 organization but amongst the profession. People are taught one way when they become new to that job and think that that's how they have to treat the next generation coming up and so you end. Up with a vicious cycle that is very hard to break.
It's not jobs, it's just people. A LOT of people are f*****g psycho a******s. I hate people. I LIKE some individuals.
Insurance sales people. They act uppity, entitled and have power trips. If you're and honest person, they will eat you alive and abuse you. They fired me unlawfully for pregnancy complications. Then they had the gall to try and collect premium payments from me. I threatened a lawsuit for wrongful termination after months of verbal abuse if they didn't drop the collection. They left me alone and I kept my word on not pursuing it further. I just wanted to be left alone and forget I ever worked for their internationally well-known supplemental insurance company. Honest to goodness: I just wanted to be left alone and forget the emotional trauma of being screamed at at the convention and Subway parking lots over my personal choices. Getting fired was the last straw about me giving a f**k. You leave me alone and you won't have a PR nightmare worse than the other one that happened 1 year prior to that. It's now been 11 years since then. And yes, everyone in the office was like that. -_-
And no, for legal reasons of it possibly coming back up again, I won't say who the company was. But insurance sales people are THE WORST. Never again.
Load More Replies... Surprised IT Help desk, isn't on here. Some of the rudest, most condescending people I have ever had to deal with... I grew up building my own computers and troubleshooting networks, so I didn't take their c**p. But the way they talked down to other managers and co-workers was shocking. More than once, I had to take the phone and chew them out for their rudeness. Incredible god complexes with that group.
"Influencers" are not mentioned but should be tied with the number one spot
People who sell untested, useless 'healing' products and services. Half are deluded, the other half are con artists.
So, who is left? This list about wipes out a quarter of the human race.
Ob/Gyn's. At least in med school. The most unhappy, heirarchical, bossy, overworked, competitive people ever. And totally lacking in empathy. Maybe it gets better when they get out of med school.
Where’s the 🤬 lawyers??? They’re one of the few professions that are actually anti-productive. They actually lessen the value of anything that they are involved in and delay the activity in the process. OK, to be fair, not ALL lawyers - 99% give the others a bad name 😊
Can those who marry for money then divorce, then marry again for money, divorce, then marry again etc etc be included? They seem to treat it as a profession.
It's not the art of marrying well but the art of divorcing well
Load More Replies... Telemarketing manager should be on there, too. I get there are people who get into this line of work either because it was a job quick to hire or they thought "customer service rep" really was about customer service. Many don't last long in the entry position of being on the phones. But those who got promoted to anything higher up proved they don't give a s**t about anyone, all about making money at any length, and are often hyper, cocky hot shots loaded on morning coke and taquitos, telling his team they can work at McDonalds and get acne if they don't produce more sales. (based on a true events.)
We have to worry about the people who step on others to get to the top not those who worked hard to get there.
Have to agree about nurses, and it's both male and female, not just the women. I worked in healthcare a total of 40 years before retiring a few years ago, though alongside nurses, not as one of them. Mean! Hoo-whee, some of them are so mean, they could kill a tough boar hog with just one sharp-tongued word! They'll be super nice to the patients and fams, but absolute, utter witches with each other. And to the "lesser" staff? We weren't even considered to be human beings by quite a number of RN's, which is all most hospitals can hire now (and they usually have to have their BSN anymore just to be an RN in a hospital).
School deans? Maybe it's just my school. I realized today how much of control freaks they really are when it comes to dress code, late passes, missing school for anything, and what we can and can't access on our computers, there's even a sign on every door leading outside stating that you'll get suspended if you open it for another student whose locked out. Arrived just after the bell rang? Too bad, you have to go to the office and wait 15 minutes in line for a tardy pass. It's ridiculous, the principal is super chill about almost everything, and most people actually really like him, but the deans are such strong enforcers of tiny rules that most of us hate them.
Nobody mentioned actors. Imagine someone who could talk about themselves for hours and still say nothing. Actors.
Can't class it as a Proffession, but it you think about it, it actually is. Middle managment, all the do is manage other managers. It can be a shoe factory or a investment bank, they never manage assets or inventory only department and people. Yet they never direct there attention to where the company is going, only bicker about resources, margins and the bottom line. I fired a lot of them, as good ones are hard to find. But the worst is from above (C*O) you are not allowed to promote lower managers who might be good at the job, no we need outside expertise! F**k the career Middle-managers screwing up millions.
Hmm I do not see system administrator here. Those guys are megalomaniacs. Google "bastard operator from hell" if you want a sample.
Are there technical problems on BP currently? I can´t post comments under the pictures, only replying to other peoples comments.
Accountants. I became a member of an Facebook group for us accountants in my country. I was there less then a week. It was the most poisonous social media group I have ever come across. Full of know-it-all that (because they were accountants) knew exactly how everything in the world works.
