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“What Profession Was Once Highly Respected, But Is Now A Complete Joke?” (30 Answers)
We currently have jobs that didn't exist 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. In fact, by one popular estimate, around 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in a career that's not even on our radar yet.
Interested in the changes of the labor market, Redditor u/jaysmith007 asked other platform users last week, "What profession was once highly respected, but is now a complete joke?"
And people gave plenty of examples. From flight attendants to nurses, continue scrolling to check out those that have received the most upvotes.
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Teaching. They get completely s**t on by the kids and the parents.
Absolutely. Sometimes parents meddle too much in their child's school life. It's ok to supervise what your child's been doing and whatnot, but for god's sake let the teachers handle how and what they teach in class. And I get it, there are some wacko teachers and they need a constant reminder of their job, but there are really good ones who have become so frustrated with all the nags! As if the school's pressure and the workload wasn't enough :(
Nursing. Long hours, hard work, front line workers for dealing with annoying ass and insane people, the definition of “I don’t get paid enough for this s**t!” Edit: thank you for the awards! My first ones :)
Farmers. Agriculture used to be something everyone had to do. Now people don't give a second thought about where there food comes from.
Journalist. It used to be a respected and necessary career, now, for more than one reason, it's lost almost all the respect it had.
Philosopher. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Now if someone tells you they are a philosopher you probably assume they don’t have a job and do a lot of drugs.
Police, you would have to be crazy to join the force right now.
And the crazy people are joining, which is why police are disrespected.
Priest for obvious reasons
They(the Catholic Church)did it to themselves by sweeping things under the rug and paying hush money for decades.
My aunt crushed it as a travel agent in the '80s/'90s. The internet totally blindsided her
If you can get a really good one that does their research they are worth so much. Sadly most of them just book easy stuff so you might was well do it yourself.
Lawyer.
I’m one and I’ve already heard all the jokes, thanks.
In the 19th century it really was a position of prestige. In the mid-20th century it meant Atticus Finch.
Now it’s just the equivalent of ambulance chaser in the minds of most people. And it’s too bad, because when you actually need one, you see what they genuinely do.
News media, regardless of their "slant." We've gone from Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite to talking heads and sound bites. Kids today won't believe that back in the day somebody came on TV or the radio and told you the who, what, where, when, why and how- and you were expected to make your own mind about it. Yes, there were editorial/opinion sections, but they were separate from the news reporting. And "journalistic integrity" is filed away somewhere with buggy whips and vacuum tubes.
Tucker Carlson is the the embodiment of what wrong with the news
Human Resources.
I get it, the protect the company and not the employee, but over the last 20 years that scale has tipped so far that modern HR practices are barely legal and usually unethical.
Critic, for the most part. It used to be that to be taken seriously as a critic, you had to have some accomplishments in the field you were critiquing, to show that your opinion on the subject was worth some value. Somewhere along the way, the position devolved to "any as***le with an opinion is a critic". It has fallen even further in the internet age, with "critics" giving obviously stupid "hot takes" just so their name can be spread out among the media.
No professions seem to be respected these days. Respect went away roughly 10-15 years ago.
School principal. Teachers who fail in the classroom flee to administration because they're too heavily invested to quit and start a new career. Of those, the ones with high ambition, low self-awareness, and weak personal character tend to fail upwards by parroting trendy buzzwords and supporting failed pedagogy. You'll meet the odd unicorn, but most principals are incompetent at everything except camouflaging their incompetence behind buzzwords and task-offloading.
Chef. My dad was a chef and in his day you could have your pick of jobs. Literally walk out of a restaurant and into another by the end of the day. People respected them and allowed creative and financial freedom. Now I work as a chef and I constantly have to answer to people ( managers, waitresses etc ) who have absolutely 0 culinary experience. The pay is sh**ty, the hours are ridiculous it's about 3 decades behind in terms of workers rights. This goes double for smaller places like non-chain bars and restaurants. They know that theirs always another chef looking for a new gig and often have no problems treating chefs like absolute dogs**t.
Air hostess- Once the symbol of glamor now its like a joke
My husband is an airline steward for one of the major airlines. People that fly have become rude, abusive, confrontational, physically attack staff, defy and ignore rules
Don't think it's a joke. Am not sure where this is coming from. Sure it's not as glamorous as it was in the early 1960s, but I don't remember a lot of demeaning talk about aircraft attendants. Unlike the "glamour" days, passengers and aircrew can't sexually harrass them anymore without consequence. And you didn't used to go to jail for doing or saying things the hostess didn't like.
We are called flight attendants and we are flight crew in charge of safety - if your plane is crashing, you realize we do a lot more than serve sodas.
Boosting this comment. I’ve been watching the Mentour Pilot on YouTube explaining various air disasters, and he gives high praise to flight attendants as being a valuable part of the flight crew as a whole.
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We are flight attendants and can evacuate planes during emergencies. Our primary job is safety not serving sodas.
Boosting this comment. People need to aware that offering snacks and drinks is not your primary purpose while onboard. Though hopefully we never need to see your primary purpose in action.
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If you think that all flight attendants do it stand around, hand out drinks and smile while they jet off to exotic locations, then you really need to talk to some actual flight attendants.
The stewardesses and stewards in airplanes have one very important job, in case of emergency they will get your ass out alive even if they have to sacrifice their own. Sure they serve drinks, snacks on board the airplane and what not, but their main job is getting your ass out of the airplane in an emergency. Respect those women and men.
You really think that they'll sacrifice their lives to save yours??? I wouldn't count on it!
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I for one respect flight attendants and know of no one who considers them a joke.
Um it's no joke and they are far more than flying waitresses . They would put their lives on the line for their passengers. There is way more than serving drinks involved in the job.
Ummm once a symbol of glamour.?! Paaa-lease air hostesses where put there to attract the wealthy money makers (mostly men at that time) to buy tickets on the airline with the most attractive women. It's why we don't think of male steward on planes but rather hostesses. Just google early uniforms for air hostesses. Degrading af
you have zero clue the amount of safety training they go through, and their knowledge of flight, even back then.
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"Joke?" Being a flight attendant is not a "joke." It's an honorable profession, whose members are captive audiences and subjected to the vagaries of the dregs of humanity, in a closed environment. I don't call that a "joke."
They are your first line of rescue in an onboard emergency. I recall an accident where the air steward either didn’t know how to open the emergency door, or wasn’t physically strong enough to open it. This illustrates that the airline has lost sight of the stewards’ function.
OK, these staff are trained to do much more than to give you peanuts and a a coke. They are trained to make your trip comfortable and safe.And when passengers get crazy and dangerous, they know what to do to make the rest of us safe I TOTALLY respect them
As an ex-airline employee I can say that air travel used to be fun and somewhat glamorous; now the seats are too small, with no leg room, and you're squished in between some hairy guy in an undershirt and an oversized person of either sex. (Please note, I have nothing against hairy guys, I just don't like being squished).
It's still the best job in the world! Had to do other jobs during Covid, but now I'm back and believe me, nothing beats flying! ✈️
The standards and requirements are different. Attendants can be short, chubby, old, young, unattractive. But it is the budget airlines that are a joke, not the flight attendants. They aren’t nearly as glamorous as they seemed 20 years ago, but give them a break, it’s not an easy job and it plays havoc on their health, all that radiation, odd sleeping times, hotels, time zones, awful passengers..
I kind of thought after 9/11 people would have more respect for air stewards. I certainly do. Apart from the crap they put up with, probably from arseholes like the OP, they are the people you are relying on if there is an emergency. You're relying on them being well trained, calm, and confident. Being an air steward is a lot more than just handing out food.
I don't think they are waitress in the sky, they are more likely the life saver in the sky when emergencies happen.
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I think it depends on what airline they work for. I still think for the bigger airlines it's a prestigious job, but not so much for the cheaper airlines where they charge you for food and drink and if your suitcase is 1lb overweight.
Most airline jobs, actually. Emotional and sometimes physical abuse. Poor pay for many, especially in the regionals.
I'd have more respect for them if they weren't required to look like models i.e. perfect hair & makeup. I don't care what you're wearing, I just need to know you can do your job.
So you don't respect people because of the uniform their job requires them to wear? That's logical.
Load More Replies... Have flown regularly on national, regional and intl lines since 1950. Stewardesses were once admired for their many talents and glamorous jobs. Now they're called 'attendants' (which is actually almost an insult), and overworked by employers and mistreated by passengers. Did I mention underpaid? Yet in an emergency they will risk their lives to save yours, and have often done exactly that. They take personal responsibility for passengers. In a crash they make sure passengers get out safely if at all possible, and they are the last to leave a burning plane. When worse comes to worst, they are heroes, and often unregarded. Everyone, quite justifiably, remembers Capt Sullenberger for safely ditching his plane in the hudson River a couple of years ago. But after that, the persons most responsible for getting all 155 passengers out safely were the stewardesses, and not one of them got a mention.
I can’t find the link I was initially thinking of where I heard Sully thank the FAs for their work, but here’s another link showing that the FAs did indeed get mentions https://youtu.be/2H6SVMAJCq0
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How many frequent travellers listen to the "trolly dolly" going thru the same emergency speech? Can't count the number of times i've heard about water landings when the flight never went near the sea.
Spinster. In the middle ages, it was a respected career which could keep a woman financially independent and secure. She worked damn hard and had to be physically strong and good with money. And a spinster could choose to be in a relationship, but it wasn't imperative for her survival. Nowadays it's just become a term for middle aged or older single women and the fact it used to be a respected job title has been all but forgotten.
They were called spinsters because they worked spinning wool, if anyone's confused.
I wanted to say politician but they have always been hated the more I think about it
Do royals count? They were once honorable leaders, now either dictators or useless fools
President of russia
There's a difference between being respected and towing the company line, for fear of being shot. 🤔
For me personally, doctor. I used to hold them in high regard until I started working with them. Most are lazy, greedy and do not know a single thing outside of medicine. Some don't even know medicine!
I only respect a doctor if they show respect for me. I'll acknowledge their expertise, I'm not questioning that. As soon as they try to tell me what I'm able to sense in my body or what my life is like with a disability they can piss off. I don't know what life is like in their body why assume they know what it's like in mine? Keeping me as healthy as possible is a mutual endeavour. Respect goes both ways.
Musicians that played dynamite saxophone solos in rock and roll songs.
Elevator attendants. Once revered engineers capable of lifting humans hundreds of feet in the air. Now a comedic relic of a by gone era.
This is the only one on the list that actually fits the descriptoin of this list.
Optician. Back in the day, if you were an old-school Optician you knew absolutely everything about complicated prescription issues, making glasses, grinding lenses, manufacturing a complete set of glasses yourself from your own lab in the back of the store. Nowadays it’s mostly 20 yr old idiots who take a cr**py little express program to certify themselves as ‘Opticians’ , but all orders are sent to an outside lab to be made. If you have a problem with your glasses, 90% of these ‘opticians’ have no idea how to solve your problem. It’s also now essentially just a glorified salesperson job.
Source: Im an ex-optician who’s biggest mistake in life so far was wasting years on that sh**ty low-paying “career”
Translators used to be members of royal courts, but are now full-on taken advantage of by agencies who know nothing about the industry, but hold all the clients. They often expect people with B.A.s, M.A.s, multiple certifications, and decades of experience to work for very low pay
Or people who think google is a capable translator and just want you to tweak what google shat out a little for pennies.
My friends Dad was a pretty successful ad salesman for yellowpages. After no one needed phone books anymore and he cheated on his wife and had 2 divorces, and bought a purple harley with a dragon on it, he then became a seller of funeral packages...
Alchemist
Note: this post originally had 59 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I'm a painter (went to school, study hard the old masters, learnt the antique methods of making paints and varnishes from scratch), and every time I tell anyone I'm a painter they ask me "yeah, but I mean, what's your job? Painting it's just a hobby" 🙃
They forgot to say: stockbrokers (aka gamblers), and bankers (aka robbers).
I've seen alot of posts where you s**t on anyone who made smart life choices.
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In reference to the optician...you don't even see him/her anymore! At my last eye doctor appointment, she was on a TV screen asking me questions. Had to have the glasses remade 3 times!
Watchmakers? Once every house had at least one wall beautiful hung or floor standing clock and people weared mechanical wrist or pocket watchea that required regular tune ups and repairing services. Then came the Swatch-era when these watches became a plastic piese of sheet. Now everyone look at their mobile phones if they want to know the time. Watches became a part of fashion outfit and they go out of style before they would need any maintenance. Source: I learnt to be a watchmaker but left my profession long time ago for coding.
Many professions left out. I'll just add a doctor, because everybody seems to be a self-taught internet doctor nowadays.
Avtar Chauhan:- The TV Newscaster of any international channel! I strongly recommend the status & qualitative public standing.
Journalism was often a crappy profession. There was really only a very short period of time when ethics were a big deal and journalism was seen as noble. the rest of its history was like it is now: mainly pandering in order to get the biggest market share to make profits for the people who owned the media outlets. Check out early newspapers if you don't believe me.
I'm a painter (went to school, study hard the old masters, learnt the antique methods of making paints and varnishes from scratch), and every time I tell anyone I'm a painter they ask me "yeah, but I mean, what's your job? Painting it's just a hobby" 🙃
They forgot to say: stockbrokers (aka gamblers), and bankers (aka robbers).
I've seen alot of posts where you s**t on anyone who made smart life choices.
Load More Replies... In reference to the optician...you don't even see him/her anymore! At my last eye doctor appointment, she was on a TV screen asking me questions. Had to have the glasses remade 3 times!
Watchmakers? Once every house had at least one wall beautiful hung or floor standing clock and people weared mechanical wrist or pocket watchea that required regular tune ups and repairing services. Then came the Swatch-era when these watches became a plastic piese of sheet. Now everyone look at their mobile phones if they want to know the time. Watches became a part of fashion outfit and they go out of style before they would need any maintenance. Source: I learnt to be a watchmaker but left my profession long time ago for coding.
Many professions left out. I'll just add a doctor, because everybody seems to be a self-taught internet doctor nowadays.
Avtar Chauhan:- The TV Newscaster of any international channel! I strongly recommend the status & qualitative public standing.
Journalism was often a crappy profession. There was really only a very short period of time when ethics were a big deal and journalism was seen as noble. the rest of its history was like it is now: mainly pandering in order to get the biggest market share to make profits for the people who owned the media outlets. Check out early newspapers if you don't believe me.
