As Russell Wilson looks for a new home after being released from the Broncos with history's biggest ‘dead money’, there is renewed talk that quarterbacks, and football players in general, are often overpaid. However, talk about someone being overpaid has, at some point or another, touched on almost every profession in this world.
For example, here is a viral thread in the AskReddit community, with participants actively giving examples of occupations whose lucky owners earn over 100k, but at the same time the job itself is either easy to do or makes no sense at all, according to netizens. So please enjoy this selection from the thread’s most interesting postings, prepared for you by Bored Panda!
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Televangelist.
They need to tax these people so they are forced to creatively get out of paying taxes just like all the other wealthy people.
Influencer.
How shallow does one have to be to be "influenced" by people in this way?
Mine. IT strategist. I explain to executives that many of their current problems are the result of not listening to my previous advice. Then I give them fresh new advice that they will ignore. Rinse and repeat.
It just so happens that if you glance at the list of professions that netizens consider unnecessary or clearly overpaid, then there will be many managerial positions, as well as intermediaries like real estate agents or salespersons. And, of course, officials at various levels - especially since the trend towards the so-called ‘digital state’ is gradually spreading more and more in the world, where many bureaucratic positions are simply replaced by an application on your smartphone.
Senators. They get paid to sit around and vote yes or no and argue about s**t. And when they can’t agree on s**t the whole government shuts down.
Super s****y doctors that can't get a job in clinical medicine, often due to repeated board complaints or loss of medical license (for incompetence/unethical behavior, etc), can go and work for insurance companies reviewing/denying insurance claims.
Self-help gurus.
On the other hand, for example, various managerial positions in IT also do not always mean that a person receives insane money literally for nothing. In the end, an IT architect or a team lead is a person who, in the vast majority of cases, has gone through the entire career path from a junior developer, and now they are paid not so much for their skills, but for the knowledge and experience acquired during this long way. Knowledge and experience, which, you see, are worth the money.
Google pays my sister 250k/year to basically sign in once a day and check emails. She can't even explain what her job is. She doesn't even code.
Edit: She didn't get hired right in to this position. She started at the temp level 7 years ago, and has continued to apply for promotions over the years. Ended up on a team put together for some project, and Google pulled the plug on it. Ever since they basically pay those people just to keep them.
Consultant (e.g. KPMG, Deloitte etc.)
Like straight out of university who/what tf are you consulting??? And as a 23 y/o how do you have the experience to consult someone who's been doing their job for decades???.
A lot of sales jobs.
I'm a tractor/machinery salesman, pays very well but wild to me what little impact I have in society. Most of the people that buy were going to buy anyway- and if I was BRUTAL at my job they'd still buy the machinery it'd just be a different color.
I'm not depressed about it- just wild to think about because some of the most impactful jobs in society pay the least. I'd imagine the local school teacher has a vastly larger impact on the community.
“We must not forget that any market, despite its regulation by various government agencies, still remains, let’s say, a living functioning organism that pretty quickly responds to any challenges,” says Olga Kopylova, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at Odessa National Maritime University, to whom Bored Panda reached out for a comment here. “And if there are a lot of people in a certain profession who receive their salary, then most likely there is a steady demand for this profession.”
“We can say as much as we want that this or that occupation is ‘useless’, but if it’s a profession related to business or commerce, then, most likely, it is still needed for the company. Of course, it often happens that management ‘produces’ various managerial positions, the presence of which is not always justified, but this, it seems to me, is more a special case than a rule,” Olga summarizes.
HR anywhere.
Well, there was that conceptual artist who got paid $120,000 for duct taping a banana to a wall...twice.
Perhaps that actually *was* useful and even important. Maybe it was some kind of galactic code to tell the alien scouts not to destroy our planet. But I doubt it.
Returning to Russell Wilson, I will still tell you that he was definitely overpaid in Colorado. 11-19 for two years in Denver, for $245M, in fact - if this is not overpayment, then what can we call it? However, quarterbacks and athletes are not on this list at all. But who else is? Well, please scroll this selection to the very end yourselves and maybe add your own ideas in the comments below.
Middle managers. At every single previous job I could not tell you a single thing that any of the middle managers actually did other than talk to their managers and my managers. They exist solely to send 3 emails per day, sit in 4 meetings, and collect a paycheck.
Just occurred to me because I heard about a guy whose entire job is reselling magic the gathering cards and apparently he makes a lot.
Anything that involves the stock market, these guys contribute nothing of value to society.
There is a sliver of actual usefulness to the stock market, but the vast majority of it is just legalized gambling. Does anyone not know this? (Same applies to lottery, sports betting, cryptocurrency, casinos - a sliver of actual usefulness, but mostly just gambling)
Professional poker player.
How many cards is that guy holding? Is he playing poker or is he playing bridge?
Wall Street hedgefund manager.
A lot of "middle men" jobs. Especially car dealers. They are glorified cashiers/customer service reps. They barely serve a purpose today with smartphones/internet at your fingertips. For example, you just Google: " I'm looking for a minivan that is reliable and comes with a hybrid option." You can go from there with further questions and even consumer reviews. Amazing. Need financing? Call a credit union or bank.
Real Estate Agent.
no. they make it easier to buy property, without you dealing directly with whiny-a*s sellers, who in turn need an agent so they don't have to deal with your whiny a*s
Dropshipping.
What's wrong with this? It's kind of a win/win for all involved. Manufacturers get to transact with dealers only, who handle all of the support questions and billing, while dealers have the benefit of not having to sink capital into physical stock. Customers get personal support from dealers, and the manufacturer doesn't have to deal with their nonsense. It certainly works in the business I'm in.
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They forgot the whole sport segment. Playing ball can make you a multimillionaire. It's kinda dumb
Entertainment is important to a human's well being and is therefore useful. If you are upset athletes get paid too much then you should get upset at the socialism billionaires get to build stadiums. Besides they get paid what they are worth. You should be happy for them and upset if you aren't. If they didn't get paid that much all the money would go to the owners.
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Maybe I'm just bitter, but actors. In Friends they were each paid 1 million per episode (since season 4 or 5). 24 millions per year for each of them? Or in other term, 150 millions for each for the whole show? And this is still not the most ridiculous when we talk about actors. (Just for record, average American makes about 1.7 million in life)
Not really. People need entertainment in their life, so their jobs aren't useless. Do they make ridiculous amounts of money? Yes they do, but that's not the complete point of list.
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Wtf first I'm not doing any of those job but if you are thinking those jobs are so easy why aren't you doing it
I think people must be pretty nieve if they think, model, currency trader, sales, admin, etc is an easy job. It might not be physical but it sure ain't easy. If you are no good at currency trading, you don;'t have a job, if you cannot sell anything then you arn't working sales. Influencers might be annoying, but it seems like the major players on youtube this year are quitting from burn out and exhaustion. Easy? no.
I knew a man who said he could not explain what he did at a paper mill we would not understand. He was an engineer. Eventually he dumbed it down. His job? When the mill owners wanted to put in a new paper making machine he figured the best place to put it. They did this every five years or so. That was all he did.
Are life coaches still a thing or are they passé now? Any unregulated profession attracts charlatans for obvious reasons, so true of a lot of roles in the wellbeing industry. In the UK there's technically no such thing as a qualified psychotherapist as it's voluntarily regulated (and works like a pyramid scheme).
CEOs, Every professional sports team; owners down to the players. College coaches. Upper management at 99% of companies. Most high school counsellors. Every single influencer. Anything Elon Musk touches.
I'm going to make myself unpopular and disagree about CEOs. A good CEO makes the future direction and strategy for getting there look attractive so that people support it and stop doing things that don't contribute to it. With a few exceptions, I don't agree with the tired old trope about them being psychopaths either: the job involves making difficult decisions that aren't going to please everyone.
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The person who stands at the self-checkout bay in grocery stores. If they put a cancel button on the screen, they'd be extinct.
Pretty sure they are there to minimize theft not just to help people
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They forgot the whole sport segment. Playing ball can make you a multimillionaire. It's kinda dumb
Entertainment is important to a human's well being and is therefore useful. If you are upset athletes get paid too much then you should get upset at the socialism billionaires get to build stadiums. Besides they get paid what they are worth. You should be happy for them and upset if you aren't. If they didn't get paid that much all the money would go to the owners.
Load More Replies... Maybe I'm just bitter, but actors. In Friends they were each paid 1 million per episode (since season 4 or 5). 24 millions per year for each of them? Or in other term, 150 millions for each for the whole show? And this is still not the most ridiculous when we talk about actors. (Just for record, average American makes about 1.7 million in life)
Not really. People need entertainment in their life, so their jobs aren't useless. Do they make ridiculous amounts of money? Yes they do, but that's not the complete point of list.
Load More Replies... Wtf first I'm not doing any of those job but if you are thinking those jobs are so easy why aren't you doing it
I think people must be pretty nieve if they think, model, currency trader, sales, admin, etc is an easy job. It might not be physical but it sure ain't easy. If you are no good at currency trading, you don;'t have a job, if you cannot sell anything then you arn't working sales. Influencers might be annoying, but it seems like the major players on youtube this year are quitting from burn out and exhaustion. Easy? no.
I knew a man who said he could not explain what he did at a paper mill we would not understand. He was an engineer. Eventually he dumbed it down. His job? When the mill owners wanted to put in a new paper making machine he figured the best place to put it. They did this every five years or so. That was all he did.
Are life coaches still a thing or are they passé now? Any unregulated profession attracts charlatans for obvious reasons, so true of a lot of roles in the wellbeing industry. In the UK there's technically no such thing as a qualified psychotherapist as it's voluntarily regulated (and works like a pyramid scheme).
CEOs, Every professional sports team; owners down to the players. College coaches. Upper management at 99% of companies. Most high school counsellors. Every single influencer. Anything Elon Musk touches.
I'm going to make myself unpopular and disagree about CEOs. A good CEO makes the future direction and strategy for getting there look attractive so that people support it and stop doing things that don't contribute to it. With a few exceptions, I don't agree with the tired old trope about them being psychopaths either: the job involves making difficult decisions that aren't going to please everyone.
Load More Replies... The person who stands at the self-checkout bay in grocery stores. If they put a cancel button on the screen, they'd be extinct.
Pretty sure they are there to minimize theft not just to help people
Load More Replies...