Sometimes you end up developing an almost instinctive dislike of someone in a specific profession because of a handful of bad experiences. However, there do seem to be careers that naturally attract the absolutely worst people.
Someone asked “Which occupations are filled with people who have the worst personality?” and netizens shared their experiences. From petty tyrants to sociopaths looking to get rich, get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to share your own thoughts and experiences below. Bored Panda got in touch with OP to learn more.
Image credits: TowerRough
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Politics. It's like a magnet for power-hungry egos and backstabbin' schemers. Can't trust half of 'em as far as you can throw 'em.
And old men who think that their opinions are one size controls all
Corporate execs have the highest rate of psychopathy.
Like the CEO of Kellogg's for him eat a cerale for supper but him , he show the exemple? I dont think so. He work for his pocket only.
Bored Panda got in touch with TowerRough who asked the question in the first place and they were kind enough to share some more. “I honestly did not expect my post to get as popular as it did. If I had to guess why it got so popular, it's probably because this is a topic that most people can relate to.”
“I believe most of us have some sort of experience with jerks, and in some occupations, you are likely to stumble on a much greater number of them than in others. The reason why I asked people this question was to filter out occupations that are most likely to have a toxic workplace. I believe it is important to consider what kind of people you will be working with to avoid unnecessary frustrations.”
Insurance.
The highest profit is achieved by:
- Agents who convince people to take the highest possible premium, often selling them things they don't need
- Adjusters who deny as many claims as possible, with many examples of companies that initially deny all claims
- Systems that prevent customers from doing anything about the above
There's no way to run this business ethically, and it shows.
...and that is why the heathcare system should not rely on insurances, or doctors who is trying to milk the ensurence companies for that matter. When there has to be for profit element in there, you can be sure that there is going to be a misalignment of interest, which someone will end up suffering as a result of. Thank god that it is not how it works where I live. After having seen my parents fight with the insurance company when the pipes in their house leaked, I lost trust in them, and cannot imagine how it must be to have that added to your list of problems while you are in a weakened state. The possibility of being taken advantage of is simply too great.
Hospital administrators. Their entire job is to prioritize profits over human lives.
100% Life Coach. I've literally never met one that wasn't a completely manipulative piece of s**t. The entire profession is a f*****g pyramid scheme.
Naturally, we wanted to know what they thought about the various answers people gave. “It was not surprising for me to see people mention HR, sales, lawyers, medical field or law enforcement. These occupations seem to be magnets for some bad people. However, I did not expect to see truck drivers, construction workers, or wedding planners being mentioned as well.”
I used to work in events and we hired our spaces to people from many industries. By far the worst clients were from fashion. Wanted everything immediately with massive discounts and they were extremely demanding. A very "don't you know who I am" kind of attitude.
I understand that to get into that industry you essentially have to work for free for several years so only trust fund kids make it.
Well, you all know who I am. I'm two cats and their barely adequate soft can-opener.
HR/People teams.
If you are an absolute twat but you dont hide it and everyone knows youre a twat thats fine.
The worst is when absolute twats pretend to care about others and be friendly just to screw you over when theres an occasion. They will lie they are concerned to your face just to finish the meeting and go and gossip about the „confidential” stuff. You told them you are sick? Asked for a raise? Reported a misconduct? Their 30 workplace buddies already know it. Never met HR/People person which is not fake.
HR acts like they're there for the employee, but they are not. They are there to protect the employer. If you ever have an issue, they're the last place you should go for help.
My experience in emergency med, is that cops are highly unstable. Seems sad and preventable if training were better instead of churning out numbers for patrol or coverage.
“I myself have had some bad experiences with doctors, teachers, and cashiers. My friends also shared some of their own experiences. A friend of mine who works at a theatre told me that people there seem to be pretty arrogant or even narcissistic. And some of my friends who are teachers said that some teachers tend to bully their own colleagues, not only their students.”
People in positions of minimal power. I.e. Jobs that require little education, aren’t paid well but give just enough power over people to potentially ruin their day. Airport security, parking attendant, mall security, ticket inspectors, all professions filled with frustrated souls who take out their frustrations on others.
If you have a problem with the people named here, maybe you are the problem. If you treat them like dirt they might return the favor. [kidding] If you had said Home Owners Association you might have had a point [end kidding]
Today I learned… it’s every profession lol.
As a marketer, marketing. I'm an introverted person and the amount of loud people who think they know it all in this profession is *crazy.*.
”The only thing I wish to add is that not every nurse, teacher, or cop is a bad person, and there is no logical reason to have prejudices against these people. However, we should be aware that some people in said occupation might be more troublesome to deal with than some people in other occupations,” they shared with Bored Panda.
I used to work for a social service agency and I was shocked by how nasty my co-workers were. The work culture was plain mean.
I think all fields have bad people in them because bad people exist everywhere, but professions that seem glamorous tend to attract some of the worst. Fashion, music, film & tv all have an endless supply of people desperate to break in, so there’s a big potential for abuse to take place.
Truck drivers. I work with a lot of them, and I have heard some of the most vile things from truck driver mouths. Things like castrating every prisoner, practicing eugenics, crushing people on the highway who get in their way, and general right wing talking points turned up to 11. All things said to me by truck drivers I've just met. Most also don't clean up after themselves too.
Recruiters.
I always think of them as sales people who weren't bright or energetic enough to become estate agents.
Attorney, used car salesperson, politician .
Not all attorneys. Some defend deserving clients. Think of the refugee going through a convoluted immigration process. Or the tenant with an abusive landlord. They need good attorneys.
Any occupation that gives you a lot of power over people. Good people tend to mind their own business and they don't crave power to control people thus we are doomed to be governed by bad people.
Hierarchical power is harmful in itself. We need a flatter society.
Landlords, if we’re including fake occupations.
I've noticed that academia tends to draw in people who are, how should I say..... heavy? Some great personalities too but also people who could, how should I say this.....not hold a job anywhere else, probably? Who don't have that many friends in real life, maybe?
I loved my studies but having worked as a research assistant and knowing people who work in administrative jobs at universities, I decided I never wanna get into that field. Just too much snobbery, elitism, hierarchies etc.
Having spent >40 years in academe, I will note there is a considerable difference between disciplines where faculty and students have options outside the university and those where those options don't exist.
I worked in union construction during the pandemic and a bit after. I have never seen a more miserable group of people making six figures in my life. How the hell are you making $110k a year, amazing benefits, and you are still missing front teeth?!.
This looks like an anti-union poster to me. A quick search tells us that union construction workers in the US can earn half that, up to around $55,000.
Real estate agent.
I was viewing a house with an estate agent and his phone kept going off. He said "every ding is a sale. Ding, sold, ding, sold". Not my favourite human!
Kitchens. We're all a******s at work. lol. One of the highest rates of d**g, alcohol or other addiction problems. Generally antisocial towards the general public. Lots of ex-cons.
We're basically motorcycle or pirate gangs thrust into roles in normal society. lol.
Administrators in public schools. Ask some teachers you know.
Sales…
Every person I know who is in “sales” is full of s**t. Basically, their job is to lie, avoid the truth, and I don’t think they become like this due to the job.
Born liars gravitate towards sales positions.
That's a weird statement... Imagine how much different people it concerns. I have met nice sellers...
Investment Banking, in particular the successful types can be difficult.
Worked in big banks on and off for years and have to say most are lovely except Barclays.
Construction can get pretty bad. Bosses never took a management class. Everybody's miserable. Grown men fighting like school girls.
Cold caller! You really have to not give a f**k about absolutely anything to handle that job. Unfortunately this means people with zero self awareness or tact often thrive here.
I was unemployed and needed money badly, so applied to a position and got in. I lasted one shift (the sheer amount of nonstop automated calling + verbal abuse was too hard for me). On my first day, the rest of the cold call team were loudly and plainly discussing gross topics. I'll never forget meeting this woman who then immediately went on to talk about her vaginal discharge (she even used the word "discharge" lol) with the team before our shift started.
Not every cold caller is this way, of course. Some people are probably just really great at compartmentalizing work/life. But every single one in that office was nasty.
Journalist. In my experience, the journalists who remain journalists for most of their career are loud, highly opinionated, try to appear smarter than everyone else, have huge chips on their shoulders, and have terribly corrupted their ideas of truth and what the public “needs to know.” The thing is there are not many career journalists. At every paper I worked, the journos usually only lasted a couple of years as true reporters; they almost always ended up becoming editors at some point. So a career might look like two years on a junior beat, maybe five on a top beat, then you’d get moved to night editor or another non-reporting position. When you’re editing instead of reporting everything changes.
The reporters who chase awards though, the career reporters who often seem to insert their name into the story somehow? They’re the worst. The guy who has a dozen awards but has worked for a dozen papers, the guy who wears a fedora to meetings, the reporter that throws a fit because their story gets turned from a 3000 word feature into an 800-word article, yeah those people are all the worst. Sparks really fly if you have a crusty old editor and a hotshot reporter who thinks they know how to spell.
Many of the journalists I've met have rather upsetting addictions to other peoples' business.
Without a shred of doubt, public relations.
All they're good at is making themselves look good while being the absolute worst people within and towards each other. I don't care if you're a PR professional reading this, you're probably part of it and you'd already been convinced otherwise.
Y'all can burn in a fire.
In my field of study (Economics) the stereotype would want that the "worst" people end up in finance or real estate.
The "best" ones in IT.
I work in It. Can confirm, some are the best. Some others really not but you just ignore them, this causes a dumbness confirm chain reaction, the worst are the proud ones. Like why you’re still at te the bottom if you pictured yourself as ceo on linkedin like you only have access ?
Im gonna add one myself i guess. According to my friend who works at a theatre, some people there are pretty arrogant and even narcissistic. One that also works as a dance teacher even physically abused his students.
Who would think that industry that gave us words like "drama" and "diva" would be perfect for arrogant and narcissistic people.
Local tv news. Worse than you can imagine.
Computer programmer, and I say this as one. Some of us are cool (I hope that's me too), and tbh the chill ones tend to be better at their jobs.
But like, a lot of them have this weird ego about writing code. It's like they think that being able to write code is the most impossibly difficult technical skill in the universe and by doing it they are the smartest people in the world. They look down on everyone without their specific skillset as hapless morons who couldn't possibly comprehend their astonishing intellects.
I like what I do. I think I'm good at it. But I also think that there are many, many professions more difficult and complicated than what I do and I don't think that anyone who can't do what I do must be an idiot.
The one programmer knew also considered himself the superior comedian in the room. He expected everyone to hang on his every word waiting for his latest clever remark. But he never once laughed at anyone else's jokes.
Moderators in online community. Their job is basically accusing users of posting what the mods also do.
I've been a moderator on several forums and this isn't universally true. The best communities police themselves, leaving the mods with very little to do.
Psychiatric Nurses are some of the most abusive and foul people I have had the displeasure of meeting. Every time.
It's a job that gives you complete and total control over vulnerable people. Vulnerable people that nobody cares about and nobody will believe, because they're mentally ill. Abuse runs f*****g rampant.
Good people don't seek out jobs that give you complete control over others like that. It's the same thing with cops.
Nursing, particularly in the administrative neck of it. Many take the "I worked in the trenches and earned my dues" attitude to 11 and will rage on people like they just finished a double at 10am on a Monday.
Calm down about being a healthcare hero Sharon, you drove to work in a car worth more than your CNAs annual salary and haven't worn scrubs since the W Bush administration.
D**g and Alcohol counselling, alot of Bullying and the client's just lie to your face, about 5 % actually want help, the rest want to be happy users..
Towing Companies.
I'm going to get downvotes.
Nursing.
If honestly had to generalize based on my personal experiences and my husband’s nightmare work stories (he’s a ep cardiologist), I’d describe charge & ward nurses as entitled, arrogant, egotistical, catty, b****y, emotionally unstable gossipy backstabbers. I get they tend to have a horribly hard job and make hospitals run. I also feel specialist nurses & NPs don’t fit the mold of a typical nurse and therefore aren’t usually as bad.
Pro poker players.
But how can you tell if they're jerks if you can't see past their poker face?
Musicians ....not hobbyists or volunteers in a choir or something
But actual proper paid classic musicians . The kind who turn their nose up at applause because it's not etiquette at a concert....
Or the kind who can't connect with someone new starting out and look down on them for trying to learn.... Or scoff at musicians with subpar or more financially friendly instruments.. and refuse to teach them .
The kind who scoff at mistakes and put others down for imperfect performance /technical skills while simultaneously googling.....how can I improv better and also pick flaws in themselves every two seconds!
The ones who don't even consider any other genre to be music .
Half of all Firefighters. Worked with a lot of ego-maniacs. Some good dudes, but many many bullied losers who joined the department so people “couldn’t make fun of them”.
You probably have to be a little crazy to run into a burning building.
Police departments, they are full of the absolutely last people who should be trusted with police powers. They are full of racists, white nationalists, fascists with low IQ's because they screen out the intelligent one's before they ever make it to the academy. Almost every police department in the country is full of corrupt cops who beat suspects and then cover for each other.
That is a cruel generalisation. Whether you like it or not, we NEED law enforcement.
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Right? I love the assumption that because there's a proverbial bad apple in every basket that the whole basket is automatically garbage.
Load More Replies...
So it’s not professions that are the issue then? It’s human beings. Human beings need jobs, it would appear that 50% of people are idiots / a******s, so 50% of the workforce all across the board are a******s. Well colour me shocked.
I've read all of these opinions and now it just looks like "everyone".
Hot take? Teachers. Don't get me wrong: a teacher who isn't burnt out and has strong, positive values can be great. But so many just like having a captive audience. And so many -- at least where we live -- are absolute drunks. I'm not writing this as an angry teenager; I'm writing as an adult looking back at how terrible 95% of his teachers were, and astonished by the c**p going on now.
YES EXACTLY. Many teachers don't realise how much they impact the lives of the children they look after. If a teacher has a bad day and takes it out on a student, the teacher may forget but I guarantee that the student never will.
Load More Replies...
Anyone who works in the despicable greyhound racing industry should be on this list, exploiting a gentle & fragile dog breed purely for gambling revenue
Military, after spending 16 yrs i the army its full of bullies and those who enjoy having the smallest bit of power over someone else, the higher people go the more they think the regulations dont apply to them, only to those below them.
I survived the cut, yet I’m still an a*****e! I must be the outlier of my profession.
Carers; people who look after the disabled. Some are amazing but some are lazy, selfish arseholes. My wife's late younger brother needed 24/7 care and she organised carers with social services. One of these carers was brilliant, the other was lazy, slept most of the day and continually complained about not being able to watch Sky TV. One summer's day we made a surprise visit. We could hear her brother calling the carer over and over saying that we were at the door. Carer eventually opened the door looking annoyed that we woke him up. He was replaced quickly.
I work with people who are just getting out of addiction. Often court ordered. And it is amazing how many of them were "caretakers" or IHHS workers as their last job. It absolutely terrifies me. These are people who can't take care of themselves, actively steal to pay for d***s, "taking care" of the most vulnerable portions of the population. And so many of them "taking care" of elderly vulnerable grandparents for a place to live. I don't know how I would ever trust finding a caretaker for myself or a loved one again.
Load More Replies... I think it can happen when people spend too long in the same job, get stuck in a pattern and think that's how life is. In a way this world is a multiverse and changing career or retraining can make you see the whole world in a different way.
Why were religious freaks not mentioned? If not rapists and pedos themselves, they're careerists and salesmen who cover up crimes. How many steal from the plate? [ https://www.businessinsider.com/italy-priest-allegedly-stole-church-money-to-pay-chemsex-parties-2021-9 ] [ https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/priest-tells-how-he-took-millions-from-the-church-collection-plate/26359683.html ] How many browbeat women asking for help into "forgiving" partners that cheated, beat, abused or raped them because their cult says "divorce isn't allowed"? How many covered up crimes because they put the cult's social standing ahead of basic morality (i.e. "confessions" that aren't turned over for prosecution)? [ https://apnews.com/article/religion-lawsuits-utah-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-government-and-politics-9f1607f4d308248ebf12dc32f70376ec ]
Artists - can in fact cut to the chase better than the rest of us. Can. To quote the Kingston Trio, via Sheldon Harnick, in a parallel situation: "The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French - hate the Germans. The Germans- hate the Poles. Italians - hate Yugoslavs' South Africans hate the Dutch - AND I DON'T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH. Humor, theoretically- but too true. It's very easy to descend to this, if we let ourselves.
This topic seems to be a list of all professions Americans don't like. I met a twatty dog walker once...
I grew up in a mining town. I would have to add miners and drillers to this list. Most of them are on d***s of some sort and really have zero ethics to them. Granted there are the few who don't fit this description as I'm sure there are in everyone's post. I've seen them ruin a nice small town in less than a year.
No mention of jockeys ( horse riding sort). Whip their mounts and do the same after half a pint of beer. Cheers
I wish to add army, and CIA. Shooting people for a living tends to attract unsavoury people. And the higher in the hierarchy they are, the worse they are. Let's send three hundred people into a death trap and see what happens.
Right? I love the assumption that because there's a proverbial bad apple in every basket that the whole basket is automatically garbage.
Load More Replies... So it’s not professions that are the issue then? It’s human beings. Human beings need jobs, it would appear that 50% of people are idiots / a******s, so 50% of the workforce all across the board are a******s. Well colour me shocked.
I've read all of these opinions and now it just looks like "everyone".
Hot take? Teachers. Don't get me wrong: a teacher who isn't burnt out and has strong, positive values can be great. But so many just like having a captive audience. And so many -- at least where we live -- are absolute drunks. I'm not writing this as an angry teenager; I'm writing as an adult looking back at how terrible 95% of his teachers were, and astonished by the c**p going on now.
YES EXACTLY. Many teachers don't realise how much they impact the lives of the children they look after. If a teacher has a bad day and takes it out on a student, the teacher may forget but I guarantee that the student never will.
Load More Replies... Anyone who works in the despicable greyhound racing industry should be on this list, exploiting a gentle & fragile dog breed purely for gambling revenue
Military, after spending 16 yrs i the army its full of bullies and those who enjoy having the smallest bit of power over someone else, the higher people go the more they think the regulations dont apply to them, only to those below them.
I survived the cut, yet I’m still an a*****e! I must be the outlier of my profession.
Carers; people who look after the disabled. Some are amazing but some are lazy, selfish arseholes. My wife's late younger brother needed 24/7 care and she organised carers with social services. One of these carers was brilliant, the other was lazy, slept most of the day and continually complained about not being able to watch Sky TV. One summer's day we made a surprise visit. We could hear her brother calling the carer over and over saying that we were at the door. Carer eventually opened the door looking annoyed that we woke him up. He was replaced quickly.
I work with people who are just getting out of addiction. Often court ordered. And it is amazing how many of them were "caretakers" or IHHS workers as their last job. It absolutely terrifies me. These are people who can't take care of themselves, actively steal to pay for d***s, "taking care" of the most vulnerable portions of the population. And so many of them "taking care" of elderly vulnerable grandparents for a place to live. I don't know how I would ever trust finding a caretaker for myself or a loved one again.
Load More Replies... I think it can happen when people spend too long in the same job, get stuck in a pattern and think that's how life is. In a way this world is a multiverse and changing career or retraining can make you see the whole world in a different way.
Why were religious freaks not mentioned? If not rapists and pedos themselves, they're careerists and salesmen who cover up crimes. How many steal from the plate? [ https://www.businessinsider.com/italy-priest-allegedly-stole-church-money-to-pay-chemsex-parties-2021-9 ] [ https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/priest-tells-how-he-took-millions-from-the-church-collection-plate/26359683.html ] How many browbeat women asking for help into "forgiving" partners that cheated, beat, abused or raped them because their cult says "divorce isn't allowed"? How many covered up crimes because they put the cult's social standing ahead of basic morality (i.e. "confessions" that aren't turned over for prosecution)? [ https://apnews.com/article/religion-lawsuits-utah-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-government-and-politics-9f1607f4d308248ebf12dc32f70376ec ]
Artists - can in fact cut to the chase better than the rest of us. Can. To quote the Kingston Trio, via Sheldon Harnick, in a parallel situation: "The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French - hate the Germans. The Germans- hate the Poles. Italians - hate Yugoslavs' South Africans hate the Dutch - AND I DON'T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH. Humor, theoretically- but too true. It's very easy to descend to this, if we let ourselves.
This topic seems to be a list of all professions Americans don't like. I met a twatty dog walker once...
I grew up in a mining town. I would have to add miners and drillers to this list. Most of them are on d***s of some sort and really have zero ethics to them. Granted there are the few who don't fit this description as I'm sure there are in everyone's post. I've seen them ruin a nice small town in less than a year.
No mention of jockeys ( horse riding sort). Whip their mounts and do the same after half a pint of beer. Cheers
I wish to add army, and CIA. Shooting people for a living tends to attract unsavoury people. And the higher in the hierarchy they are, the worse they are. Let's send three hundred people into a death trap and see what happens.
