We like to complain about work: jerk bosses, horrible coworkers, low pay. Yet statistics show that most people are quite happy with the jobs they have. In fact, a global survey has found in 2022 that eight in 10 people who work either for a company or for themselves enjoy the work they do. In the U.S., only half of workers say they're extremely or very satisfied with their job.
Based on job satisfaction and meaning, the most popular careers are in the agriculture, health, construction, and education sectors. At least that's what data shows. But what does the Internet have to say about this? One netizen wanted to find out, so they asked other Redditors: "What's the best job you've ever had?"
People shared all kinds of stories, from poorly paid but low-maintenance and stress-free jobs to some really wholesome, community-building positions in fast-food restaurants. And what about you, Pandas? What's the best job you've ever had? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to upvote your favorite entries!
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The one I have now. I'm a chef. I've spent years in soul sucking restaurants ran by greedy owners who only cared about the next quarters finances. The food was an afterthought and the employees were a disposable line item in the budget.
I now work for a non profit, our job is to help re-integrate people who have recently been released from jail/prison. We are a fine dining restaurant with a focus on elevated comfort food. The food is important to the management above me and the organization I work for, as are the employees. Our entire business is dedicated to improving the lives of its employees.
I never expected, as a chef, to work for a non profit, and I couldn't be happier. The food is amazing. I have the ability to be as creative as I want. And the people we employ are some of the best employees I've ever had. They all want to learn, work hard, and make better lives for themselves.
How rewarding. Not entirely unrelated, there is a company in the UK called Timpsons. They actively employ former prisoners, and recidivism is markedly down as a result (grateful employees, a good job, a second chance). Timpsons will also dry clean a suit for anyone who is unemployed and has a job interview anywhere. Not all bosses are evil!
Working at the reception desk of a small childcare company. I loved getting to talk with the children and their parents and see all the different families that would come in every day.
My favorite moment was watching this very small little boy with huge glasses wait eagerly by the doorway.
A large, heavily tattooed and imposing man walked in the door, and the little guy's face absolutely lit up. The man picked up his son and twirled him around, beaming like he had just won the lottery.
I think their family dynamic and custody arrangement was a bit complicated, but that is a man who truly loves his son.
Very small little boy, huge glasses - how i felt for years. Then I grew. A lot.
Tesco in store bakery. 4am-12pm shift. Baking (and tasting) doughnuts and pastries, radio on full blast, not a single customer or manager to interrupt you and the smell of fresh bread.
I put on a wet suit, got into armpit deep freezing water, and fed penguins 3x a day at the New England Aquarium.
Volunteer cat socializer at my local humane society. I go in, sing some very off-key Lionel Richie to some frightened strays for 2-3 hours, and help them realize that humans don't want to hurt them.
I do this off and on for a local cats only shelter. I sit on the floor and practice my bass guitar songs, sing badly, and let the cats come to me. I keep treats hidden and ignore the cats as they hunt and dig. No one thinks that I can sing, but the cats love me for hidden treats and scritchies.
I used to work for the US National Parks Service out in the Rocky Mountains. I worked on the trail crew, clearing, maintaining, and building new trail and assorted structures. Maintaining a system of trails that had originally been built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the depression.
Since I had some experience as a mason, most of my time was spent moving rocks. I was Sisyphus, but the view was spectacular.
This is my job! :) I love it. I get to explore, travel, sleep in trees and help the planet.
Had a 5 year run in a high end residential construction company where our 4 person crew was basically 4 best friends. Worked together, gamed together, hit the bar or dinner after work together, went riding on off days, etc.
Honestly one of the best parts was just having a super motivated group that we never had to discuss dumb stuff like setting up in the morning or cleaning up at the end of the day. Everyone knew that is what we always did so we just talked s**t and went about our business.
Once we all went our own ways work wise it was terrible having to work with normal idiots again.
Current job, I’m a manager in charge of a team of 7 that plan the operations side of the business for the whole country, I’ve gotten so good at my job that I get the full weeks worth of work done inside 6 hours. So I get up on a Monday do 6 hours work, then basically chill Tuesday-Friday. Got Teams and Outlook on my phone to deal with urgent stuff otherwise my team is on it.
Also I am not some lazy manager, I give my team all the freedom they want and not shy about it, want Friday afternoon off to go see the kids sports day, go ahead. Need to start late for a dentist appointment? I’ll see you after lunch. Treat people right they reciprocate it 10x in return. I love my team, and my job, hate my company hence the f***s I give to be 0.
Museum aid at the Smithsonian Natural History museum. Got to see the storage center where most of the collections are housed. Amazing stuff most of the public won't ever see.
Important to note that many museums only have about 1% of their stuff on display at any given time. It's part of why there is so much outcry over the biggest ones keeping so much stuff that was 'saved and/or stolen' from other countries. The British Museum for example. Once you realise that countries are asking for their stuff back that the Museum has kept in a box in a back room for 100 years, you realise why they are so annoyed
Pizza Hut 2000-2005 in high school. I got all my friends jobs there, then i became an assistant general manager at 19. the General manager had 2 stores, i pretty much ran the store, put my friends on my shifts, played whatever music i wanted, made my own schedule, got any days off i wanted, traded pizzas for movie passes, food, gym membership. it was awesome at the time, even looking back now, it was sweet.
Worked at Pizza Hut 1998-1999. We'd get off work around midnight and then smoke pot and drink beer until the sun came up. Crash and do it all again. First restaurant job I ever had and I was underage but nobody cared. Favorite story: My friend we were all dropping acid after work one night and Shawn had to open the next day so he took two more hits before rolling in. Found out he spent two hours washing the same window. Good thing it was a slow dayshift.
12 years old. Worked at a Hawaiian shaved ice place in a summer town. Learned to talk to people (girls), be chill, learned a lot about reggae music. Mostly wish I could do that now as a job.
Wile I was there I learned that it's actually called "shave ice", just a fun fact
Preschool teacher. I got to teach little kids skills, play with them, and be creative and plan fun lessons. If it paid more I’d still be doing it but it’s undervalued as a profession. .
My current work. I work as many hours I want as a landscaper in Norway. I make 60k a year (8 months of work) plus benefits and I have 4 months off in the winter where I spend my time in the Philippines.
Beer cart at a golf course. Tips, everyone was happy to see you, nice weather. Easiest, most fun job I've ever had.
emmy_lou_harrisburg: I made $18k in 2001 in 3 months as a caddy cart girl. I... was able to pay my junior year of college tuition in cash.
"I would park under a tree, smoke a doobie, and read a magazine. Cash only and I did my own inventory. That job was the best.
Elevator technician. I started at $8.50 per hour 30 years ago today it’s $50 per hour. Overtime is 1.7 and x2. I must say way more ups than downs!
The one I have now. I started a business from scratch 8 years ago and now employ 10 staff. They all make above average salaries, and I am yet to have anyone leave. We are growing year on year but not too crazy. It's manageable. This time next year, I'd like to think there are 6 more on staff.
It's a lot of fun.
The job I have now. Get paid 110k/yr with great benefits. Only have to go in to the office 2 days a week, and the other 3 days work from home. I do about 10- 15 hours of actual work a week. Rest of the time I am just monitoring email while gaming.
I’ve said this before. When I was a teenager I worked at Kings Island (just north of Cincinnati,Ohio) I worked at a ride called White Water Canyon. There’s a little shack out in the woods where it overlooks the ride and you can blast people with a water cannon. It was my favorite job, if I could do it for the rest of my life I would. I’d sit out there in a secluded booth with snacks and blasting people with water. What else could be better? I don’t know, I don’t think there is a better job. I’m in my later 30’s and I think about that job constantly.
I teach personal finance at a credit union. I get to help people understand money and don’t have any pressure to sell anything. It’s awesome.
Pasta Maker at Olive Garden. 30+ years ago, Olive Garden made all their past in house from scratch. My machine was in the lobby so customers could watch. I wore a chef coat and poofy hat. I loved working weekends and interacting with people asking how it was made and why I was hanging it on the wall (to dry it before cooking). It was loads of fun and I really enjoyed it. Then they switched to dry premade commercial pasta and it wasn’t as good. Tried other positions but restaurants suck to work at.
Tour guide at a brewery. Met so many cool people. Was paid to talk about beer, and to drink on the clock.
I would take out-of-town friends on the tour at a local brewery. At one point they had built a brewpub, but it wasn't open yet. The owner would finish up the tour there, and say "We don't have our license yet, so I can't sell you a beer. However, I can give you one. What'll you have?"
Night watchman in a huge office building during summer.
Clock in at 6 pm when the office "closes". Be on guard till 8 pm when the last guy leaves, grab my laptop, play world of warcraft will 2 am, sleep, clock out at 7 am, go home, sleep 2-3 hours. Do things. Back to work.
13 hours "paid" 1 hour worked. Nothing ever happened. Got paid 30 bucks an hour (always 200% pay, because it was night). On weekend nights 40 bucks an hour.
I worked 12 weeks, 7 days a week.
Best.
Summer.
Ever.
What they failed to mention was they probably weren't supposed to do that and got lucky nothing happened.
Worked at an animal shelter. Looked after cats. Cleaned the cages. Their litters. Changed out what needed to be changed out. I loved it. Sometimes messy but I was happy.
And just think of all the thankful purrs and rubs you get as a reward.
Custodial work for a textbook distributor. My one and only job was to empty waste baskets in the offices. It was an 8 hour shift, and I had gotten my routine down so well I could finish my work in 3 hours. I would sit in the CFO'S office and read, I would take naps in conference rooms, just generally f**k around for 5 hours. My supervisor resented my position, as she also supervised production, so as long as she never heard complaints, I was completely out of sight out of mind. Occasionally I would be seen sweeping a floor in a warehouse or emptying a card board bin, which made it seem like I was getting all of this extra work done. That would last maybe 30 minutes, longer if I was really bored. When I left I was told I was the best person to ever work that position. I used to get stoned on the CEO's balcony!
I'm noticing a trend in these. That trend is the best job is to get paid for 8 hours while working 3 hours. Good on anyone who finds that job.
I used to do bottle service at a nightclub lounge off the strip in Vegas. This was right as things were opening up after covid. The amount of pent up people with money ready to have fun was amazing. I made so much f*****g money and people were just so excited and happy to be out and having a good time, literally throwing cash around and getting hammered. Great music, great money, great vibes.
Fireman in a small town. Had free wifi, free food, pool table and dart board, only 1 fire happened in the 7 months I worked there.
Classical car restoration is the most fulfilling and satisfying job ever! You get to see a rusty old car transform into a beautiful purring machine, from start to finish. And the best part? No stress, no complications, and no strict deadlines!
That big old Benz has something seriously wrong with its rear suspension.
Commercial Diver, everyday is different, average 35- 40 min dive, a few water stops, decompress in chamber on deck, 13 hrs later, do it again...loved it.
Old school, back in the 80s.
Ice cream shop, it was pretty simple except when I had to clean up the sticky ice cream bits, or when someone would get a peanut butter ice cream and say something like “This doesn’t have peanuts in it does it?”.
Note: this post originally had 74 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
For me, the most important aspect of any job (I realised later in life) is autonomy... Variety and flexibility are also very important to me.
For me, the most important aspect of any job (I realised later in life) is autonomy... Variety and flexibility are also very important to me.
