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From lawyer jokes to IRS agents, certain jobs just get all the hate and blame. Now, normally one doesn’t deal with a lawyer or IRS agent on a good day, so some of the emotions make sense. But an internet user wanted to ask people in various maligned fields if their profession actually deserved all the hate it would customarily get.
So employees and professionals answered with their own examples of why certain jobs get a lot of slander but are still pretty important for making the world go ‘round. Others shared why their job was not actually as bad as people would claim. So scroll down and upvote the suggestions you agree with, and be sure to comment on any professions you think should have been included.
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#1
Working at McDonald’s/fast food. People always say c**p like “you better work/study hard or you’ll end up working at McDonald’s”. Work is work, and I honestly have far more respect for fast food workers than the CEO of pretty much any major corporation.
Casey McAlister 1 year ago (edited)
If only more people had respect for McDonalds' workers and service workers in general, their job would be less ungrateful. People mostly stay away from this work ot because it's not prestigious or unqualified, but because your managers and your customers treat you like second-class citizens.
#2
I was a cleaner. People used to treat me like furniture and assumed all kinds of things about me. That was the best-paying job I ever held, with the best benefits, and most vacation! I went back to school for a more “dignified” career, and my “dignified” job sitting at a desk ended up being worse in every way.
#3
Janitors. Give them respect, people, unless you want to empty your own trash and clean your own work or school space.
(Seriously, being nice to the janitor saved my tail one time when I was locked out of a room that contained some vital work material. The big boss didn't have keys to that room, but guess who did?)
David H 1 year ago
its also why many places pay them pretty well. A university I do some work at pays $20/h starting with no experience, and some janitors get paid 80k+ a year, plus free tuiton for undergrad for themselves, their spouse, or children as long as they work there, and 50% off any graduate program (including the medical school and law school. One janitor I know, who has been there 28 years, sent all of his kids to college for free, and one went into the medical profession at half off grad school)
We reached out to people who work in some of these fields, including plastic surgeon and TikToker Anthony Youn, MD, FACS, to learn more about his profession and what most people get wrong about these procedures. “Some common misconceptions are that if they have injectable filler they will look plump like a Cabbage Patch doll. It's the amount of filler that is injected that determines how a person looks, and a little filler can look very natural! Another one is that breast implants can prevent a breast from drooping. It's actually the opposite! Implants act like weights in the breasts and can make a breast feel heavier and droop faster.”
We also wanted to hear his perspective on the bad rap plastic surgeons sometimes get and why this has happened in the first place. “There are definitely some bad apples out there, and unfortunately my specialty can attract doctors who are arrogant prima donnas. Even worse are the doctors who aren't real plastic surgeons but masquerade as real plastic surgeons in order to get fame and make more money than they otherwise would.”
#4
Social workers. We are underfunded, understaffed civil servants attempting to help populations of individuals with multiple overlapping problems (poor, mentally ill, criminal records, substance use issues), get their lives back on track. The people others walk by on the sidewalk or avoid eye contact with on the subway; we seek them out, try to help them, and usually no one is happy with what we have to offer. Also red tape....lots of government red tape.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
same for any govt worker. They all get undue c**p because of the red tape. Without the red tape corruption would be much worse.
#5
Nursing.... Especially now.
Sweet jesus so many staff are burnt out, understaffed, its just horrendous. its even a giant s**t show at uni learning nursing.
#6
Plastic surgery, they don’t just do cosmetics, they do some live saving procedures for people in accidents, car wrecks, etc.
Aileen Grist 1 year ago
I've a friend who has just had a double mastectomy and rebuild from stomach - done by a plastic surgeon
“That being said, to become a real board-certified plastic surgeon you have to undergo a lot of training in general surgery, where we take care of trauma patients and sick patients. It's a long road, and cosmetic surgery is only one part of the field of plastic surgery. The vast, vast majority of my colleagues are decent, hardworking people who are in this field to help people, not for the other things,” he added.
#7
Plumbers. People always assume they’re gross greasy old dudes but really they’re extremely skilled professionals.
#8
Veterinary medicine. 110%. Extremely low wages, very high suicide rates, everyone thinks we are in it for the money, or don’t know what we’re doing. The burnout and turnover is truly unlike any other profession.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
I could never work in a job where I had to regularly put animals to sleep, it would kill me.
#9
Garbage disposal workers.
I've heard many times from many people that if you don't go to college, that's the type of job you get. But my dad f*****g loved that job more than building fridges for amana. Not only was he paid more, but if he found something cool there, he got to take it home with him. My mom eventually had to tell him to stop bringing things home though, because it was a lot hahaha.
The Scout 1 year ago
All the time people tell you "go to college, or you'll end up like the garbage man". What they DON'T tell you is that the garbage man makes more money than you. With the growing importance of recycling and waste separation, it has also started to become skilled labour.
Monday 1 year ago
And that the garbage man is far more essential to the functioning of the city than the middle manager yelling at his staff all day.
Load More Replies...
Ethereal Canvas 1 year ago
If you're hearing about Paris right now, you'd know they're pretty vital!
mandy the capibara 1 year ago
It's sad it has such a bad rep. Next to being so important, most are basically truck drivers,which is quite a popular profession. I'd prefer it actually, at least you can go home after work and don't have to sleep in your truck.
David H 1 year ago
It also pays very very well with very good benefits. I mean look at the NYC sanitation dept contract. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/olr/downloads/pdf/collectivebargaining/sanitation-workers-01-20-2019%20-12-27-2022.pdf they start base salary at 40,662 for their first 6 months, and then with regular increases it goes up to 83,465 after 5 &1/2 years (with really good benefits), not to mention very good overtime pay, night shift pay, extra snow plowing pay, etc. You have sanitation workers who with all the overtime and snow pay can earn 6 figures a year with good benefits. In fact the Sanitation workers were upset this year that NYC had no snowplowing needed bc they lost all that potential extra pay (they love blizzards). In fact there was a bit of a scandal in 2021 when it came out 94 santiation workers volunteered enough overtime hours that they got over 100K in overtime pay (https://nypost.com/2021/12/12/94-nyc-sanitation-workers-net-100k-in-overtime/)
Robyn Ward 1 year ago
I actually miss the "garbo man" Always friendly, we always left a beer or two at Christmas...can't do that now :(
Celtic Pirate Queen 1 year ago
I had a friend who was dating a garbage man. I'll admit, I was pretty judgmental (it was a LONG time ago), but he was really good to her and made her happy. He was also able to buy their first house when he was 24.
Some of the options here are at least partially tongue-in-cheek. Yes, meteorologists are at times, incorrect, but modern technology and forecast models have gotten so advanced that the need for a human might diminish pretty soon. It will be a lot less fun to blame a robot for those unexpected rainstorms or flash freezes. The same could happen for other positions as well, so we shouldn’t perhaps be so harsh.
#10
Child care workers. We work our [butts] off all day long, receive horrible pay, work horrible hours, get little to no respect, get little to no PTO, are guilt-tripped for taking sick days, are told to do more and more random things day in day out by management, are expected to follow routines parents don’t even follow at home, and still show up to work. We take care of your children, please be respectful.
ChickyChicky 1 year ago
Shows how much we value children when we pay s**t to the people who care for them.
#11
Bartender.
Everyone thinks they can do our job because of that one time they opened Bud Lights at a company picnic a few years ago and that there's no skill involved.
My idea for a reality show is to take those types and put them behind a bar that's three deep in the weeds while Karen screams at them about slow service because she think's it's the ideal time to order craft cocktails and closes out after every round.
Not to mention the c**p us "lifers" have to deal with. Even people in our own families thinking we're losers, alcoholics, and drug addicts because we chose this over a more "respectable" career. Nevermind that plenty of us are college educated only to realize we actually make more doing this than the more respectable career we intended to go into.
#12
Meteorologists. Lotta jokes along the lines of "must be nice to be wrong half the time and still keep your job". Do you know how difficult it is to predict the weather 2-3 days out, let alone a week out?
CHRIS DOMRES 1 year ago
North Carolina has 12 seasons: Winter, Fool's Spring, Second Winter, Spring of Deception, Third Winter, The Pollening, Actual Spring, The Summer, Sun's Front Porch, False Fall, Second Summer, Actual Fall.
#13
Nobody thinks to credit the dishwasher in having a well ran restaurant, but when we're missing ours things start to slow down, a lot.
Our dishwasher gets paid $22 an hour but he works pretty dang hard, he helps us clean the tables when we're short at the front and he's constantly helping sort/unpack inventory when it comes in. It's almost unfair to just call him a dishwasher.
Days where he's gone, we have to lend a FoH to the back which reduces service capacity and then tired staff has to do the wash duty which can take an extra hour which sucks and leaves us grumpy.
Adam L 1 year ago
I worked at McDonald's where we had a maintenance guy and a food prepper on the morning shift. If either were out, no one was called in to cover to help because of payroll costs, but it completely slowed down the whole day. Maintenance did deep cleaning, trash collection, lot sweeping, minor fryer maintenance, etc. The pepper obviously prepped by prebuilding the salads (when we had them), defrosting product, labeling, and dishes.
#14
CPS Investigators. Allow me to lay the rumors to bed. First, CPS does not *steal* or *kidnap* children. If you were unfortunate enough to have your child removed from your care, take responsibility for your own f**k ups and self reflect. Rest assured, the CPS worker did not *want* to remove your child, so if yours got removed, you gave them no other option.
second, CPS does not get a bonus for every child they bring in to custody (and they don't get extra for removing children of color). Believe me, they do not get paid enough to do their job as it is, let alone any bonuses. And where would this money come from? The government barely has the funding to pay/reimburse foster parents for taking in kids. Hell, the whole child welfare system as a whole barely has the funding across the board to care for these kids. Where are bonuses supposed to come from?
Third, there are no "quotas" on how many kids are removed. No nationwide adoption conspiracy to take children from their homes. Seriously, no social worker/CPS investigator goes into their work each day wanting to take kids from their homes. None. No power trips (cause that power isn't even in their hands, it's up to a dam judge). Nothing. It's a sad day for everybody when this happens. Sad for the families, sad for the kids, and sad for social worker too.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
If a CPS worker takes your kid, it means you f****d up realllllllly badly.
#15
Dentists.
We really ARE just trying to help you save your teeth. And it’s really NOT fun to have patients immediately say how much they hate the dentist before they even say hello.
#16
Teachers. There are obviously good and bad ones, but most all of us got into this crappy profession because we love your kids.
Stardust she/her 1 year ago
I had a teacher who enjoyed making fun of some kids. (I was the butt of 80% of the jokes in his class)
#17
Zookeepers.
Most people who have actually encountered them avoid them because they always stink so effing bad, but they're nice people :(
#18
Embalmers. Thankless job people think they are creepy but who else would do that
#19
Strippers/exotic dancers. If the person is comfortable enough to do that, then there's no shame in them doing that. Also they can make good money in just a night
Joe Publique 1 year ago
My cousin paid her way through college and bought a house/car in cash through her earnings as an exotic dancer. She quit as soon as she graduated and now works as a scientific researcher. Smart girl. More power to her, I say. :)
#20
Here’s one that I think isn’t commonly mentioned in these discussions: Artists. Of all mediums. From live-performance to in-studio creations. As far as profession, the fields are saturated full of talented and knowledgable artists, but also full of people who are not intelligent and behave in poor ways to give artists a bad rep (people love to generalize!) Yes, creative fields such as the arts are unorthodox and can be heavily subjective in values and certifications, but that doesn’t make employment in the arts any less than a job in any other field. It’s f*****g difficult. Artists get a bad rep and it doesn’t help when people who know nothing about what they do ignorantly claim that they themselves can do it because “it’s so easy.”
Snorky The Pig 1 year ago
EXACTLY!!!! I started working as a freelance writer/artist full time this year and people keep asking me why I don't get a "real" job!
#21
Gastroenterologists get a bad wrap because a*s holes are gross and who would want to spend time there, but these guys save lives.
#22
Morticians.
Really don't get why; they're the last ones to ever let you down.
#23
Tattoo artists. Ive been told countless times from others it’s a “ghetto” or “sketchy” job where they all sell drugs, but a lot of the ones I’ve met are really neat or chill. If it actually doesn’t have as much of a bad rap as I thought and I just know too many people who give it one my bad.
#24
Fairly surprised this hasn’t popped up on here yet:
Massage Therapists — the profession is grossly mistreated and misconceived, especially in the United States.
• highly sexualized - especially due to media depictions, abuse/misuse of services via professionals in positions of “power” (politicians, athletes, celebrities, etc)
• prone to misuse and abuse
• treated as as cheap, expendable labor usually due to the corroding thread of assumed sexual activity offered or the lack of integrity on our part (for example: we got into the profession just to “rub on people’s bodies for our own personal pleasure)
• our job is easy and what we are doing is MINDLESS, FUN, CHEEKY, ZEN, SEXY at all times when it is NOT.
• assumed we are all able to provide some sort of erotic experience during sessions, especially with tipping culture as it is in this current economic and social environment. Yes we are technically in the service industry, but we are also very technically health care providers.
• there is a lack of knowledge of what it actually takes to become an LMT and what is needed to maintain our licenses.
• Contempt for the profession based on wildly misunderstood and inaccurate information. For example: there are men and women who would rather suffer in pain than be touched by someone of the same gender. And while there are absolutely valid reasons for this personal choice… in my experience as an LMT it is often due to sexism, jealousy from boyfriends/girlfriends/partners, or just full blown homophobia. I have had men specifically say to me they will not receive massages from another man because “they aren’t gay and aren’t interested in trying that kinda life out” — oof.
These are just the things I’ve come across in my short but robust experience as a massage therapist thus far. There have been so many more nuanced unfair events that I’m not bringing to light or that just haven’t happened to me yet that I’m sure I am missing.
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
Most of them I know have a short run due to carpal tunnel/ muscular issues. Swedish massage is brutal on the masseuse as well as client if they do it right
#25
Customer service agent
Lo Kindred 1 year ago
As someone who works in customer service, I agree with this. I get yelled at on the daily by customers. My co-workers and upper management are awesome, there's no pressure to more productive. I get berated and yelled at on the regular by people who may be simply having a bad day. The kicker is...I have to sit and take it with a smile on my face. We should get to throat punch at least one customer a day.
#26
Call center workers. Yes, we know that you are not happy with (insert whatever you or the client did here). We know that you don't like having to do verification or to click through options when you dial in. No amount of verbal abuse, slurs, or sexual harassment will change that this happens.
Also, this doesn't include scam call centers ("your car warranty is expiring"/fake tech support centers/etc.), but *does* include legitimate outbound centers (ex. collections, sales) and outsourced centers in India/Mexico/the Philippines/other places. Yes, they can be annoying, but that doesn't change that there is an actual human being on the other side of the phone who is just trying to do their job. They were probably placed on the other side of the phone because of a decision made by some freak in a suit who hasn't interacted with us peons in decades, not because they're actively trying to annoy you.
#27
Mechanics. Everyone thinks we’re putting so much effort into screwing you over. In reality we’re too lazy to work on our own s**t much less put extra effort into doing more work on your s**t.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago (edited)
Not entirely true. I've heard anecdotes of shopfloor owners pressuring their techies into "finding" problems so that they can charge extra on hours and markup on parts. In IT it is even worse; guys swap out parts that were ordered for crappy older parts and the end-user generally cannot tell that this has happened.
#28
If you ever watch movie credits you’ll see a job called “best boy”. I used to laugh at this job title (maybe I’m alone, maybe not?) but it’s actually a really important job in filmmaking even though it has a silly name.
#29
Auditors.
Client are rude to them.
Bosses treat them like s**t.
And Public just wants then to work like donkeys and find fraud even though it's not their primary responsibility.
#30
Lawyers, when theyre /your/ lawyer theyre good lol.
But yeah people often like, don't understand what the job of a lawyer truly is so people are quick to demonize them. Yeah theres some that truly are out there abusing loopholes and being scummy, but most lawyers are just doing what theyre supposed to. Making sure their client is getting charged fairly. Even if they are guilty, they still are there to ensure a just punishment and not overkill.
What do you think ?
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
Yes, but they usually *deserve* to be derided. Espeically politicians!
Load More Replies...
Tracy Wallick 1 year ago
Military: only a small percentage of the military is infantry. Most of us work in fields involving maintenance, logistics, administration, healthcare, etc.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
Machinists: people think it’s a dying profession, when it’s very high tech and you need to be highly skilled, and extremely creative. Also, additive manufacturing, or 3D printing is not “making me obsolete” it’s making me more money.
Colin 1 year ago
As a machinist I moved to teaching at college. Had my hands involved in doing additive manufacturing as well as machining when I was on the floors.
Load More Replies... Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 1 year ago
15 years as a professional beer brewer. It's not all beer fests and parties. Most of your job is sanitation. You spend maybe 1/3 of your time actually making beer. The rest is cleaning, packing, packaging, wear housing, maintenance. I reached the point where I truly resented the parties and festivals and that about the time I bailed.
Bluetoyou 1 year ago
Jobs outside the typical corporate ladder. In high school my son got a job with a cleaning crew through a relative of his girlfriend. Cleaning office buildings. His boss left for another business, and he got promoted. And so on and so on. Until he was the head guy. With the head guy's salary. He was 17.
Danish Susanne 1 year ago
I just wish that people would remember, that the workers of any kind, that they meet should be respected for doing their job, and not shirking it. It doesn't matter how much they make doing it, but that they make an effort to do it properly.
TMoxraaar 1 year ago
Interpreter. Thinking in two languages simultaneously is the hardest neurological task the human brain can do. We are not people who happen to be bilingual and can "help out". I have a degree in this. If I make a dumb mistake people can lose their jobs, children, die, you know - consequences.
Crystal Pearson 1 year ago
The parking lot cleaners , when you're sleeping v someone is cleaning up the trash you left behind , taking out the garbage in those huge bins outside stores in those sidewalk malls that usually have a major grocery store chain in one. People will throw away the drinks instead of pouring them and they make it so much heavier and nastier plus we find things left in trash by addicts like used needles we have to be very careful and when we throw these bags onto the hopper we usually get sprayed with the liquids that have fermented and it smells like a sewage flying out from the bags
Mat Hall 1 year ago
I used to play computer games for a living - started out in QA, ended up writing about them - and it was not as much fun as you'd imagine. QA meant playing the same bit of the same broken game over and over and over until you're on the verge of madness, and writing about them had the double whammy of having to play games you didn't necessarily want to play and getting through them as quickly as possible, then getting abuse and threats from mouth breathing idiots if you said something they didn't agree with.
Octavia Hansen 1 year ago
When I lived there: convention personnel in Las Vegas NV. The most fun, medium pay but lots of perks. They feed you, give you parking spaces, very fluid that you don't have to stand in one place all day, meet 1000s of interesting people, get all sorts of swag left behind and a lot of us would work together at different venues. Never a dull moment, always lead to the next gig if you wanted it. Like being backstage at a broadway show! It's Vegas, baby!
B.Nelson 1 year ago
Photographer: just because you have a nice camera phone doesn't make you a photographer. A great photographer has a ratio of 1:10 to 1:100 of worth while photos verses photos taken. You can walk out of an event with 3000 photos that you have to sort through, and then sort through again, and then sort through again. Did I mention how heavy everything is? It's like holding a 10-20 lb weight against you face the whole time.
Sunny Foxglove 1 year ago
Executive Assistants - everyone thinks they can do it, and it's one if the first jobs corporations cut when reducing staff. The job is demanding and requires advanced skill sets in IT, event planning, Microsoft, design, public speaking, customer service, etc. Most of the time our bosses are not even aware of how much their EAs do. If you really want to know the dynamics of a companies culture, ask the EA. It's the only person in the organization who is required to have an understanding of every department, and they know EVERYTHING from what's happening in executive teams to what hourly employees are complaining about.
Leo Domitrix 1 year ago
Yes, but they usually *deserve* to be derided. Espeically politicians!
Load More Replies... Tracy Wallick 1 year ago
Military: only a small percentage of the military is infantry. Most of us work in fields involving maintenance, logistics, administration, healthcare, etc.
Sarah Schumm 1 year ago
Machinists: people think it’s a dying profession, when it’s very high tech and you need to be highly skilled, and extremely creative. Also, additive manufacturing, or 3D printing is not “making me obsolete” it’s making me more money.
Colin 1 year ago
As a machinist I moved to teaching at college. Had my hands involved in doing additive manufacturing as well as machining when I was on the floors.
Load More Replies... Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 1 year ago
15 years as a professional beer brewer. It's not all beer fests and parties. Most of your job is sanitation. You spend maybe 1/3 of your time actually making beer. The rest is cleaning, packing, packaging, wear housing, maintenance. I reached the point where I truly resented the parties and festivals and that about the time I bailed.
Bluetoyou 1 year ago
Jobs outside the typical corporate ladder. In high school my son got a job with a cleaning crew through a relative of his girlfriend. Cleaning office buildings. His boss left for another business, and he got promoted. And so on and so on. Until he was the head guy. With the head guy's salary. He was 17.
Danish Susanne 1 year ago
I just wish that people would remember, that the workers of any kind, that they meet should be respected for doing their job, and not shirking it. It doesn't matter how much they make doing it, but that they make an effort to do it properly.
TMoxraaar 1 year ago
Interpreter. Thinking in two languages simultaneously is the hardest neurological task the human brain can do. We are not people who happen to be bilingual and can "help out". I have a degree in this. If I make a dumb mistake people can lose their jobs, children, die, you know - consequences.
Crystal Pearson 1 year ago
The parking lot cleaners , when you're sleeping v someone is cleaning up the trash you left behind , taking out the garbage in those huge bins outside stores in those sidewalk malls that usually have a major grocery store chain in one. People will throw away the drinks instead of pouring them and they make it so much heavier and nastier plus we find things left in trash by addicts like used needles we have to be very careful and when we throw these bags onto the hopper we usually get sprayed with the liquids that have fermented and it smells like a sewage flying out from the bags
Mat Hall 1 year ago
I used to play computer games for a living - started out in QA, ended up writing about them - and it was not as much fun as you'd imagine. QA meant playing the same bit of the same broken game over and over and over until you're on the verge of madness, and writing about them had the double whammy of having to play games you didn't necessarily want to play and getting through them as quickly as possible, then getting abuse and threats from mouth breathing idiots if you said something they didn't agree with.
Octavia Hansen 1 year ago
When I lived there: convention personnel in Las Vegas NV. The most fun, medium pay but lots of perks. They feed you, give you parking spaces, very fluid that you don't have to stand in one place all day, meet 1000s of interesting people, get all sorts of swag left behind and a lot of us would work together at different venues. Never a dull moment, always lead to the next gig if you wanted it. Like being backstage at a broadway show! It's Vegas, baby!
B.Nelson 1 year ago
Photographer: just because you have a nice camera phone doesn't make you a photographer. A great photographer has a ratio of 1:10 to 1:100 of worth while photos verses photos taken. You can walk out of an event with 3000 photos that you have to sort through, and then sort through again, and then sort through again. Did I mention how heavy everything is? It's like holding a 10-20 lb weight against you face the whole time.
Sunny Foxglove 1 year ago
Executive Assistants - everyone thinks they can do it, and it's one if the first jobs corporations cut when reducing staff. The job is demanding and requires advanced skill sets in IT, event planning, Microsoft, design, public speaking, customer service, etc. Most of the time our bosses are not even aware of how much their EAs do. If you really want to know the dynamics of a companies culture, ask the EA. It's the only person in the organization who is required to have an understanding of every department, and they know EVERYTHING from what's happening in executive teams to what hourly employees are complaining about.
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