Growing up, it’s easy to idealize every job as “just the good parts,” from police officers chasing down bad-guys to working on a cruise ship being one endless vacation. As an adult, many of us know that everything has its own bureaucracy, paperwork and annoying nuances.
Someone asked “Which jobs turned out to be much less enjoyable than most people expect?” and professionals spilled the beans. From horrible working conditions to unseen downsides, get comfortable as you read through, upvote the most interesting examples and share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments below. 
This post may include affiliate links.
Veterinarian
Thinking going into major: I love animals and rabbits. And, cute, fuzzy things.
Reality : so much death and sadness
- think, when have you been to the vet? On your pets worst day? Or last day?
Thank you for everything that you do! Some of us do understand that this is a messy, difficult, stressful profession and we are so appreciative!
Being a chef. Its...awful. I did it for a long time. The hours are ridiculous and the pay is bad.
I can never be a chef. I have been cooking for 15 years now and I still hate it. I hate when someone is in the kitchen with me. There is no way I can cook in professional setting without losing my mind
All of them will find away to eat at your soul.
But working in a small company that likes to think they are a big company when it comes to everything but salary will destroy the fibre of your being.
Edit: Wow this has rung a bell with a lot of people.
Worst office job I ever had was at a print/web design shop. About 5 employees. But my boss acted like it was a Fortune 500 company, including pics he shared on social media sailing his yacht, while I was googling if I met the qualifications to get on food stamps.
Game tester
Growing up it sounds like the perfect job, but running into a wall 500 times at 500 different angles to try and find a bug is Boring.
Teaching...was great for years but nOw it is S**T. I want to disappear every day.
Been a teacher for 17 years, mainly Kindergarten (5-6 year olds). I have been bit, hit, slapped, kicked, punched, spit on, had things thrown at me and almost been stabbed with pencils and scissors. I have had parents threaten me and been yelled and screamed at by both admin and parents until I am crying. I love all of the kids I have taught. But parents are making the job so much worse. They want the teachers to be the parents and its the teachers fault if the child doesn't succeed. Most teachers are at school early and leave late. They are planning on weekends. Over the summer "break", they are getting ready for the new school year and doing professional development. Kids have such a short attention span now and many struggle with creative play. What is expected of them in Kindergarten is what I learned in 1st and 2nd grade. They need to be able to play and be kids. The US school system is struggling and I am terrified on the direction it is heading.
I work with dogs all kinds of jobs.
I had to quit grooming because it destroyed my back, i was in constant pain i couldn't sleep from the pain, I was only 23 at the time, being 6'3 and having scoliosis doesn't help. I actually loved grooming besides that
Dog daycare/boarding is also pretty nice but I've been bitten several times and a huge chunk of the job just involves cleaning dog s**t.
Dog training has terrifying moments, there's a lot of people that have dogs that will attack you and they want you to fix it In one session, there's also a lot of people who want you to train their dog to attack people which is its own set of issues
I think everyone can figure out the s****y parts of vet med.
On top of all these jobs there's a layer of sadness around seeing abused dogs, dogs that just got adopted get picked up. Getting attached to dogs and having them get strange diseases and die unexpectedly. And seeing owners be s**t to their dogs but sometimes there's nothing you can do.
When I tell people I work with dogs they think I just play with dogs all day, which sometimes is the case, but sometimes my soul is absolutely crushed over and over again.
I've been a dog groomer for 12 years and every day I have people tell me "What an awesome job you have!" It's actually not. It's loud, it's chaotic, it destroys your body (your back, your legs, your ears, your lungs), many of the dogs are completely unruly, and the customers are just ridiculous. "What do you mean you have to shave my matted labradoodle I've never once brushed?!" Not to mention the obvious neglect you see. I've groomed dogs that had their eyes completely matted shut, their butts so clogged with dried poop that they couldn't pass a bowel movement, and their teeth so rotten that they were literally falling out. You don't realize how many people are unqualified to have dogs until you're a groomer.
Working with animals (zoo, rescue, vet, etc.).
Do I still love it? Yes.
Is it incredibly mentally taxing, frustrating, nonstop (what’s a weekend?), and full of laws (not a bad thing but another red tape to look out for)? Yes.
Not to mention for veterinarians the amount of education needed.
Pay is often bad, especially if you’re not a veterinarian.
Edit: I’m not saying vets shouldn’t make more or have great pay currently. They should, for the education, hours, and loans they have, they should make more.
But my first paid job was 12.75/hr and I was an overnight vet tech with a college degree. Fresh out of college vet making 90k went home to a simple breakfast. I went home to a piece of toast often without butter and many of my coworkers had a second full time job. When I was making 18/hr I was teaching vet residents making 70-80k how to place IV catheters. We rely on each other too much for that big of a gap.
It is much the same in human medicine and pharmacy, sadly. There are aspects of the pharmacy that the pharmacists don't know how to do and 100% rely on techs (ordering inventory and handling insurance rejections come to mind right away) but the industry thinks a dollar over minimum wage is sufficient. Bah!
Architect. Think you get to design beautiful buildings and create amazing sketches and renderings you can hang on the wall? Think again. Most design is client driven and clients are the worst. Even if you get a pretty cool design past the client, that’s just 10% of the project. The rest of the time will be drawing permit documents, dealing with the local jurisdictions design/permit review process. If your project even resembles what it did originally you then have to bid the project only to have your client learn that all the cool bits are $$$ so then they just cut them out. Finally you’ll have to deal with the contractor and actual construction (disclaimer: I do like this part but having a good contractor makes or breaks this phase). The building is finished! Yay! Congratulations! Your client can now occupy their brand new structure. Think you’re done? Nope. They’ll now try and sue you for anything and everything they think is wrong. Crack in the sidewalk outside? Straight to binding arbitration. Squeaky door? Straight to binding arbitration. Contractor didn’t properly flash the windows? Straight to binding arbitration. Oh yeah to top it off, long hours and s****y pay.
Any job requiring a lot of travel. Having the company pay for your hotel and meals is glamorous for about a week. Then it’s a serious drag.
DJ... I did it for years, and all I wanted after some time was to read a book or watch a movie before bed.
I always found working at night difficult, it took me long time to recover my sleep patterns.
I once worked for a major bank in the production of evidence for human trafficking, terrorism and serious organised crime offences. Once an officer came to seize information (quirk in Scottish law) and I was signing over hundreds of pages of information which she had to count and counter sign. We got talking about some of my more interesting cases - stopping people from going to ISIS, using insurance documents to show how a man tried to murder his wife with a parachute etc.
"You job sounds so much more interesting than mine", she said. "Mine's just filing paperwork".
She was a homicide detective.
When you're an income tax auditor, it's amazing what you find out about people.
Probably anything that involves fame. Acting, modeling, etc.
Usually is very damaging to people's self esteem, unmeasured pressure to be good enough and maintain a certain (unrealistic) image, a lot of times the environments celebs work in can be abusive, loads of people hating on you or just scrutinizing you in general. Competition for these roles is fierce, so you have to take crazy measures to stay in the spotlight and not lose traction in your career.
I've always said that I'd love to be wealthy. But fame is a curse. I don't get why people want it. I used to blog for a famous author's website. She was only famous in a niche area. I started to be known in those same circles. Again, super niche. But just being known in that small community was too much for me. I value my privacy too much.
Travel agent. It's just sales - and of a product that's on the other side of the world. How the F am I supposed to sell something I've never seen and know nothing about?
"Oh, but you must get great deals!"
Nope. The agency's commission per person's vacation package was $7.
Seven dollars.
.... CANADIAN!
Very little left to discount for myself when the markup is only $7!
Then there's the part where you have to listen to everyone's complaints: about airlines you don't operate, or hotels you don't run, or weather you don't control, or too many sticks on the beach because of the literal f*****g hurricane that just went through there.
Oof. Flashbacks.
Working with fireworks. Everyone loves the show. Nobody appreciates the crew of people who prepare/build/pack the show up.
Learn a little bit of chemistry and realise the hard work that goes into making fireworks look so awesome... add in all the additional mechanical bits to engineer multi-stage fireworks and realise just how much work went into getting these displays juuuust right. (Speaking as a person that appreciates all the work that leads up to the big show, no matter the show)
My wife works in a library. People think " Oh, that must be a quiet, mellow atmosphere ! " -- Not so much. Druggies do their deals in the library, smelly homeless people sleep all day in the library, Teens to do the latest noisy, disrespectful " Tik Tok Challenge " in the library, people use the library computers to look up inappropriate topics. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to kick people out.
I respectfully disagree. I've been a librarian for 20+ years. I have no problems kicking people out if they break library rules. And those "smelly homeless" people are some of our nicest, kindest, best behaved patrons. I'd take them over some of our entitled patrons any day of the week.
Office jobs of most varities. I worked physical jobs from like 15-25 (I know people have worked them much longer, not the point, I'm 32 now though) and while I appreciate not having to sweat all day and deal with the aches and pains of that kind of work, people do not understand what sitting all day does to your body and mind. It physically makes you weak, makes things hurt that shouldn't hurt, causes health issues, causes mental fatigue, it's a tradeoff that most people think is worth. But if I was physically fit to go back to physical labor making the same money I would. I'd rather sweat and deal with the pains of working with my hands/body than deal with the constant tailbone pain, foggy mental after a day of work, sore hips/knees from sitting, weight gain from sitting, etc.
I realised at 16 that I was not capable of working in an office... It felt like a backrooms prison. Slow, quiet, boring, draining - and so many fake nice people. I now work in a trade position and I love it. Every day is different, new challenges, always moving, and if people don't like each other it doesn't matter - we can have a heated argument then get straight back to work. As a chick the industry was a little challenging to get into, but now I have years of experience and I LOVE my job. [Getting diagnosed with ADHD 6 years ago made my whole life up til that moment make so much sense 😂]
Being a mattress tester. Everyone thinks it's all naps and relaxation, but imagine being stuck in a lab, trying to sleep on command with people staring at you, taking notes like they're watching a bizarre sleep experiment. It's like the worst sleepover ever!
Being a doctor is glorified to young people. Years of studying, astronomical student loans, long hours, night shifts, and you have to try your best to save everyone, even those who tell others to get together, avoid masks, vaccinations, and live off big macs and red bull as long as they avoid MSG and GMO vegetables. Also if a repeat pain medication junkie doesn't get what they are looking for they can leave an online review with a horrible made up situation and the doctor is not allowed to defend themself or say what actually happened because of patient confidentiality.
@Pep Ito It’s not just in the USA. This describes the experience from a doctor’s POV, not the patient’s side (which is the expensive bills version in the USA). Medical school is expensive pretty much anywhere. I’m a medical school graduate and I’m heavily in debt but I still haven’t started earning properly (because you still have to pass licensing exams and unpaid internships before you can start earning). When I was looking for universities to apply for med school to I had so many uni representatives tell straight to my face that attending med school at their universities is a no-no because of the tuition and no scholarships given. Doctors don’t get typical holidays like Christmas, etc unless there’s a replacement doctor for the day. And salaries aren’t always attractive in this economy. I know a household where both parents and doctors and are still struggling to pay bills. It’s mostly the senior doctors or those with established private practices who flourish, which isn’t everyone.
Working in the music business. It's still business, and a lot of times, still an office job.
I was in the industry for a while, doing artist mananagement, road/ tour management, etc.. So mostly hands on. Had to quit. Could not handle the work hours (late night, early travels) and the sexism. Also many artists are not the nicest people to work with which is not very surprising if you see what life on the road is like. And the pay was not good either.
I miss my waiter days, it was dynamic, every day a little different and by the end of the shift it’s done. Now in corporate life the BS just never stops!!!
My wife was a buyer for Macy's for years. She even went to Italy a few times to look at clothes. It is not sitting in beautiful converted Italian mansion sipping wine and eating cheese while gorgeous models prance around in front of you. It is dirty warehouses and long hours. Plus, she was working her a*s off while everyone else, her husband and children included, were enjoying holidays.
Also, my best friend is a record producer who worked with the biggest of the big names in the industry. Again, long hours, managing huge egos and toddler type behavior. One music star would show up hours late for recordings sessions in an expensive studio. He'd be so drunk he could not stand up and sing, so they go him a stool to sit on and sing. He'd fall of the stool. He'd call me ranting about this music star. Then his d**g dealer would show up at the studio. The guy, a name you have all heard of, is still alive and performing, and seemingly doing well. He did say the nicest star he ever met was Willie Nelson. But I kind of knew that without be told.
Working at a dispensary...most people think "Cool, sell w**d all day!" But it's just like any other job except most of the customers want to seem cool and act super knowledgeable when in fact they don't know s**t...hey man, I just want to sell you this eighth and get you out of here so I can go back to figuring out how I'm going to fit this huge delivery we just got into the dab fridge. You don't need to pull out a jewelers loupe and look at 15 different jars for a half hour...if I tell you something is good, trust me. It's good.
Retail workers need to remember customer service is not incidental to their work tasks. Their work tasks are incidental to the customer service. The public can be soul crushing and evil, but there's a not-ignorable wedge of retail workers that seem to resent all customers. Get over it or move on.
Being a trained winemaker. Very long hours, mediocre pay, you’re feet are always wet but most importantly your boss is almost always a needy, delusional, demanding rich person who gets all the credit because they own the place and gave themselves a “winemaker” title even though someone else does all the work.
Scientist. In academia it’s all about grant writing/ securing funding, admin and teaching, very little time for actual science. Out of academia it’s mostly logistics and health & safety.
Yes, this! Even if you're doing experiments, they seldom work on the first or tenth try. The trial and error phase may be fun but as soon as you get it working, you'll repeat the same experiment with different chemicals infinite times. The difference you see is a number on a screen. It rarely bubbles, gives off green smoke or ends up with a supersmart mutant penguin.
I used to work at boat dealership and people said I was lucky. Not sure if they thought we just cruised around the lake with a cooler full of beer or what, but the reality was more like having to clean out someone's battered, moldy pontoon that was filled with garbage and old beer cans.
Everything in IT!
- Is it pleasant overall? Yes.
- Do you feel laughed at because no one really understands what you do and everyone thinks you must be rich while you do nothing all day? But in reality you have strict deadlines, crappy projects, crappy management and users complaining all day. Big yes
Do I like the job? I love it. - But it's less enjayable than most people expect!
Most Non-Techie people don't realize that IT is a very broad profession that has many specialties. I'm a network engineer, I don't know how to program that awesome app idea you came up with that probably already exists.
Travel documentary filmmaker (as in working with a full film crew not just travel vlogging)
Its awesome fun, but you work 18 hour days, and you are just absolutely monstered by the end. And you never really get to experience the place you go to, its all about your shots and getting coverage.
Edit: Here's one of my pieces if anyone is interested
https://youtu.be/D0u08lyhsMo?si=cvJgAajBJQ13Nrp3.
Teaching.
It isn't the problem students but their problem parents. Please just accept and love your child a they are, you don't need to compete with you so called friends.
Musician. The romance dies quickly and it becomes a grind, especially after the third beer has been spilled on you as you play Piano Man while hearing drunks request Freebird.
Being a musician. Right after the first album is released, you ought to work on the second one whether you want it or not. Tours are also romanticized a lot. Imagine you play 1,5 hour show, then sit on a bus, try sleeping in it all night, next day you arrive into new place, help to unload rig, do a sound check and then it repeats for 2-3 weeks in a row almost every day.
First album is a decade of work and life experience condensed into music. Second album is written and produced in the year of dealing with the fallout.
Probably already said, but marketing. I always thought it was some cool Mad Men stuff, sitting around brainstorming about slogans, print, etc. Turns out it's just cramming as many words into many pages/articles as you can. That or just outbidding on clicks. Basically, I'm just trying to scam Google now, which they always circumvent in some way after a while. Do not recommend it. I also can't believe this is still a job.
I was the Easter Bunny for years at a local function hall. May seem fun, but you also get screaming kids being forced to take a picture, you can hardly see, some adults are just weird. Like sexual weird. I've been threatened and yelled at, both in full costume.
I’m not one, but I would say a veterinarian. They have massive student loans and they’re dealing with pets dying and having to be euthanized. Sometimes said pets are euthanized because the owners don’t have the funds to pay for treatment. They see animal abuse and neglect and deal with the ire of the pet owners.
Even in countries without such an expensive education, having to euthanize perfectly healthy animals for ridiculous reasons must suck.
I am not a lawyer but every lawyer I know is an alcoholic, cheats on their spouse (if not already divorced) and their kids hate them. There must be something rotten in that profession.
I know some incredible lawyers who fight for justice and the rights of people who can't fight for themselves. I know at least 2 who I would consider the most kind-hearted people I've ever known. Sure there's always bad apples but maybe it's just the circles you run in 😅
Not to be overly broad, but most jobs are pretty underwhelming. Whatever the general populace sees of a job tends to be the 5% most outwardly facing portion of the job with the other 95% of the job being the same boring meetings, paperwork, logistics, and day to day sameness everyone else goes through.
Social media manager. People think it's all about scrolling through Instagram and tweeting witty comments, but in reality, it's a 24/7 gig of putting out digital fires, dealing with trolls, and constantly coming up with new content to keep the engagement up. Plus, the pressure to go viral can be more stressful than a cat stuck in a tree meme!
My husband worked as a social media manager for the police department for 6 months. He would start working at 6 in the morning, work till it's time to go to office, work there for 8 sometimes 9 hours, return home by 8. Take bath, eat and sit again till 11. Even on weekends he used to work. We no longer had time for anything else in our lives. He was turning into a different person. Always annoyed, always cranky, getting angry over mundane things. One day suddenly he told me he doesn't want to work there anymore and if I will be okay managing the house till he finds another job. I immediately said yes. He resigned on spot. The next day he kept repeating 'i am feeling so relaxed '
Beach lifeguard. Sunburns, sand in every crevice, and screaming kids everywhere. Not Baywatch.
Lawyer. TV shows make it seem glamorous (fancy offices), passionate (fiery arguments in front of an enthralled jury) and efficient.
In reality, the vast majority of lawyers don’t work in those fancy offices, and if you’re in a big firm in those fancy offices, it’s just late nights of drafting and getting yelled at. If you make a fiery speech in the court room, a judge will likely to tell you to control yourself (unless you’re in a high profile celebrity case). The jury will be mostly checked out and bored. Unless you’re in federal court, the process drags on simply because it’s the norm in state court for parties to request and be granted extensions on deadlines.
I was a game tester way, way back in college during an internship
Even though I only tested one game for 3 months, I didn't feel like playing anything at all for next 2 years.
I've been a beta tester for a number of games I was interested in, but never played one of them after they were released.
Wedding planner (I have a good friend who does high-end, six- and seven-figure weddings). The menu tasting and design of wedding are great. Seeing the event get pulled off is great. The other 90% is phone calls, emails, dealing with people and running a small business. It’s super stressful.
Having worked with wedding planners as a florist for 15 years, I can tell you those people are just horrible and entitled. Unreasonnable last minute askings, trying to make their orders more important than those of the usual customers ( who feeds the business more than them) , hard to reach when having to be paid, always trying to lower the price to a non sustainable amount for us, discharging their responsability on us when there's an issue with their customers....Future brides, just skip those parasites, at least for the flowers
Pretty much any job that’s your hobby already.
In ‘95, me and a couple buddies moved to Tahoe to go snowboarding for the winter. I saved up all summer and got a pass. They got jobs at the resort, and that included a pass. They worked in the parking lot freezing their collective tushes off, and spent their lunch break and their ride break by the fire in the cafeteria. I rode all day and delivered pizzas at night.
Even on their days off they didn’t want to go back to “work” and go snowboard with me and any friends who might be up for the weekend.
Agreed. Hobbies are great when you do them for fun, whenever you like. As soon as you HAVE to do them, they become a drag. Even the most enjoyable activities suck when you're forced to do them.
From what I’ve heard, game development. You have to play through the same levels over and over again to test for bugs, and it can make you lose interest in video games as a whole.
Working in a video game store sounds like a dream job to many, but it often turns out to be less glamorous than expected. You imagine playing games all day, but in reality, you're dealing with difficult customers, managing inventory, and often working long hours during release periods.
Working as a govt employee at one of the most busiest agencies in the govt. Every person in America will use this agency. No it's not the IRS. Social Security Administration. We are at a 25 year low in employees and a 14 percent increase in claims.
Use a 40 year old legacy program. The policies can be complex. I work for the American people. You deserve the best service possible. Are case loads are high.
Veterinary Medicine.
People think you play with puppies and cute animals all day. And people expect you to act like that, when in reality you may just have had to euthanize a perfectly healthy animal due to terrible owners.
Maybe you didnt go in to clinical work, and you can work within government control and argue with politicians and human medical professionals over OneHealth issues which seem to be a predominantly veterinarian specialisation.
I would assume Airline pilot. It involves long hours, time away from home, and a lot of stress and responsibility that aren't always apparent from the outside.
I've heard it referred to as hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer panic.
I have a friend who was a french fry taste tester. It apparently was the worst job ever.
Working in a bookshop. If you're working in a small bookshop, the owner, your boss, is almost certainly someone who, in a previous era, would have been hanged for sexual infelicities with farm animals, and in the modern era is more likely to be mistaken for a street bum.
If you're working in a chain bookstore, you're one step up from working in a McDonald's. Actually, maybe about the same level.
Graphic designer.
In my experience, most agencys keep you on a tight budget which prevents you from actually being creative. Bigger fancy agencies burn you out super fast and are very competitive, or straight up require you to be an underpaid intern and milk your brain for months, before deciding if they'll even hire you.
You quickly count as "old" in the industry, which makes it hard to find a job.
The pay isn't all that great and the field is overrun, at least where I live.
It's a job you just really have to live for, I guess. (I don't, I like having hobbies and a social life outside of my colleagues).
Everyone's just posting s****y jobs that most people already know are s****y.
It seems writing for Bored Panda is less exciting than we think, the amount of duplicate entries in this list is ridiculous!
I've been a boom operator in film and TV since 2006. A lot of the time it is as cool as you'd imagine. But you also have to factor in working outside in all weathers, s**t hours (there are some regulations but most people will be working *at least* an 11 hour day, and you can be given any hours, day or night, that constantly move around, you can have to work weekends, you have no idea what your schedule will be more than weeks max in advance, and then that can be changed at any time, so it's impossible to have plans with friends, or book a holiday. And then you have years like this last one, where, did you the US strikes (I'm not even in the US) and other factors I have had 5 days' work in the past 7 months, or COVID when the whole industry shut down entirely for 6 months and I wasn't entitled to any financial support, unlike most of the rest of the country. In short-term contract work, you have no support system and no guarantee of actually working
The depressed listless unemployed man who lives in my basement might disagree. He never wants to go to events with me because most people strike up a conversation with, 'and what do you do? '. Not having a job can make you feel as if you have no purpose just like having an unfulfilling job
Load More Replies... It seems writing for Bored Panda is less exciting than we think, the amount of duplicate entries in this list is ridiculous!
I've been a boom operator in film and TV since 2006. A lot of the time it is as cool as you'd imagine. But you also have to factor in working outside in all weathers, s**t hours (there are some regulations but most people will be working *at least* an 11 hour day, and you can be given any hours, day or night, that constantly move around, you can have to work weekends, you have no idea what your schedule will be more than weeks max in advance, and then that can be changed at any time, so it's impossible to have plans with friends, or book a holiday. And then you have years like this last one, where, did you the US strikes (I'm not even in the US) and other factors I have had 5 days' work in the past 7 months, or COVID when the whole industry shut down entirely for 6 months and I wasn't entitled to any financial support, unlike most of the rest of the country. In short-term contract work, you have no support system and no guarantee of actually working
The depressed listless unemployed man who lives in my basement might disagree. He never wants to go to events with me because most people strike up a conversation with, 'and what do you do? '. Not having a job can make you feel as if you have no purpose just like having an unfulfilling job
Load More Replies...
