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Not every job on this earth is helping civilization as a whole. There are a lot of unethical professions, which, if they were to disappear into thin air, would only help us, ordinary citizens, to live peacefully. They only bring benefits to the people who are partaking in them. However, some of the most unethical professions are so hidden that it is common to fall into their traps. For this reason, it is important to uncover them by knowing their revealing details.
Even the most hailed and praised jobs can become unethical when members of society look into them. The strictest rules and ethics for professions can portray any activity in a more friendly light. They create a positive image that sells the idea. For this reason, the tell-tale heart of the many not-so-ethical jobs is the secrecy around them. If a shady person is unwilling to reveal more than necessary about their job, something strange might be happening.
While some weird jobs might look shady, they aren't always unethical. User MoronByTrade decided to cast some light on the shady professions with the question on Askreddit — “What is the most unethical profession?” Below, we have compiled some of the best answers to this question. Be sure to upvote the professions or activities that shocked you the most. On the other hand, if you have a story of your own and would like to share it, do so in the comments below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Commenter No. 1 wrote:
"Mediums and psychics who capitalize on the pain and grief their clients feel from losing someone they love. 'I will help you communicate with your dead loved one for $200 an hour'"
TrueTurtleKing replied:
"I understand people using services like that as a way to cope. And that’s something I sorta get. But we recently learned that my grandma was paying this psychic in California monthly fee for her consultation. One of the notes said that she should avoid talking to her families for her problems. You know, trying to make my grandma dependent on the psychic."
RELATED:
#2
"Insurance companies fighting to NOT pay."
#3
nBrainwashed wrote:
"Televangelists."
Aqquila89 replied: "'Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.' (Matthew 7:15)"
#4
"Anyone who becomes richer by making the world a dumber, angrier place. Pundits, talk radio hosts, and some of the biggest podcasters are among the most soulless jackholes I'm aware of."
#5
"This might get buried, but any home shopping network like QVC or HSN. I worked for HSN for awhile some years ago and the amount of old people that had no clue what they were buying that I had to scam because it was my “job” is insane.
I had one of the nicest old people call me and just want to chat and then ordered the “item of the day” and proceed to tell me that she had like 10 of them in her back room completely unopened but she couldn’t pass up this deal.
I had another lady that wanted to apply for the credit card because her daughter took away all of her cards because she was broke and couldn’t pay her bills.
I couldn’t say no. I had to do it or get wrote up. I ended up developing a bit of a nervous tick from it (that I still battle with to this day) and finally just ended up quitting the day after I burned all my vacation hours because my mental health wasn’t worth that.
Seriously. F*ck shopping networks that prey on old people. They justify it as if they’re providing a service. Disgusting."
Best Behave 1 year ago
This utterly mirrors our experience with QVC from the outside. Utter parasites and scammers
#6
"Unethical Profession?
Health Insurance adjuster.
Your entire job is to deny someone's medical claim under the false pretenses of preventing "Fraud".
He's the issue... You know what fraud is. Fraud comes from a doctor who is unlicensed or has a pattern of abuse...
It is not from someone who went to the ER and needed an MRI to confirm everything was okay... But now you're going to charge the patient for the MRI because it didn't find anything.
Sorry, but these people have no ethics and are the reason why US healthcare is so terrible."
Strings 1 year ago
There's a LOT of this that is interconnected. Expensive tests run to cover the doctor's backside, but the insurance doesn't want to cover it. Malpractice claims that are ridiculous (driving malpractice insurance through the roof, which then gets passed back to the patients). People using the ER as a walk in clinic, then skipping on the bill. And of course, add a dose of good old fashioned greed on the part of the hospitals...
#7
"Nobodies saying companies that buy up housing. They either jack the price up of an entire area because they own all of it or rent them out at unlivable prices.
It's the filthiest way to make yourself rich, you'd have to be void of empathy or any emotion that makes you human."
#8
"Pay day loans. Want a loan with 600% interest?"
Powerful Katrinka 1 year ago
Obama and the Democrats tried to make this predatory business illegal. Guess who objected and blocked the passage of the bill?
#9
Ambient-Shrieking wrote:
"Human traffickers, assassins, warlords, torturers and dictators"
PublicSaftey1st replied:
"You spelled politician wrong."
PrettyJoyBird 1 year ago
I dont believe those are classified professions from thread title however agreee dispicable human beings. Scum.
#10
"Those people that try to sell alternative medicine. I’m talking about people who sell beads or stones or “cream of grass root” or something made up to treat stuff like cancer or strokes or something. Literally just a scam to make money with no science behind it."
Mabelbabel 1 year ago (edited)
Look up the story of Dr Ben Goldacre (properly qualified registered medical practitioner) and 'Dr' Gillian McKeith (quack nutritionist, NOT a medical doctor or a qualified dietician). She got her doctorate from a suspect college, and promptly started offering medical advice she wasn't qualified to offer and was utterly ludicrous (for example, she recommended eating green vegetables because they contained chlorophyll, and having the chlorophyll in your body would encourage you to take in more oxygen). He went online, registered his dead cat at the same college, and the dead cat got the same doctorate. The Advertising Standards Authority then told her to stop using the title 'Dr' as it was deliberately misleading and dishonest. She stopped using it voluntarily before she was charged with an offence.
#11
"Megachurch Preacher."
Thegoodboi 1 year ago
Love them. Let's pass around that offering plate! You know what? God needs a new Bugatti let's pass around that offering plate one more time!
#12
"Mortgage companies. My mother had this fear of their house being taken away. So, in the 30 years that they paid on their house she kept the cancelled checks year after year. The lender changed several times thru the years, but she plodded on keeping shoe boxes with every single check. Sure enough a month or so before the last payment the current lender came up with some BS that they had LOTS of missing payments - that allowed them to charge a butt load of late fees etc that would have to be paid before they could release the deed. Thousands of dollars. She pulled out her shoe boxes, copied all the canceled checks in question and shut them down. People this is a common scam. If you do bank direct payments, do you really think that they are going to actually give you 30 years of proof that you paid?? Beware. Old school might be the best way."
#13
"Influencer, selling garbage to kids so they profit from them."
PrettyJoyBird 1 year ago
Yup influencer ambassaders "omg hi guys this changed my life, look at these results, that will be 300 dollars now please and thanks" Scam. Lies. Not all of them but alot. Free marketing for companies bc of followers. Thats the world we live in today.
#14
FlaymerLoL wrote:
"Whoever decided medical costs."
poprof repleid:
"Apparently you can get a degree for medical billing and coding. Side note - one of my regions largest mental health care providers just closed down all its services to cut costs.
Medicine shouldn’t be run for profit - it’s a service, like the post office or public education."
#15
"Pharmacy benefit managers. They are completely uneeded useless middlemen that significantly jack up the prices of medicine to line their pockets. People die because of them."
George Hawkins 1 year ago
These people make me sick. Like that guy who jacked up that life saving insulin a few years back like up to 400% even though it's cheap to make and the only reason they did it was to monopolize and line their pockets
#16
Kaiju_Dan wrote:
"People who own private prisons."
MCDexX replied:
"Jesus yes. Lobbying governments to make more stuff illegal because they're running low on slave labour is dystopian."
#17
"I know someone who works for a drug company and his job is to set prices and maximize profits. the next time you see a news story about the overpricing of drugs (like insulin) that lead to a patient dying just remember, that’s someones job to set that price high."
#18
"Not necessarily the worst I've seen on here, but I think standardized testing companies, like Pearson education, are fairly unethical. You're charging students for a test that is already a rather poor predictor of actual academic success but is required to progress in higher education because you've sold university admissions on this test. Then you sell test takers expensive test prep materials to help them perform better by learning to the test and become better test takers, rather than helping them build real skills. In the end you've basically just put another financial barrier in the way of those pursuing higher education."
Ashley_Kirin 1 year ago
Look up Rick Springer or watch the Netflix doc Operation Varsity Blues. He made millions helping rich families cheat their way into Ivy league schools.
#19
"MLMs for sure. They prey on the poor and desperate."
#20
"Most of these are criminal or borderline criminal professions. Here’s the most unethical legal job: medical insurance executive."
#21
"We've been trying to reach you concerning your vehicles extended warranty!"
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago
A dude in my health got one of these calls right in the middle of class. He actually picked it up, put it on speaker so everyone could listen, and strung them along for the rest of the period. Finally, right before the bell rang, he said “I don’t have a car” and hung up. It was epic.
#22
"Car mechanics that try to take advantage of women that need a quick car fix, and rob them dry for what only needed to be a $50 oil change."
#23
"Politician shouldn't be, but the system makes it really easy for people to forget they are public servants and not out for themselves."
David Shaw 1 year ago
The more I see of politicians - of all political persuasions - the more convinced I become that Douglas Adams was totally correct when he wrote that those who most want to rule are those least suited to do so.
#24
"NFT sellers are huge scam artists and no one talks about it. Definition of hack frauds."
Jenny Lauren 1 year ago
The dollar has been fake money since Nixon. NFTs are extra fake money.
#25
"For profit prisons
For profit healthcare
For profit basic mail delivery."
#26
"Lobbyist."
Kelley Gilbert Zumwalt 1 year ago
There was actually a time in my life when I wanted to be a lobbyist. It was for about a month in high school when I was idealistic and had no idea of how successful lobbyists have no soul and eat babies for breakfast.
#27
"Medical debt collection. I live in the U.S. so the healthcare system as a whole is wack to begin with. I’m currently ~$3k in medical debt and I just cannot imagine what kind of person would choose a job in which they have to go after sick people for money they often just simply do not have. it takes a lot within me not to just tell them to f*ck off."
#28
"Being an executive at a Big Tobacco company. There’s no way to justify it, you’re just plain willing to kill people slowly for money."
Maksim Tribiani 1 year ago
No one makes people smoke not only that all the warnings are there. You could maybe call them unethical if they some how tried to manipulate people to smoke or if they hid the fact that smoking is addictive and causes cancer. The tobacco execs back in the 40s and 50s were very unethical with their add campaigns. Now a days everyone knows what they are getting into when choosing to smoke. If tobacco execs are unethical then what does that make alcohol or fast food execs? What about junk food execs? So many products have the potential to be dangerous or deadly yet people still want them.
#30
"Can I say Life Coaches? They basically pretend to be therapists, charge people for really poor advice that could be really dangerous to their clients, all while avoiding the legal oversight actual therapists have by calling it "life coaching". They have no standardisation, no regulatory checks, and no way to report unethical behaviour.
Also life coaching itself is basically a pyramid schemes of so called coaches bringing in more coaches, who bring in more coaches."
StrangeOne 1 year ago
They basically just tell you how to live by the standards they live and by what works for them and not you.
#31
"The people who scam old people all day pretending to be from Microsoft."
WindySwede 1 year ago
Make $160 per day, just go to this website, that is completely safe, no scamming, promise! /s 🥳
#32
"People who sell timeshares"
Pandasizing World Peace 1 year ago
Unfortunately, I was hired and trained by a 'reputable' time share company. Training made it seem like everything would be totally ethical and straightforward. Was I ever in for a shock. You have to fudge, lie, shame, whatever it takes to make a sale. Thank God, that's water under my bridge now!
#33
nowhereisaguy wrote:
"Media outlets that take money from interest groups (or owned by specific people) and espouses their talking points instead of reporting the factual truth."
sharfpang replied:
"Especially when they present it as "fact checks". Twist/strawman the original point until it's technically not true (say, in place of "lots of money" insert a specific, incorrect amount), then "debunk" the claim."
#34
"Naturopaths, homeopaths, chiropractors.
It should be illegal to advertise yourself as a “doctor of naturopathic medicine.” Instead you should have to say “Recieved a doctorate level degree in naturopathy.” And under no circumstances should they be allowed to refer to their place of work as a “clinic” of any kind."
Adam Belaire 1 year ago
I have to disagree with Chiropractor here. Yes, some are c**p but if you find a good one, your life turns around. I use to be hunched and curved really bad to the point I needed a brace. 2 years of going to a chiro and he was able to fix my back.
#35
RealityCheck18 wrote:
"Soul vultures.
Those who travel to poor countries trying to convert people to their religion after a major natural disaster."
Troublecleff04 replied:
"It’s okay a lot of the “victims” just play along and agree to whatever the soul vulture is spewing to get whatever resources they’re offering then when they leave they never think about it again lol"
sofacushionfort 1 year ago
The converts were called “rice Christians” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_Christian. But when there were anti-colonial backlashes, such as the Boxer or Maoists, the rice Christians suffered heavily
#36
"Debt collectors; worked IT for a collection agency and it was horrid hearing them call distant relatives, usually old people, trying to manipulate them into paying a debt for some nephew they barely know and how he'll go to jail if they don't, or trying to get debts paid for a deceased person saying "yeah I'm so sorry to hear that, so could you do $150/month for 5 months?""
sofacushionfort 1 year ago
My 16-year old stepdaughter was called out of class to the office to take an “emergency call.” It was a collection agency trying to squeeze her for money her mother had left unpaid before she’d died a few weeks earlier.
#37
EvidentlyEmpirical wrote:
"Any profession where the source of your income is scamming the old and/or the gullible."
Roy4Pris repleid:
"There's a church leader here in NZ whose flock is almost exclusively economically and educationally disadvantaged minorities. They tithe 10% of their salaries to him. He rides a Harley and drives a $190k Tesla."
Karen Philpott 1 year ago
And has several holiday homes, all over the $1 million mark. He has big tough looking guys who act like bullie boys who all ride big Harley's. Yeah he sounds so god-like. Not. He called himself 'bishop'.
#38
"Crystal healers, homeopathic remedy makers, or others that use pseudo-science and superstition instead or medical products and procedures that are proven."
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago (edited)
I love crystals. They changed my life. Looking at them on my windowsill all shiny and pretty brings me so much joy- oh you thought I was talking about healing? Nah that’s b******t.
#39
"Political pundits and pandering politicians."
PrettyJoyBird 1 year ago
There really isnt a line separating political parties. Its them vs us mentallity. Rich vs all else. They stoke the fires to keep everybody fighting arguing. Or at war figuretively and literally. All sucks. Yet is beneficial. Relationship w no boundaries.
#40
Commenter No. 1 wrote:
"Claiming that you are a medium or ghost hunter. But, people feed into it so they eat their money."
come_on_seth replied:
"At some point stupidity has a legitimate right to be separated from its money"
#41
"Beauty pageant host for children, anything war related, gambling related jobs, working in advertisement."
#42
Clinical_Subject065 wrote:
"Fentanyl producer."
Shoe_mocker replied:
"More specifically illegal fentanyl."
#43
"Ranchers that specialize in veal.
I'm not a vegetarian at all, but phew."
MrsFettesVette 1 year ago
My dad used to drive by a farm that produces veal every day on his work commute. He said the calves were just chained to these teeny doghouses and they couldn't move and it was right near the road and horrible to see. He swore off veal after that. He still never eats it
#44
"Subprime car loans.
When you trap people who have the hardest time paying for anything at all into a car loan that has them paying 3-4x a car's value over the life of the loan.
Oh you thought subprime lending went away after 2009? Yeah in most cases for housing... but that is still around to this day."
#45
"Cash Advance. It’s basically a legal loan shark."
Maksim Tribiani 1 year ago
Again I mentioned this in an earlier comment. No one forces you to take one of these loans. They are very upfront about what it will cost to take the loan. I actually worked at a cash advance place and we would lose a ton of money every year from people that would take a loan one time with no intention of paying it back. People know what they are getting into if they are willing to take a loan with such a high rate well that is on them
#46
"Casino owners and managers.
They send busses to drive old people to casinos. Bastards."
Kelley Gilbert Zumwalt 1 year ago
I was planning on adding casinos if it wasn't on the list. I live in the state of Illinois in the U.S. it has only been in my lifetime that any gambling establishments have been legally allowed. First, it was gambling boats, but still no gambling on dry land. The income from the boats finally got the politicians to cave and allow gambling establishments on land. Now there are slot machines everywhere. The people that use them all the time and can't stop are the ones that can't afford it. We have to deal with most restaurants and bars having flashing slots here! Signs plus stand alone places and they are just driving lower income people deeper into debt
#47
"Arms dealers and manufacturers. Especially the ones who make and sell land mines."
Julien Cooper 1 year ago
Though countries need to defend themselves and other to help them, if we had no weaponry and artillery supplies, it would be hard to start the wars. I don't think landmines are the worst though, it's anything in a war and including machine guns used where there is no war. Some people think chemical or biological weaponry and artillery is worse than bullets and explosive bombs. I think it's all bad, it takes one to take one or many lives and days under a broken building can be as bad as hit by anything else and suffering. I think there needs to be war crimes considered in just passing a border with anything of these things of war and left behind or used in a place not at war still a war crime because it's a tool of war used within a border it doesn't belong in.
#49
"Nestle exec."
#50
"Retention call center agents, like at&t/dtv, Comcast, etc. I was one for a while and ended up quitting because if someone calls in wanting to cancel their TV service, phone, whatever, because they lost their job or their spouse died, we were still supposed to try to them MORE sh*t and get more money from them. I couldn't bring myself to do it."
PrettyJoyBird 1 year ago
And now its outsourced overseas or the rep answers in echo bathrm w kids/tv in background. Constantly put on hold while they discuss w their manager.
#52
"People who go door to door trying to make you switch providers. It’s a scam that preys on old people."
Julien Cooper 1 year ago
Door to door, outbound calls, all that which looks to connect and sell or do other things, that's to wrong. There should only be inbound calls and websites for people using a phonebook or Internet search and making our own connections to buy something, do surveys and such.
#53
Scallywagstv2 wrote:
"Co-founder and chief executive officer of Facebook."
DankieKang replied:
"More like co-robot and chief executive lizard person."
User# 6 1 year ago
I know facebook and Zuckberg get lots of flack for what they do, but let's be realistic: they provide a free service that you're under no obligation whatsoever to use. In my opinion, it's up to the user to decide how to use it. If you load up on ad- and scriptblockers it's a convenient and easy way to keep up with acquaintances all over the world.
#55
"Scam call centers. They will do anything they can to get money."
StrangeOne 1 year ago
The scam companies scam the employees. You know those "customer service rep" job ads that put more focus on the employee perks and nothing about what they do? Yeah, those are scam call centres. It's a lot easier to weed them out since employee reviews online are a thing. Back in the day you had to sort of find out yourself that you're not helping someone get a refund with a product. You're telling people they won some sort of cruise from some sort of bogus contest to do with their credit card. And then if you get far enough to where they accept you're transferring them to the closers. I don't know what closers do but they're the people who are malicious enough to have gotten promoted to get that position. I've heard stories. The bottom tiered staff get treated like cattle off to the slaughterhouse. The staff are often not alright at work nor in their personal lives. I knew a guy who committed suicide a couple years ago. He was working between 2 call centre jobs, and one was unethical.
#56
"Outbound sales call center worker, you are literally told to lie to make sales especially to older people."
Julien Cooper 1 year ago
After the boss lies that it's inbound calls or tells other lies and then trains you to lie.
#57
Commenter No. 1 wrote:
"Maybe not the most but rent-to-own companies are up there."
chomasterq replied:
"Depends on what it is. Rent to own musical instruments is usually great for kids starting out it elementary school. You pay a little more than the instrument is worth but you can give it back to the store if the kid decides not to continue, or continue renting until it's owned. The place my parents got an instrument for me didn't charge interest at all it was well worth it."
George Hawkins 1 year ago
Us poor people have to spend more to have the opportunity to loan an item they need. Bleh
#58
"Not one that jumps to the front of minds: house flippers. I’m a Realtor and the things I’ve seen house flippers try to pull over on my clients is astounding. Sure, there are some good ones that do it by the book but the bigger ones that buy in bulk just paper over everything, cut corners, and care only about their bottom line. I work with a lot of first time home buyers and without me there they would unknowingly be walking into a biohazard death trap.
That and these companies prey upon people in dire circumstances and lowball the heck out of them to secure their property."
Unpopular opinions 1 year ago
I’m a contractor and a lot of my work comes from house flippers, everything we do is top quality and we never cut corners. I think it’s mostly the wanna be house flippers that watched a TV show and now think they have skills.
#59
"Girl Scouts. They sell a highly addictive product, but they only do it once a year, so you're Jonesing for it the other eleven months."
Bisexual Axolotls 1 year ago
Ok but cookie season is EXHAUSTING, so if it was year-round, it'd be a lot harder. You have to have a cookie mom ordering, organizing, and storing all the cookies for both the cookie booths and individual scouts, which wouldn't be possible year-round without being a SAHM.
#60
"Not sure what my title would be but the government hires contractors to deal with natural disasters. Basically the company would get a bunch of money to pay smaller companies that do the clean up and feed people, transportation etc. The company keeps what it doesn't pay out. There would be people crying on the phone for their payments but would be given the runaround or talked into accepting less.
This was in New Orleans I was a temp it was the worst job I ever had."
#61
"I’m a bartender. I frequently find myself questioning whether my profession is ethical. Leaning no."
Strings 1 year ago
Depends on the bar and owner, really. The one I work at, we are allowed (even encouraged) to cut people off if we think they've had too much. And as security, I have leeway to talk down/quietly escort out people who really shouldn't be there (like one guy who came in the night his wife kicked him out of the house and served him divorce papers)
#62
"I used to buy, trade and sell trading cards. It seemed unethical cause you'd always be trying to get an amazing deal from people and especially kids. If someone didn't know the price of the card you'd still haggle with them to get it even lower. I remember one of my buddies getting 3 cards worth $150 each for about $30 cause the guy didnt know the price had spiked a couple hours ago."
What do you think ?
Meint Veldman 1 year ago
I am missing some true leeches here. Anyone involved with most if not all hedge funds and other predatory 'investors'. They do not invest, they steal, from society, employees and customers. Example: One took over one of the biggest department store chains here. They paid ( made up numbers, but representative) 2 bil. They then went and sold al the real estate for 2 bil. promising the new owners inflated rent. This was followed by huge cutbacks, loans taken out by the department store, divident paid to themselves at 100s of millions. Finally it all went belly up. They managed to sell the company for more money and it went bankrupt again. Result: profitable chain gone, one that propped up inner cities. Employees sacked, investors in the buildings in deep trouble. And it was all legal...
kitten levels tokyo 1 year ago
Sounds like there are a lot of people out there making the world a worse place.
Sonja 1 year ago
Most of them either exist or are so bad because of the American reluctance to enforce any kind of regulations on companies. I'm very grateful I live in Europe where many of those are just not possible because of data protection laws, contract laws and limits and regulations that protect consumers. But it's the American population itself that is so afraid of any form of socialism that they often fight tooth and nail against any limits or regulations.
Meint Veldman 1 year ago
I am missing some true leeches here. Anyone involved with most if not all hedge funds and other predatory 'investors'. They do not invest, they steal, from society, employees and customers. Example: One took over one of the biggest department store chains here. They paid ( made up numbers, but representative) 2 bil. They then went and sold al the real estate for 2 bil. promising the new owners inflated rent. This was followed by huge cutbacks, loans taken out by the department store, divident paid to themselves at 100s of millions. Finally it all went belly up. They managed to sell the company for more money and it went bankrupt again. Result: profitable chain gone, one that propped up inner cities. Employees sacked, investors in the buildings in deep trouble. And it was all legal...
kitten levels tokyo 1 year ago
Sounds like there are a lot of people out there making the world a worse place.
Sonja 1 year ago
Most of them either exist or are so bad because of the American reluctance to enforce any kind of regulations on companies. I'm very grateful I live in Europe where many of those are just not possible because of data protection laws, contract laws and limits and regulations that protect consumers. But it's the American population itself that is so afraid of any form of socialism that they often fight tooth and nail against any limits or regulations.
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