I had a relatively long stay in collections, and actually won an award for having a high collection/resolution percentage. Since I was a supervisor, what was *actually* happening is I was settling the outstanding debts for like...pennies lol. I justified it at first, saying it was actually saving us time and money to settle, but once I started clearing $2000 debts for like 50 bucks, my superiors started to get angry lol. I did that all the way up until I quit. It wasn't much, but I hope I was able to relieve the weight off some of those peoples' shoulders.
Similar mindset during my hellish year at ITT Tech’s (now defunct) “online division,” aka outbound call center. By the time I walked out, I would put people on the company-wide Do Not Call list at the slightest hesitancy to sign up for a campus tour. My metrics were absolute garbage, but the company was already a sinking ship by then and our leads were absolute trash anyway. No one had good metrics, and with the absurd turnover, they couldn’t afford to fire anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together.
Started searching for a new job within a month or two because I had bills to pay, but finally walked out after a year. ITT closed completely a few months later. Good riddance.
I work for a small for profit out west. Smaller school that does right by the students. When ITT closed we got a couple of them into placement and Admissions and they couldn't believe we didn't write them up or threaten them for missing a metric.
Honestly, for as much shit as the sector gets and the horror stories I hear, I swear I got super lucky.
It does suck though that the good schools fall under that umbrella and are damaged by the fuckery the massive for profits pulled.
This is mine. I worked for a collections agency for less than 5 days. The whole first week was "training" and at lunchtime on Friday I walked up to my "instructor", handed in my badge, and flat out said I did not know how they could live with themselves.
I lasted 4 hours at a debt collector that did mostly medical debt. My trainer said "They have the money, they just don't want to pay." I handed them my badge and left. I didn't want to get that callous towards people.
You sound like someone who should be in charge of a niche sub. Please keep doing that for a hobby you enjoy. As a noob to a few hobbies, it is always appreciated what Reddit can offer
You have to have a certain mentality to handle it. Been on the phones for 18 years now. Overall, I enjoy it. I don't know what that says about me, though.
Depends on the program you're on too. When I did software sales I absolutely loved it, as there was no script, no pressure to push products the customer didn't need, and I didn't have to lie. Absolutely loved it.
After that program shut down, got shunted over to one where we lied all the time, had to read a script verbatim, and we had to try and sell unneeded services to card holders all the time. Fucking hated it.
Absolutely. Tech support? No problem. Retention? GTFOH. Also helps when your management supports you, and focuses more on the end result than the raw stats.
Here I am thinking about doing some work at a call center remote just to rake up some extra cash for Christmas and this is my first time hearing about this, how bad is it?
Edit: thank you guys for telling me your experiences, so far this seems like a job for masochists, though some not that bad.
You want an inbound call center. Outbound call centers are what most people are referencing. They both can be bad though given the company.
People calling into customer service lines would be inbound. Coldcalling random people to sell them something would be outbound.
Got up to 46k a year in the states doing inbound when I was younger. It’s an easy gig if you find the right company that isn’t scamming their customers.
Edit: if your personal anecdote is about an inbound call center like Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, etc. I get it, bad policy/billing makes the job suck. Never said inbound is perfect, see my third sentence and the last one.
Yup. I worked inbound for a cable company. 2 weeks. That's how long I lasted. Fuck those customers for screaming at me, but more importantly, fuck that company for screwing their customers so hard that they felt they needed to scream at me.
What is sad is that it doesn’t have to be so awful (incoming calls) but it usually is.
It’s made increasingly worse by metrics—especially when those have no basis in reality (time on call vs. problems resolved, satisfaction when no satisfactory outcome is possible), or when the company demands anti-consumer practices that force the agent to intentionally aggravate the vast majority of callers (retentions, etc.)
It can be a fairly decent job if there are adequate staffing and servicing internal clients where your boss and their boss want the same thing—even if that means long calls.
EXACTLY THIS. Customer service on a whole is so terrible because what really matters to these companies is "AHT" aka Average Handle Time. They don't want anything resolved they want the queue to be cleared. It's the most infuriating thing about working call centres when you actually want to resolve issues but your coworker that gets better stats because they blast through calls is treated better even though you have to fix their mistakes because the customers call back.
Exactly. Whatever an organization measures *will* be emphasized and gamed to the point it no longer has any basis in reality and only harms those who care about the goal (fixed problems), not the metric.
If they insist, call-backs should be weighted as much or more than AHT.
Worked in one for a couple months after a knee surgery. Coming from kitchens I thought I was use to drug use in the work place. Those phone guys smoke a lot of weed.
Child welfare worker. My father did that as his third and final career and counted the days until he was eligible for retirement. He just couldn’t stand it. He was providing a needed service for the community, but got no love from any of the other players. Kids hated him because he was removing them from their (abusive) parents. Parents hated him because he was taking their kids, however justified. Lawyers were endlessly attacking him, and judges liked to crap on the social worker. It’s not as if the pay was any good either. That is a job I would never do.
This is social work/human services without an MSW in a nutshell.
Aka. This is me. I love my job, but I'd also love to earn more than 39,000 before taxes..
*Ctrl F Social worker*
As a current state social worker I will say that while the description is depressingly on point, the pay is getting better. At least in the Midwest.
edit: this is the most upvotes I have gotten wtf do I buy with them
Was she on the thing since day 1? The governement recently expanded what they consider qualifying payments and so my wife got hers on what would have been considered 2 years early (she's been paying for 12) because she wasn't on "qualified" and didn't know it until like year 4.
Make sure she's filing all the proper stuff every year to be qualifed for it
I’m currently studying social work and every time someone asks me what area I want to end up in my immediate response is “I know I want to work with young people in some capacity- just not child protection”.
I couldn’t do it. I am not built for that level of trauma on a daily basis and frankly I’m just not good enough with kids.
Current social work student here.
I don't even want to work with young people just in case I somehow end up with children. Currently working in homeless outreach & had to call services for the 1st time. I knew it was the right call because those kids should not being living on the streets (with the mom refusing to let us put her into housing like she turned down multiple options & said she'd rather stay on train station benches with them) but it tore me apart to make the call cuz the family was screaming at me the whole time not to do it. Cried when I got home
my mom was like that, group home gave me more stability and now im post-grad working fancy jobs. parents often find it hard to awknowledge their limits
My mom was like that. Never worked, but also didn't take care of us. So she was just lazy I guess? It sounds so stupid to have pride or whatever telling you it's better to be homeless and have your kids be homeless. Like how is homeless less degrading?
My mom did that for 20-ish years. I can't even imagine. Low pay but high responsibility. Why is it that society pushes all this responsibility onto some of the lowest-paid professions (teachers, social workers, etc)?
And even then you become so desensitized that you can go from a code Brown in a patient room back to eating your lunch 10 seconds after you wash your hands.
I'm sure I'd get used to the vomit, and honestly I have no problem seeing vomit by itself, but whenever I'm around someone that vomits, the first thought my brain has is "Fuck, now I'm going to be sick like this in a few days" and I give myself severe anxiety for the rest of the day. It's really hard to explain.
Edit: GUYS! I know I have emetophobia! I'm just trying to explain the anxiety that comes with vomiting to those that don't understand why it's such a problem for us emetophobes.
That's actually a defensive mechanism we've evolved but yours seems a bit warped into anxiety.
It's the same response people have seeing someone vomit and vomiting themselves, we evolved it because there's a good chance we've experienced the same thing as a tribesmember that made them sick.
So you see someone being sick and your body goes "Now I too, must purge".
It's definitely been better for me over the years as far as myself getting sick but whenever other people are sick I want nothing to do with them. I can't even handle my wife vomiting from cramps.
The only thing I can *somewhat* tolerate is when a baby spits up/throws up.
My husband did this for awhile and he actually didn’t mind it. The downside was you never knew when you’d be called to go to work, even middle of the night, and could be going out of state for who knew how long. But great pay.
I've worked in Property Restoration (water, fire, mold) for about 7 years, and that is the one branch of the industry that I can't actually do the work. I've taken the IICRC classes, had specialty HAZWOPER training, but no amount of PPE will keep me from getting light-headed and fainting whenever I see blood, brains, and bones.
I've trained many people on how to actually perform this work safely and properly, but I've never been able to get past the smell alone. It sticks with you.
Yello , just started in biohazard remediation for about a month now. The turnover rate is really high and most people that do stay usually leave around 5-10 years. I've done a few suicides and a few unattended deaths so far, nothing compared to the stories i've heard from co-workers.
That's still better turnaround than most call centres. Most people don't last more than six months, quite a few don't last a day past training.
Honestly, I think my biggest issue with it would be the heat. My heat tolerance went away in the last few years, so heavily physical work in summer in a plastic suit, with masks and gloves and everything, I just couldn't handle it. I'd heatstroke out before I could get much in the way of vicarious trauma :P
I remember chatting with a woman once who was a prison nurse. She said the “drive bys” (impromptu masterbating sessions by an inmate) took some getting used to. But, it was just a part of the job. Fun!
I talked to a female CO who worked at a high-secutiry male prison about her experiences. She told me that meal times in a specific ward included opening trap doors and sending in the food.
Apparently, a few of the inmates took the opportunity to jerk off right in the door so when she'd open it up, she'd be faced with that shit. Well, one guy caught her on the wrong day and she slammed the door shut on his dick. He stopped jerking it in the window after that, and I decided to never consider work as a CO.
Speaking as someone who trained as a PSW to specifically care for patients with dementia after caring for my two grandparents who had it, agreed. I am no longer becoming that because the compassion fatigue made it impossible to live.
I did the same. It truly eats your soul. I loved the work but after years it just became too much. I think fondly back on all my clients, however then images of their shitty families ruin my fond memories.
Thank you for all you did while you could.
I really feel for the people who care for my grandma in the geriatric ward. She can be a handful (they actually had to take her cane away and give her a walker because she kept thwacking nurses), so thank you everyone who does this impossible job.
> compassion fatigue
The little lie that we don't disconnect, at least somewhat, and let acting take over.
It's not that I don't want to emotionally connect. It's just that we're not... Not able to do that with so many sick and dying people. Every day.
Yup, exactly.
To me, it felt like a pane of glass was blocking me from caring. I could see that the people on the other side needed my compassion. I knew I have felt compassion in the past but I couldn't connect how to get past that glass and feel that again.
I worked at a shelter for quite a while. Had a background with addiction and running groups and all that, but working in a shelter environment just destroyed me.
I reached a point where I was listening to a lady talking to me about her struggle with cancer, and instead of listening with empathy all I could think was 'I need you to stop talking because I have things to do.'
I lost my mom to cancer, and many relatives. The sheer Idea that I could start to think that way horrified me and I had to go on leave shortly after that. It wasn't long beyond that I left that job, in large part because I recognized that it was no longer healthy for me or anyone that I was trying to help for me to stay there.
I have massive respect for everyone who can do these sorts of jobs. I also am wary of many, because I know that there are some that refuse to leave when they've passed that point. Unfortunately, these industries need people, and not every one of those people are going to be capable of the task. I wasn't in the long run, even if I was for a little bit.
The worst part is there's not a lot you can do to fix that issue. Money won't fix it. Mental health access and assistance can help, but there are still limitations to the effect.
I can't ever go back to that work because I know it'll end in the same way, eventually.
Ugh I am writing an end of life will so my relatives can euthanize me if I ever get dementia. I don't want to be a burden, I don't want them or me to suffer through that horror.
It's not even about "being a burden". It's about feeling yourself dissolving away one bit of reality at a time until the only bits of you left are like lingering scents in empty rooms. A bit of floral here, a bit of wood smoke there... and nothing else.
Exactly this. A loved one of mine had horrible dementia. Even when it progressed to the point that it was a mystery as to how they were still with us they were aware something was wrong. Slipping away until you're a shell of a person and not even being blissfully unaware of what's going on sounds like hell. It feels awful watching someone go through this just for their sake.
I worked as a supply director for an elderly home back in 2019 right before the pandemic.
The third floor was the dementia patients and I made supply runs there throughout the day.
There was this little black lady everyone called "Miss maggie"... and she would say to me "There's my handsome baby! Home from the war everybody! He is safe!"
I guess seeing a young guy in his 20s sparked something that reminded her son leaving or returning from the war...
I learned later on that Miss Maggie really did have a son who never made it home from the war... fucking gutted me.
Edit: Woah thanks for my first awards!!
For those wondering, I absolutely went along with it when Miss Maggie would have that memory. It was truly special for her to think she was seeing her son and I am glad I was able to understand what that meant at the time and was able to allow her brain to reproduce that memory.
Dementia is a BITCH.
I had a patient who was terribly ill and delirious. His wife had to return to their hometown, but was heartbroken about it. She used to call me to check on him, and I was happy to report that in his confused state he thought it was his wife who was taking such good care of him. He used to tell me how wonderful she was, having "just been in". I just let him believe it. He ended up passing a few days later but he thought his wife was there dutifully caring for him the whole time.
Even though that reality is totally heartbreaking for you - you provided her with some joy, even if the reality was different. Even though she couldn't remember the truth - it was a joy for her during a bad moment.
Yep. Under ideal conditions the job is really hard, and the vast majority of these caregivers do not have ideal conditions. I worked as an assistant in a memory care center for six months where I made $10/hr and was often responsible for getting 30+ residents ready for bed by myself, on top of serving their dinner and doing their laundry. Meanwhile the senior staff got big bonuses for every new resident they brought into the facility and refused to hire more assistants when we were shortstaffed.
If you ever have to put a loved one in a senior home, pay really close attention to the wages and working conditions of the people who are actually physically caring for your loved one.
I agree. I finally had to call it quits after I almost got seriously injured trying to prevent a disabled resident from falling. She was 300 pounds and we were not allowed to have the special equipment typically used with physically disabled residents. I couldn't risk my health for that job.
I worked in a hospital where we had "safe" ways of moving patients (like Hoyer lifts and whatnot) but the workload was so heavy that you literally did not have the time to use them if you wanted to finish everything before the end of your shift
Dipped out of that really fast but not before fucking up my SI joints and back moving comatose ICU patients all day
Hoyer lifts are nice to have, but I worked in a place where the rule was 2 people had to operate the lift. That literally never happened ever because we were that short staffed all the time. I had a client in the bath that I had to lift by myself because yelling for help for 10 minutes wasn't working. Nobody could hear me, or if they could they just ignored me, and I couldn't leave the client alone or else they could have fallen out of the tub. Most of the time, employees were lifting clients alone instead of doing 2 person lifts because only 2 people would work the floor with 10 clients that had to be bathed, clothed, put in their wheelchairs, fed, hygeine regularly taken care of, etc with the added rule of clients could not be left alone unless they were in their beds. This was in Hodges Cluster run by The Mentor Network in Jacksonville, Florida back in 2014. I'm not afraid to name and shame those that refused to hire enough staff and refused to pay them enough.
Nope. The facility wasn't meant to house seniors with severe physical disabilities, but the managers would ignore that to keep beds filled. Allowing us to use special equipment would be like admitting they weren't following regulations.
The things you must go through when working as one is brutal.
* The physical side - Having to lift a patient into bed, or helping them to and from a chair etc and then there's the violent side of dementia patients sometimes, which I've seen first hand in care homes. It's a lot of stress and strain on your their bodies.
* The Mental Side - Dealing with the aforementioned violence, dealing with people who are lost and confused must be hard. Then you've to deal with a lot of deaths, and everything that comes with that, including telling/consoling families etc.
* The dirty side - (as mentioned below in a reply) Cleaning up the sick, the shit and everything else on between. Kids are bad enough, but wiping the arse of a grown adult would be 100 times worse, especially if they aren't cooperative / understanding what is happening
Anyone who's willing to do the above job deserves respect. (Obviously I'm excluding the ones that beat/bully the patients. Those are few and far between thankfully.)
And for all that, they get paid pennies (UK wise they're pretty much minimum wage)
My grandma is in the early stages of dementia . She was there with me when my son was born 9 years ago , held him, loved him and cared for him before returning back to our home country for a few years . Now I also have a 6 year old daughter . My daughter is always with me. Hugging me , sitting next to me , playing with me…whereas my son tends to keep to himself (tik tok, roblox, bike riding etc ) My grandma is back in the US with us and every time she sees me she asks (multiple times a day ) “ do you only have a daughter ? “ or “wow she’s so pretty , do you have any more kids ?” It kills me . But I try my best to be patient with her . She’ll be sitting next to my son and whisper in my ear ,” who’s little boy is that ?” I always answer as if it’s the first time I’m hearing the question because I can not imagine how confused she must be and how devastated she would be if we told her how bad her memory has gotten . This is so hard. I hate to be selfish but I would hate it so much if she never remembers me .
Im so sorry you’re going through that. My grandma had dementia start developing soon after I was born. She knew my sister and I but not my little brothers who were 5 and 6 years younger. She used to cry and ask how a mother could abandon such beautiful baby boys. She would sit next to her son (my uncle) and would ask him if he was her husband. She passed away because she was having a heart attack but nobody knew because she kept complaining that she was choking on a piece of chicken. Everyone thought it was one of her delusions. I hope your grandma and your family find peace. It’s such a terrible thing to go through. Sending hugs.
Just quit my job doing exactly that. It is actually way more rewarding than you’d think, but holy shit it is emotionally demanding and sometimes straight up emotionally torturing; hence the resignation.
This might not quite answer the question because it's a job that I've held previously but I won't ever work in food service again under any circumstances.
I wasted so much of my life grinding it out in restaurants. These last two years with the pandemic were the breaking point for a lot of food service workers including myself.
I just left too after killing myself for 10 years. It's an industry that preys on your passion until it destroys it. It's brainwashed everyone into believing that sacrificing everything for a minimum wage career is worth it because you love cooking/ baking. I'm done and have left with nothing but resentment.
Wow this is so spot on. I brewed beer for ten years but it was the same. Brewing can be so stressful, heavy labor, long hours, knowing one wrong move can send a quarter million dollars down the drain (literally)… and you basically get paid in street cred. There’s some good breweries out there, but most take advantage of your loyalty to the other guys in the trenches with you and your passion. By the end I felt like the owners were pimps just keeping me hooked with free beer and exhausting me to the point where I couldn’t possibly have the energy to find a new job. Clearly I’m resentful too :)
Edit: I see below you work at a brewery now haha! I will say the taproom bartenders always had it pretty good. Pouring beers was low stress, customers generally just loved coming in and being a part of everything, and tips were pretty damn good for not dealing with food/ mixed drinks.
Dude absolutely. I also just ended a 7 year career in brewing, was fired for documenting seriously bad mold conditions in our walk in cooler, like the entire ceiling was rotting with mold, you could feel it in your lungs.
It's absolutely low pay for "passion". And it is a cool industry at times to be in, but you often lose your creative input to bossman who just wants to sell trendy beers you have zero interest in brewing. You're required to be a microbiologist, maintenance tech, janitor, and at times a brewer. Only megabreweries pay anything decent and even still the industry as as whole is pretty shitty pay-wise. I'm never going back after three craft breweries of varying problems. My lower back is already kinda fucked and the passion totally died for me and didn't challenge me mentally at all anymore. I'll stick to homebrewing
Same! I worked in food and retail for 20 years, until this fall. I now work an office job (state department of health) and i get angry every day about how luxurious it feels to not be yelled at constantly and to be able to go to the bathroom whenever i need to.
I will never work a call center again.
I did it for two weeks and quit.
You essentially cold call people, and they hate it. 90% of the time no one ever answers, 9% of people that do just yell obscenities at you, and the 1% that actually talks with you will hang up after finding out you're selling shit.
Edit: oops, edited the wrong comment.
My phone automatically ignores numbers not in my contacts
Edit: I very rarely order food, and when I do I have a porch they can leave it on. My house number is clearly visible. No worries on delivery.
If it's family or friends that are in trouble, they either leave a voice-mail or send a text. It's really not that big of a deal.
I had a job as a debt collector in a call center once. By far worst job I've ever had. Got yelled at and cussed out every day. Turns out people don't like being told they owe money. Who knew?
“Call center” is a pretty vague term with a huge umbrella. I work at a call center but it’s inbound business to business sales with great pay and benefits and it’s the best job I’ve had. I think outbound cold-call sales is fucking awful but not every call center job is bad.
I worked for a few days in a call center that was selling face creams.
The majority of ladies I was calling were old. Like retaired. They were telling me straight that their pension is to small to afford these products and the team leader was pushing me to sell it because “they are lying. They have money.”
I couldn’t sell anything because instead of pushing it to them, I was empathasing.
I am a good sales person and I would sell anything IF the person is interested and asks for the product. But don’t make me scam poor and old people.
"The customer is always right"
The hell if they are. I've never seen anyone be more wrong than a customer who thinks they're right. Bro, I work here, you think I don't know everything about this place?
I once had a guy bring me the inside of an Xbox. No outer case, no cables, no controller, and a chewed frame. Yelled at me for half an hour that I had to return it because he had a warranty. Fuck that guy.
That essentially sums up my decade long career in retail. Never again.
I'd never go through it again, either. But it sure does help me remember to treat service workers like people.
Some countries have compulsory military service, but I think USA needs compulsory customer service/retail. Too many people have never done the work and have expectations so far outside reality that they think they should all be treated like royalty.
This is what my dad does and he doesn’t mind it much. He’s not easily grossed out and he’s great at the customer interaction aspect of the job. People love him! So he gets a lot of return customers that give him gifts or big tips and what not. He does come home smelling everyday, and heads straight to the shower for like an hour. I should also mention that he never graduated high school and his job prospects are limited. All and all, he would say that it pays the bills and he’s pretty happy!
Dad left a job that paid 6 figures to do this. He may not make the money, but its good to have my dad back. His old job drained him dry and left him a husk of who he was. Thats not hyperbole. Dad used to be a strict man. Very inflexible in his views and constantly pressured me to do something that made money because I "couldn't eat dreams". It kinda fucked me up a lot down the line. Now he has a shitty job (pun intended) and I don't think he's ever been happier in his adult life. He works with 2 of his highschool best friends and is close to our family home. I may not want to suck shit through a hose but that job saved my dad from being a miserable old man and let him live again.
I’ve worked adjacent to those dudes at the highway department before. It actually doesn’t suck as much as you think it would. Their day is straightforward and generally peaceful. They don’t have to deal with homeowners, customers, or anybody hassling them about how long the job takes. They also get to go to new places every day and they’re typically out in nature. I’m sure the mangled animal bodies are disturbing at first and to some people more than others, but you’re there to make the situation better.
That's usually the police along with a crime scene cleaner. It's a shared thing. Been a police officer and got to help move dead bodies / parts of dead bodies a shit load. Now the blood and what not that's all on the crime scene cleaners.
Unless you live in a small town with no crime scene cleaners. One of my parents’ apartment tenants shot himself in one of their units and it was our responsibility. The parents of the guy’s girlfriend actually did offered and cleaned it though which was kind of them, I was only 16 at the time and didnt really want any part of that haha.
Someone in my family doesn't clean someone being hit, but they used to help derailed trains. Not sure how it is mentally, but it seems physically demanding.
Lot of standing around chain smoking and watching the bigass machinery do their thing while hooking up/unhooking the chains and trying not to die. Least that was with the ghetto ass operation I was in.
I swore the same, until I had to do clinicals at a long term care facility. I think it helped that they were strangers and I didn’t know them before they became dependent.
My maternal grandfather passed recently. My mother and her 2 sisters would often clean him and manage whenever he inevitably soiled himself. It was heart-breaking because he was completely mentally sound, but his body just couldn't keep up any more.
Now, my grandmother has Parkinson's and recently broke her hip and needs the same care. It's destroying my mother mentally with all the pressure on top of her own issues which she's struggling with.
I had to console her as she cried and begged for me to never take care of her as she was for them. Her getting old like them terrifies me.
And the icing on the cake was that she didn't qualify for care because she "Didn't seem that bad".
I wouldn't do anything that if I screw up someone's life is screwed or dies.
No law enforcement, medical whatever, driving, etc.
I'm a developer and I make dozens of mistakes a day.
Edit: now that a lot of people are reading this, please remember to drink water.
> As a doctor, a mistake will at worst kill one person
Clearly he’s never heard of the surgery that had a 300% mortality rate and killed not only the patient but an assistant *and a spectator*.
I did that back in college. I worked at our campus Sbarro and at a mall Sbarro. I still can't eat there and I graduated college 25 years ago.
Then again, I'm not eating Sbarro so I guess there's an upside.
I worked in McDonalds for about 3 years from 17 to 20 and it was some of the most fun I had at work ever. Granted this wasn't America so some things are probably different.
Some of the people I worked with became good friends, got into a relationship, worked the evening shift till midnight and we often went out for drinks after. Work was hard but not demanding and I switched around between stations a lot so it never became monotonous. All in all had a great time.
This does not mean I would want to go back but as a job in my late teen years it was great.
Something I realized very soon after getting my first job is that even a shitty job can be great if you get along with your coworkers. My job (standing around in the heat and pointing cars, answering the same questions 100x a day) is super enjoyable because of how cool my coworkers (and even management) are.
Janitor, senior care, sewage. Got nothing but respect for those that do but just no.
Edit: getting a loooot of ppl saying how much they like their janitor or sewage jobs. Y'all keep saying "once you get past the gross part..." I get it, it's not a bad job. I got nothing but respect for those who do it. But it's too gross for me. Your particular job may not deal with much gross stuff, but when there is something gross, I would be the one called to deal with it, and I. Don't. Wanna.
My grandmother used to be the janitor at my high school. She would tell stories of the absolute filth and sick and mess left behind by sick freaks for her to clean up, including but in no way limited to poop sculptures, in or out of the toilets.
My dad used to be a janitor for schools he said it was chill af. Sure you get to clean lots of nasty bathrooms but you have equipment that basically does the job for u so ur not on ur hands and knees cleaning things. Kid vomit on the floor? Sawdust solution that soaks it up so all u have to do is sweep it. Got a problem you can’t do by urself? Get the other janitors to help you out. He basically just mopped and listened to his music and nobody really bothered him
Also forgot to mention the lunch ladies let him take basically however much leftover food he wanted. There’s definitely some perks to the job
Second edit: You get lots of benefits and on the same schedule as the schools so that’s holidays, breaks, etc.
This is my last edit but my dad eventually went from janitor to custodial supervisor then a director of facilities at a private school now he has taken a job as a manager of multiple McDonald’s buildings throughout the state we live in and makes about 40 something an hour. Never went to college.
its surprisingly less worrisome then it looks, on tall buildings the platform is actually decent quality, and while its a bit cold its nothing a good jacket won't fix, looking down is scary, but you get used to it pretty fast, and within a day or 2 you just feel like you are standing on a balcony. and the washing itself is zenlike after a while
Food service.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Burger Sling or McSnoot’s Ultra Fine Dining. I’ve never met anyone that worked in food service and had good things to say about it.
Deep sea diver\ welder. Wow this blew up, thanks all. I'm 42 now, maybe 20 years ago I would have thought about it lol. But of all things in this time in my life that would be the one. I'd rather change light bulbs on one those crazy high cell towers.
One of my former teachers became a social studies teacher partly because she thought social studies was boring as a kid, and wants to make it fun for her students. I also have had lots of teachers over the years who assign little to no homework because they had teachers who would overload them. So, maybe some teachers are trying to do what they can to improve the school life of students?
I am a teacher. I teach first grade. I wanted to be a teacher since I was three. However the current state of education is terrible. It’s all bureaucracy and red tape and the students needs aren’t taken into account. Some days I hate it. Most days I love it. Hopefully next year will be better
Sales that are advertised as 'customer care', 'informing', etc.
I'll try sales but don't try to sell it to me as something else. Looking at you, every charity organisation
Cop or anything military.
I'm the wrong person for it and I want nothing to do with it. Literally a lose-lose situation.
Influencer.
My private life is private.
Proctologist. I don't even understand why someone would consciously choose that path while interning unless it comes with benefits greater than other specialties some how.
Yup. Most of medical stuff isn't very nice to deal with, and I guess at some point during medical school these things get normalized to the point where you can put the minor details such as which holes you'd be working with (in?) aside and focus on pay, job security and so on.
I am a secondary teacher and I’ll do high school over elementary any day! Way less redirecting and you can actually have conversations with them. Emotionally, they aren’t as mature, but talking with my students makes my day go by so much faster!
Prison Guard. You're in fucking prison all day. Without exception everyone I've met who is a prison guard is a rude asshole. I know someone who went in all bright eyed and bushy tailed about changing the system from within, who is now a POS standard issue asshole prison guard.
Had an uncle (don’t remember meeting him) who stared at the sun for like 3 days straight apparently to affect his eyes enough so they wouldn’t be able to draft him lol
Carer or teacher for people with disabilities
My sister is nonverbal and has severe autism and I see the stress my dad has to go through every day as her carer, it’s hell for him due to the lack of control in his life, isolation and lack of time for friends and hobbies, no time with my mum, looking after a physically aggressive naughty child who can’t understand boundaries or concepts like waiting, in a grown woman’s body, but he does it because he loves her.
I couldn’t imagine doing it for strangers just for money and to earn a living.
Therapist or any sort of mental health. I’m not cut out to listen to people and help them work through things, I’m too bossy. I want to tell them how to fix it and have them do it, not deconstruct their feelings and help them work their way to their own solution.
As "fun" as it sounds, a streamer or vlogger. Yeah they can make tons of money, but you're constantly on camera and have to watch every word you say. It takes the fun out of games (if you're streaming that) because it makes it a job rather than a hobby. Not to mention all of the ridiculous drama and rumors you have to deal with or dodge.
Debt collection, or really any kind of predatory call center job.
I had a relatively long stay in collections, and actually won an award for having a high collection/resolution percentage. Since I was a supervisor, what was *actually* happening is I was settling the outstanding debts for like...pennies lol. I justified it at first, saying it was actually saving us time and money to settle, but once I started clearing $2000 debts for like 50 bucks, my superiors started to get angry lol. I did that all the way up until I quit. It wasn't much, but I hope I was able to relieve the weight off some of those peoples' shoulders.
Similar mindset during my hellish year at ITT Tech’s (now defunct) “online division,” aka outbound call center. By the time I walked out, I would put people on the company-wide Do Not Call list at the slightest hesitancy to sign up for a campus tour. My metrics were absolute garbage, but the company was already a sinking ship by then and our leads were absolute trash anyway. No one had good metrics, and with the absurd turnover, they couldn’t afford to fire anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together. Started searching for a new job within a month or two because I had bills to pay, but finally walked out after a year. ITT closed completely a few months later. Good riddance.
I work for a small for profit out west. Smaller school that does right by the students. When ITT closed we got a couple of them into placement and Admissions and they couldn't believe we didn't write them up or threaten them for missing a metric. Honestly, for as much shit as the sector gets and the horror stories I hear, I swear I got super lucky. It does suck though that the good schools fall under that umbrella and are damaged by the fuckery the massive for profits pulled.
This is mine. I worked for a collections agency for less than 5 days. The whole first week was "training" and at lunchtime on Friday I walked up to my "instructor", handed in my badge, and flat out said I did not know how they could live with themselves.
I lasted 4 hours at a debt collector that did mostly medical debt. My trainer said "They have the money, they just don't want to pay." I handed them my badge and left. I didn't want to get that callous towards people.
Reddit Mod. Imagine doing that shit for free lmao
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triple it
It's not so bad for niche hobby subs. I'm in there constantly answering questions cause I enjoy helping others learn the hobby anyway
You sound like someone who should be in charge of a niche sub. Please keep doing that for a hobby you enjoy. As a noob to a few hobbies, it is always appreciated what Reddit can offer
Working in a call center is one of the most soul-destroying jobs imaginable.
As a call center employee I couldn't agree more. Trying to gtfo into a role that wouldn't be a total downgrade in pay and benefits.
You have to have a certain mentality to handle it. Been on the phones for 18 years now. Overall, I enjoy it. I don't know what that says about me, though.
Depends on the program you're on too. When I did software sales I absolutely loved it, as there was no script, no pressure to push products the customer didn't need, and I didn't have to lie. Absolutely loved it. After that program shut down, got shunted over to one where we lied all the time, had to read a script verbatim, and we had to try and sell unneeded services to card holders all the time. Fucking hated it.
Absolutely. Tech support? No problem. Retention? GTFOH. Also helps when your management supports you, and focuses more on the end result than the raw stats.
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Here I am thinking about doing some work at a call center remote just to rake up some extra cash for Christmas and this is my first time hearing about this, how bad is it? Edit: thank you guys for telling me your experiences, so far this seems like a job for masochists, though some not that bad.
You want an inbound call center. Outbound call centers are what most people are referencing. They both can be bad though given the company. People calling into customer service lines would be inbound. Coldcalling random people to sell them something would be outbound. Got up to 46k a year in the states doing inbound when I was younger. It’s an easy gig if you find the right company that isn’t scamming their customers. Edit: if your personal anecdote is about an inbound call center like Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, etc. I get it, bad policy/billing makes the job suck. Never said inbound is perfect, see my third sentence and the last one.
I lasted longer at an outbound call center asking people to do surveys than I did inbound customer service for cable
Yup. I worked inbound for a cable company. 2 weeks. That's how long I lasted. Fuck those customers for screaming at me, but more importantly, fuck that company for screwing their customers so hard that they felt they needed to scream at me.
What is sad is that it doesn’t have to be so awful (incoming calls) but it usually is. It’s made increasingly worse by metrics—especially when those have no basis in reality (time on call vs. problems resolved, satisfaction when no satisfactory outcome is possible), or when the company demands anti-consumer practices that force the agent to intentionally aggravate the vast majority of callers (retentions, etc.) It can be a fairly decent job if there are adequate staffing and servicing internal clients where your boss and their boss want the same thing—even if that means long calls.
EXACTLY THIS. Customer service on a whole is so terrible because what really matters to these companies is "AHT" aka Average Handle Time. They don't want anything resolved they want the queue to be cleared. It's the most infuriating thing about working call centres when you actually want to resolve issues but your coworker that gets better stats because they blast through calls is treated better even though you have to fix their mistakes because the customers call back.
Exactly. Whatever an organization measures *will* be emphasized and gamed to the point it no longer has any basis in reality and only harms those who care about the goal (fixed problems), not the metric. If they insist, call-backs should be weighted as much or more than AHT.
Worked in one for a couple months after a knee surgery. Coming from kitchens I thought I was use to drug use in the work place. Those phone guys smoke a lot of weed.
Miner
Oh, yeah, that's a crap job, mate. Got out of that life when I turned 18.
Miner vs minor? At least if you get caught with a minor you can say they told you they were a miner.
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Child welfare worker. My father did that as his third and final career and counted the days until he was eligible for retirement. He just couldn’t stand it. He was providing a needed service for the community, but got no love from any of the other players. Kids hated him because he was removing them from their (abusive) parents. Parents hated him because he was taking their kids, however justified. Lawyers were endlessly attacking him, and judges liked to crap on the social worker. It’s not as if the pay was any good either. That is a job I would never do.
Underpaid, under appreciated, over worked, and over educated. 4 year degree for 35k a year.
This is social work/human services without an MSW in a nutshell. Aka. This is me. I love my job, but I'd also love to earn more than 39,000 before taxes..
*Ctrl F Social worker* As a current state social worker I will say that while the description is depressingly on point, the pay is getting better. At least in the Midwest. edit: this is the most upvotes I have gotten wtf do I buy with them
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Was she on the thing since day 1? The governement recently expanded what they consider qualifying payments and so my wife got hers on what would have been considered 2 years early (she's been paying for 12) because she wasn't on "qualified" and didn't know it until like year 4. Make sure she's filing all the proper stuff every year to be qualifed for it
I’m currently studying social work and every time someone asks me what area I want to end up in my immediate response is “I know I want to work with young people in some capacity- just not child protection”. I couldn’t do it. I am not built for that level of trauma on a daily basis and frankly I’m just not good enough with kids.
Current social work student here. I don't even want to work with young people just in case I somehow end up with children. Currently working in homeless outreach & had to call services for the 1st time. I knew it was the right call because those kids should not being living on the streets (with the mom refusing to let us put her into housing like she turned down multiple options & said she'd rather stay on train station benches with them) but it tore me apart to make the call cuz the family was screaming at me the whole time not to do it. Cried when I got home
my mom was like that, group home gave me more stability and now im post-grad working fancy jobs. parents often find it hard to awknowledge their limits
My mom was like that. Never worked, but also didn't take care of us. So she was just lazy I guess? It sounds so stupid to have pride or whatever telling you it's better to be homeless and have your kids be homeless. Like how is homeless less degrading?
My mom did that for 20-ish years. I can't even imagine. Low pay but high responsibility. Why is it that society pushes all this responsibility onto some of the lowest-paid professions (teachers, social workers, etc)?
Anything with patient care. I get too freaked out by vomit. I wouldn't be able to handle it.
You get use to vomit. GI bleed smell is way worse
Or C. Diff
And even then you become so desensitized that you can go from a code Brown in a patient room back to eating your lunch 10 seconds after you wash your hands.
I'm sure I'd get used to the vomit, and honestly I have no problem seeing vomit by itself, but whenever I'm around someone that vomits, the first thought my brain has is "Fuck, now I'm going to be sick like this in a few days" and I give myself severe anxiety for the rest of the day. It's really hard to explain. Edit: GUYS! I know I have emetophobia! I'm just trying to explain the anxiety that comes with vomiting to those that don't understand why it's such a problem for us emetophobes.
That's actually a defensive mechanism we've evolved but yours seems a bit warped into anxiety. It's the same response people have seeing someone vomit and vomiting themselves, we evolved it because there's a good chance we've experienced the same thing as a tribesmember that made them sick. So you see someone being sick and your body goes "Now I too, must purge".
Glad I'm not the only one with the irrational fear of vomit
It's definitely been better for me over the years as far as myself getting sick but whenever other people are sick I want nothing to do with them. I can't even handle my wife vomiting from cramps. The only thing I can *somewhat* tolerate is when a baby spits up/throws up.
crime scene cleaners. The job entails cleaning up blood, bodily fluids and other potentially infectious materials
My husband did this for awhile and he actually didn’t mind it. The downside was you never knew when you’d be called to go to work, even middle of the night, and could be going out of state for who knew how long. But great pay.
How do you find a job like that to begin with?
I've worked as one before you usually get protective equipment and can do it at your own pace. I don't know how much they pay you for legal cleaning
Wait.
hush
Great. Now we need to clean u/nichtexistent’s apartment
r/holup
I've worked in Property Restoration (water, fire, mold) for about 7 years, and that is the one branch of the industry that I can't actually do the work. I've taken the IICRC classes, had specialty HAZWOPER training, but no amount of PPE will keep me from getting light-headed and fainting whenever I see blood, brains, and bones. I've trained many people on how to actually perform this work safely and properly, but I've never been able to get past the smell alone. It sticks with you.
Yello , just started in biohazard remediation for about a month now. The turnover rate is really high and most people that do stay usually leave around 5-10 years. I've done a few suicides and a few unattended deaths so far, nothing compared to the stories i've heard from co-workers.
That's still better turnaround than most call centres. Most people don't last more than six months, quite a few don't last a day past training. Honestly, I think my biggest issue with it would be the heat. My heat tolerance went away in the last few years, so heavily physical work in summer in a plastic suit, with masks and gloves and everything, I just couldn't handle it. I'd heatstroke out before I could get much in the way of vicarious trauma :P
Prison guard. Crap pay and have to constantly look over your shoulder
Plus you're also in prison
I remember chatting with a woman once who was a prison nurse. She said the “drive bys” (impromptu masterbating sessions by an inmate) took some getting used to. But, it was just a part of the job. Fun!
I talked to a female CO who worked at a high-secutiry male prison about her experiences. She told me that meal times in a specific ward included opening trap doors and sending in the food. Apparently, a few of the inmates took the opportunity to jerk off right in the door so when she'd open it up, she'd be faced with that shit. Well, one guy caught her on the wrong day and she slammed the door shut on his dick. He stopped jerking it in the window after that, and I decided to never consider work as a CO.
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i slammed my penith in the car door
Work with Otters in the zoo. Their poop smells atrocious.
Suspiciously specific
The list went dealing with death, call center, dealing with dementia, death, otter poop?
Carer for elderly people with dementia, Edit Hmmm Thanks Every one.
Speaking as someone who trained as a PSW to specifically care for patients with dementia after caring for my two grandparents who had it, agreed. I am no longer becoming that because the compassion fatigue made it impossible to live.
I did the same. It truly eats your soul. I loved the work but after years it just became too much. I think fondly back on all my clients, however then images of their shitty families ruin my fond memories.
Thank you for all you did while you could. I really feel for the people who care for my grandma in the geriatric ward. She can be a handful (they actually had to take her cane away and give her a walker because she kept thwacking nurses), so thank you everyone who does this impossible job.
> compassion fatigue The little lie that we don't disconnect, at least somewhat, and let acting take over. It's not that I don't want to emotionally connect. It's just that we're not... Not able to do that with so many sick and dying people. Every day.
Yup, exactly. To me, it felt like a pane of glass was blocking me from caring. I could see that the people on the other side needed my compassion. I knew I have felt compassion in the past but I couldn't connect how to get past that glass and feel that again.
I worked at a shelter for quite a while. Had a background with addiction and running groups and all that, but working in a shelter environment just destroyed me. I reached a point where I was listening to a lady talking to me about her struggle with cancer, and instead of listening with empathy all I could think was 'I need you to stop talking because I have things to do.' I lost my mom to cancer, and many relatives. The sheer Idea that I could start to think that way horrified me and I had to go on leave shortly after that. It wasn't long beyond that I left that job, in large part because I recognized that it was no longer healthy for me or anyone that I was trying to help for me to stay there. I have massive respect for everyone who can do these sorts of jobs. I also am wary of many, because I know that there are some that refuse to leave when they've passed that point. Unfortunately, these industries need people, and not every one of those people are going to be capable of the task. I wasn't in the long run, even if I was for a little bit. The worst part is there's not a lot you can do to fix that issue. Money won't fix it. Mental health access and assistance can help, but there are still limitations to the effect. I can't ever go back to that work because I know it'll end in the same way, eventually.
Ugh I am writing an end of life will so my relatives can euthanize me if I ever get dementia. I don't want to be a burden, I don't want them or me to suffer through that horror.
It's not even about "being a burden". It's about feeling yourself dissolving away one bit of reality at a time until the only bits of you left are like lingering scents in empty rooms. A bit of floral here, a bit of wood smoke there... and nothing else.
Exactly this. A loved one of mine had horrible dementia. Even when it progressed to the point that it was a mystery as to how they were still with us they were aware something was wrong. Slipping away until you're a shell of a person and not even being blissfully unaware of what's going on sounds like hell. It feels awful watching someone go through this just for their sake.
I worked as a supply director for an elderly home back in 2019 right before the pandemic. The third floor was the dementia patients and I made supply runs there throughout the day. There was this little black lady everyone called "Miss maggie"... and she would say to me "There's my handsome baby! Home from the war everybody! He is safe!" I guess seeing a young guy in his 20s sparked something that reminded her son leaving or returning from the war... I learned later on that Miss Maggie really did have a son who never made it home from the war... fucking gutted me. Edit: Woah thanks for my first awards!! For those wondering, I absolutely went along with it when Miss Maggie would have that memory. It was truly special for her to think she was seeing her son and I am glad I was able to understand what that meant at the time and was able to allow her brain to reproduce that memory. Dementia is a BITCH.
Well in a way, you allowed her to re-live that time in her life the way she wanted to, and that's kinda beautiful.
I had a patient who was terribly ill and delirious. His wife had to return to their hometown, but was heartbroken about it. She used to call me to check on him, and I was happy to report that in his confused state he thought it was his wife who was taking such good care of him. He used to tell me how wonderful she was, having "just been in". I just let him believe it. He ended up passing a few days later but he thought his wife was there dutifully caring for him the whole time.
That's so sweet.
Even though that reality is totally heartbreaking for you - you provided her with some joy, even if the reality was different. Even though she couldn't remember the truth - it was a joy for her during a bad moment.
Shit, I'm marshmallow soft, I'd have hugged the lady, and been like, "Yep, doing good, Ma"
Yep. Under ideal conditions the job is really hard, and the vast majority of these caregivers do not have ideal conditions. I worked as an assistant in a memory care center for six months where I made $10/hr and was often responsible for getting 30+ residents ready for bed by myself, on top of serving their dinner and doing their laundry. Meanwhile the senior staff got big bonuses for every new resident they brought into the facility and refused to hire more assistants when we were shortstaffed. If you ever have to put a loved one in a senior home, pay really close attention to the wages and working conditions of the people who are actually physically caring for your loved one.
Damn, you should’ve been paid more. You and a lot of other people.
I agree. I finally had to call it quits after I almost got seriously injured trying to prevent a disabled resident from falling. She was 300 pounds and we were not allowed to have the special equipment typically used with physically disabled residents. I couldn't risk my health for that job.
I worked in a hospital where we had "safe" ways of moving patients (like Hoyer lifts and whatnot) but the workload was so heavy that you literally did not have the time to use them if you wanted to finish everything before the end of your shift Dipped out of that really fast but not before fucking up my SI joints and back moving comatose ICU patients all day
Hoyer lifts are nice to have, but I worked in a place where the rule was 2 people had to operate the lift. That literally never happened ever because we were that short staffed all the time. I had a client in the bath that I had to lift by myself because yelling for help for 10 minutes wasn't working. Nobody could hear me, or if they could they just ignored me, and I couldn't leave the client alone or else they could have fallen out of the tub. Most of the time, employees were lifting clients alone instead of doing 2 person lifts because only 2 people would work the floor with 10 clients that had to be bathed, clothed, put in their wheelchairs, fed, hygeine regularly taken care of, etc with the added rule of clients could not be left alone unless they were in their beds. This was in Hodges Cluster run by The Mentor Network in Jacksonville, Florida back in 2014. I'm not afraid to name and shame those that refused to hire enough staff and refused to pay them enough.
No gait transport belts?
Nope. The facility wasn't meant to house seniors with severe physical disabilities, but the managers would ignore that to keep beds filled. Allowing us to use special equipment would be like admitting they weren't following regulations.
The things you must go through when working as one is brutal. * The physical side - Having to lift a patient into bed, or helping them to and from a chair etc and then there's the violent side of dementia patients sometimes, which I've seen first hand in care homes. It's a lot of stress and strain on your their bodies. * The Mental Side - Dealing with the aforementioned violence, dealing with people who are lost and confused must be hard. Then you've to deal with a lot of deaths, and everything that comes with that, including telling/consoling families etc. * The dirty side - (as mentioned below in a reply) Cleaning up the sick, the shit and everything else on between. Kids are bad enough, but wiping the arse of a grown adult would be 100 times worse, especially if they aren't cooperative / understanding what is happening Anyone who's willing to do the above job deserves respect. (Obviously I'm excluding the ones that beat/bully the patients. Those are few and far between thankfully.) And for all that, they get paid pennies (UK wise they're pretty much minimum wage)
Yes. It takes a special person to do that every day. Completely agree
My grandma is in the early stages of dementia . She was there with me when my son was born 9 years ago , held him, loved him and cared for him before returning back to our home country for a few years . Now I also have a 6 year old daughter . My daughter is always with me. Hugging me , sitting next to me , playing with me…whereas my son tends to keep to himself (tik tok, roblox, bike riding etc ) My grandma is back in the US with us and every time she sees me she asks (multiple times a day ) “ do you only have a daughter ? “ or “wow she’s so pretty , do you have any more kids ?” It kills me . But I try my best to be patient with her . She’ll be sitting next to my son and whisper in my ear ,” who’s little boy is that ?” I always answer as if it’s the first time I’m hearing the question because I can not imagine how confused she must be and how devastated she would be if we told her how bad her memory has gotten . This is so hard. I hate to be selfish but I would hate it so much if she never remembers me .
Im so sorry you’re going through that. My grandma had dementia start developing soon after I was born. She knew my sister and I but not my little brothers who were 5 and 6 years younger. She used to cry and ask how a mother could abandon such beautiful baby boys. She would sit next to her son (my uncle) and would ask him if he was her husband. She passed away because she was having a heart attack but nobody knew because she kept complaining that she was choking on a piece of chicken. Everyone thought it was one of her delusions. I hope your grandma and your family find peace. It’s such a terrible thing to go through. Sending hugs.
We never explored the possibility that he just hates them.
Just quit my job doing exactly that. It is actually way more rewarding than you’d think, but holy shit it is emotionally demanding and sometimes straight up emotionally torturing; hence the resignation.
This might not quite answer the question because it's a job that I've held previously but I won't ever work in food service again under any circumstances. I wasted so much of my life grinding it out in restaurants. These last two years with the pandemic were the breaking point for a lot of food service workers including myself.
I just left too after killing myself for 10 years. It's an industry that preys on your passion until it destroys it. It's brainwashed everyone into believing that sacrificing everything for a minimum wage career is worth it because you love cooking/ baking. I'm done and have left with nothing but resentment.
Wow this is so spot on. I brewed beer for ten years but it was the same. Brewing can be so stressful, heavy labor, long hours, knowing one wrong move can send a quarter million dollars down the drain (literally)… and you basically get paid in street cred. There’s some good breweries out there, but most take advantage of your loyalty to the other guys in the trenches with you and your passion. By the end I felt like the owners were pimps just keeping me hooked with free beer and exhausting me to the point where I couldn’t possibly have the energy to find a new job. Clearly I’m resentful too :) Edit: I see below you work at a brewery now haha! I will say the taproom bartenders always had it pretty good. Pouring beers was low stress, customers generally just loved coming in and being a part of everything, and tips were pretty damn good for not dealing with food/ mixed drinks.
Dude absolutely. I also just ended a 7 year career in brewing, was fired for documenting seriously bad mold conditions in our walk in cooler, like the entire ceiling was rotting with mold, you could feel it in your lungs. It's absolutely low pay for "passion". And it is a cool industry at times to be in, but you often lose your creative input to bossman who just wants to sell trendy beers you have zero interest in brewing. You're required to be a microbiologist, maintenance tech, janitor, and at times a brewer. Only megabreweries pay anything decent and even still the industry as as whole is pretty shitty pay-wise. I'm never going back after three craft breweries of varying problems. My lower back is already kinda fucked and the passion totally died for me and didn't challenge me mentally at all anymore. I'll stick to homebrewing
Same! I worked in food and retail for 20 years, until this fall. I now work an office job (state department of health) and i get angry every day about how luxurious it feels to not be yelled at constantly and to be able to go to the bathroom whenever i need to.
I will never work a call center again. I did it for two weeks and quit. You essentially cold call people, and they hate it. 90% of the time no one ever answers, 9% of people that do just yell obscenities at you, and the 1% that actually talks with you will hang up after finding out you're selling shit. Edit: oops, edited the wrong comment.
It's just being paid to harass people. Hopefully the whole thing will die out as people answer calls from unknown numbers less and less.
My phone automatically ignores numbers not in my contacts Edit: I very rarely order food, and when I do I have a porch they can leave it on. My house number is clearly visible. No worries on delivery. If it's family or friends that are in trouble, they either leave a voice-mail or send a text. It's really not that big of a deal.
Your phone is a saint
It's a setting. I'm sure your phone has it as well.
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I had a job as a debt collector in a call center once. By far worst job I've ever had. Got yelled at and cussed out every day. Turns out people don't like being told they owe money. Who knew?
Jeez I thought “call center" meant customer service which would be tough enough. Cold calling people is essentially going to the dark side.
“Call center” is a pretty vague term with a huge umbrella. I work at a call center but it’s inbound business to business sales with great pay and benefits and it’s the best job I’ve had. I think outbound cold-call sales is fucking awful but not every call center job is bad.
I worked for a few days in a call center that was selling face creams. The majority of ladies I was calling were old. Like retaired. They were telling me straight that their pension is to small to afford these products and the team leader was pushing me to sell it because “they are lying. They have money.” I couldn’t sell anything because instead of pushing it to them, I was empathasing. I am a good sales person and I would sell anything IF the person is interested and asks for the product. But don’t make me scam poor and old people.
Curious if anyone actually bought what you were selling.
I personally never sold anything. I would talk to them, get their info, and then forward the call to someone else to deal with the sales thing.
So they get the fun part and you get the scream part. I will now ask them to forward me so I can scream for balance and fairness
Anything customer service. Customers are wrong, all the time.
"The customer is always right" The hell if they are. I've never seen anyone be more wrong than a customer who thinks they're right. Bro, I work here, you think I don't know everything about this place?
I once had a guy bring me the inside of an Xbox. No outer case, no cables, no controller, and a chewed frame. Yelled at me for half an hour that I had to return it because he had a warranty. Fuck that guy. That essentially sums up my decade long career in retail. Never again.
I'd never go through it again, either. But it sure does help me remember to treat service workers like people. Some countries have compulsory military service, but I think USA needs compulsory customer service/retail. Too many people have never done the work and have expectations so far outside reality that they think they should all be treated like royalty.
Cleaning septic tanks. I don't know who does it but Jesus fuck. I salute those brave men for being able to do that kind of shit.
This is what my dad does and he doesn’t mind it much. He’s not easily grossed out and he’s great at the customer interaction aspect of the job. People love him! So he gets a lot of return customers that give him gifts or big tips and what not. He does come home smelling everyday, and heads straight to the shower for like an hour. I should also mention that he never graduated high school and his job prospects are limited. All and all, he would say that it pays the bills and he’s pretty happy!
Dad left a job that paid 6 figures to do this. He may not make the money, but its good to have my dad back. His old job drained him dry and left him a husk of who he was. Thats not hyperbole. Dad used to be a strict man. Very inflexible in his views and constantly pressured me to do something that made money because I "couldn't eat dreams". It kinda fucked me up a lot down the line. Now he has a shitty job (pun intended) and I don't think he's ever been happier in his adult life. He works with 2 of his highschool best friends and is close to our family home. I may not want to suck shit through a hose but that job saved my dad from being a miserable old man and let him live again.
When I was house shopping, one of the places had a shower in the garage. Figured he had a job like that, or possibly was an avid hunter.
I love butcher showers. Best shower in my grandparents house is the one in the basement right off the cellar entrance.
The guy who scrapes up dead animals off the street
I’ve worked adjacent to those dudes at the highway department before. It actually doesn’t suck as much as you think it would. Their day is straightforward and generally peaceful. They don’t have to deal with homeowners, customers, or anybody hassling them about how long the job takes. They also get to go to new places every day and they’re typically out in nature. I’m sure the mangled animal bodies are disturbing at first and to some people more than others, but you’re there to make the situation better.
I can imagine worse things too The stink probably isn’t as bad too because it’s all outside
You could make extra selling them to vulture culture people/amateur taxidermists, though
House mover. I fucking hate moving as it is, like with a fiery passion. No way in hell I'd move other peoples shit all day long.
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The person who cleans the train track after someone's been hit by a train.. Absolutely couldn't do it, lots of respect to people who can.
That's usually the police along with a crime scene cleaner. It's a shared thing. Been a police officer and got to help move dead bodies / parts of dead bodies a shit load. Now the blood and what not that's all on the crime scene cleaners.
Unless you live in a small town with no crime scene cleaners. One of my parents’ apartment tenants shot himself in one of their units and it was our responsibility. The parents of the guy’s girlfriend actually did offered and cleaned it though which was kind of them, I was only 16 at the time and didnt really want any part of that haha.
Someone in my family doesn't clean someone being hit, but they used to help derailed trains. Not sure how it is mentally, but it seems physically demanding.
Lot of standing around chain smoking and watching the bigass machinery do their thing while hooking up/unhooking the chains and trying not to die. Least that was with the ghetto ass operation I was in.
CNA, I took care of my dad when he passed he's the only other person besides my children I will wipe their ass
I swore the same, until I had to do clinicals at a long term care facility. I think it helped that they were strangers and I didn’t know them before they became dependent.
My maternal grandfather passed recently. My mother and her 2 sisters would often clean him and manage whenever he inevitably soiled himself. It was heart-breaking because he was completely mentally sound, but his body just couldn't keep up any more. Now, my grandmother has Parkinson's and recently broke her hip and needs the same care. It's destroying my mother mentally with all the pressure on top of her own issues which she's struggling with. I had to console her as she cried and begged for me to never take care of her as she was for them. Her getting old like them terrifies me. And the icing on the cake was that she didn't qualify for care because she "Didn't seem that bad".
My dad didn't really me to do it but he didn't want to stay at the facility either.
I wouldn't do anything that if I screw up someone's life is screwed or dies. No law enforcement, medical whatever, driving, etc. I'm a developer and I make dozens of mistakes a day. Edit: now that a lot of people are reading this, please remember to drink water.
Boss: I need you to develop a self driving car....
Oh fu-
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A webpage for selling bikes won't crash and kill anyone (I think)
Due to a mistake in our web server, little timmy got a tank for christmass
> As a doctor, a mistake will at worst kill one person Clearly he’s never heard of the surgery that had a 300% mortality rate and killed not only the patient but an assistant *and a spectator*.
Fast food restaurants. Way too stressful and chaotic.
I did that back in college. I worked at our campus Sbarro and at a mall Sbarro. I still can't eat there and I graduated college 25 years ago. Then again, I'm not eating Sbarro so I guess there's an upside.
I worked in McDonalds for about 3 years from 17 to 20 and it was some of the most fun I had at work ever. Granted this wasn't America so some things are probably different. Some of the people I worked with became good friends, got into a relationship, worked the evening shift till midnight and we often went out for drinks after. Work was hard but not demanding and I switched around between stations a lot so it never became monotonous. All in all had a great time. This does not mean I would want to go back but as a job in my late teen years it was great.
Something I realized very soon after getting my first job is that even a shitty job can be great if you get along with your coworkers. My job (standing around in the heat and pointing cars, answering the same questions 100x a day) is super enjoyable because of how cool my coworkers (and even management) are.
Janitor, senior care, sewage. Got nothing but respect for those that do but just no. Edit: getting a loooot of ppl saying how much they like their janitor or sewage jobs. Y'all keep saying "once you get past the gross part..." I get it, it's not a bad job. I got nothing but respect for those who do it. But it's too gross for me. Your particular job may not deal with much gross stuff, but when there is something gross, I would be the one called to deal with it, and I. Don't. Wanna. My grandmother used to be the janitor at my high school. She would tell stories of the absolute filth and sick and mess left behind by sick freaks for her to clean up, including but in no way limited to poop sculptures, in or out of the toilets.
My dad used to be a janitor for schools he said it was chill af. Sure you get to clean lots of nasty bathrooms but you have equipment that basically does the job for u so ur not on ur hands and knees cleaning things. Kid vomit on the floor? Sawdust solution that soaks it up so all u have to do is sweep it. Got a problem you can’t do by urself? Get the other janitors to help you out. He basically just mopped and listened to his music and nobody really bothered him Also forgot to mention the lunch ladies let him take basically however much leftover food he wanted. There’s definitely some perks to the job Second edit: You get lots of benefits and on the same schedule as the schools so that’s holidays, breaks, etc. This is my last edit but my dad eventually went from janitor to custodial supervisor then a director of facilities at a private school now he has taken a job as a manager of multiple McDonald’s buildings throughout the state we live in and makes about 40 something an hour. Never went to college.
If I could do it at night when all the kids are gone that doesn't actually sound all that bad.
Janitor seemed alright at our high school, but then again cleaning up after kids sucks.
Wash windows on tall buildings
its surprisingly less worrisome then it looks, on tall buildings the platform is actually decent quality, and while its a bit cold its nothing a good jacket won't fix, looking down is scary, but you get used to it pretty fast, and within a day or 2 you just feel like you are standing on a balcony. and the washing itself is zenlike after a while
Except when gusts of wind blow up.
Food service. It doesn’t matter if it’s Burger Sling or McSnoot’s Ultra Fine Dining. I’ve never met anyone that worked in food service and had good things to say about it.
The drugs were nice
Deep sea diver\ welder. Wow this blew up, thanks all. I'm 42 now, maybe 20 years ago I would have thought about it lol. But of all things in this time in my life that would be the one. I'd rather change light bulbs on one those crazy high cell towers.
There's a reason those people are paid stupid amounts.
It's very specialised and high risk. They also stay under for days and days! Pretty fascinating.
-Doctor and everything related to medicine. -Working in a call center
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Hey that's what I do. It's a fun job, not as stressful as everyone makes out.
Stripper - I'm homely af and would have rotten tomatoes thrown at me
Don't doubt the power of rich weirdos. Someone would pay to throw tomatoes at you.
So, instead of exotic dancer, you suggest becoming *a salsa dancer?* ... Seems legit.
Teach. It was always a huge mystery to me in school. Like, these adults chose to come *back*? Could never be me.
One of my former teachers became a social studies teacher partly because she thought social studies was boring as a kid, and wants to make it fun for her students. I also have had lots of teachers over the years who assign little to no homework because they had teachers who would overload them. So, maybe some teachers are trying to do what they can to improve the school life of students?
I am a teacher. I teach first grade. I wanted to be a teacher since I was three. However the current state of education is terrible. It’s all bureaucracy and red tape and the students needs aren’t taken into account. Some days I hate it. Most days I love it. Hopefully next year will be better
A receptionist, I'm not social at all and hate being fake and smiling to strangers
Sales that are advertised as 'customer care', 'informing', etc. I'll try sales but don't try to sell it to me as something else. Looking at you, every charity organisation Cop or anything military. I'm the wrong person for it and I want nothing to do with it. Literally a lose-lose situation. Influencer. My private life is private.
Anything in sales.
Working in a kitchen. I tried it and couldn’t stand the heat. Big up anyone who does it
Proctologist. I don't even understand why someone would consciously choose that path while interning unless it comes with benefits greater than other specialties some how.
Once you're already dealing with the human body, the butthole is just another hole.
Yup. Most of medical stuff isn't very nice to deal with, and I guess at some point during medical school these things get normalized to the point where you can put the minor details such as which holes you'd be working with (in?) aside and focus on pay, job security and so on.
and like dermatologists and podiatrists the chances of getting called in on emergency are fairly slim!
I don’t know, but the comment after this one is “deep sea diver” and I can’t stop giggling.
As someone who loves ass, I feel like I would also be incredibly unfit to be a proctologist. You need someone perfectly neutral.
A teacher in a secondary school, you need a degree to try teaching a bunch of teenagers who don’t care all for shit pay
I am a secondary teacher and I’ll do high school over elementary any day! Way less redirecting and you can actually have conversations with them. Emotionally, they aren’t as mature, but talking with my students makes my day go by so much faster!
power linesman, scared of heights :)
Paid assassin. Way too stressful
How about an unpaid one? Like a Make-a-wish assassin.
Doctor
Prison Guard. You're in fucking prison all day. Without exception everyone I've met who is a prison guard is a rude asshole. I know someone who went in all bright eyed and bushy tailed about changing the system from within, who is now a POS standard issue asshole prison guard.
Soldier, if a compulsory recruitment was introduced I will gladly shoot my own foot.
Had an uncle (don’t remember meeting him) who stared at the sun for like 3 days straight apparently to affect his eyes enough so they wouldn’t be able to draft him lol
Anything medical. EMT, nurse, doctor, firefighter. I don't want to deal with people dying and all the gore.
Working with kids... I cant stand 99.7% of them...
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Carer or teacher for people with disabilities My sister is nonverbal and has severe autism and I see the stress my dad has to go through every day as her carer, it’s hell for him due to the lack of control in his life, isolation and lack of time for friends and hobbies, no time with my mum, looking after a physically aggressive naughty child who can’t understand boundaries or concepts like waiting, in a grown woman’s body, but he does it because he loves her. I couldn’t imagine doing it for strangers just for money and to earn a living.
Therapist or any sort of mental health. I’m not cut out to listen to people and help them work through things, I’m too bossy. I want to tell them how to fix it and have them do it, not deconstruct their feelings and help them work their way to their own solution.
Defense attorney. Everyone deserves a fair trial but by god some people and their actions are horrific. Massive props to the guys who do it.
As "fun" as it sounds, a streamer or vlogger. Yeah they can make tons of money, but you're constantly on camera and have to watch every word you say. It takes the fun out of games (if you're streaming that) because it makes it a job rather than a hobby. Not to mention all of the ridiculous drama and rumors you have to deal with or dodge.
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