What Is The Worst Part Of Your Main Job/Career That No One Ever Told You About? (2/30) (1 Viewer)

[GordonGekko]

Direct Headline: People Are Sharing The Worst Parts Of Their Jobs It's Actually Really Interesting

by Ryan Schocket Feb 27, 2019

Last month, XX@XXHashtagRoundup asked people to share the worst parts of their jobs, using the hashtag XX#XXTheWorstPartsOfMyJob. I found it really interesting to see what bothered people about their occupations. Here are some of responses:

1. Animal Shelter Worker: TheWorstPartsOfMyJob is saying goodbye to pets we’ve fallen in love with and are now leaving for happy homes, like little Pepper. It’s also the best parts of my job. Make me cry.

8. Customer Service desk: 1. Thieves 2. People who complain about lines. 3. People who complain about policies I can’t change ....To sum it up.....people.

9. Teacher: TheWorstPartsOfMyJob is being a teacher and having to use the restroom in the middle of class

11. Banker: When I have to explain to someone why they didn’t get a loan...

16. Nurse: Having ... responsibility without any authority to make changes...

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanschocket2/people-are-sharing-the-worst-parts-of-their-jobs-its



VIDEO: Worst Job You've Ever Had? | Keep it 100 Dec 8, 2022

"I don't discriminate. I hated all my jobs equally."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RucXf3BGM-c



Direct Headline: Here are 12 of the worst things real people have to deal with at work

Áine Cain Sep 16, 2016

Here are some of your stories:

Having to take the blame for other people's mistakes - "I hate having to take the blame for the mistakes of senior employees. I have to do it to save face for the business. I guess these are just the woes of an administrator."

Lack of appreciation - "The worst part of my job is that I am expected to do all of my lesson planning and grading papers on my own time (outside of a 40 hour work week). However, if I need to take time off, I have to use personal or sick time accrued between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. What about the hours and hours I work on weekends, before 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.? I don't get paid overtime, yet I am treated like an hourly employee during the work day."

Moronic bosses - "I hate being the smartest guy in the room. The worst part of job is the fact that my bosses are morons."

An understaffed company - "I work as a systems engineer. However, because my company is understaffed, I get pulled away to work the help desk every five networks. Instead of defending networks and configuring servers, I plug in mice and wonder why monitors don't turn on."

Too many 'cooks in the kitchen' - "We have too many cooks in the kitchen. I have one actual manager along with another two division managers who constantly try to interfere with my workload. Plus, they technically outrank my line manager. I find myself not knowing who I'm meant to listen to. The fact they don't know anything about my role makes it worse."

Loneliness - ”I hate the fact that I could go the whole day without saying a word, but I'd still get my work done. That's not how we're built as humans."

Unreliable coworkers - "My colleague is incredibly nice. They say they will do x, y and z — but they'll absolutely never actually do what they say. It's impossible to work around this person, but I also can't rely on them..... they don't really care about anyone else (lateral or below). Everyone who has to work with this person has the same frustrating experience. Everyone this person manages ends up quitting. The majority of management is oblivious about this issue."

Micromanagers - "I have a micromanaging manager. Forget that, I have a nano-managing manager. They're so meticulous about every single detail (e.g. document layout — the way we lay out any content has to be as according to the manager's strictly defined format). Even email responses are constantly looked at and commented on. They focus too much on such insignificant details, rather than looking at the bigger picture. They drive people away. Managers play an important role in establishing the best or worst part of any job."

Lazy coworkers - "I have to work more than one coworker. They're always slacking off or sleeping at work! Still, we get pretty much the same pay. That's the worst part of my job."

https://www.businessinsider.com/worst-things-people-have-to-deal-with-at-work-2016-9

What are the worst jobs in America? These have stress, low pay and lack of job security

Dislike your job? These 25 are considered the worst occupations in the U.S. for factors such as lack of job security, danger, low pay and stress.

www.usatoday.com

The Worst Professions: 10 Jobs to Be Thankful You Don’t Have

When thinking about what you’re thankful for this year, you might want to add not having these jobs to the list. They’re dirty, but someone has to do it!

www.topresume.com

*********



So I'm going to start another topic that is designed to increase discussion and participation in the FFA.

In terms of your main career and/or job, the primary means of how you've made your living most of your life, what are the worst parts of it that no one ever told you about before you started down that path? Is it something specific to that industry? ( For example, most people entering teaching have a very vague idea of how much time they'll spend grading papers, mostly at home in their "off hours" ) Or is it more the issue of the people you have to deal with on a regular basis? (I.E. your career path attracts a certain personality type or you have to deal with a certain type of client all the time, etc, etc) Or it something else?

I can see these situations from two angles. I've had to work for other people in my life (both good and bad) and I'm also an employer. There are just some things you can't avoid when you have a group of people in a closed off space for many hours a day for long stretches of years in a high stress environment. There are also things that are just plain self inflicted or one person or a few people make a giant mess for everyone based on their warped pathology. There is also the issue that every job/career has some downsides, bad days and rough spots no matter where you go or what you do.

Based on knowing what you know right now, would you still do it? What would you have chosen instead? Or, within the same industry, what changes could you have made earlier to make your current career situation far easier and less painful today? If you have children, would you want your kids to follow your footsteps into your main career path? What would you say to the 15 year old or 18 year old version of yourself if you could?

I am more interested in looking at the individual/cultural/social aspects of this issue and NOT any issue dovetailing into overall public policy in any specific area. And to gauge how people here feel about it from their own experience(s).

I'll leave this here for others to discuss. (2/30)

 

[Terminalxylem]

Worst part nobody told me about? Medicine is a business, run by businesspeople. There are a lot of awful things that result from profit-based morality.

Not sure what else I’d do though, as my schedule allows more net quality of life than other careers.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

My the people I manage are, to a large extend, over-educated and insecure. That combination has a tendency to create some weird workplace drama that emerges unexpectedly. Lots of problems in my work would honestly be pretty easy to solve if folks had somewhat thicker skin and could consider stuff a little more dispassionately.

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

Worst part nobody told me about? Medicine is a business, run by businesspeople. There are a lot of awful things that result from profit-based morality.

Not sure what else I’d do though, as my schedule allows more net quality of life than other careers.

I agree with this.

In simpler terms: dealing with insurance companies.

 

[Willy]

I work in a support role in IT. On call is garbage. Nobody wants to be woken up at 3 am, spend an hour or two fixing some issue, and then have to work 8 additional hours anyway. I think even worse than that is people acting like it's life and death when a system fails. My company had built its own paging system for our service area and up until about 5 years ago, support folks still had to carry pagers. My doctor was like: Why do you have a pager, are you a doctor? No man, but it's just as important: I support databases.

I was used to that and didn't think much of it until my wife became a Respiratory Therapist. She'd come home with stories of doing CPR on someone for 35 minutes and ultimately saving their life. That's when the juxtaposition hit me. My job involves minor emergencies that people blow up into much bigger deals than they are. Her job is actually life and death and they treat it as routine. That put some perspective on what is really important.

 

[Willy]

Worst part nobody told me about? Medicine is a business, run by businesspeople. There are a lot of awful things that result from profit-based morality.

I had a great doctor who told me the same thing just before he retired. He had an independent practice, shared with a couple of other doctors. They sold out to one of the large hospital chains and the next thing you know, some accountant with a bachelors degree is telling him he needs to see 1.2 more patients per hour. He said doctors aren't going to like going to school for more than a decade only to be ordered around by accountants. Shortly after, he retired and volunteered his time at the VA because he still wanted to help people. I miss that guy.

 

[Zow]

Worst parts of my job (partner at a medium-sized law firm and my main areas of practice are criminal defense and family law) that nobody ever told me about/I didn't expect:
1. The truly irrational dissatisfaction of some clients combined with their complete refusal to pay despite good work with good results being done for them. I learned this lesson early on when I ventured into private practice and won a complete acquittal for a client facing a charge where, if convicted, he would have served mandatory natural life in prison (meaning he could never get parole). Because of my work, client never spent a single moment in jail despite being accused of something horrific and heinous. On courthouse steps when client and his family are crying, hugging me, thanking me, etc. they literally asked the hyperbolic question of "how can we ever repay you?!" I had the practical answer ready and said that such is easy - just pay the remainder owed on the last invoice (which was sizable). They, of course, said they would and then proceeded to never pay a dime and actively avoided my then office's informal collection efforts. This is probably the most egregious story, but there's been a consistent theme (and therefore just part of the job) where clients won't pay for whatever reason, complain about nonsense, etc. which forces me to spend way more time than I ever imagined chasing down fees justifiably earned and dealing with post-work irrational complaints. This compounds with the struggle that oftentimes I'm still ethically required to do more good work for this particular client, and I have to set that personal annoyance aside and not let it permeate into doing subpar work for them.
2. Dealing with opposing counsels or judges who are, for no good reason, just jerks for the sake of being the same. I suspect this is more generational, but I never anticipated nor was warned about how nasty some in the profession can be to others. The job is hard and stressful enough without us being awful to each other and, in my experience, a client is better served by a lawyer who is professional and respectful to opposing counsels and the court. But, some don't seem to agree and think screaming at a colleague is somehow a part of the job.
3. This is a distant third compared to the top two because it was somewhat anticipated, but I never really fully grasped or thought about the personal impact of dealing with, and more particularly, seeing certain evidence and fact patterns that probably should have put me into regular counseling to be able to process.


Would I still do my job? Yes, I would, and I really don't think I'd change much other than somehow being able to warn past me about the above so that I'd be better prepared. I assume past me would have been better at ensuring better collection methods and, frankly, prevent myself from being as lenient as I was about payments (as I genuinely had better faith in people to pay after the fact) as well as advise my past self that I shouldn't personally take to heart the irrational complaints after the fact.

Would I want my kids doing my job? Sure, but I would definitely have some serious talks with them about the drawbacks to the job to ensure that they truly wanted to go down the same path.



Note: I didn't include a significant "worst part" because, frankly, I was warned about this but the reality of my profession is that to truly make and acquire significant wealth one has to work grueling, obscene hours. These hours will inevitably take its toll on your mental and physical health.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Worst parts of my job (partner at a medium-sized law firm and my main areas of practice are criminal defense and family law) that nobody ever told me about/I didn't expect:
1. The truly irrational dissatisfaction of some clients combined with their complete refusal to pay despite good work with good results being done for them. I learned this lesson early on when I ventured into private practice and won a complete acquittal for a client facing a charge where, if convicted, he would have served mandatory natural life in prison (meaning he could never get parole). Because of my work, client never spent a single moment in jail despite being accused of something horrific and heinous. On courthouse steps when client and his family are crying, hugging me, thanking me, etc. they literally asked the hyperbolic question of "how can we ever repay you?!" I had the practical answer ready and said that such is easy - just pay the remainder owed on the last invoice (which was sizable). They, of course, said they would and then proceeded to never pay a dime and actively avoided my then office's informal collection efforts. This is probably the most egregious story, but there's been a consistent theme (and therefore just part of the job) where clients won't pay for whatever reason, complain about nonsense, etc. which forces me to spend way more time than I ever imagined chasing down fees justifiably earned and dealing with post-work irrational complaints. This compounds with the struggle that oftentimes I'm still ethically required to do more good work for this particular client, and I have to set that personal annoyance aside and not let it permeate into doing subpar work for them.

I had never thought about this particular aspect of criminal defense before, and I can see where it would be incredibly frustrating.

At the same time though, and with all respect, it seems kind of predictable that people on trial for felony charges probably aren't the most credit-worthy segment of population. I guess it might be different if you were defending Ivan Boesky or somebody, but I get the impression that that's not the type of criminal we're talking about here.

Regardless, criminal defense may be a dirty job but it serves an extremely valuable social function. Glad you're doing okay.

 

[Boston]

In sales…it is definitely the people who study spreadsheets but never leave the office…so clueless about the real world of building relationships or actually having to make a presentation or how an account truly operates day to day…they use terms like “leverage your relationships” and we just laugh at them because they truly don’t know what that means.

 

[MTskibum]

I manage software applications and the worst part is that random director /junior vp level management will complain that my software lacks feature xyz, but not give me the budget to implement feature xyz. Even though i have almost certainly put together a quote for them in the past which they rejected to fund.

This happens numerous times per year.

 

[ProstheticRGK]

Worst part nobody told me about? Medicine is a business, run by businesspeople. There are a lot of awful things that result from profit-based morality.

Not sure what else I’d do though, as my schedule allows more net quality of life than other careers.

This. and poop.

poop is probably worse.

 

[TLEF316]

Insurance underwriter.....Both my parents are in the business (on the broker side) so there weren't a ton of secrets/surprises. My dad has always said "the insurance industry is plagued with mediocrity" and that's absolutely the case. Pretty much anyone who handles larger accounts (what I deal with) at a large international broker is a "vice president" or higher. But its all nonsense. Some of them are just flat out incompetent and I can't believe their clients haven't fired them.

One of my clients (we actually write their program) IS a large national insurance broker (one of the 10 largest in the country. They're obviously the broker on their own workers comp policy) and I still have to explain basic elements of how their coverage works to their "vice presidents" like they're a trainee. Its pretty embarrassing.

Its certainly annoying at times, but that technical expertise is how I bring value (and its my strength) so I'm ok with doing it. But I almost always have a few "WTF??? How does he/she not already know this?" moments every week. And theoretically, the people I deal with should be the cream of the crop on the broker side of the house (folks handling large accounts at the biggest brokers in New York City).

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Worst parts of my job (partner at a medium-sized law firm and my main areas of practice are criminal defense and family law) that nobody ever told me about/I didn't expect:
1. The truly irrational dissatisfaction of some clients combined with their complete refusal to pay despite good work with good results being done for them. I learned this lesson early on when I ventured into private practice and won a complete acquittal for a client facing a charge where, if convicted, he would have served mandatory natural life in prison (meaning he could never get parole). Because of my work, client never spent a single moment in jail despite being accused of something horrific and heinous. On courthouse steps when client and his family are crying, hugging me, thanking me, etc. they literally asked the hyperbolic question of "how can we ever repay you?!" I had the practical answer ready and said that such is easy - just pay the remainder owed on the last invoice (which was sizable). They, of course, said they would and then proceeded to never pay a dime and actively avoided my then office's informal collection efforts. This is probably the most egregious story, but there's been a consistent theme (and therefore just part of the job) where clients won't pay for whatever reason, complain about nonsense, etc. which forces me to spend way more time than I ever imagined chasing down fees justifiably earned and dealing with post-work irrational complaints. This compounds with the struggle that oftentimes I'm still ethically required to do more good work for this particular client, and I have to set that personal annoyance aside and not let it permeate into doing subpar work for them.
2. Dealing with opposing counsels or judges who are, for no good reason, just jerks for the sake of being the same. I suspect this is more generational, but I never anticipated nor was warned about how nasty some in the profession can be to others. The job is hard and stressful enough without us being awful to each other and, in my experience, a client is better served by a lawyer who is professional and respectful to opposing counsels and the court. But, some don't seem to agree and think screaming at a colleague is somehow a part of the job.
3. This is a distant third compared to the top two because it was somewhat anticipated, but I never really fully grasped or thought about the personal impact of dealing with, and more particularly, seeing certain evidence and fact patterns that probably should have put me into regular counseling to be able to process.


Would I still do my job? Yes, I would, and I really don't think I'd change much other than somehow being able to warn past me about the above so that I'd be better prepared. I assume past me would have been better at ensuring better collection methods and, frankly, prevent myself from being as lenient as I was about payments (as I genuinely had better faith in people to pay after the fact) as well as advise my past self that I shouldn't personally take to heart the irrational complaints after the fact.

Would I want my kids doing my job? Sure, but I would definitely have some serious talks with them about the drawbacks to the job to ensure that they truly wanted to go down the same path.



Note: I didn't include a significant "worst part" because, frankly, I was warned about this but the reality of my profession is that to truly make and acquire significant wealth one has to work grueling, obscene hours. These hours will inevitably take its toll on your mental and physical health.

Does it bother you or affect or work if you know your client is guilty?

 

[tymarsas]

There was once a time when I thought the only way to advance in my career and earn more money was to manage people. At that time, the worst part of my job was managing people. I hated getting up in the morning and going into work. I dreaded dealing with whatever petty issue that was going to come up. My main goal when managing people was to increase profitability and then increase salaries for everyone. Unfortunately I ended up coming across as the taskmaster constantly focused on billable hours, reducing costs and taking away fun perks. I was a terrible manager.

Then about 10 years ago, I decided to give up managing people and go back to being a software developer. I haven't regretted it one bit. Now the worst part of my job is filling in tps reports growth development plans. It's a pretty minor complaint.

So I guess the part nobody told me was that you don't have to become the CEO to have a good career. I always thought that was the end goal of any ambitious young person. My career now is great and I have zero desire to go back into people management.

 

[Manster]

Actually having to go to work every day..... I'm ona those people, that if I won the lottery, I'd put in my two weeks, and start hitting all the rivers on my bucket list......eventually I might pick up a part time gig at a fly shop.....work weekends only cuz that's when all the working stiffs are on the river

 

[tymarsas]

The other part of my job that I always hated was tracking billable hours. Maybe it was just the way that I work which alternates being completely unproductive and razor focused, super productive. Keeping track of hours always seemed soul crushing to me (and pretty much all of my co-workers). And we only had to track in 15 minute increments. I can't imagine doing it in 6 minute increments. Thankfully I got out of the consultancy business and don't have to track billable hours anymore.

 

[dickey moe]

The other part of my job that I always hated was tracking billable hours. Maybe it was just the way that I work which alternates being completely unproductive and razor focused, super productive. Keeping track of hours always seemed soul crushing to me (and pretty much all of my co-workers). And we only had to track in 15 minute increments. I can't imagine doing it in 6 minute increments. Thankfully I got out of the consultancy business and don't have to track billable hours anymore.

Yeah, billable hours targets can be stressful. I took a new job a couple of years ago with better compensation and a utilization target reduced from 90% with my former employer down to 75% with my current employer. Allows more time for BD, proposals, management/mentoring, etc.

 

[Judge Smails]

I'm in Sales leadership and it's the stress associated with having to hit a forecasted # each month, quarter, year. Always thought I'm the type to carry stress well but I've also had a Widowmaker - so maybe not. When you are working for a public company or a VC/PE backed entity the pressure to hit your #'s is intense.

 

[Sabertooth]

I’m a house flipper. Mine is the relentless obligation to keep my helper busy. He’s a good friend. But I don’t always want to work normal hours. Sometimes I want to take two weeks off. But I can’t because he needs to eat.

 

[3C's]

I work in a support role in IT. On call is garbage. Nobody wants to be woken up at 3 am, spend an hour or two fixing some issue, and then have to work 8 additional hours anyway. I think even worse than that is people acting like it's life and death when a system fails. My company had built its own paging system for our service area and up until about 5 years ago, support folks still had to carry pagers. My doctor was like: Why do you have a pager, are you a doctor? No man, but it's just as important: I support databases.

I was used to that and didn't think much of it until my wife became a Respiratory Therapist. She'd come home with stories of doing CPR on someone for 35 minutes and ultimately saving their life. That's when the juxtaposition hit me. My job involves minor emergencies that people blow up into much bigger deals than they are. Her job is actually life and death and they treat it as routine. That put some perspective on what is really important.

I interviewed for a job years ago and was asked how I felt about on call. I answered that I hate it but it's a necessary evil of the position. Surprisingly I didn't get that job. Hired by the same company a year later in a better position and will hit 20 years there in a few months.

 

[massraider]

At the same time though, and with all respect, it seems kind of predictable that people on trial for felony charges probably aren't the most credit-worthy segment of population

I know a few lawyers.

People who don't like paying their fees are as diverse a group of people as "people who need water to survive"'.

 

[The Duff Man]

That even in today’s time, some leaders of public companies don’t get that you need to take care of your people, and that is the best long term play to drive stock value.

In my former company there was an executive bonus for hitting working capital that was going to be missed at year end. Leadership approached customers with Dec shipments and offered them terms to pay early (before year end). This cost the company money but reduced A/R and ensured the bonus was hit.

Unsurprisingly, early in the next year we weren’t hitting profit targets and did layoffs.

 

[Sabertooth]

That even in today’s time, some leaders of public companies don’t get that you need to take care of your people, and that is the best long term play to drive stock value.

In my former company there was an executive bonus for hitting working capital that was going to be missed at year end. Leadership approached customers with Dec shipments and offered them terms to pay early (before year end). This cost the company money but reduced A/R and ensured the bonus was hit.

Unsurprisingly, early in the next year we weren’t hitting profit targets and did layoffs.

I bet the executive didn’t get laid off after getting that bonus tho!

 

[MTskibum]

Actually having to go to work every day..... I'm ona those people, that if I won the lottery, I'd put in my two weeks, and start hitting all the rivers on my bucket list......eventually I might pick up a part time gig at a fly shop.....work weekends only cuz that's when all the working stiffs are on the river

You and me both.