Career Cautionary Tales: 23 Jobs People in the Field Wouldn’t Recommend

A recent online discussion revealed that many people dislike certain commonly suggested jobs. Here is a sneek peek into what 23 individuals said:

1. Call Center

A user shared “Call center tech support. Need I really say anything? The whole job is trying to help people who treat me like I’m the person who broke their stuff.” 

“I had a miserable time and my call center wasn’t even that big on metrics. i think it was a mix of getting cussed out all day and having to be 100% focused and on my game all day that made me so anxious and depressed. the difference between a call center and every other job i worked was that there were pockets of down time and not having to talk all day in those other jobs. it’s mentally exhausting to be constantly communicating with as little as 3 seconds between your next task. we couldn’t even take a bathroom break without penalty.” shared another. 

And, yet another user shared, “Yes, it is very stressful. I have worked in two different call centers for a total of four years, and let me tell you: it will cause an extreme mental toll on you if you are not careful.”

Instead of this, we recommend checking out email and chat support jobs from home.The pay is decent and you don’t have to listen to people – just chat with them or respond to emails.

Related: How to make money as a woman? – Earn $1K+ legally.

2. Teach English in Japan

Teaching English to Korean, Chinese and Japanese students have been a popular side hustle. However, many don’t recommend teaching English in Japan. 

A user shared “If you want to live in Japan and don’t care about not earning very much money, come “teach” English. Literally the only real requirements are 1) be alive and 2) at least kind of speak English. If you can read this comment you’re probably overqualified.”

According to many, the pay is low, there are no add-on benefits, and won’t have any fun or challenge. 

Related: 9 Summer Job Ideas For Teachers

3. Book Editor For Book Lovers

You can get paid to read books, but if you are a book lover, do you really want to make that your work?

A user says “Well, I used to love reading. I joined a book club while in college and even voted as one of the committee. Now I see books as work and never touch them outside my work hours. sigh”

“This is a perfect example of what I tell every high-schooler during career week. Do a job you are good at, not a hobby you like. Save the things you enjoy for a hobby and use the thing you are good at to pay for the things you enjoy. Turing your hobby into a job will make you hate your hobby.” said another

“Yes, exactly this! I hate the stupid saying “do a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” or however it goes. I tried that twice now with two different hobbies and each time it did nothing but ruin my hobby for me. In the future I just want to keep my job and my hobbies separate.” added another. 

While it may be true for many, it isn’t true for everyone. There are avid book readers who have loved to take up proofreading jobs.

4. Zookeeper

“Have you smelled lion spray? Otter, oily, fishy and laced with territory-marking musk? Yeah, you don’t want to. You probably can’t even imagine how badly you don’t want to. Certainly not for close to minimum wage. You have to be a little crazy to get into this line of work. My nostrils have never forgiven me.” said one. 

“I had a former student who majored in zoology and got an internship at one of the most-respected zoos in North America while she was my student. They had her working until 4am every night feeding and assessing baby bats and reptiles as well as cleaning enclosures. She loved it and didn’t mind the stench or the late hours, but she minded the $9/hr or so that they offered her upon graduation. She ended up bartending instead with me at my second job because university-level teaching didn’t pay me much more. I’m sure the pay scale is different depending on the city you live in, but if you live in Ohio, you do not want to go into zookeeping or teaching at a university unless you’re just rich and eccentric and work for fun, not money” said another. 

5. Doctor Or Physician

While medical jobs pay really well, there are many doctors who don’t recommend their own kids to pursue this career. 

One said “4 years college, 4 years medical school, 4 years residency, up to $460,000 debt, working up to 115hrs/week, patients go perfect to oh my god in a couple of minutes”

“Yup. I have met very few physicians in any specialty that would allow their child to become a doctor. Just overall pretty bad.” said another

Related: Highest Paying Non-Medical Jobs

6. Lawyer

Yes, lawyers are paid well but it comes at the cost of your health and big student debts. 

“The field can be thankless and the stress is unrelenting. There can be days that make it worth it, but you can have all the work caught up to be blown up and have several days in a row ruined by something dumb. Law school was insanely clicky and people are hyper-competitive, a sense of community can be hard to find while superiors take no hesitation in reminding you that you work for them” said a user.

In fact, there are many who went and seconded that opinion. Law school and lawyer-life is definitely stressful and doesn’t leave you with any time, even on the weekends! 

Related: High Paying Online Jobs (Good Alternatives To Becoming A Lawyer)

7. Middle School Teacher

“It’s stressful and low pay” said one. 

“I’ll second that with university instructor. Sure, the average pay for PhD’s in your department may be $87,000/year. However, most people with PhD’s are not offered tenure, and to develop, teach, and grade two courses per term, the going rate is $33,000-45,000 without tenure. They’ll call these teachers “lecturers,” “instructors,” or any other term other than “professor” to avoid paying them fairly, even though they do the same amount of work (or more because lecturers and instructors would not get graders) and research as tenured professors.”

“Yes, $33k a year for having a PhD and teaching and grading about 60 hours per week. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not ended up on my major university’s departmental committee and had access to everyone’s payroll information.” said someone. 

Related: Jobs That Make $20 An Hour or More

8. Librarian 

“The pay is low, especially with the fact that you need a master’s to have any meaningful advancement. Master’s degree, to make $40-50k.”

“I normally work in a fairly nice suburban branch where the worst I get is old men coming on to me. I’m pretty lucky. Coworkers at the downtown branch have been grabbed, punched, screamed at, spit at. They find fluids all over the place. They find people overdosed in the bathroom.” said another.

“I’m sure any customer service position is like this. People think librarians sit and read in a nice, quiet library all day. We do not. We are expected to act as untrained social workers as much as we’re expected to recommend books.” added another.

Related: Part-Time Jobs That Pay Well

9. Accountant 

“It’s mentally exhausting. People are sensitive and weird when it comes to money. I have to request pretty standard information, which make some clients get very defensive. People also don’t understand the importance of little things like keeping receipts/invoices. It’s rare to find business owners who are organized and know anything about accounting. I helped with the back end work of doing tax returns and it amazes me that there are people who have been doing taxes for 20+ years yet you still have to beg them for the same information every year. I’m the type of person who after 2-3 attempts, I will just move on.

Also, it’s funny how growing up the saying is “if you don’t want to deal with people, be an accountant!” Big nope. You have to not only get information out of people, you have talk about money with them and like I said before, always a sensitive issue.”

If dealing with people and asking for information isn’t your thing, don’t even opt for bookkeeping jobs. That said, both accounting and bookkeeping, are well paid career choices.

10. Elementary School Counsellor 

“I’m an elementary school counselor. I adore the kids I work with, but the work itself is incredibly stressful, there are too many hats to wear and I frequently feel overwhelmed, my caseload is massive and I am a team of one, my building is full of toxic/mean people who don’t understand my role and don’t care about what I do…I’m only in my second year but I’m already burnt out and will be leaving at the end of this school year to pursue a career as a private practitioner.” shared a redditor. 

Related: Get Paid To Talk To Strangers

11. Nurse

“Hospitals treat you like dirt, and depending on where you work some colleagues do too. Working with egos of doctors can get very tiresome, although there are overall nicer doctors who don’t tout a huge ego than the ones that do. Oddly enough the younger ones usually are the worst. Also if you don’t travel, you don’t get paid that well.” shared someone. 

Related: Entry Level Work From Home Jobs That Pay $50K or More

12. Social Worker

“Obviously the pay is bottom of the barrel. People don’t really respect the job, especially working with kids who have behavioral issues and things like that. Society labels these kids as “bad” or “problems” and assumes they’re going down a path of crime or drugs and there’s no sense in trying to stop it. Sometimes that is true. Whether you’re working with a child or the whole family, there are times when they just don’t care. No one wants to change themselves, they just want you to have a solution to magically make their lives better. It’s depressing.” said someone. 

13. Warehouse Worker

“Warehouse work sucks. Repetitive. Coworkers will snitch and gossip and are unreliable to show up or do their job.” shared a user.

14. Journalist 

“The bias of national outlets in the US has made people the world over hate us for no reason on sight just for covering events. People are fleeing the industry like crazy out of fears over safety and simply stress after verbal and physical attacks have skyrocketed over the past year, in addition to the stress of trying to report while people scream nonsense at you the whole time.

Most journalists strive to not be biased and to cover all stories relevant to their readers/ viewers/ listeners. Pay attention to local journalists (and less to those in the US if you live outside it), not national outlets, if you want actual news, and please stop treating them badly for having the gall to be at an event with a recording device. We already get paid pennies on the dollar, we don’t deserve constant vitriol while simply trying to do our jobs. Please stop generalizing professions under one umbrella.” shared a user. 

15. Private Security 

“Private security – pay is bad, too many slack jawed morons in positions of authority, dangerous to boot.” shared someone.

16. Medical Billing 

“Medical Billing, too many guidelines get changed every year by many insurance companies, hard to keep it all straight. Constantly in an office with others 8 hours, 5 days a week some co-workers talk more than they work.” said a redditor.

17. Long Haul Trucker

A former trucker said “It’s nice getting to work alone and see the country, but it absolutely destroys your social life. I only get one day off for every week I work so every month I only get 3 or 4 days at home. In that short amount of time I have to cram in all my socializing, dealing with family, and any errands I have to do at home.”

18. Dog Grooming 

Straight from the mouth of a dog groomer “I absolutely love my job and I make REALLY good money. But I would not recommend it to someone because it is not just “playing with puppies all day”.

Im only 26 and have carpal tunnel in both my wrist, hardly any strength left in my hands, back issues, nerve damage from being bit. Besides the toll it takes on your body, you have to also deal with dogs who HATE being groomed and will fight you the whole time (wiggly dogs when im using super sharp scissors is anxiety inducing), old dogs who could literally die on your table, getting things on you.

On top of all that, the majority of pet owners do not know how to properly care for or train their dogs. Its heartbreaking seeing the dogs in such horrible condition sometimes, and when we try to educate them a lot of times it goes in one ear and out the other. I do this because I love dogs more than anything and know they are safe with me and that I am making them feel better.

However, some days I really question why I chose this career!! I also love the creative side of the job and doing fun haircuts when the dogs are well behaved and in good condition. All the snuggles sort of make up for the dogs that are turds lol.”

Related: Get paid to walk dogs: How to make money as a dog walker?

19. Massage Therapist

“Nearly the entire field in the US is franchises. Poor pay, overworked, micromanaged to death, and most people end up seeking different employment within 3 years. Pay is okay if you have a thriving private practice, but with franchises being convenient, it’s hard to keep clients. The physical labor that goes into Bodywork and Massage is exhausting and will break you eventually. I’m quitting next year and running my photography business full time making 3x as much. Average annual pay is about 20-40k, 40k if you’re pulling 50-60 hours.” shared a user.

Related: How To Make Money Fast In 2023

20. Human Resource

“If you are not the type of person who cannot put up with people’s bad attitude, this is not a career for you. HR is very often another term for “customer service” in my point of view. Sometimes you meet sweet people who are very grateful for you taking the time to help them and sometimes you meet people who think HR is their slave and they have to do whatever they ask you to do and as soon as possible. Good thing complementary to what I said is that there is not an ” otherwise”. Usuallly, our HR managers understand perfectly the massive workload we have to deal with and as long as you give a damn, you won’t lose your job. HR is stresful if you want to do it right.” shared a user.

Related: Best Data Entry Jobs That Pay Well

21. Chef 

A former chef shares “The career ladder is bad. You start off as a dishwasher that doubles as a janitor. They never told me being a janitor was a part of the job until I was ordered stop washing dishes to mop the hallways, giant food storage area, and bathrooms. And, yes, I had to take the trash out near the end of my shift as well as move the dirty chef coats into laundry area. All while working a shift that forces me to stand up to 8 hours. Those eight hours turn into 14 hours with little break time during holiday season. That was for $11 an hour.

Next up the ladder is, food prep. Doing food prep was one of my funnest times in the career. I was giving my own spot in the kitchen to prep the food and worked 8 hours on my feet for $13 an hour. Yes, that’s still not enough to live on my own, but I at least felt like I was getting somewhere. That was as high as I gotten in the food industry because I started talking to other chefs and did not see a bright future for me up ahead. There was a feeling of being stuck the higher you go because there can only be one Executive Chef and Sous Chef where the current ones has been in their position for almost a decade. So the main position that’s up for hire the most is for Cook 1 and Cook 2. The salary for both position is still not good enough to live comfortably as an independent single adult.

I now have a job in finance until I can do research on a better career.”

Related: Top Side Hustles For Men To Make UpTo $100K 

22. Anything In Hospitality 

“Anything in hospitality (personally dishwashing/front desk/accounting/sales data analyst):

• Pay is bad; the front desk manager at a 5 Star hotel had been there 15 years and was making 50k
• hours are bad; even the more traditional departments like accounting still have some 24/7 work because the hotel is open 24/7, wild swing in hours between on/off season means you’re either worked to the bone or broke
• to succeed you must “bleed hospitality”; you will never be promoted if you treat it like a job, you must ooze passion and completely give up work/life balance
• guests are difficult; especially to front desk workers and you have to take it all with a simpering smile
• functional alcoholism everywhere” shared someone.

23. Tech Writer 

“Some people see “writer” and assume that it could be a way to professionally write. The problem is that tech writing isn’t creative writing. So if someone asks me about tech writing and they mention how much they love to write, I normally send them something like airplane manual.” said someone.

We agree, writing an airplane manual cannot be interesting.

We hope you like this Reddit discussion on why won’t you recommend your career to anyone. You should also read 25 People Share The Most Desperate Thing They Did For Money

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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.