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Who really hates their jobs?

In the (free) newspaper 24 Hours, they posted under Your Career on Monday November 19th 2012, the occupations who really hate their jobs with data taken from Payscale.com:

Biggify by clicking on it

What-Occupations-really-hate-their-jobs-and-careers

Even if the money is good, if the nature of the job itself is hard to deal with and not in line with your personality, it is not a good job.

Money isn’t everything!

MINIMUM WAGE SUCKS

This is the #1 reason for people hating their jobs — the money. These are the jobs I am sure where they don’t make more than minimum wage (if that):

  • Fast Food Worker = 38.40%
  • Bartender = 6.70% (although we should note that they get tips)
  • Fashion Designer = 4.90% (could be lower; not everyone is rich & famous)
  • Retail sales associate = 3.70%

Working for minimum wage will suck the life out of anyone, although we have to keep in mind it is most likely students who are working these jobs, so it is not necessarily their career.

In Canada, minimum wage is on average $10.10/hour across all provinces and territories.

That works out to $20,207.69 per year as a gross income.

In the U.S., minimum wage on average is $7.39 an hour, with the federal minimum wage set to $7.25/hour as a bare minimum.

This works out to $14,788.40 per year as a gross income, or a full $5419.29 less per year than their Canadian counterparts.

(Did I also mention there is no universal healthcare in the U.S. either, and from my own personal experience, it can cost up to $1000 – $2000 USD/month for a single person?).

BEING REQUIRED TO BE MEAN, MAKES YOU FEEL BAD

No one wants to go into their job and have to take money away from people who can’t pay their bills.

Yes, they got themselves into that credit card, line of credit MESS, but you still can’t help but feel bad for them:

  • Gaming dealer = 17% (they must see a lot of desperate folks trying to strike rich)
  • Loan collector = 4.90% (if any job sucks the most, it has to be this one for me)
  • Senior Attorney = 4.40% (you’re fighting all the time & you have to be tough)
  • Credit/Collections Supervisor = 4.10% (again, you have to take money they can’t give)
  • Claims adjuster = 3.10% (can you imagine telling someone they have less money?)

It is a requirement of those above jobs to be mean to people. It’s not a nice thing when you’re trying to make a pay cheque, and people are crying, screaming or generally ALWAYS mad at you.

SUPER HIGH-STRESS JOBS THAT NEVER LET UP AREN’T HAPPY ONES

  • Telemarketer = 9.40% (constantly getting the phone slammed down on you is nasty)
  • TV news director = 8.10% (you get blamed for everything but credit for nothing)
  • Investment banking associate = 4.60% (exactly the reason why I didn’t join banking)
  • Legal assistant = 3.40% (you must get yelled at all the time to be faster by attorneys)
  • Advertising account executive = 3.30% (there’s a lot of pressure to make it rain)

Dealing with problems all the time does not make you a happy person. These are jobs that are 100+ hour workweeks and don’t let up.

You’re constantly thinking about your job, and if you aren’t a workaholic, it takes a toll on you and your personal life.

In addition, some of these industries are highly competitive (including Fashion Designer, above), which makes it hard to be recognized or to gain a foothold in the job market.

There are times where my job is somewhat high stress, but it isn’t 100% of the time, which gives my brain a much needed break.

ENVIRONMENTALLY-UNFRIENDLY JOBS ARE UNDESIRABLE ONES

The last one that doesn’t fit the above is Petroleum Engineer (3.10%). It stated in the article that 75% of people would not take a job if it harmed the environment, and this is probably the main reason why.

Maybe people get mad at them because they blame them for things like BP’s 2010 Oil Spill Fiasco, and they’re just trying to make a living.

bp-oil-spill-burnoff

Via

Although if we’re being honest, there aren’t that many jobs out there that are 100% ecologically-friendly.

Almost every job I can think of (including mine), harms the environment through use of technology which releases toxic chemicals into the environment, selling food that has been the result of over grazing land to grow more cows to feed the world’s insatiable appetite for meat, and a whole host of other indirect and direct threats to the environment (we all take cars, use gas or fly at some point of our lives don’t we?)

SO WHAT ARE THE BEST JOBS OUT THERE?

Obviously, the opposite of the above:

  • Low stress
  • Reasonable-to-High paying
  • Not directly tied to harming the environment
  • Jobs where you aren’t dealing with problems
  • … or people aren’t yelling at you 24/7

I think most of all, the job has to be something you enjoy doing.

If you enjoy your job, no matter how much pressure or stress it puts on you, it can make a big difference, but if you hate it, it’s game over.

For instance, I love my job, but I know at least 2 out of 10 consultants who hate theirs, and we do exactly the same thing.

Money makes no difference to them other than chaining them to their current profession because they just don’t like it.

DO YOU LOVE YOUR JOB? WHAT DO YOU DO?

 

16 Comments

  • Budget & the Beach

    Not surprised the least happy is fast food. I did this when I was in high school and still hated it, even though I knew it was just a teenager type job. The TV director is a funny one, because i’m not sure if it’s the chicken or the egg theory. Most tv directors I knew were already grouchy to begin with, so it doesn’t surprise me they are not happy people in general. I don’t think the job is that bad actually. I do like my job, but some projects have made me unhappy, but overall pretty content because it balances out with projects I do really like. I think for me right now, it’s the lack of money as a freelancer that has made me unhappy.

    • Mochi & Macarons

      Money is a big one. If I could barely make it by on my job, but I would make more working for a company doing something I hate, I am not sure what I’d do.

      Fast Food — I did that when I was young. I didn’t really hate it, but I didn’t like smelling like grease and food after I left work. It totally stunk up the wash.

  • StudentDebtSurvivor

    I didn’t know that the Canadian minimum wage was so much higher then ours. It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to live on minimum wage these days (esp. if you have a family). I did a volunteer year after college and was paid a stipend of $1000 a month. It was just enough to scrape by. I was living in Boston and my 1 bedroom apartment’s rent was $1000 a month. I had to get a roommate and convert my small living room into another bedroom. I didn’t hate my job, but I did hate not having the money I needed/wanted.

    • Mochi & Macarons

      Canada is pretty good when it comes to those things. It’s why we don’t really complain much up here. It’s also why I was so surprised being in the US and dealing with everything I was not used to.
      I think hating your job is mostly just not seeing yourself in that position forever and wanting to keep it.
      That said, sometimes a job is a job.

  • PK

    My cousin in law (is that a thing?) is a petroleum engineer, except she is based on land.

    I’m a Software Engineer. Love it. Made a website called “Don’t Quit Your Day Job”. (I’m probably biased).

    • Mochi & Macarons

      Cousin-in-law is totally a thing.

      Does she like her job? That’s the key part!!

      I think IT is full of people who love their jobs. Perhaps a lot more than in other jobs.

      I don’t want to quit my day job either, I rather enjoy it 🙂 It’s challenging and interesting, but it depends on your perspective because my friend who does the same thing as I do, wishes he could quit, go back to school and do something else.

  • Anne @ Unique Gifter

    I would venture that the petroleum engineer one is a bit more about lifestyle than anything. It is high stress, as your decisions influence profit margins by a lot, coupled with a crappy living situation. A co-worker turned down a position as a petroleum engineer on a rig in the gulf of mexico, in no small part due to the lifestyle. I think it was six weeks in, on a rig, and 3 weeks out.

  • Kerry

    I used to love my job but I’m struggling with it a bit more these days…it’s changed from editing long-form political and economic content (think New Yorker, The Economist style articles) to being 30% that and around 70% speed-proofreading 150-word news briefs produced by an outsourced writing company in India. It’s really dragging me down as I don’t feel interested or engaged in my work any more – the quality is so low and we’re not allowed to spend enough time to really improve them. I’m hoping to move up to a managing editor role this year, though, which would involve a lot more of my favourite kind of editing again!

    I think a lot of people underestimate how important it is to be able to do good work, work you’re proud of. I’ve done jobs where I didn’t care about the content at all, but I loved the work because I was able to do the best I could. I think the job subject is a lot less important than having the space and resources to try to excel.

    • Mochi & Macarons

      Your job sounds similar to the headaches I get when we have to outsource work and it comes back as utter crap, I find it takes more time to fix it into something decent rather than to just hire someone who can do the work, instead of a team if low quality folks.

      • Kerry

        “I find it takes more time to fix it into something decent rather than to
        just hire someone who can do the work, instead of a team if low quality
        folks.”

        So true!

        • Mochi & Macarons

          Tell me about it. I live it in about 80% of my projects where they all think they’re smarter and can cut costs.
          You just CAN’T cut costs that way. It ends up costing you more, much like buying cheap $5 shoes and blistering instead of good ones that are supportive for your feet.

  • tomatoketchup

    I’m an eye surgeon. My job is great: good money, low stress, nice regular work hours, and great job security.

    Having said that, I had to go through 11 painful years of absolute sleep deprived misery in order to have the comfortable life I have now. Those were some really awful, depressing years. But life has been good since then.

    Whether or not it stays a great job is to be determined. I work in the US where there are major changes happening in healthcare, so I am living in such a way that I can hopefully have the option to retire in my early 40’s if need be. I’m a minimalist at heart, so from a financial standpoint it should be completely doable.

    • Mochi & Macarons

      I’ve heard that a lot of surgeons love their jobs… After the grueling training if course. And you’re all very careful to take care of your hands and eyes to ensure your job.
      You can move to Canada 🙂 if things don’t work out that is. Surgeons love it here.

      • tomatoketchup

        Canadian surgeons have it great. If getting citizenship were a bit easier and if it weren’t for the cold weather, I’d really consider it (I currently live in the toasty southeast).

        • Mochi & Macarons

          I totally understand. I wanted to move because of the weather.

          But as for citizenship it isn’t as hard as the US by a long shot.

          You just need to get qualified by an institution to verify your education, then you get a permanent residency and 5 years later, the citizenship.
          With people like skills of your calibre, it is very easy.

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