Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
The most unhappy occupation
Old 04-02-2017, 08:24 PM   #1
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 284
The most unhappy occupation

What do you think is the most unhappy occupation? The one people are most anxious to escape from...

I have read that dentists are pretty miserable. (Not sure why). I have also read that lawyers in big law firms are pretty miserable, despite the high pay. But surely there much be worse jobs than these.
medved is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 04-02-2017, 08:27 PM   #2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
REWahoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,003
Child Protective Services caseworker.
__________________
Numbers is hard
REWahoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2017, 09:32 PM   #3
Recycles dryer sheets
tomc5179's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 72
Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo View Post
Child Protective Services caseworker.
+1

My wife works as an adult PSC and has terrible stories she has told me as well as her co-workers in the child division. There are no words that can aptly describe some of the animals they have to deal with.
tomc5179 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2017, 09:40 PM   #4
Full time employment: Posting here.
cooch96's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Lakewood
Posts: 919
I was going to say something along the lines of different strokes for different folks. My personal nightmare would be a career as a sinecure that required long hours for some forsaken reason. But yeah, child care service worker takes the cake. Now I'm depressed just almost thinking about it.
__________________
Why be normal when you can be yourself?
cooch96 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2017, 09:52 PM   #5
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
I don't know, but I have known of some pretty unhappy lawyers. It probably depends on the working environment, I would imagine.

My dentist is really happy with his work. He is enthused about dentistry and being able to help people to be pain free, to be able to chew their food, and to look reasonable in public. Also he is thrilled with all the new technology and advances in dentistry and gets a kick out of learning to use the cool new procedures. I don't think he wants to retire.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2017, 10:34 PM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Amethyst's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,597
Telephone solicitor. Imagine being badly paid, plus knowing everyone hates you.

At least CPS helps people.
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
Amethyst is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2017, 10:58 PM   #7
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Sunset's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,008
Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo View Post
Child Protective Services caseworker.
Especially because most aspire to this job to help someone, and then rarely get thanks.
Sunset is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 01:36 AM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Midwest
Posts: 1,789
Most any entry level position that a person would take only for the money, with low pay and more applicants than positions to fill, requiring having to work another PT job to make ends meet, and having bosses hold the job over your head ("you know, we have hundreds of others interested in this job!")

In short, having to make a career out of most any job we worked while in HS or college....
brucethebroker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 01:48 AM   #9
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Midpack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,201
Toll booth attendant always looked awfully boring to me, for the few left.

I could never work at an animal shelter, it would break my heart, and we'd have 40 dogs before I quit...
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57

Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
Midpack is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 03:03 AM   #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Bryan Barnfellow's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 1,045
Personal Assistant to almost any Hollywood celebrity.

-BB
__________________
FIREd, April 1, 2015. My Retirement Benefits Package includes: 6 months vacation, twice a year.
Bryan Barnfellow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 05:49 AM   #11
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 733
The Swisher Guy..

You know the little pads and cakes in the urinals. I ran into one performing his duties in the restroom one time when I was feeling kind of bummed about my lot in life.

We were about the same age so it certainly helped to correct my perspective.
Luck_Club is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 05:57 AM   #12
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1,390
I don't know the most unhappy job one could have. It seems any job where there is a boss riding your behind all the time, one could make a case for being most unhappy. I think I just described 95% of working America.
__________________
Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things. Charlie Munger

The first rule of compounding: Never interupt it unnecessarily. Charlie Munger
UnrealizedPotential is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 06:16 AM   #13
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Marita40's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: St. Paul
Posts: 1,847
I'd say any job that is repetitive and boring, something where you simply sit all day and do the same thing endlessly. That would be just awful to me. I'd far prefer being a janitor, say, and walking from different task to different task, even if it meant cleaning toilets.
My dentist is one of the happiest people I know. She came to the U.S. as a refugee and is kind of amazed at how far she, a woman, has come. She's a lovely person.
Marita40 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 06:20 AM   #14
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Nemo2's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8,368
I had a job skinning kangaroos, (for pet food), once......lasted half a day, then quit.
__________________
"Exit, pursued by a bear."

The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare
Nemo2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 06:29 AM   #15
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
frayne's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Chattanooga
Posts: 3,877
Trump's press secretary.


Sorry, couldn't help myself.
__________________
Earning money is an action, saving money is a behavior, growing money takes a well diversified portfolio and the discipline to ignore market swings.
frayne is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 06:41 AM   #16
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
travelover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo2 View Post
I had a job skinning kangaroos, (for pet food), once......lasted half a day, then quit.
What did they do with the pouches - make purses?
travelover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 06:52 AM   #17
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Nemo2's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8,368
Quote:
Originally Posted by travelover View Post
What did they do with the pouches - make purses?
Like a deer with no eyes......no idea.
__________________
"Exit, pursued by a bear."

The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare
Nemo2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 07:32 AM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
CaliKid's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Ex-Cali
Posts: 1,231
I would vote lawyer but maybe that's personal.

Seriously though I know a lot of lawyers that love it. I make more money than I could doing anything else I am qualified for so that's good. Plus I feel good when I help people who are nice. On the downside it took a while but I got over the lawyer jokes long ago. However, the expectation of perfection in all facets of my work, by clients, gets old.
__________________
______________________
The plan was September 1, 2022 and I am 95% there. Still working a few hours a week at the real job.
CaliKid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 07:35 AM   #19
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Big_Hitter's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Les Bois
Posts: 5,761
The infantry private on point in Viet Nam
__________________
You can't be a retirement plan actuary without a retirement plan, otherwise you lose all credibility...
Big_Hitter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2017, 08:02 AM   #20
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
MRG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
When I was given food poisoning I spent several days in the gastrointestinal unit.

There were people who collected all the waste from the restroom and measured it. Yeah that would be a bad job.
MRG is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Unhappy Cities target2019 Other topics 37 08-02-2014 12:22 PM
Unhappy - feeling pressured Amethyst Other topics 83 11-17-2013 05:10 PM
Unhappy with this Forum Arc FIRE and Money 17 01-28-2008 04:29 PM
Unhappy Meal wabmester Health and Early Retirement 21 01-31-2007 11:37 AM
Education level & occupation of ER Toejam Other topics 47 03-04-2006 06:58 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:22 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.