It can be difficult to figure out what you’re going to do as a career for the rest of your life. In fact, the job you’re working in now might have started out as, “Just that thing I’ll do until I find the real thing I want to do.”
Usually, these careers are filled with long hours, difficult clientele, and a secret load of hardships the outside world is not privy to knowing. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the “dream” jobs, the ones people spend all day wishing they had while they work their dead-end feeling jobs, may not be as great as some hoped.
The smells. So. Many. Smells.
A Redditor wanted to know what jobs may not bring as much joy as some think when they asked:
“Which job is a LOT less fun than most people expect?”
Imagine The Smells. Now Imagine Them Every. Day.
“Zookeeper.”
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to be around so many amazing animals and care for them…”
“But the smells are ridiculously, insanely foul.”
“I have a really strong stomach and it’s still tough for me…we’ve had some interns quit over it.”
“I was warned about the smells when getting into the field, but thought ‘oh I’ve volunteered at animal shelters, I know what animal stink smells like’”
“Nope. Not even close.” ~ wekoo9
So, I’m Not Like Indiana Jones?
“Paleontologist. You don’t get to work with full dinosaur skeletons and do all kinds of awesome expeditions.”
“You’re mostly sitting at a desk looking at some pictures and logging stuff on your computer, maybe examining a fossil occasionally.”
“If you’re lucky you can go on a real dig, and OMG SPEND HOURS IN THE HOT SUN DUSTING OFF ROCKS!!!” ~ MidwesternMonkey
Someone Has To Make The Donuts
“Baker. Coming into work at 3/4 am so you can have a six am baked goods is miserable.” ~ haireypotter
‘”o00Oo0h y0u MuST L0vE tHe wAY U SmëlL WhEn ù G0 h0Me!’”
“nope…I go home smelling like burnt oven” ~ Vdd993
No “Smoke On The Water”
“Working in a music store ( musical instruments )”
“Your days are spent listening to 50 different people play 50 different riffs poorly simultaneously, as if they’re all putting on their own concert.” ~ [usernamedeleted]
“Some of my (least) favorites:”
“Person who thinks playing well and playing loud are the same thing.”
“Person who wants to make sure you know they are very smart and you are very lucky to be in their presence.”
“Person who goes to absurd lengths to test out drum sticks to make sure they’re pitch matched without knowing how to execute any of those techniques. Extra points if they’re just going to shred them to splinters in a week anyway.”
“People who act like you’re in their way because you’re trying to do your job.”
“People who assume you couldn’t possibly know anything about the instruments you play and sell all day long.”
“Side note – I mostly loved my time working in a music store and I enjoy helping people but the people who come in with aggressive egos and nasty attitudes are insufferable.” ~ JessicaMessica
No Running!
“Lifeguarding. Everyone expects Baywatch, act, saving lives all the time. But It’s usually just sitting there blowing your whistle telling little sh-ts to stop f-cking around.” ~ Theholynun
I Just Wanted To Smash Stuff
“Demolition”
“Everyone wants to break shit with a sledgehammer. Everyone is tired of lifting that sledgehammer by 5 swings.”
“Nobody wants to load the broken stuff into bags or a wheelbarrow and take it to the dumpster.” ~ Bill_S_Preson_Esq
The Key Is Not In The Wall!
“Gamemaster at an escape room.”
“It’s the same repetitive script, resetting the same stuff, giving clues and hints about the same things.”
“The patrons are often competitive families who argue, obnoxious impatient 13-year-olds, college students who have been drinking, idiots who break sh*t and touch sh*t that I SPECIFICALLY TOLD THEM NOT TO.”
“They never remember your initial instructions. If something gets broken during one group, you have to hurry and fix it before the next group.” ~ Reddit
You Know How Frustrated You Get When You Have To Replay The Same Level Of A Game?
“Video game tester.”
“You aren’t spending your time playing completed fully realized games. You are playing the same level of a game over and over seeing if there are bugs.” ~ Mr_frumpish
“Also, you are probably not going to test the next GTA, but something like Barbie’s Super Happy Funland 3, or some other game aimed for kids 8 and under. And you’ll have to play it for 8-10 hours a day, every day.” ~ __Hello_my_name_is__
“Lets see if I can clip through the wall in position 131, 875, -121”
“Lets see if I can clip through the wall in position 131, 875, -122”
“Lets see if I can clip through the wall in position 131, 875, -123” ~ RoboNinjaPirate
It’s Insane How Much We Don’t See On Screen
“I have seen this question before and then it was zookeeper at the top comment too. Nice.”
“Anyways, there’s this making-of Frozen 2 mini docu. Most animators work weeks for a minute of animation of one character, if not less.
“At one point they decided to leave out a piece that one person had solely been working on. Must be crappy to be part of the credits without being able to say “this is my part!”.” ~ ArrrSlashSubreddit
“I couldn’t believe it! It was even crazier to me when Sterling K. Brown recorded an entire song and it got scrapped. It’s insane how much ends up on the cutting room floor for a movie to be just right.”
“I was so psyched for the animator that did that end scene for ‘Into The Unknown’ though! She killed it.” ~ heronlyweapon
The Magic Never Leaves, It Just Changes
“Being a Character Performer at Disney.”
“Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing perks and truly magical moments. I know I’m super lucky and tons of people would love to be in my shoes.”
“But the day to day work is EXHAUSTING in ways I never thought possible. Guests are ridiculously abusive…I’ve had things said and done to me I never would have imagined.”
“The company isn’t always great – it highly depends on your leadership. And there’s so much focus on your body and face (good and BAD) that it can be incredibly depressing and difficult emotionally.”
“Plus, you have to accept that there’s very little upward mobility. Most people “grow out of it” and it’s rough to know that one day you’ll get “too old” or “too fat” and you will have to start all over in a new career field.”
“So you constantly are thinking either, 1) what you’re going to do when you leave, 2) how you’re going to keep yourself there.”
“I personally knew it would be temporary, and I now only work there seasonally while I have a “normal career”. But Disney has a way of sucking you in.” ~ TheMarvelPrincess
They say do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.
It’s clear after taking a look at these entries, that is not the case and coming home smelling like burnt dough and elephant feces is not the life many thought they wanted.