We recently shared a list of careers that aren't as glamorous as they seem. Members of the BuzzFeed Community chimed in with their own examples of highly desired jobs that can often times cause misery. Here are some of the most surprising responses:
1. "Working at a nightclub is fucking awful! The bottle girls are so mean, and the owners always are too. It's hard to work around people who just wanna get drunk all day."
2. "Hair stylist. You're only paid when you work, people often don't like what you did to their hair, and you are on your feet all day. Not to mention the scissors cuts that often happen."
3. "Being an international tour guide. I knew going in it was going to be low pay, which was fine in exchange for the travel. But the clientele were spoiled imbeciles who were miserable no matter what you did or where you took them. Sure there were some cool people to interact with, but somehow you only remember the bad ones..."
4. "Our weekend weatherman used to moonlight as a Kmart manager. He eventually got promoted to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and quit Kmart. Newscasters don’t get paid as much as you think."
5. "Doctor should be on here. Insane burnout, long hours, and attendings that yell at you. It's draining at times, and this is after you spend basically your entire life trying to get here, and then you're just like, 'Oh.'"
6. "Entertainment reporter. You could work for some amazing publication, and they'll drop you in the blink of an eye. You could be there for a week or for three years — then all of a sudden, you're gone. Either because their publication is going down, or they screwed up their payment system, or they just changed their minds."
7. "TV news producer. At the local level (basically, your local news station), it's an entry-level job. That means the person writing ALL the things your anchors say is a just-out-of-college kid who's being paid crap wages and working awful hours..."
8. "Public health professionals! Everybody wants you to work for free initially, and then when you finally have experience, you get paid $60K...And that's despite having 2–3 masters degrees, years of experience, and a truck load of debt."
9. "I'm a legal assistant, and I train a lot of the younger bright-eyed kids who are still in college and want to get a feel for working in a law firm. Without a doubt, it seems like there's a disconnect between their understanding of the job and the reality of it. They come in all excited that it's going to be this thrilling adventure, and I'm like, we could work on one litigation for six years sometimes — most of it is slow-moving long transactions and deals..."
10. "Acting. It has this romantic appeal, like, 'You're gonna make it, kid. Keep working!' But no. You make it if you know someone or if you're rich. You get up at 3 a.m. to wait in line all day at an open call to even be seen by a casting team. Then they cut down your audition to 25 seconds and don't even look up at you while you're performing a piece you prepared for them..."
11. "I used to work in forensics. The majority of the scientists didn't go to scenes and only occasionally went to court if the defense barrister was running out of ideas to get their client off. Examining the items (most likely clothing) was fine as long as you could cope with dried bodily fluids..."
12. "Being a small business owner in general. I love my business, employees, and customers, and am very blessed, but it can be draining. People are demanding. Affording health insurance can be tough. There are a lot of fluctuations in your income. Surviving the pandemic was extremely tough."
13. "I’m an archaeologist and only have a good job due to perseverance and luck. It’s such a glamorized career path that everyone wants to go into, but there are few jobs available."
14. "Dog groomer. People think we get to play with cute puppies all day, when in fact, we get bitten, scratched, pooped and peed on. Plus we are trying to cut a moving object."
15. "I’m an A&R in the music industry (basically a talent scout) who has worked at a number of labels, and no one realizes how exploitative it is. Everyone thinks because we work with famous people it’s all parties and clout, when in reality I’ve experienced so much racism, sexism, sexual harassment, and pay exploitation. Not all companies are that exploitative, but the major labels for sure are, and everyone there is severely underpaid unless you’re a president."
16. "I'm a librarian (with an MLS) and am currently in management. People think we sit around and read books all day. I've never read a book at work. There's lots of drama amongst staff in libraries. The pay sucks, and people who work there are very invested in their career, so lots of aggressiveness, pettiness, entitlement, and politicking goes on behind the scenes."
17. And finally, "Pilots. Yes we're short on pilots, but only experienced pilots. Classic catch-22 — you need experience to earn experience, but no one wants to fly with an inexperienced pilot. That $100K salary job will probably take you 10+ years to get to after graduation. And then it's long hours, time away from your family, and eating junk food from hotel kitchens."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.