Have you ever thought you landed your dream job only to discover halfway through the first week that it was nothing like what you hoped it would be? Recently, u/_grotesque_asked Redditors to share the careers they romanticized that didn't live up to their expectations, and it was truly enlightening. Here are some of the top responses:
1."People romanticize running a restaurant or bed and breakfast. It's an unbelievable amount of work and profit margins are thin. In my opinion, most of these businesses fail because they're run with that romantic view instead of being run as a business."
2."Higher education. The industry sucks, the pay sucks, the hiring process is ridiculous. The 'requirements' for a job that pays $35K/year are like 'Masters preferred', LOL get the fuck out of here with that BULLSHIT, please."
3."For the past couple of years, I have been working at various galleries. Back in the day, I used to think of it as a dream job. That was until I realized that no one cares for the artists or art itself. Employees, as much as visitors, just care about their fanciness, showing off their brand-name shoes, and pretending as they actually care. Ultimately, it comes down to sales, money, and judging people by their looks — fishing out the ones who seem like they can afford a painting worth $20k."
4."TECH. I was so excited to get out of law firms and oil and gas and into tech. Disheartening to discover that private software companies run by private equity firms are somehow dirtier and more heartless than law firms and fossil fuels."
5."The recorded music industry. I grew up in Los Angeles and always thought it was glamorous, until I interned and worked there. Long hours and low pay compared to other industries. The nice people were really nice. But the assholes were the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever dealt with. Very fake people."
6."Journalism. The pay and hours are terrible, you're exposed to some of the worst of the worst without any support, and a whole lot of people in the industry aren't as ethical as you'd hope a journalist would be."
7."The film and television industry. Booked my last job in 2017 (not counting the mini-series that was canceled right as COVID hit). I thought I was on my way and I’ve been unemployed since. Times used to be when you could live on residuals from shows you did. Those times are over, and that’s why we’re on strike."
8."Fashion and textiles. There are essentially zero jobs outside of the big cities and those jobs are impossible for graduates to get unless you have four years experience or friends in the industry. I learnt so many skills at university, only to do a two week placement for a large UK retailer where I was flicking through designer magazines looking for ideas to rip off and never once did I see or feel a real piece of fabric. It was so sad. But it did make me realize that I didn’t want to work in that industry. So, silver linings."
9."Healthcare. It's basically a well paid customer service position. Shit (literal), entitlement, constant messes, any of the problems you have in a retail store, you have in a hospital or clinic. Only lives are at stake."
10."Libraries. I thought it would be creative, interesting, and technical, so I got an entry-level position, worked up to full-time, got my masters, and now I make just enough (plus benefits) to not be able to transition to a new position without taking a huge pay and benefits cut. And I work with luddites who admonished me for suggesting we stop handwriting a schedule and use an automated program to do it so people would actually get their breaks and each desk would be covered."
11."Law. 'Be a lawyer,' everyone said to me, since I was about 6. Well, I've been one for 10 years and I wish I had done something different with my career."
13."For me, it was sales. I have good people skills and had been told by many that I had the skills for sales. I tried it out for a year thinking it'd be a good way to help get people what they wanted by sitting and talking with them. Only to realize it's a cutthroat business and worse is, it's just reading a script, playing the numbers game, and overall just being a pest."
14."The trades. Thought they would be great because of no debt, super in-demand, and relatively high earnings, all of which are correct. But there are some major downsides and it wasn’t for me."
15."As a 19-year-old, it seems super cool to work for a professional sports team. But if you are considering a career in sports, I’d reconsider. The pay is awful. I made $40k total after commission in a ticket manager account role with $3 million worth of accounts for an NFL team. The hours are awful. You think you’ll be mixing with athletes and watching games from a suite? You’re wrong. You’ll be doing some BS duty and will maybe catch two minutes of the game. You want to see your family on Thanksgiving? Too bad, there’s a game. The culture is awful. Just look up Dan Snyder and realize he’s not the exception. Most managers/directors only got there because they are trust fund kids that could afford to live on a $40k salary for 15 years because their parents were still funding their lifestyle."
16."Being a trader. Really thought I was going to love investing and the fast paced aspect of it. And the money wouldn’t hurt. Turns out, making my computer screen blip higher each day was not as exciting as I expected. I started saying, 'I don’t expect to add much to this world, but I need to do more than that.'"
17."Comics. I don't know how anyone sustains themselves on those wages."
18."Archaeology. It is rarely the cool excavations you see on the news or documentaries. It’s more digging a hole, screening dirt, filling in the hole and repeating it every 50 feet in a straight line for a 10 hour day. And it’s hot. And dirty. And filled with poison ivy and big bites. And you’re living in a hotel room for weeks."
19."Consulting. I always thought it was going to be so fun to work for all these different companies and help them adopt the best practices for their employees and business. Also, I would get to travel for work which seemed like a lot of fun. It turns out traveling for work is pretty crummy because you end up working 24 hours a day and still only get paid for the nine you bill to the client, and consulting is just the 3D chess version of office politics 80% of the time."
20."Recruiting for early career and every level jobs. It's not about helping people and finding them work. It's about babysitting both sides. Too many candidates are either absolutely defeatist or have delusions of grandeur. I'll spend a week coaching them and prepping my paperwork to make them sound appealing, then they'll skip the interview because they 'know they won't get it anyway' or they'll demand a supervisor role and salary they're utterly unqualified for. On the other side, hiring managers will offer an entry-level role and make unreasonable demands like, 'they must have three years direct experience, but we won't hire anyone who worked for a competitor,' or they'll reject people for utterly unrealistic reasons like, 'they seem like they might meet someone and get married in a couple years.' Even if it does work out, they often come in with an offer at or even below fast food wages."
21."Early childhood education. In my almost decade as a Montessori teacher, I often talked about loving the work, but hating the job. I love teaching. I love empowering growing minds. I love the Montessori method. I loved my students. But hated dealing with admin and parents and the amount of non-teaching responsibilities I had. Poor management and communication. Short staffing. Shitty coworkers. The pressure to break our methodology to fit the demands of parents. The need to provide before and after daycare. The low pay and no benefits. All that had me regularly on the verge of quitting. When I eventually left to become a stay at home parent, I missed the classroom but not the job. When I returned to work, I could no longer afford to teach at the school as they did not provide benefits and health insurance for my family was more than my wages every month. So now I’m at a state job with great benefits, but way less fulfillment."
22."The church. It is an industry. And that's what was so disappointing."
23."Pharmacy. We’re taught how important we are to the healthcare system, how we can optimize our medication therapy using our doctorate-level drug knowledge to improve the health of patients and save money, etc. It’s true that we do catch a lot of medication errors, but in general, we are treated like glorified pill counters and bottle labelers by the general public and even other healthcare professionals. We’re told that we can work in cushy, we’ll respected environments as pseudo doctors, but most of us end up in a busy CVS or Walgreens where you’re expected to juggle eight different tasks for 12 hours straight while you get yelled at by nasty patients for things out of your control and why it takes so long to slap a label on a medication."
24."Architecture. It felt like it was a status symbol and pretentious at the end of the day. No one cares much for the mission of providing a space for life to occur in architecture anymore. It's a convergence of art and nature and light, but it's a business. Once money is involved, that's all people see."
25."Trade publishing. Few people actually care about the books or the authors, and many are actively bitter in their attitude toward new writers. It's all about how to ride trends and maximize profit. The whole industry is also incredibly insular. They hire a certain kind of person, making the office boring and homogeneous. Also, the pay. Forcing editors to live in NYC on $50K is ridiculous."
26."Medicinal cannabis. Was a cultivator for just over four years. Bounced between two different grows which never really cared for the patients we provided for. They only cared how much money they could make and the corners we could cut to do it. The experience was truly disheartening and alarming with the lack of compassion for those who relied on our products for help. One of my previous employers would even go as far as to blacklist any and all patients from our location whoever had issues with an order they had put in, whether it was the wrong product or simply that their order didn’t include everything they paid for."
27."Biotech. I had an idealist view on how people perceived science. I thought it was majorly valued and that I would make a bunch of money doing it. Only to find out, my buddy makes about just as much as me working at a warehouse job."
28."The video game industry. It's ruled by Gen X and Boomer manlets that haven't had a creative decision in 30 years, filled with nepotism, you're underpaid by a lot, quality is nowhere near the top priority, you'll work insane hours, and most of your colleagues will be high or drunk and definitely depressed."
29."Museums. Boards are just a community popularity contest and members too often have no idea what they are doing or any time to help. And guess what?! They tell you what to do, even if you have an expensive MA or PHD. You are cataloging old junk and rarely get to spend time on the awesome pieces in the collection. Overworked and underpaid in 'passion'."
30."Non-profits. I thought it would be great to serve mankind, but it’s just red tape and HR bullshit all the way through and the actual helping people part is like 10% of the job."
31."As a kid/teenager, I was really interested in being a cop. I was in a youth police program for a few years and eventually I did a few ride alongs with the police. It was seeing them at work, and the absolute joy they took in writing people tickets for the dumbest shit and harassing the homeless, that made me realize I would rather do just about anything else for a living. Not surprisingly though, a few of the bullies I grew up with are now on the local police force."
32."Veterinary clinic. I went to college to be a technician and at my first job I made $8 an hour and was bullied and sexually harassed. When comparing notes with other classmates, I learned this is the norm."
33.And finally, "Human resources. I am still recovering from how much I had to screw over people. Think of every negative thing people say that owners, CEOs, and VPs do. HR is like the paid assassins who have to actually enforce and deal with the decisions made. CEO needs to buy one of their kids a house? Who can we cut? HR Manager (me) wants a raise? Who can we cut? VP's make bad decisions resulting in losses? Who can we cut? Of course there might be some companies out there that actually care about the employees, but my 13 year experience at four companies was not that."
