Nothing is as it seems. Well, sometimes somethings are just as they appear. But the first is a good mindset to have.
Never assume something, like a job is easy. There are so many layers and backdoor dramas to everyone's way to make a living.
Every job has details and responsibilities that outsiders will never know or understand and in some cases be able to accomplish.
People who do great work, make it look easy.
Redditor u/paikiachu wanted people to know about the careers that people take for granted by asking:
What job or profession seems easy but is actually very challenging?
On the outlook my jobs may seem simple, I'm an actor and a writer. So of course people assume, well that's a cakewalk; I promise you, it isn't. Learning lines and the life of a character is a trying task. Yes, there are far more difficult jobs in the world, but this one is mine. And it can be grueling. So be nice to me.
Yuck...
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"Zookeeper! The ones I know say that it's tiring and smelly."
- bop66
Puppies and Kittens...
"Just about any position at a Veterinary clinic. I get so tired of hearing how fun it must be to play with kittens and puppies all day.Yes, there are puppies and kittens but we don't play with them. We may sometimes sneak cuddles if time permits on a bad day. The reality is that most of the time we are dealing with clients who are rude and unreasonable. Or even worse sometimes, clients who would move mountains to save their pet but nothing can be done."
"And the smell gets bad sometimes, obv. Once you smell Parvo you never forget it. And expressing anal glands can be quite nasty as well. But the hardest part is euthanizing a geriatric or injured pet in one exam room, holding it together, and then entering the next exam room for a new puppy check. Be kind to your veterinary professionals."
Daytime Issues
"Daycare teacher. Draining, difficult, sometimes heartbreaking. Worst experience I ever heard was a kid (3y) that was explosively violent. Hitting, pinching, occasional biting, screaming till other classrooms complained, hair pulling to the point that she ripped out CHUNKS. They would pick up other kids by the hair, even ripping out some of mine. I LITERALLY started going bald because of this kid. My anxiety went through the roof, panic attacks galore."
"Cuz see, when they were doing all of this, I'm also conducting class, toilet training, serving lunch out snacks, keeping other kids safe. Soo of course I'm also having to explain to parents when their kid has another bruise, more hair pulled out, another bite mark. At the end of the day, it was the owners fault because they refused to kick the kid out. I've had great kids, great parents, great bosses even."
Tired Fingers
"Massaging humans is like never-ending arm and leg day at the gym. I don't think a lot of people know that second-handed. Just think when you're asking for a massage, how do you last before 'your fingers are tired'. Hint: if you're using your fingers you're doing it wrong anyway."
Crushed
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"Veterinary Technician. Back breaking, brutal and emotional crushing work. You don't get to pet puppies and kittens all day. Also the pay is crappy."
I can relate to those on so many levels. I could never massage people who I'm not intimate with, I barely massage people who I AM intimate with. So bless those people. And it sounds like I should bring gifts to my vet's office.
Trauma
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"Social work especially when working with traumatized people. The amount of emotional pressure you have to deal with is insane. If you don't have excellent coping strategies and are not 100% professional this job will break you."
Putting down the sleep...
"I always thought being an anesthesiologist would be the easiest job in the OR. Cover the patients mouth with some sleepy gas and kick back with a magazine until the procedure is over. Turns out it's an additional 4-5 year residency with multiple gruelling exams and that's after completing your medical training."
Emotions High
"I thought nursing would be way easier than it turned out to be. I thought it would be technically difficult (actual physical skills) and emotionally difficult (in terms of trauma and seeing people suffering) but It's actually really draining; dramatic coworkers, demanding patients, bad bosses, angry families."
- lhuthien
Stand Up
"I don't if it really fits this post because it is already pretty obviously hard and dangerous, but, damn. Hardest job I ever had and I had some hard ones. 14 hours standing in place using both arms to grab trash flying by and throwing it into one of four various bins set up around you."
"Even though it's straightforward, it's mentally exhausting to think that quickly and constantly while having to execute physically. There's no rhyme or reason to what's coming down the chute so its not rhythmic like manufacturing or quality control. Truly difficult work."
- rvrdrppr
Bless the Chef
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"Cooking in my opinion, once considered it until I realized how pressuring it is... lol."
"Literally everyone I know who works kitchen staff is at least somewhat angry as a person lol, it seems like it must be very stressful."
So what have we learned? Be kind to your waiters first and foremost. Well be kind to everyone, but even more kind to any people in customer service. There is so much happening behind the scenes there. And don't assume about anyone's choice of job by degree of difficulty or lack.
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Money and debt are my two biggest issues. Debt just keeps building if you don't get on it. I'm too afraid to call the student loan people. I'll do it tomorrow. Whoops...
MOST IMPORTANT!!!
Think About It Reaction GIF by IdentityGiphy"Mental health. It took me years to realize how much I've dissociated. It became how I deal with everything. There are so many unhealthy ways to live your life by ignoring mental health."
Check the skies...
"Terminal velocity."
"Birds crap at up to 26,000 feet, or 14000% higher than the CN tower. When was the last time someone got killed by falling avian feces? But no, seriously. I used to work on tall buildings and radio towers. I'm also afraid of heights, so while I was up there I'd work out out how fast various things would hit the ground to distract myself."
"Air resistance is a real witch, and rotational effects make it even slower. Pennies dropped off the tallest building west of the Mississippi, the one I was on top of, would barely break 22mph. Harking a loogie over was no worse to pedestrians than pigeons."
"It was only once I got into the tools I was using that there would be an injury. A 9/16 wrench dropped 900 feet might actually kill someone, if it hit them in the head just right. The 1-inch would kill someone most of the time. Needless to say all my tools were on loops, and undroppable."
- technos
"participate"
"Disassociation. Your brain is an incredibly powerful force and it can start working against your best interests so quickly while telling you that everything is fine."
"Thank you for this. I looked up dissociation in Google from this thread. I realize I have been struggling with both derealization and depersonalization in teens, and even now to some extent. I too think physical activities and activities I am really passionate about are the ones I "participate." I can say I have been a spectator to many years of my life and not feel my own experience. It is really strange, how do we come out of it??"
I'm scared to be honest...
"Mental and emotional abuse. Damn, I'm 36 and still trying to undo the damage done my whole childhood. The pain of beatings doesn't compare to how mental and emotional abuse screws with me every day in so many ways. And even stupid stuff. I go into fight or flight mode if my boss wants to talk to me. I constantly think my friends and my husband are mad at me or sick of me. I'm scared to be honest about my feelings sometimes because I don't want to be ridiculed."
Need Zzzz...
Stressed Episode 19 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy"A severe lack of sleep. I have no longer been able to sleep at night for some odd reason, so my brain causes me to essentially pass out during the day."
Open your mouth...
Richard Kiel Smile GIF by James Bond 007Giphy"Take care of your TEETH. Unless you want to end up with a molar shattering one day and having to get a quadruple root canal."
Dear Doctor,
"Just got gallbladder surgery! I had a pain under my right ribs off and on. Then at one point it wouldn't go away and kept getting worse. Had an ultrasound and emergency surgery like two days later. I had a huge gallstone blocking my bile duct, and it would have ruptured. Yeah pain can come and go, but if it gets to the point where it is there all the time, go to the doctor!"
Love your skin...
"Strange skin growths. One of my wife's uncles was at a family gathering that was also attended by my BIL, an ER doc. The uncle mentioned that he'd had this odd growth on his leg for some time but hadn't bothered to do anything about it. Showed it to my BIL who adamantly advised him to get seen immediately. Uncle still took his time—too many other things to do or whatever. A year on an the man is just riddled with cancer. I don't think there's much to be done other than making him as comfortable as possible at this point."
Messages...
"Email. My kid almost lost the financial aid award because it's summer; I don't have to check my email. It was an intense hustle to get everything squared away and not lose that spot at college."
- awill237
"At the beginning of all the grad school classes I TA'd for I always ended the first day by asking, "Who here has a smartphone? Who has an email app on their phone? Who has their student email account synced with the app?"
"It was always all hands raised, all hands, two or three hands. I would make them set it up before they left. Checking your email in the morning and evening takes maybe 5 minutes on average unless you are a very important person in some organization who should really be checking more often!"
the long list...
list GIFGiphy"Headaches, skin cancer, tooth pain, kids, UTI which can turn into kidney infection, wound infection, bowel disease, debt, bad relationship."
The list is endless. So just start chipping away. Stay on top of it. Teeth and mind first. Stay calm.
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