We all have dreams and we all make mistakes. Sometimes, the dream we follow turns out to be the mistake. One day you look back and think... "What am I even doing here? I hate teeth! Why didn't I pursue.... fill in the blank." We've all been there in one way or another.
Redditor u/Shelliko wanted to know who has some regrets when it comes job choices that have been made by asking..... What career do you wish you had pursued?Meow....
meow GIF
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Professional cat petter. As it stands, I'm an amateur cat petter. Don't get me wrong, it's a terrifically rewarding avocation, but I really wish I'd gone professional out of grad school.
Flames
I've always wanted to be a firefighter. However due to being born with a bad back, this is only a dream.
Being a firefighter in the US is extremely difficult even if you had a perfect background and qualifications. A single position could have 500+ applicants fighting for it, and many of those applicants include veterans and people with graduate degrees. Unless you have connections with someone in the department, it is basically impossible to become a firefighter. Regardless, I am sorry for you. It is unfair that some things are impossible for us out of sheer bad luck.
Creative Psych
Anything creative. Not fine art, but animation or graphic design would be my top picks, or maybe something with programming. Instead of studying art, though, I listened to my parents and teachers and picked a science.
One psych degree and a whole lot of no progress later, I'm finally doing the creative field thing at 28 and wishing I hadn't spent so much time trying to be what I'm not.
Final Cut....
head feels GIF
Giphy
I had the grades to become a surgeon. I have always liked the skill required to cut up a person. It sounds like something I would enjoy. I just thought medical school didn't sound like it was worth it.
To be perfectly fair, you don't need to go to medical school in order to cut people up.
Safe from Home
IT. Specifically cyber security.
Probably would have been able to work from home.
Look up an example A+ certification test. If you can answer those questions, you already know enough for a lot of jobs. If you don't know how to answer them, then you know what you have to learn.
Still Hope!
Merchant Navy! I'm still relatively young, so maybe one day.
I'm about to go this way. i'm a cadet (noa) on my second tanker and i really enjoy my time, even though i'm 100% sure that this is nothing everybody could do. being away from family and friends for months etc. and soooo much depends on the crew you're with. it can be rough to be on call pretty much 24/7 and working sometimes 14h a day. but for me, a person that never travelled much it's a nice way to see new places, and safe a little money.
Anyways corona makes sure you only see the ports and cant get out in the cities. i have made some friends and for most of them it's the money bringing them back. as a cadet i'm earning 1000€ a month which is quite need for something being part of my education, having food and a room included. as a captain/master the salary can go up to more than 10k and if you stay on board for more than 6months a year you can forget about taxes. so yeah to make and safe money it's definitely a good choice but not so much for social life/ family.
Tasties....
I've always wanted to be a chef but every chef I've talked to says it is incredibly stressful to be working in a small kitchen with a ton of people doing a ton of different things at the same time, with another chef yelling at you because there's people waiting for their food outside.
That sounds like hell.
I love cooking and experimenting with food and having people enjoy it but I don't think I could handle the pressure and stress that comes with it.
Sustained....
The law. Later in life I realized that I had the skills, and it would have been more affordable back then. Basically, I'm good at analyzing data and writing it down in a methodical way, and lawyers get paid a lot of money to do that, whether they're the ones who present it in court or not.
These days, I wouldn't. But back in the '70s and early '80s I'd have made serious cash and had the energy to work the hours.
I ended up using my skills in high tech and made good money. But I could have done the same in law in the SF Bay Area in the '80s and made amazing money.
Genius....
The creative arts. I had considered it when I was in high school but didn't pursue it because I thought you had to be a creative genius to do those jobs (and I was unaware that Graphic Design and Digital Illustration were not the same thing) and I certainly was not a creative genius. I'm currently back in school trying to pick up a 2 year degree in Graphic Design/Illustration, but it's just not comparable to those who spent 4 years majoring in it and getting tons of classroom studio experience.
Human Study
writing listening GIF by South Park
Giphy
Become a psychological human profiler. I'm fascinated by how we think and why do we do, what we do. If that makes sense!
The Skin
A dermatologist. I had terrible acne as a teen but always enjoyed popping those bad boys. It didn't occur to me until almost 20 years later that I should have looked into dermatology.
To be fair though, cutting giant skin cancers off of old people is probably really gross.
Stats
Zach Galifianakis Reaction GIF
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I would love to have pursued degrees in math and/or computer engineering instead of accounting. Everything I do now is self taught programming and stats. I just happen to understand what the double entry method is (outside of porn).
The STEM
Field botanist... only realized 3.5 years into college with very little in the way of STEM coursework though and was ready to move on from college.
At 29....
Always wanted to be an airline pilot. At the age of 29 I'm not sure whether it's worth doing.
I've always wanted to be a charter pilot. I'm 29 as well and have a good opportunity to start over right now. It's just so expensive and I have no idea if it'll be worth it. Wish I had skipped undergrad and just don't that instead.
Burned Out
Air traffic control. At 9, I hold my dad I thought I'd be good at that job. He growled back "those guys gets burned out".
Fast forward many years. I know current and retired controllers. Based on their stories, I would have loved that gig-----and been good at it. I loved what I did/do for a living, but I wonder how things would have been different.
When in School
tech support digs GIF by FirstAndMonday
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Something IT related. I'm going for it now, but I'm 25, and kicking myself for not having started in high school. I could have a livelihood by now if I had.
The Fighting Kind
MMA. I wish I would have done wrestling in high school as well as martial arts but my father would never let me as he did full contact fighting after he earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do and said it was too dangerous to let me start at such a young age. Then any time I ever asked again he just said the same thing.
I believe this stems from one of the guys in his class winding up in prison for accidentally killing a man with a kick to the temple outside of his house - he would be robbed constantly by the same person and eventually stood up to him one day.
Fur Lovers
A vet for big animals (like felines) or marine biologist! I LOVE animals, but science isn't really my forte, so I chose to become an interpreter (I'm still studying, I'm not officially an interpreter yet).
You never know where life will go. an acquaintance of mine left a VERY high paying Wall St job in her late thirties to be a big animal vet. It was not a cake walk by any stretch of the imagination. she worked her butt off to make that switch. just saying, it is possible.Collections
Garbage collector, politician, timber man, Baker are all jobs I think id enjoy. But I've always thought being the guy who trims the hedges along the champs elysees would be the greatest job in the world.
by design.....
Sometimes, I wish I had chosen to go into industrial design. Get to be creative, have a stress-free, routine job where no lives are at stake, come home every night and only work five days a week.
But then I step out of my room, walk outside, and I see the ocean... nothing but ocean for miles and miles, and in that moment I feel like I chose the right career for myself.
For the Pulitzer
Im Out See Ya GIF by ADWEEK
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Journalism. I was going to move to Montana with my sister and brother in law to study Journalism there, but my mother stopped me. Said she wasn't ready for me to leave home. Now I just write for fun.
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I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
Wait What Wtf GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
Lying Simon Rex GIF by Simon Rex / Dirt NastyGiphy"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
just kidding jk GIFGiphy"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"
Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"
Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
venezuela empty shelves GIF by euronewsGiphySilly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
Hammer Floor GIF by VPROGiphySo that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
love him one piece GIFGiphyThe miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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