The comments are still pouring in on a post we put up a few weeks ago about glamorized career paths that aren't as great as they're cut out to be. It would be a disservice to y'all if we didn't share the tea with you, so here are the newest additions to the list:
1. "I rescue sea turtles for a living. I love my job, but the pay is dirt, and you have to put in a lot of free hours before getting a paid job. The field is crazy competitive to get into. Also, I deal with so. Much. Poop."
2. "Prosecutor. Pretty much can’t imagine my life being more stressful. The pay is low, nothing you do really makes any difference, and no one is ever happy with the outcome of a case."
3. "My parents ran an inn, and people always said how fun or romantic inns and BnBs must be to run. ... I don’t understand why people think this. ... A business like that is working all weekend, cleaning toilets, making beds etc."
"Most people are pretty clean, but occasionally you get some nasty stuff. And people call you at all sorts of hours for random and stupid crap. Or it’s about a genuine issue, which is worse because then there's a big problem to deal with."
4. "College professor. Sure, teaching can be fun, but how they portray it in TV and movies is definitely not how it actually is. If you’re adjunct, you barely make a living wage, and all professors have LONG hours of grading and tutoring/mentoring."
"And dealing with so many personalities is challenging. Don’t get me started on the expectation of being published to keep your position."
5. "I have a friend who got her dream job as a professional ballerina in a ballet company and quickly realized how horrible it was. You get paid next to nothing unless you're the star in a production, you practice close to 16 hours per day for an upcoming show, you have to replace your own shoes out of pocket (they break down/become unusable after about two months of use, and a new pair costs about $120)..."
6. "Add Occupational Therapist/Physical Therapist/Speech Language Pathologist to this list. These three boast good pay and lots of job availability to get kids into the master's/doctorate program, when in reality the debt to income ratio is literally pathetic, and many areas of the US have overly saturated job markets, and finding a job is next to impossible."
"I am an OT, and my husband's a PT, and we have over $150,000 in student loans combined and will literally never make enough money to seriously consider paying off our debt."
7. "Many voice actors end up having to get vocal cord surgery — especially in anime, where they have to make their voice really high pitched and cute, or really rough and scary."
8. "Working at a museum should be up there. It’s incredibly stressful because people seem to have NO respect for art. People should understand that touching a Picasso is NOT a good idea."
"The absolute worst are the children. They obviously don’t know how valuable the art is and are super unpredictable, so if the parents aren’t keeping a close eye on them, we have to."
—itzl
9. "Working in bridal and the wedding industry in general. I have encountered some of the worst, most entitled people that I have ever met. I will never miss having to give up my weekends to deal with bratty women who are obsessed with the 'perfect day' fantasy."
10. "I know a famous DJ. Anything that has to do with fame sucks. You have no private life whatsoever. People will try breaking into your home to find anything juicy about your life. The amount of death threats you get is uncanny. You can’t even really be yourself — you have to change your image for the media to like you. Nothing will ever be private anymore."
11. "I am a SCUBA instructor. People think we just swim around, hang out on the beach, and are generally bums. Yes, it is a great way to travel the world and see some amazing things, but the job is a lot of hard work, and it takes a lot of (very expensive) training."
"We are paid very little (usually about $20,000 a year) and are put in charge of people's lives. People don't realize or think about how dangerous the sport can be, and our job is to make sure you don't die. I've rescued so many people, done CPR on a boat speeding back to the dock to meet an ambulance, and had people die on me. I love my job, but I wish people gave us more credit for what we actually do!"
12. "My husband is a therapist, which is sort of romanticized in movies and whatnot. It is rewarding and interesting, but the things he hears and the constant intake of others' trauma is something he finds difficult to deal with day in and day out."
13. "Casino worker. It seems exciting dealing with lots of cash and people winning, but it’s not. It’s sad to see people blow their entire savings. Late nights are filled with drunks and weirdos, the gossip is insane, and you become very desensitized to money in general. Not everybody is happy winning 20 grand when they spent 50 grand to get it."
14. "Accountants. No one cares about us until tax season, and then it’s all just, 'Can you do my taxes?' I am an auditor, not a tax accountant. When we do tell the client something even slightly unfavorable, they suddenly seem to know more about my job than me."
15. And finally, "Cinema management. When I did it, people would constantly ask, 'Do you get to watch films all day?' No. If that’s what the job was, everyone would want to do it."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.