Which job can you never imagine yourself being able to do and respect those that do?

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Key_Milk_9222@reddit

I also couldn't be a teacher, pesky 200 metre rule

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NoStop5616@reddit

Might sound stupid but people who work in offices or similar jobs. Moving about/ hands on jobs is my cup of tea. I have respect for people who are able to sit at a desk and do it for hours

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Coocoocachoo1988@reddit

Every time I have a hand on job i miss that chance to sit in a comfy chair to discuss and analyse a problem. Every time I’ve worked in an office I miss the satisfaction of seeing my work.

The dream job would have a bit of both.

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Key_Milk_9222@reddit

Can you not get a handjob whilst sat in a comfy chair?

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coffeeebucks@reddit

May I introduce you to construction project management?

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I could do a desk job if i actually had work to do all day, but when i see threads on here like ‘how many hours of work do you actually do a day?’ And people are like ‘probably 2 hours out of my 8 hour day’ that’d drive me insane. Id feel like i was waisting a large chunk of my life away waiting for the clock to tick down.

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Glad-Introduction833@reddit

I have worked in finance for 20 years. I’ve worked from home for years now, even pre pandemic. The description of “watching the seconds of your life tick away” is accurate af.

Now I get paid for the work I do not the hours I spend in a certain location.

I have actually sat and counted the wood chips on the wall more than once.

If work from home wasn’t available I’d do a driving job. I would never sit in an office again.

And don’t get me started on the boring bastards your trapped with for 8 hours a day. Every day.

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Spaztic_monkey@reddit

I work from home, so when I don’t have work to do I just do laundry, tidying, go to the supermarket etc. don’t need to hang around waiting.

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Rowanx3@reddit

WFH would be different, you’re not being watched like a child

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ahoneybadger3@reddit

Well, they might not be but some companies certainly do still treat you like a child working from home.

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AdministrativeShip2@reddit

Yeah, when I have to be in the office my house gets really untidy, and I'm too mentally knackered to do anything about it.

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SmashingTeaCups@reddit

I've felt like this, but then I remind myself that i'm only here to fund what I do outside of work and it helps me stop caring so much

I also use the down time to sneakily get some life admin done, booking appointments, managing finances etc etc frees up a lot of time at home

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dibblah@reddit

I always thought this until I became disabled and had to give up my outside job for an office job. Turns out if you need to make money, you do it anyway no matter how much it sucks.

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ahoneybadger3@reddit

I spent my first 10+ years or so of working in office based jobs and I hated every single second of it.

Wasn't until I hit 30 that I made the change to warehouse work to start with then class 2 driving shortly after. So so much better for me, and much more money to boot (though I did take a big pay cut for the first few year).

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

I respect people who are blue collar. I've done both and it's strenuous. And I've never forgotten my roots. I've done both types at stages of my life

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ReturnToTheHellfire@reddit

I’m in the same boat, worked in an office for a year and hated every second of it, idk how any manages to just sit and work in the same place all day

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Rachael008@reddit

I could never be a school teacher of kids any age 😱 I have a 14 year old daughter nearly 15 , she is an only child and I adore her but she is hard work.😓 I totally respect families who have 2,3 or 4 kids but have no idea how they do it .

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MLJB1983@reddit

Yes, must be hard. I have two daughters, 19 and 12. The youngest talks like she’s a cockney gangster and so do most of her friends. I can imagine it must a nightmare looking after 25 of them!

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Rachael008@reddit

lol . I know exactly what your saying lol.

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MLJB1983@reddit

It’s got to be tik tok’s fault lol

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Rachael008@reddit

Omg Yes it is it’s ridiculous. And Instagram.

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MLJB1983@reddit

Yep. My kids are on all platforms. I’m so glad I grew up in the 80s and 90s.

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

They don't🤔😂 I'm the eldest of four born within five years to a very young mother. Left for my grandparents house asap. Still feels like there's too many of us many years later and mum is just interested in Instagram, Facebook and parties

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StrangerAcceptable83@reddit

😀 Traffic Warden. Easy to hate on them, but imagine if they didn't exist. Every corner would be chock full of cars, people blocking access, pulling up all over the place. Towns and city centres would be rammed because of tossers abandoning cars all over the place while they just "pop somewhere".

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

I can’t work in a carehome. I visited my nanna for the few months she was there and i have no idea how these people work such long shifts and deal with so many different people and situations for such little pay.
I have friends that have done it and theyve been so stressed out by it and everywhere has been understaffed so now they all work in different types of jobs because it got too much for them.

I totally respect the people who do that type of job and I agree that they deserve to be paid more.
Its definitely not for me.

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Rachael008@reddit

I understand what you’re saying and I couldn’t do it either. I looked after my elderly mum for 8 years as I brought her to live with us as she started to lose her memory. Me and my daughter cared for her until she passed away at 83 two years ago with complications due to Dementia. We adored her and did everything for her out of love and we wanted to care for her but I really couldn’t do that for a complete stranger . I have nothing but respect for people who do that job.

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swallowyoursadness@reddit

You did an incredible thing for your mum. You deserve a lot of respect for that, too

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Rachael008@reddit

Thank you . She is missed so very much .

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Rocky-bar@reddit

I came here to say this, I couldn't do it. the ratio of hard, and sickening, work, to pay received, is ridiculous.

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Current_Scarcity_379@reddit

Diver. Specifically the saturation divers offshore. Having seen the bells get lowered in alongside oil rigs, no amount of money could make me do it. There’s far too many things that can go wrong ! I know generally they don’t, but it only takes the once and that’s it ! Also, what is lurking around down there ? 😳😂

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Objective-Soft4116@reddit

Did you watch the documentary ’Last Breath’? It is incredible and highlights how absolutely terrifying this job is! A great watch though.

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Current_Scarcity_379@reddit

Yes I’ve seen it. It did nothing to allay my fears about it !

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shredditorburnit@reddit

I was going to go with underwater welder, but I'll tag it in under yours since it's a sub set.

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Necessary-Echo-4038@reddit

Ppl who go to others houses or the medical field

Way too much guts n gore for me and ppl who go to others homes r brave as fuck who knows what's in there

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suckmypronouns2@reddit

Cleaning toilets

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Extension-Base4600@reddit

Bin person. I don't even take out my own bins! Ew. A lot of people around here moan about the bin men but honestly I think they do a cracking job. I couldn't be out at 5am wading through other people's household waste. They are actually on such a strict time limit from the council, I'm amazed they get it all done.

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bars_and_plates@reddit

Police officer.

I wouldn't have the restraint needed to eventually not just snap on someone who was obviously taking the piss and putting people in danger. I think in general it'd make me bitter about others.

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adamneigeroc@reddit

Plus you can’t win no matter what you do, either not doing enough to stop crime, or being over zealous with someone’s darling Angel child.

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Ill_Refrigerator_593@reddit

Builder on a high rise.

Scares the shit out of me.

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Atoz_Bumble@reddit

My wife had an NHS job for a short while that I could never do. It was basically sitting with terminally ill patients in their own home overnight.

It had such a negative impact on her mental health, that I convinced her to stop.

Ironically, I ended up doing that very thing for my wife as she slowly died from cancer. I can still hear the hiss and pop of the oxygen machine as I remember those final nights lying beside her.

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DarthKrataa@reddit

Saw a job once for a Nurse Specialist in "paediatric bereavement"

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mitchiet123@reddit

Teacher. On the other hand though, I did a trial shift in a mirror factory and loved it. It’s a job I could really see myself doing.

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TalynRahl@reddit

Agree with your picks, I could never be a teacher... would smack the shit out of so many kids...

On a similar note: Carer. Got a couple of friends who have been carers, usually Paliative/End of Life care. I don't have the fortitude for that stuff.

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Serberou5@reddit

Oil rig worker. Yea those people deserve every penny they earn.

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SnooPandas4016@reddit

Nurse/care home worker. My sister did both. I admire her so much but i not be able to do this long term.

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Interesting-Tip-2962@reddit

Podiatrist

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SleipnirSolid@reddit

Foot fetishist with a license to practice their degeneracy.

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Glass_Commission_314@reddit

Just wait till your old mum or dad is asking you to cut their toenails for them!

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LittleSadRufus@reddit

Dentist for me. Fine when it's people who look after their gnashers, but I expect a lot of the job is staring into filthy infected mouths, digging out rotten teeth and clearing up stinking pus.

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LagerBitterCider197@reddit

that's kinda what keeps them in a job though, isn't it?

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LittleSadRufus@reddit

Yes they get the big bucks because they can stomach it.

Not for me though.

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Rachael008@reddit

Feet ?

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YouSayWotNow@reddit

Although I do have to show patience with some difficult people in my job, it's NOTHING on what customer-facing roles in retail and service industries have to deal with. How they don't lose their rag at arseholes is beyond me. I always make a point if phoning customer service to be polite, to not be aggressive and to make it clear that I'm not angry at them, I know it's not their fault.

Similarly, I could not deal with a job in the NHS or our emergency services, and am enormously grateful to those who do these jobs.

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Mischief_Makers@reddit

Step parent. A good step-parent that is.

Not a job per se but as someones whose never wanted children, the idea of taking on - for life - a child that isn't yours and being devoted to them enough to put them ahead of everything else is something I just can't imagine me doing.

Like, meeting someone, falling for them, getting serious and then saying "this amazing thing I've found doesnt matter one bit compared to the well being of this third part I'm yet to have a relationship with" is something i dont think i have the capacity to be capable of.

Even if I did, i've seen friends meet and get together with a single parent, things haven't worked out and they've been devastated at the loss of the kid too. Hell I've got one friend whose partner got pregnant as soon as they met. Within 3 hours of his son being born he found out because of a blood test that was needed for some reason that his son wasn't his son - 'I saw his blood type. I know mine and I know hers. Ours together can't make his'. He raised that kid as his own until they split 18 months later and it utterly desyroyed him. He didn't even tell any of us until after they split.

I guess I'm too selfish to make that big an accomodation in a new relationship, even though i know i shouldnt be. Full respect to those who can do it, they're better people than I could ever be. But frankly, I don't give a fuck about your kids.

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Objective-Soft4116@reddit

I’m a step parent and yes it is not for the feint hearted! I do love them but i regularly don’t like them and I have little power or say in their lives but still have to feed them, clothe them and treat them like my own.

I should say I have my own children too and I don’t always like them at times either 🤣

They are all teenagers or young adults now. This is why I drink 🤣 Me and my spouse find it challenging but we try our best for all the children. We also have to remember that they didn’t ask for this life either and it isn’t easy for them loving between homes and different parents.

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Mischief_Makers@reddit

Yeah, so, that.....ALL of that.....fuck all of that. I can't imagine any reality in which I'm capable of all of that and am very nearly im awe of people who are. Thats a degree of emotional vulnerability i couldnt get anywhere near before my liver scrambled up my spine and snapped my brainstem in an exercise of damage limitation.

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Kapika96@reddit

Nurse/doctor/dentist. Way too many gross things to deal with. Especially given the number of old people they deal with. Plus worst part of all, the possibility of people dying.

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Objective-Soft4116@reddit

Lawyer! It’s the idea that you could be defending an awful person or prosecuting an innocent person. I do believe that everyone deserves a fair trial and has the right to it but I couldn’t do that.

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sshiverandshake@reddit

I'm guessing you're actually talking about advocacy / being a barrister? If so, I'll let you in on a secret.

Each time you have to defend someone who's clearly guilty / a piece of shit, pretty much everyone involved - from the Paralegals to the Judge - are totally clued up and have figured out the defendant already.

No one is "defending" the person's actions, just presenting the case for the right outcome, e.g.: one side arguing for 3 years a fine and victim costs and you're arguing for 3 years a lesser fine and victim costs based on capacity to pay, etc.

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Objective-Soft4116@reddit

Unless they have R’d a woman in which case it can come down to a complete shit show of the victim being completely obliterated and the man walking away free to do it again. Imagine your whole character being assassinated by a legal mumbo jumbo jargon strong and confident barrister while you sit there and try to re live the most horrific assault and stay calm and collected. Makes me very sad that so many of these cases don’t follow through but you can see why 😢

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Watsis_name@reddit

There's a lot of different types of lawyers, though. Only a small number of them have to defend those who they know are guilty.

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nkdont@reddit

It's a principle of the job that if you don't believe your client then you can't defend them and shouldn't take the job.

Where the defender has pleaded guilty then the work is more about advocating for them and ensuring their fair treatment under the law.

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greylord123@reddit

Anyone who works from home.

I think it would just be a really awkward experience. I'm at home so I'd want to chill out but then I'd have work to do.

It just seems like a really awkward situation where I don't think I'd be in the right headspace.

I get why people like it but the reason people like it (i.e you can do stuff around the house in works time) is the reason I'd hate it. I'd focus way too much on my house stuff and I'd be too relaxed at home.

Also I don't want my home to be my workplace. I don't like taking work home with me. Home is a place to escape work.

I also like going to work and having a laugh with my colleagues. Id feel a bit isolated at home on my own all day.

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anxiousFTB@reddit

Anything involving caring at close quarters with someone - particularly carers, but also nurses, childminders, etc. I'm a nice person, I think, but I imagine it to be so exhausting, plus I'd be so resentful at the gross underpayment they endure. I have a cushy office job and relish sitting behind a computer. I can just about stomach the occasional client meeting.

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2491996@reddit

It's an interesting space to exist in. On the one hand we do see and hold some of the worst part of human existence - illness, trauma, death etc. however what keeps me coming back is having some of the most rewarding and humbling experiences one can have. Knowing that you've made a difference to someone's life, seeing their progress throughout their treatment or even being the first person someone connects with on their healthcare journey is a mad feeling that (almost all the time) supercedes the awful things endured.

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

I’m the absolute opposite. I’m in nursing. I want to die everytime I’ve got to log on and do records. This wasn’t what I got into the job for. I hate it and I hate sitting at a computer. Give me actual patient care any day

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greylord123@reddit

I know it sounds like a weird one that probably doesn't get a lot of consideration but Waiting tables.

You need to be pretty organised. You need to be a good communicator. You have to do all the physicality of moving plates around etc while also being customer facing.

In chain restaurants it's busy and you have loads of tables and customers are dicks.

In fancy restaurants you have loads of different etiquette rules etc to learn.

I'd be forever dropping plates and glasses and getting orders wrong. Obnoxious customers would push me over the edge.

Then you also have the fact it's not really a respected role.

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Weary_Rule_6729@reddit

police or paramedic 💯

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bonkerz1888@reddit

Nursing.

I lack the required patience and empathy.

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Accomplished-Kale-77@reddit

A teacher. I don’t think I would get through my first class without telling some gobby little twat to fuck off and quitting 😂

Also anything in customer service

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Melodic_Arm_387@reddit

Retail, or any job where you have to deal with the general public talking to you like a sack of crap while you are preforming a service they require.

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Evo_ukcar@reddit

After seeing what effect it has had on my mum, being a carer. She stepped up to look after her mum who has dementia and it's literally broken her. There is virtually no support for her here in the UK. It's a sad state of affairs.

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No-Calligrapher5472@reddit

I could never work in McDonald's, I have neither the temperament, patience or dexterity for work in a busy kitchen.

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CliffordThRed@reddit

I teach, but I don't think I could police

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BanditKing99@reddit

Anything construction related, so jealous I’m completely useless with my hands

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Able_Jelly_8727@reddit

Lorry (or bus) driver they're just so big it would scare me. I'm not a particularly nervous driver and will drive big cars no problem, but a lorry is just way too big.

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UziTheG@reddit

Anyone else who's done it would agree with me, but big supermarket warehouse is genuinely borderline suicidal. Honourable mention is care workers

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RuneClash007@reddit

As someone who worked at Costco, it's not actually that bad imo

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pringellover9553@reddit

Bin men, I’d be throwing up every 2 minutes or cry because a banana skin got on me

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ichirin-no-hana@reddit

Dentistry just gives me the creeps (I couldn't look into mouths all day) but they do an important job (not that anyone I know regularly visits after COVID)

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Otherwise-Extreme-68@reddit

Anything to do with looking after kids or the elderly. I don't have the patience!

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

Anything involving sitting at a computer all day or tech. It just makes me want to die.

Actually I don’t think I could do a dayshift job at all.

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crappy_ninja@reddit

Can you imagine all the piss, shit and blood nurses have to deal with while being treated like crap?

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

Actually that’s usually the HCAs job. The blood part or the cause of it will come into mine but piss, shit, snot, washing, dressing, supervising etc all on the HCA which are basically minimum wage.

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Delicious-Cut-7911@reddit

Coroner. I had to go to a coroner's office and his desk was piled high with documents etc. He had to leave his office for a few minutes so I peeked at his documents. There was a black/white photo of a man with an axe through his head. The term 'curiosity killed the cat' was appropriate as it gave me nightmares.

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mattamz@reddit

Carer. Sure I'd don't for the right pay but apparently careers are paid shite.

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Turbulent_Ebb9589@reddit

I’m a nurse but I don’t do 12+ hour shifts. I 4 x 8hr shifts, then 2 off, then 4 more in. The actual shift times are difficult (either very early start, or very late finish), but they’re still only 8hrs. 4 on/2 off results in me working almost every weekend (I only get 1 in 6 full Sat-Sun weekends off). That’s the downside, not the fact of being so busy. I am always absurdly busy, but 8hrs absolutely flies by in this sector. My pay is also very fair, and I can’t/don’t complain about it, even on my worst days (social care sector, not NHS).

Also, the “dealing with difficult people” side of it is what makes a shift fly by! I don’t get tired of this fundamental aspect of the job, no matter how challenging/repetitive it gets (I’m in mental health, and so many of my residents are just stuck in an endless loop of ups and downs, and almost none have any realistic prospect of “getting better”).

However, if I were to do 12hr shifts, then I’d also answer “nurse” to the job I “couldn’t do”! Although, many nurses actively prefer long days (fewer days worked per week).

My own answer to the job I can’t do is call centre operative. I can picture myself doing it, because I’ve done it in the past, but to me it was 100 x more soul destroying than even the worst of all worst days in nursing. I can deal with the most mentally unwell person, hell, I’ll deal with literally dozens of them at a time (and regularly do)…but give me just one Karen on the phone griping about trifling issues, and that is my breaking point.

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whippetrealgood123@reddit

Social worker

Counsellor / therapist

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alanonoz@reddit

I could never be a true GIFTED ARTIST. In one of my design classes, my fellow student was doing an amazingly faithful recreation of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" reduced to an 8½ x 11 sheet of notebook paper. 🤯

but guess who came to me for help with his website? 😏

ALL OF US HAVE SKILLS. Some of us have gifts.

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cari-strat@reddit

Couldn't cope with anything that involved people's grotty bits so crusty feet etc would be a no (chiropody and so on), ditto being a carer and having to wipe arses.

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

The feet would be beautiful when you finish...does that help lmk

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Jolly_Constant_4913@reddit

Teacher- bad kids can be evil.

Care worker. Mostly women being underpaid for poor working conditions

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thorpie88@reddit

ICU workers. When my dad was in ICU there were signs asking visitors not to physically assault staff as they have an average of 55 incidents a week.

I've also never seen so many people at work as I did during those twelve days

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OldMadhatter-100@reddit

Bus driver through Dartmoor, Exmoor and Cornwall one lane roads or in a crowded old tourist city.

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EdmundsonFerryboat@reddit

Submariner.

Cool job but nah, not for me. I'm one of those weird human beings who like air and natural light.

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IcyCoach8716@reddit

People who work in crematoriums pushing the coffins into the furnace and then scraping out the cremains. Absolutely the fuck not. Not for any money.

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Silent_Air4399@reddit

Council waste recycling plant. Worked next to one for over 10 years. The smell in the summer was horrendous. The number of rats we would see running around outside Plus, the number of flies we would get in our building was disgusting. So I can only imagine what it would be like working in one. Ripping out those recycling bags and sorting through them.

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mutema@reddit

Those people who go into the sewage and drains.

Morticians

Coroner

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AnonymousBanana7@reddit

A carer for old people or people with learning difficulties.

I'm a carer in a hospital and see plenty of both, but working with either full time would kill me.

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Educational-Angle717@reddit

Yes this for me too - I've got a mate who works with teenagers in care and it wouldn't be for me. He's doing 14 hour shifts for very little money and still has to see and put up with some horrible situations. Could never do it.

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WuufTheBika@reddit

Carer.

I had to go to hospital once for something minor, but I had to stay in. In the opposite bed to me was a lady in her late 70s/early 80s with her carer.

This lady screamed, shouted, emotionally abused her carer, was generally just a nasty piece of work. It was clear that she didn't want to be there, and she was 100% taking it out on her.

This went on for hours. The carer had to walk away twice in tears. That was just a slice of what she had to deal with every single fucking day.

I will never complain about my job again.

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Dnny10bns@reddit

Care workers.

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oh_no3000@reddit

Foster Carers. Here's a highly traumatized kid who now lives with you 24/7

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Turbulent_Welder_599@reddit

Defence attorney

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sniper3122@reddit

Dentist. The thought have having a hands on job where 95% of the time the customer has their mouth open and can’t speak to you sounds very boring.

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DoNotGoGentle14@reddit

I find what they do quite fascinating tbh. I'd love to educate myself more about their line of work. Maybe that's what I truly wanted to be when I grew up but realised it a tad too late to actually start a career in that direction. So instead I just stick to watch youtube videos whenever I have an upcoming appointment 😅

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Intruder313@reddit

Healthcare of any kind as I am very squeamish and such. I would not make it through the introductions.

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Dawningrider@reddit

Criminal defence lawyers. They do, what maybe the worst, and hardest job in thr country. Defend people they likely despise to the best of their ability, so we can have faith in a justice system. And when they point out if the police did something illegal, or incorrect, and cause a mistral, THEY are the ones that get shafted. God bless the magnificent bastards, I couldn't do that job.

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smushs88@reddit

Massive respect to them, Paramedics.

Tbf could probably say the same for nurses/doctors etc but anyone working frontline caring for you at your worst, while having to take on 12 hour shifts and due to the cost of living, a bunch of overtime on top of their rota deserves all the praise they can get.

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bandaian@reddit

Dentist

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MaxLevelYutyrannus@reddit

I once saw a guy whose job was raking out a fenced off, sanded dog toilet area.

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Ruadhan2300@reddit

My wife does customer-support.

I do software development.

Neither of us feels we could do what the other does. She doesn't have the head for coding, I don't have the multitasking, attention to detail or phone-skills to do her job.

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95jo@reddit

Me and my partner were having this discussion just a couple of hours ago.

Doctor/nurse and carer are up there. We both acknowledged that we’re lucky that some people choose to do these jobs as we personally couldn’t, a lot of respect for them!

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