50 People Who Have "Cool" Jobs Share How They're A Lot Less Fun Than People Imagine

Veterinarian

Thinking going into major: I love animals and rabbits. And, cute, fuzzy things.

Reality : so much death and sadness

- think, when have you been to the vet? On your pets worst day? Or last day?

Being a chef. Its...awful. I did it for a long time. The hours are ridiculous and the pay is bad.

All of them will find away to eat at your soul.

But working in a small company that likes to think they are a big company when it comes to everything but salary will destroy the fibre of your being.

Edit: Wow this has rung a bell with a lot of people.

Game tester
Growing up it sounds like the perfect job, but running into a wall 500 times at 500 different angles to try and find a bug is Boring.

Teaching...was great for years but nOw it is S**T. I want to disappear every day.

I work with dogs all kinds of jobs.

I had to quit grooming because it destroyed my back, i was in constant pain i couldn't sleep from the pain, I was only 23 at the time, being 6'3 and having scoliosis doesn't help. I actually loved grooming besides that

Dog daycare/boarding is also pretty nice but I've been bitten several times and a huge chunk of the job just involves cleaning dog s**t.

Dog training has terrifying moments, there's a lot of people that have dogs that will attack you and they want you to fix it In one session, there's also a lot of people who want you to train their dog to attack people which is its own set of issues

I think everyone can figure out the s****y parts of vet med.

On top of all these jobs there's a layer of sadness around seeing abused dogs, dogs that just got adopted get picked up. Getting attached to dogs and having them get strange diseases and die unexpectedly. And seeing owners be s**t to their dogs but sometimes there's nothing you can do.

When I tell people I work with dogs they think I just play with dogs all day, which sometimes is the case, but sometimes my soul is absolutely crushed over and over again.

Working with animals (zoo, rescue, vet, etc.).

Do I still love it? Yes.

Is it incredibly mentally taxing, frustrating, nonstop (what’s a weekend?), and full of laws (not a bad thing but another red tape to look out for)? Yes.

Not to mention for veterinarians the amount of education needed.

Pay is often bad, especially if you’re not a veterinarian.

Edit: I’m not saying vets shouldn’t make more or have great pay currently. They should, for the education, hours, and loans they have, they should make more.
But my first paid job was 12.75/hr and I was an overnight vet tech with a college degree. Fresh out of college vet making 90k went home to a simple breakfast. I went home to a piece of toast often without butter and many of my coworkers had a second full time job. When I was making 18/hr I was teaching vet residents making 70-80k how to place IV catheters. We rely on each other too much for that big of a gap.

Architect. Think you get to design beautiful buildings and create amazing sketches and renderings you can hang on the wall? Think again. Most design is client driven and clients are the worst. Even if you get a pretty cool design past the client, that’s just 10% of the project. The rest of the time will be drawing permit documents, dealing with the local jurisdictions design/permit review process. If your project even resembles what it did originally you then have to bid the project only to have your client learn that all the cool bits are $$$ so then they just cut them out. Finally you’ll have to deal with the contractor and actual construction (disclaimer: I do like this part but having a good contractor makes or breaks this phase). The building is finished! Yay! Congratulations! Your client can now occupy their brand new structure. Think you’re done? Nope. They’ll now try and sue you for anything and everything they think is wrong. Crack in the sidewalk outside? Straight to binding arbitration. Squeaky door? Straight to binding arbitration. Contractor didn’t properly flash the windows? Straight to binding arbitration. Oh yeah to top it off, long hours and s****y pay.

Any job requiring a lot of travel. Having the company pay for your hotel and meals is glamorous for about a week. Then it’s a serious drag.

DJ... I did it for years, and all I wanted after some time was to read a book or watch a movie before bed.

Probably anything that involves fame. Acting, modeling, etc.

Usually is very damaging to people's self esteem, unmeasured pressure to be good enough and maintain a certain (unrealistic) image, a lot of times the environments celebs work in can be abusive, loads of people hating on you or just scrutinizing you in general. Competition for these roles is fierce, so you have to take crazy measures to stay in the spotlight and not lose traction in your career.

I once worked for a major bank in the production of evidence for human trafficking, terrorism and serious organised crime offences. Once an officer came to seize information (quirk in Scottish law) and I was signing over hundreds of pages of information which she had to count and counter sign. We got talking about some of my more interesting cases - stopping people from going to ISIS, using insurance documents to show how a man tried to murder his wife with a parachute etc.

"You job sounds so much more interesting than mine", she said. "Mine's just filing paperwork".

She was a homicide detective.

Travel agent. It's just sales - and of a product that's on the other side of the world. How the F am I supposed to sell something I've never seen and know nothing about?

"Oh, but you must get great deals!"

Nope. The agency's commission per person's vacation package was $7.

Seven dollars.

.... CANADIAN!

Very little left to discount for myself when the markup is only $7!

Then there's the part where you have to listen to everyone's complaints: about airlines you don't operate, or hotels you don't run, or weather you don't control, or too many sticks on the beach because of the literal f*****g hurricane that just went through there.

Oof. Flashbacks.

Working with fireworks. Everyone loves the show. Nobody appreciates the crew of people who prepare/build/pack the show up.

My wife works in a library. People think " Oh, that must be a quiet, mellow atmosphere ! " -- Not so much. Druggies do their deals in the library, smelly homeless people sleep all day in the library, Teens to do the latest noisy, disrespectful " Tik Tok Challenge " in the library, people use the library computers to look up inappropriate topics. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to kick people out.

Office jobs of most varities. I worked physical jobs from like 15-25 (I know people have worked them much longer, not the point, I'm 32 now though) and while I appreciate not having to sweat all day and deal with the aches and pains of that kind of work, people do not understand what sitting all day does to your body and mind. It physically makes you weak, makes things hurt that shouldn't hurt, causes health issues, causes mental fatigue, it's a tradeoff that most people think is worth. But if I was physically fit to go back to physical labor making the same money I would. I'd rather sweat and deal with the pains of working with my hands/body than deal with the constant tailbone pain, foggy mental after a day of work, sore hips/knees from sitting, weight gain from sitting, etc.

Being a mattress tester. Everyone thinks it's all naps and relaxation, but imagine being stuck in a lab, trying to sleep on command with people staring at you, taking notes like they're watching a bizarre sleep experiment. It's like the worst sleepover ever!

Being a doctor is glorified to young people. Years of studying, astronomical student loans, long hours, night shifts, and you have to try your best to save everyone, even those who tell others to get together, avoid masks, vaccinations, and live off big macs and red bull as long as they avoid MSG and GMO vegetables. Also if a repeat pain medication junkie doesn't get what they are looking for they can leave an online review with a horrible made up situation and the doctor is not allowed to defend themself or say what actually happened because of patient confidentiality.

Working in the music business. It's still business, and a lot of times, still an office job.

I miss my waiter days, it was dynamic, every day a little different and by the end of the shift it’s done. Now in corporate life the BS just never stops!!!