20 Professionals Share Popular Unfair Misconceptions About Their Jobs

We don’t always appreciate the services provided by certain people because their job isn’t glamorous or showy. Whether it's a janitor or a dentist or a zookeeper, the job exists because someone has to do the work. We may not like to think about it too much but that doesn’t mean the individual doing the job doesn't feel maligned. Below, we have listed the jobs employees and professionals feel are quite unfairly most looked down upon by society because either it's misunderstood, or in fact, slandered even though they may be essential.

#1

Image source: wxmanify, Official U.S. Navy Page Meteorologists. Lotta jokes along the lines of "must be nice to be wrong half the time and still keep your job". Do you know how difficult it is to predict the weather 2-3 days out, let alone a week out?

#2

Image source: DearAuntAgnes, Ashwini Chaudhary(Monty) I was a cleaner. People used to treat me like furniture and assumed all kinds of things about me. That was the best-paying job I ever held, with the best benefits, and most vacation! I went back to school for a more “dignified” career, and my “dignified” job sitting at a desk ended up being worse in every way.  

#3

Image source: bravetest4, Gihan Sandeep Zookeepers. Most people who have actually encountered them avoid them because they always stink so effing bad, but they're nice people :(  

#4

Image source: words-i-say, Jonathan Borba Dentists. We really ARE just trying to help you save your teeth. And it’s really NOT fun to have patients immediately say how much they hate the dentist before they even say hello.  

#5

Image source: anon, Karlo Tottoc Veterinary medicine. 110%. Extremely low wages, very high suicide rates, everyone thinks we are in it for the money, or don’t know what we’re doing. The burnout and turnover is truly unlike any other profession.  

#6

Image source: Signal-Opportunity-2, SpiderMonkeyDerpFollow Embalmers. Thankless job people think they are creepy but who else would do that  

#7

Image source: anon, Connor Danylenko Morticians. Really don't get why; they're the last ones to ever let you down.  

#8

Image source: AstriumViator, Carl Campbell Garbage disposal workers. I've heard many times from many people that if you don't go to college, that's the type of job you get. But my dad f*****g loved that job more than building fridges for amana. Not only was he paid more, but if he found something cool there, he got to take it home with him. My mom eventually had to tell him to stop bringing things home though, because it was a lot hahaha.  

#9

Image source: berrys_a_ghost, Eric Nopanen Strippers/exotic dancers. If the person is comfortable enough to do that, then there's no shame in them doing that. Also they can make good money in just a night  

#10

Image source: Gacha-Galaxy-Girl, Anna Shvets Plastic surgery, they don’t just do cosmetics, they do some live saving procedures for people in accidents, car wrecks, etc.  

#11

Image source: guyuteharpua, National Cancer Institute Gastroenterologists get a bad wrap because a*s holes are gross and who would want to spend time there, but these guys save lives.  

#12

Image source: randomnessamiibo, Anıl Karakaya Plumbers. People always assume they’re gross greasy old dudes but really they’re extremely skilled professionals.  

#13

Here’s one that I think isn’t commonly mentioned in these discussions: Artists. Of all mediums. From live-performance to in-studio creations. As far as profession, the fields are saturated full of talented and knowledgable artists, but also full of people who are not intelligent and behave in poor ways to give artists a bad rep (people love to generalize!) Yes, creative fields such as the arts are unorthodox and can be heavily subjective in values and certifications, but that doesn’t make employment in the arts any less than a job in any other field. It’s f*****g difficult. Artists get a bad rep and it doesn’t help when people who know nothing about what they do ignorantly claim that they themselves can do it because “it’s so easy.” Image source: ClydeDimension

#14

Image source: Roguefem-76, Pixabay Janitors. Give them respect, people, unless you want to empty your own trash and clean your own work or school space. (Seriously, being nice to the janitor saved my tail one time when I was locked out of a room that contained some vital work material. The big boss didn't have keys to that room, but guess who did?)  

#15

Image source: Lou_Pockets, Ron Lach Social workers. We are underfunded, understaffed civil servants attempting to help populations of individuals with multiple overlapping problems (poor, mentally ill, criminal records, substance use issues), get their lives back on track. The people others walk by on the sidewalk or avoid eye contact with on the subway; we seek them out, try to help them, and usually no one is happy with what we have to offer. Also red tape....lots of government red tape.  

#16

Image source: holybananaduck, Mr. Blue MauMau Working at McDonald’s/fast food. People always say c**p like “you better work/study hard or you’ll end up working at McDonald’s”. Work is work, and I honestly have far more respect for fast food workers than the CEO of pretty much any major corporation.  

#17

If you ever watch movie credits you’ll see a job called “best boy”. I used to laugh at this job title (maybe I’m alone, maybe not?) but it’s actually a really important job in filmmaking even though it has a silly name. Image source: viktor72

#18

Image source: urine-monkey, Anna Kapustina Bartender. Everyone thinks they can do our job because of that one time they opened Bud Lights at a company picnic a few years ago and that there's no skill involved. My idea for a reality show is to take those types and put them behind a bar that's three deep in the weeds while Karen screams at them about slow service because she think's it's the ideal time to order craft cocktails and closes out after every round. Not to mention the c**p us "lifers" have to deal with. Even people in our own families thinking we're losers, alcoholics, and drug addicts because we chose this over a more "respectable" career. Nevermind that plenty of us are college educated only to realize we actually make more doing this than the more respectable career we intended to go into.  

#19

Nobody thinks to credit the dishwasher in having a well ran restaurant, but when we're missing ours things start to slow down, a lot. Our dishwasher gets paid $22 an hour but he works pretty dang hard, he helps us clean the tables when we're short at the front and he's constantly helping sort/unpack inventory when it comes in. It's almost unfair to just call him a dishwasher. Days where he's gone, we have to lend a FoH to the back which reduces service capacity and then tired staff has to do the wash duty which can take an extra hour which sucks and leaves us grumpy. Image source: yolo_bet

#20

Image source: drizztluvr, Ron Lach CPS Investigators. Allow me to lay the rumors to bed. First, CPS does not *steal* or *kidnap* children. If you were unfortunate enough to have your child removed from your care, take responsibility for your own f**k ups and self reflect. Rest assured, the CPS worker did not *want* to remove your child, so if yours got removed, you gave them no other option. second, CPS does not get a bonus for every child they bring in to custody (and they don't get extra for removing children of color). Believe me, they do not get paid enough to do their job as it is, let alone any bonuses. And where would this money come from? The government barely has the funding to pay/reimburse foster parents for taking in kids. Hell, the whole child welfare system as a whole barely has the funding across the board to care for these kids. Where are bonuses supposed to come from? Third, there are no "quotas" on how many kids are removed. No nationwide adoption conspiracy to take children from their homes. Seriously, no social worker/CPS investigator goes into their work each day wanting to take kids from their homes. None. No power trips (cause that power isn't even in their hands, it's up to a dam judge). Nothing. It's a sad day for everybody when this happens. Sad for the families, sad for the kids, and sad for social worker too.