Miserable Aspects of 'Fun' Jobs

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Miserable Aspects of 'Fun' Jobs

Since we love to hear insider insights about different career fields, we asked Cracked readers on Facebook, “What job was not as fun as you thought it would be? What made it so bad?” The most popular answer seemed to be any retail job, even if you are passionate about whatever you are selling. We learned a surprising amount of readers are archaeologists, and, unfortunately, that job isn’t as cool as Indiana Jones makes it out to be. But mostly what we learned is that no matter how cool a job sounds, it can be awful. (Except for working at Cracked. We would never, ever complain so please don’t fire us, Boss!) 

Here are 15 responses that brought up interesting points about their jobs. It might even make you more satisfied with a choice to take the less exciting career path. (Not us, though. We’re really, really content with all our professional decisions.)

Stand-Up Comedian

TELL US NOW CRACKED DOING STAND-UP El А. shares, I idolized the 'road dogs' when I first started. I wanted nothing more than to tour the country one bar or club at a time. It took me a few years but I got there. Wasn't for me. Spent my life in hotels, lonely, money wasn't great...It all certainly contributed to my divorce. Ultimately leaving that life was the best thing for me. I loved the hour or so I was on stage every night, but the other 23 hours of the day were terrible. Now comedy is an awesome hobby

Photo: Shutterstock

Video Game Employee

TELL US NOW CRACKED DVD POLICE WORKING AT A VIDEO GAME STORE Jason О. says, You think it's gonna be amazing being surrounded by the hobby you love, but rude customers, parents who use your store like a daycare and the dreaded Christmas period quickly kill that. By the time you get home, playing video games is the last thing you wanna do.

Photo: Shutterstock

Teacher

TELL US NOW CRACKED TEACHING Rachel C. tells us, It sounds fun! Like you'll have all these 'a-ha' moments, you get to be a hype man, an inspiration... The reality is you're over-worked and underpaid. You have zero support from your community, and people are always mad at you for things out of your control... If it were just me making my own lesson plans with my students, it'd be a dream job. Even with the low pay. Everything else made me leave after eight years.

Photo: Shutterstock

Marijuana Grow Facility Harvester

TELL US NOW CRACKED MARIJUANA GROW FACILITY HARVESTING Cynthia F. says, A factory job is a factory job. EVERYONE thought all we did was smoke weed all day. Nope.

Photo: Shutterstock

Sound Guy in a Strip Club

TELL US NOW CRACKED DOING SOUND IN A STRIP CLUB Brian L. says, I was young. Sounded like the perfect gig. Degradation for dollars. Those girls were trainwrecks who had very few options and were taken advantage of to the fullest. Yes, they had free will and didn't have to work there, but if you have 2 or 3 kids, no real education or experience, no one else to help....and a habit or 3, you gotta do what you gotta do. It was gross.

Photo: Shutterstock

Pawn Shop Employee

TELL US NOW CRACKED WORKING AT A PAWN SHOP Kathryn S. says, You think you'll get to see lots of really cool unusual stuff, but in reality it's mostly really poor people pawning a chainsaw or a weed eater to buy groceries that week. Depressing.

Photo: Shutterstock

Avionics Technician

TELL US NOW CRACKED DOING AVIONICS TECH FOR SPACECRAFTS Ryan T. tells us, Horrible commute, toxic team atmosphere, tons of overtime, bad engineering, did a year and quit the day they demanded I come in on a Sunday after I had worked Saturday. All three of my vehicles had check engine lights and I realized I was a walking ghost in my household.

Photo: Shutterstock

Mail Carrier

TELL US NOW CRACKED BEING A MAIL CARRIER Cheryll K. says, My first week on the job it rained, snowed, got up to 90. Also as most things are, it was set up for right-handed and I'm left-handed. Wanted you to do a block of 50 houses in 20 minutes but make sure you don't cut across lawns. To top it off, the supervisor was a jerk.

Photo: Shutterstock

Aerospace Material Lab Employee

TELL US NOW CRACKED WORKING IN AN AEROSPACE MATERIALS LAB Ramon S. shares, I had grand visions of helping develop materials and parts for jet engines, but instead I spend most of my day staring at turbine wheels through a microscope, looking for defects half the thickness of a human hair (.0005 or so). It gets old, quick.

Photo: Shutterstock

Kennel Employee

TELL US NOW CRACKED WORKING WITH ANIMALS Mackey V. tells us, I worked for a kennel when I was younger. I was excited to work with animals, but half my job was focused around poop. Cleaning kennel but only after you documented each sample in detail.

Photo: Shutterstock

TV & Film Extra

TELL US NOW CRACKED BACKGROUND ACTING Bryan M. tells us, While it was fun seeing celebrities, the hours were brutal, sometimes starting as early as 5 AM and other times shooting until 3 AM. Many hours of sitting around compared to short periods actually on the set.

Photo: Shutterstock

Kids Party Mascot

TELL US NOW CRACKED WEARING A KIDS MASCOT COSTUME Eugene R. says of the job, Smelled like hot tin cans of shark shit, kids target the groin constantly, it's hot AF, and they expected me to play and be super cheerful. Forget that, I was handing out lung-crushing hugs left and right.

Photo: Shutterstock

Casino Employee

TELL US NOW CRACKED ZI mu 2 ado 20 22 26 30 У 28 31 No WORKING AT A CASINO Steve D. tells us, I thought it would be a fun, face-paced, adventurous job...but eventually I felt like I was a part of fleecing poor folks from their hard-earned wages.

Photo: Shutterstock

Bartender

TELL US NOW CRACKED BARTENDING Chris M. shares, Nothing like squeegy-ing out rotten beer from under the keg cooler to kill the glamour.

Photo: Shutterstock

An Archeologist

TELL US NOW CRACKED WORKING IN ARCHAEOLOGY Laura Е. says, It sounds cool when you're told you'll be unearthing the ruins of an ancient Jesuit mission in exotic Argentina and exploring its underground tunnels and catacombs. But after a while you realize your duties are clearing ivy, moving rocks, digging with the occasional thrill of discovery crushed by the realization that you've just carbon dated a used diaper...as it turns out the site was used as a landfill for decades after the ruins were covered over.

Photo: Shutterstock

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