Jobs you thought would be fabulous but actually weren't?

[GardenDreams]

I was a full time fine artist for 30 years (traditional painting, mixed media and pattern design) worked with book publishing, freelance, galleries, online print sales, various large companies and a few partnerships with celebs. Not as exciting as it sounds though, lol.

Throughout this period, many people looked at me with awe after asking what I did, mostly in surprise that I could earn enough to live on (it came close, at times). I do get the impression that many people think that this is a very thrilling and freeing way to live, but the reality was quite stressful and scary, at least financially, at times. It was a good long slog, with some tricky customers and another full time job dealing with social media. And the work never, ever stopped - there was no clocking off or guilt free holidays. Aside from the online glamour of how it looks, it eventually becomes less about self expression and more like a production line. At times I was completely, visually exhausted.

There are tons of newly proclaimed artists of a certain age on insta, and now more than ever before are offering art courses (after only 6 months in to being self taught), so it's very much a competitive kind of 'grind' culture which has multiplied in the past 6 years.. It is 'sold' as an alternative, lucrative side hustle, but is actually far from the oh so relaxing vibe these insta accounts make out in their posts.

I am still creating but have moved over into a new field that I love, and only now can I see how utterly draining and hard it was when I look back on it. But I am sure so many people still think the idea is quite romantic and liberating.

Anyone else with a similar story? I am cure there are tons of careers that sound wonderful to me, that might be really soul destroying or at least stressful in reality. My fantasy job would have been an archivist, but I took such a different path at ui that I dare say that boat sailed a long time ago!

I really cannot fathom why these threads always bring out 'librarian' [and archivist!]
I've spent my life in the profession and basically it is like being a very fancy highly skilled filing clerk.
There is not much sitting looking at nice books, more struggling with budgets and long meetings about wrangling ever-diminishing resources.
Library users can be demanding and challenging, especially in public libraries I believe, although my career has been spent in academic and special libraries.
I did acquire a very nice husband while managing a collection in a very niche area where there were no books/materials I wanted to read.
My advice: do not flip through the pictures in medical texts, you will regret it 😂

I really cannot fathom why these threads always bring out 'librarian' [and archivist!]
I've spent my life in the profession and basically it is like being a very fancy highly skilled filing clerk.

But that's the exact point!
Unless we have done that job we only have so much to go on, like with my art example. I see a lot of women who retire suddenly building a studio, reinventing themselves and talking about the blessings and joys of painting. I think that if they had done that as a long term career beforehand, it would be quite, quite different.
It is only exciting when you have the means and financial backdrop to 'play' with it.

I had a good and privileged early life, but still struggled a lot to survive as an artist. Influencers would have you believe it's all about the good vibes and the gestural mark making

Many years ago I was a holiday rep. The job location was fabulous🤪 but the customers not so much! 👀

all of the jobs I had. Without exception. I suppose only midwives who love the priceless work they do, can say something more positive

Owning a bookshop. It had its moments, but on the whole it was pretty dull and dispiriting, and paid bugger all.

Working in broadcasting. Yes there was interesting travel but everything was fraught with anxiety as a lot of celebs and especially agents can be so unrealistic in their demands and really nasty when they don’t get what they want.

This is interesting, I've heard the saying 'do what you love and you'll never work', but it seems that once your hobby/interest is your income source it turns it into 'work' and ita not fun anymore

Graphic designer

Gardener. I’m trained and skilled and there is a lot to love about it but the pay is shit, you’re working in all sorts of weather, it fucks your body, you’re dealing with clients/wealthy owners/the general public and often you have no autonomy because it’s always someone else’s garden (whether an individual or an organisation), so what they say goes. Charities (RHS, NT etc) use lots of volunteers, who can be amazing, but you can’t rely on them and some are a pain in the arse (or worse) to manage. If you’re self employed you’re constantly undercut by unqualified unskilled people who think horticulture is mowing a lawn and cutting shrubs into blobs, meaning clients don’t want to pay more than £10/hr.

Fashion stylist. Lots of heavy lifting. Working with horrible people. I have great stories at parties, but… The work itself was relentless, shoots seem glamorous but the donkey work beforehand & the pressure to come up with the goods is huge. Imagine being a Kardashian personal assistant sort of thing…

Being a dog boarder. I’d dreamed of doing it for years.
Basically being at home, a few walks a day, cuddling happy, cute dogs……

The reality was dogs often stressed in a new environment, not settling at night, toileting in the house, not being able to leave them even for 30 minutes……..

Poorly trained dogs, aggressive dogs, owners who rocked up at any time they liked, often hours late so I was spending much of my day hanging around waiting for them to arrive…….
Owners dropping their dogs off without the correct paperwork/not enough food/ill fitting harnesses…… chasing payments for weeks on end……
My dog didn’t enjoy having others in the house much……

I had quite a few clients whose dogs I adored (and still do), but the above were the bad sides of the job…….

Now I do dog walking and I love it!!! I’m
not waiting on other people and the dogs are happy in their familiar surroundings.

@GardenDreams can I ask what you have moved into? I am also in a creative field and find it quite exhausting!

Yes this, 100%!!!
I pretty much lived by this theory when young, but it's really just another media/perfect lifestyle pipe dream. And pipe dreams sell. It's all marketing, at least within the arts.
According to all arts media and social media, artists are just rolling in blessings and 'doing it for the process'. Mmm, yes, when the follower count rises, but when you take a day off, or have a baby, or need to go to hospital they'll rarely return. It can be quite merciless.

I was a zoo keeper for a short period. Definitely not that exciting, same routines everyday, and then made me deeply question the ethics of it all. (Although one fun part was making enrichment puzzles out of recycling for the monkeys)

Not Rosemary and Thyme then? I thought you all wafted about in luscious trews and neck ties like monty don
Similarly to the arts, I see a lot of shiny happy hype about gardening careers on instagram too.

@GardenDreams I'm an artist too (painter) but I only ever dealt with (lovely) galleries none of the SM stuff.
Never quite could make it pay a liveable salary always had to do other paid work.
I've had a break from it (from the relentlessness) and I relate to everything you posted.
The lugging huge canvases/frames around used to boil my piss.
Going back I'm going to be working much smaller.
Also jealous of the wealthy older ladies/men with lovely home studios in an acre of wild garden and artfully crafted coffee mugs. I'm in a grotty industrial estate with minimal home comforts.
But it is my first love and I can't give it up, it's an itch I must scratch, and keep scratching I will.

May sound boring but am currently involved in putting on events in market towns with a larger team in the North - so much history and fascinating stuff, and have really enjoyed working with tourists generally. Not something I would have ever considered by choice, I just wandered into it via a charity gig.

Buying a beautiful Georgian rectory and running it as a b and b, serving dinner on selected evenings to guests. Effing nightmare

Owning a cafe it's definitely not like the books !
I have lots of little regulars and it's really
Friendly and nice but I'm knackered and absolutely skint even though it's m busy all day 😩
Being a good boss and balancing the books and life balance is draining and the bills are none stop !

We often have events where n our little northen town I bet we've met 😂😂

Your post is so interesting, thanks for starting it. It's really eye opening. Can I ask what you do now?

Orchestral musician. Badly paid, late nights. Basically ‘zero hours’ contract even if you are a member you are only
paid per call- yet you have to ask permission to be released from any work you don’t want to do. No pension.

I'm in tourism, but not the worst kind. Mostly helping to put on markets and charity events. It's a large team effort, so very different to the isolation I endured as a home working creative. Average pay, but the life change is worth it.

I do still make art, but to my own desire. Like a PP said, once art becomes a commodity, it kind of dies, no matter how many people smile about living the dream on insta! Most of the successful painters on there were already skilled with marketing. A uni graduate from the fine arts will struggle. It's easy to get caught up in it, I was inundated and praised to high heaven for many years, but the novelty sure wears off. It's weirdly lonely.

I was the manager and main buyer for a bijou cafe and delicatessen. First of all, people who can afford this stuff often eat nice food all the time so your stuff doesn't always live up to their expectations. I'd much rather have a skint mum come in who just bought one tub of olives or a nice piece of cheese as a weekly treat rather than those who did a full weekly shop.
Then there's the pressure of what will sell and trying to be ahead of the curve. Once it gets into Sainsbury's you're screwed. Trying to sell nettle spaghetti as I thought it was going to be the next big thing. It wasn't.
Working every weekend, 9-5 to meet demand.
I think what annoyed me the most was everyone telling me what they would do if it was their business and thinking they could run a cafe well, despite having never worked in one. 'Well if it was me, I'd have vintage cups and saucers!' So how do you think they would fair being put through an industrial dishwasher ten times a day?

Fashion designer. Always wanted to be one and worked as one for over 10 years. Loved it in my 20s but worked all hours, weekends, sometimes didn't leave the office until midnight, lots of travel. Very bitchy unprofessional environment, lots of people crying, HR complaints. Terrible pay. Alot of the time you are designing what the customer wants, not what you like.
Covid/lockdown decimated the high street and many companies made redundancies. I don't think its ever really recovered and most of my former colleagues have left and changed career paths