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!

This! And for those of us thinking “should I just go for that dream job or stay in my normal not quite what I want job?” 😆

PA to an extremely famous celebrity who turned out to be a massive creep and not the nice person of his public image. Interesting stories to dine out on though.😆

I vote librarian too! It's like glorified admin 99% of the time. Some of the subjects I've dealt with have been really interesting but I was so far removed from them in reality. And I don't want to be an expert in referencing or copyright. Bores me to tears.

I’ve had several jobs that appeared to have been created specifically for me. Then I took the job and entered hell. One of those jobs I started drinking every day after work just because I was so stressed out. The day they fired me after 3 horrific months I leapt up, thanked them for the opportunity and lit out. I decided that day NEVER AGAIN would I stay at a job where I was so constantly stressed that I drank, that was a terrible way to deal with things when quitting would have been better. My produce drawer in fridge held a case of beer 😭

I saw the same job posted many times at the small company in the following year or two and should be ashamed to confess I called twice to cackle at them
for being unable to fill the spot, reminding them that they were truly terrible people who would be forever cursed with ‘bad employees’ simply because they were all giant shitheads. Not my proudest moments but I was traumatized by that damn job and they were 99% horrible people doing horrible barely legal things. I’m honestly ashamed I worked there for 3 months. I got frantic emails from clients for almost a year saying nobody would respond to their requests, it was hard telling them they needed to get lawyers as they’d probably been ripped off for thousands and thousands of dollars.

Another job that was similarly well suited to me ended up being like an insane asylum, I walked out after a short hellish month. Still mad at myself that I left a fool tools behind at that one.

I learned that my mental health has value and its okay to prioritize that over money.

I didn't think it was exciting at all.

What kind of IT role? 🙏

Another novelist here. A job that absolutely everyone thinks they can do 'if only I had the time', that nobody wants to pay more than 99p for, royalties that can vary so much from month to month that I work in a shop to make sure the bills are paid, reviews that tell you you have no idea what you are writing about (even if it's from your own lived experience)...

I'm sometimes not entirely sure why I keep doing it.

I had a coveted magazine position. However it was basically like The Devil Wears Prada. The editor was insane. We weren't allowed to leave for the day until she left; it just wasn't done. We also had to arrive before she did, like we were psychic. I got bollocked for not being able to book a flight to an airport that didn't fucking exist. I got bollocked for not answering my phone at seven am on a Sunday. The ones that weren't horrible bitches were dropping with stress and the actual creative work was nitpicked, credit stolen, sometimes vetoed and micromanaged to death even if the end result looked good. Never again!

To be fair she could be doing life saving medical research

Sorry to go against the grain, but I've enjoyed every job I've had. I was lucky enough to live in London and chose each job carefully. I usually stayed in each job for about 4 years.

If I had another chance now, I would want to work for a interesting charity in an area I believe in or go back to behind the scenes politics, or poetry.

Working in a vineyard. I thought I'd be wafting around in a floaty dress and straw hat ( my naivety for looking at too many of Trudie Styler's posts).
Thr reality is that it is utterly brutal work, in all weathers, and can be quite lonely. I fucked my back, needed operations, and have been in constant pain ever since (herniated discs).

Nothing to add apart from. What an interesting and insightful post into a world about which I know almost nothing.

Professional actor. Probably great if you're a name or the lead, but otherwise pretty dull.
Very early starts and very long days sitting around waiting to deliver a few lines. I seemed to be filming by cold river banks half the time too.
I'd find the directors would often like the fact I'd try different things with the script in the audition (thanks to the advice I gleaned from Sir Michael Caine's excellent book on acting which I read all the time back then) but come the shoot, I'd do a couple of takes with them just wanting me to do a very generic performance. Ah the woes of the bit part actor. And that's if you get the job at all!
(Have to add I didn't do much stage work, which I hear is much better.)

Yup. An older sister did that. Just as you described. She couldn't wait to get a better job ... in a bank

Beauty therapist. Making people look fabulous and giving them confidence etc. Not great. They come in with dirty greasy hair. Sweaty foreheads. Don't wash their lashes. Dirty finger nails. Smelly. It's not all glamorous.

Quality Manager of a chocolate factory. It's true, you really can have too much!

Classical singer. Not at all as glamorous as you might hope, usually stressful trying to avoid catching colds so you don't have to lose out on gigs/money, lots of travel and sitting around waiting in rehearsals, late night travel. Also often dealing with horrible conductors- the tide is turning on this but some of them are pieces of work! I do it for the love of the music itself, not actually a huge fan of performing to an audience as it turns out 😅

I was a scuba diving instructor on a small Coral Cay island. It was without doubt the best job I will ever have had. A lot of places push divers to do more courses, instructors are targeted to upsell, they have classes that are large enough to be on the edge of unsafe, etc. this place wasn’t like that. Environment and safety were put way above dive shop takings. Every week I dived with turtles, sharks, manta rays, pristine coral.

and yet… I left. I felt trapped being on an island that you could walk round in 20 minutes. There wasn’t anything to do outside the water and so I was starting to drink too much in the evenings. I had acquaintances but no friends there. It was a long way from family. There was no internet, certainly no phone signal. it wasn’t intellectually stimulating. The food was repetitive. You’d work for a month at a time, every day, giving the same briefs to customers. I still loved it when I left but I knew if I stayed much longer I’d end up hating it, and I didn’t want to hate paradise!

Modelling and acting.

I’ve been a model and now I work with models and actors and it’s incredibly, painstakingly, precise and boring. Hours of waiting around.

I suppose we all see a tiny portion of people’s’ jobs and think it looks interesting or easy. Most jobs have their rubbish element but some jobs are definitely better than others!

I’ve always enjoyed the jobs I’ve had but I maintain it’s not the job that is the problem but the people you have to work with.

I'm an archivist and love it! I enjoy the cataloguing, collaborating on exhibitions and outreach, meeting (most) donors, digital snd systems work - I find it very interesting and varied. Though I have moved roles quite a bit and now I deal with budgets more, that isn't as fun. I also enjoy an afternoon unpicking a complex copyright or data protection issue. I feel very lucky to have found it, after a few years doing far less enjoyable jobs. It is true to say it is partly glorified filing, but thankfully I enjoy that bit too....

Please say your name is Steph and your husband is Dom!

oh wow, that was my dream job until I decided to be a Psychologist. 😮

Seen a few vets comment sadly, just wanted to add vet nurse too, for many of the reasons the vets said but also even worse pay and for the lack of respect from clients (who think all we do is clean cages and hold animals for the vet) and from some vets (usually older ones - most are great!) who see us as dogsbodies.
The long shifts can be rough… I’ve worked a few 18 hour shifts over the years. If an animal comes in that needs emergency surgery at the end of your shift then you are there until they have recovered and stabilised unless you have someone else on to relieve you.
Euthanasias are hard, but you know what’s harder? Nursing an animal that is suffering, has no prospect of recovery and who then dies surrounded by strangers in hospital - often after a traumatic failed attempt at CPR. Then handing the client the bill knowing it might put them in financial hardship but ultimately it was their (informed) choice to try and unfortunately it all needs paying for. Those cases haunt me.
Carrying out c-sections on dogs who have been inbred to the point that they can’t give birth naturally, delivering puppies who will never have a decent quality of life is pretty depressing too.

That said, I can’t picture myself doing anything else.