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!

Nature reserves. Badly paid. Managers who don't want to manage but need the money. There's always an incompetent colleague who's been there for decades and never wants to improve anything to modern standards, yet who is somehow pivotal and must be part of every tiny decision.

Event planning! The amount of time spent stuffing hundreds of goody bags and trying to transport them in taxis across the city in rush hour traffic… Just stress stress stress! Nothing glamorous about it. Best I got was dealing with diva-ish Z-list celebs with ideas above their station.

Specialist in an auction house. You needed a masters degree, it paid a pittance and I spent a lot of time being yelled at by middle aged men in tweed, while being stuck in a freezing cold warehouse.

I suspect many people think it would be great to be an influencer as it seems easy, but it seems it would be a horrible job basically being 'on' 24/7 and needing to think of your next post

What is the draw back with archives ? I did see a friend want to do it at some point but didn't really get it.

They needed a degree. Then a masters or diploma in archives. Work experience. Then when they'd finished all that they got a 2 days a week job paying £9000 pro rata. There doesn't seem to be any money in it and very few jobs.

I’ve been a librarian. You don’t get to read the books! Just scan the barcode on the outside. It’s like being a shop assistant.

Interior design also not glamorous. My sister does it. Mostly designs things she doesn’t personally like, spends a lot of time doing drawings and making calls in the office.

Music industry - spent a lot of time dealing with absolute bell ends. The main exception to this rule were the artists who, on the whole, were lovely.

I went from being a tax inspector 26 yrs in (which was as shit as you would imagine) to being an events administrator in a concert venue. Two years in I frigging love my job!

No day is the same, yes there's lots and lots of boring admin but then we'll get a rider in for x y and z, then a concert needs to be cancelled or rearranged, or the main artist is lost 20 minutes before due on stage etc.

A small environmental charity. Opened my eyes to how many charities operate and completely disillusioned me to them all sadly

I originally wanted to be a teacher. I lasted three months. I realised I couldn't switch off at the end of the day, especially when it came to the children whose parents didn't seem the kindest, or just didn't appear to care at all. I worried about their DC but I couldn't do or say anything as I had no concrete evidence of neglect or abuse.

Moved on to working with animals. Started in a pet shop. Birds never shut up. Not ever. Hamsters can suddenly bite you when you go to change their cage, and then jump out when you pull back so that you have to chase them all over the shop floor whilst your employer looks like they wished they'd never given you the job.

I ended up working in the elderly care sector and honestly, it was brilliant. I could listen to residents stories for ages, and looked forward to each shift. But my physical health deteriorated and took my mental health with it. Would be amazing to go back one day though.

Travel writing - guide books for travellers, not glossy holiday promos. There's no way I wouldn't have done it, but the pay's so awful you lose money. Most travel writers have 'independent means', I just did consultancy in my other job whenever I was back in the UK.

The editors have long lists of things they want you to check out no matter how inaccessible they are, you have to schlep round every place you go, checking prices and timetables, and they also expect your individual perspective & ideas to be fresh and fascinating. When you get home, you spend ages putting it all together in the required format, a word count for each section, and proofing the preprint.

I probably would've got very quickly annoyed doing glossy, all-expenses-paid holiday promos but I wouldn't have minded breaking up the slog with a bit of luxury!

It was a 'dream' of mine, though, and at least my name's on some out-of-date books 😄

TEFL - Teaching English to privileged Egyptian children wasn't great.

Running a bijou cafe, pubs, a large hotel, wasn't great, the long hours just wore me down. By the time I'd finished the tills, accounts, cleaning the beer lines, ordering food, it was 2am, sleep for 4 hrs, get up at 6am and do it all again. I stopped, and thought 'what am I doing here'?

My husband is an insolvency partner and whenever a new cafe opens in our small city, he declares he will be winding it up within 6 months. He’s right 9 times out of 10.

Cafes would have to be the most brutal small business out there. If yiu want to speak to the owner of a cafe, go in on a weekend or public holiday. They will be working, often with their mum, partner and children because margins are so low that paying weekend and holiday rates to staff is next to impossible.

@Oblomov24 I LOVED running bars, but the hours are just killing. Some people manage to do it their whole careers - they must be made of very tough stuff!

Photographer for me. A lot of walking and waiting around depending on what you do, SO many hours sitting at a computer for editing. I did a local blues festival once. My dad was an organiser so I was drafted in voluntarily to help get some promo shots for them with the hope of selling photos to some of the bands, but also to have them for social media and future advertising for the festival (a non-profit). I attended 40 gigs in 2 days, I don't drive so it was like a military operation working out how to get from one pub to the next all over our town. One band bought one photo from me. That was it. I spent more than I made on buses and taxis.

I'm a copy editor now. I do love it but it's absolutely ruined reading for fun for me.

Some clients are more difficult than others too and payments have to be chased up at times as well so even though I enjoy it, it definitely has its stressful moments too.

It is sad but true that art is a privilege. Having the time and space to truly create and get in touch with that side of ourselves, is not something that is afforded to many. I often wonder what the world would be like if more people had access to it.

Nursing. Thought I'd love it and I'd help people.Just got stressed and overworked and underpaid and completely dissatisfied with the health care system.

Well I was a midwife and it wasn't what I'd thought it would be like at all. It was all rushing and ticking boxes and watching your back.

I did not enjoy it.

Owning a cafe is my personal dream. But I always imagine myself chatting to the regulars and arranging the cake display, not any of the other stuff.

Very rare to come across a thread with a new and original topic on Mumsnet these days but this is one. It's fascinating. Thank you.

I worked in book publishing which is an industry coveted by many. We had oxbridge graduates beating down the door for unpaid work experience. In many ways it lived up to its the hype, to be immersed in books and have access to new titles months before they were published never got boring. But when I was there it was still very old school, misogyny was rampant and all the schmoozing and sycophancy with some of the authors made me very cynical in the end. Particularly the 'celebrity authors' who swanned about thinking they were all high brow now they were a published author when in reality they'd just had a few meetings with a ghost writer who did all the writing work for them. Or the new authors who had had their dreams come true by finally having their labour of love published but were completely naive to the machine of mass market publishing. Many struggled to relinquish control of their baby when it came to rewrites, artwork, marketing etc. It was a small and incestuous industry which, after 15 years, proved far too shallow for me in the end. The pay was and I assume still is, utterly abysmal. Especially as it was such a London-centric industry at that time. Work became your play as you couldn't afford to be anywhere else. All that said, as a beleaguered NHS worker now, champagne Fridays in the boardroom really do feel like a complete lifetime ago.

Actor. In stage, television and film - 30+ years.
it’s stressful and abusive.
and like a PP I have a lot of fun stories, but it was truly awful. I had to get out due to getting fed up; diagnosed with PTSD which was a wake up call.

haha- I’m in library work now. I have a thick skin and I thank acting for that

I studied Business & Accountancy at Uni & thought as a mature student that I'd be set for life, pay for my pension - life would be grand.
I fully underestimated that (the Company I worked for & maybe many others too) main focus was on their $$ profit margin & not necessairly the clients benefit as every single day was split into 75 6-minute units that I needed to be on whatever % productivity rates - memory says something like 85 or 88% each day - really hard with job planning/meetings etc etc. So if I was also chatting to a colleague, or a trying calc took too long I often ran out of chargeable units at the end of a day but I couldnt then charge the time to Admin (read: the office) so often did extra work in my own time. Often, more often than I wished which added to the stress levels of me, burned me out entirely not coping with the workload, chargeable units & unsupportive environment. Not the business development inspiration I thought I was getting into.
So not the dream career I imagined at all - & it hasnt become my passion pension pot after all.

I laugh at all the new courses on Instagram etc encouraging people to become an illustrator for children’s books. It looks lovely, you just sit there with your coffee cup and your colourful studio dreamily doodling.
The reality is very different!

Brilliant thread! I spent a time working in international organizations and embassies. The work itself could be stimulating and interesting but I have never met a more dysfunctional group of syncophants in my life. I am still shaking my head years later at all that I witnessed. And this was long before "#Me too" - the men behaved monstrously and were either promoted or moved along when things caught up to them. I would never advise anyone who wants a normal life/family and healthy relationships to work in that field.

Mine was being a fine artist, too. Galleries were cut-throat and I got tired of producing the same kind of work to fit the market. It was not 'relaxing' at all! It was pretty isolating as well, I rented a studio on an industrial estate, no cosy garden studio. Some of the customers were lovely though.

The other one was working for advertising agencies (as a PA). Maybe it was just the 90s as a whole, but misogyny was rampant. Fun in other ways though.