To ask what jobs people secretly (or not so secretly) look down on and why?

[ForBreezySloth]

We’re always told “all work is valuable” and I do agree in principle, but if we’re honest, most of us have a job or two we side-eye, even if we don’t say it out loud. Is it how people behave in the role? The pay vs attitude? The ethics of the job itself?

AIBU to think it’s okay to admit we have judgements - as long as we’re willing to examine them?

My husband is a tradesman and I'm a shelf stacker in a supermarket, and I think generally a lot of people would look down on us. Though maybe I should also be mad at my husband, because I ought to be rolling around in wads of cash 🤔. DH finds customers tend to make assumptions about his political leanings, or rather they're comfortable expressing theirs and assume he'll join in. Awkward.

My DC all have SEND. I look down on the LA SEN team staff from the top to the caseworker. I get the decisions are made my the elusive panels, but the SEND legislation is very easily accessible and so many of the decisions are made in full knowledge it's unlawful, and you're part of the problem even if you're only the messenger.

I also have a lot of concerns about SEN Advocates. There are some good ones, but so many have sprung up now. Too many give poor advice and aren't exactly cheap. Most start from a place of good intentions, but it seems it gets to a point where they take on too much and ghost families, or expand into snake oil services.

Do you use any public or private service providers regularly? I mean, if you live on a self-sustaining smallholding, fair play. But if not, eeh, you’re going to have to do some mental gymnastics there.

Second hand car dealers. Shady, the lot of ‘em!!!

Tabloid journalist or talkshow host.

All jobs in the care sector are massively under valued and under paid. Others like bankers are massively overpaid. Sad but true. What people are paid does not reflect their value.

My relative used to work picking a certain kind of vegetable, when I told people this, most would laugh 😳 and say, “OMG that’s such a random job.” Like excuse me ?

I don’t think that’s snobbery I think it’s anger. People are told that if they/ their children work hard and get a degree they will earn very well as that used to be the case. Now you can get a degree and still end up on minimum wage.

Even 10 years ago people were told trades were for the non academic and uni would mean middle class money. But it hasn’t worked out that way.

Working in a slaughter house i couldn't do it. Its not that i look down upon it i just don't know how anyone could do that job it would break me. Telesales again I dont look down on people who do it we all need money and a job but I hate the phonecalls asking if I've been in a car crash, would I like cheaper internet and have i got home insurance. If I want it I will go looking for it i dont need spammed

Parking wardens!!!!!! 😡😡😡😡😡

@PennywisePoundFoolish completely agree with your SEND related points. I mean, it must be grim to work for a council and be under threat of being sacked for agreeing to £££ provision but there is finesse and ways of being compliant with the law without selling people out. There is a whole industry of SEND chuggers out there.

I have a career, so I'm hardly looking down on working mothers FFS. You've chosen to interpret it that way.

Debt collectors. Seems predatory in the U.S. as they go after people with health care bills. Get cancer and can’t pay your bills? That’s the kind of people you have to shake down on a daily basis.

This is daft. Why?

My DP has a WFH job for a council. He does not deal with the public, and he does not have to deal with anyone other than via email. It makes no sense for him to sit at a desk in an office when he can do the exact same job at home.

• Bailiff / debt collector / payday loan providers (really to do with the how it’s done and the fact it’s necessary)
• solicitors / lawyers either involved in profiting from obvious wrong ‘uns or ludicrous divorce settlements
• influencers who recklessly profit - like I don’t mind influencers per se but promoting harmful products is problematic and doing dangerous challenges etc
• chuggers, especially the new wave of ‘CIC’ which are very poorly regulated and so are very harassing
• clickbait journalists
• MLM

I think the problem with that is the implication that people who don’t go to university are not hard working. I have managed many young lads, as apprentices in differing trades, from just 16 years old, and they have all worked extremely hard. They deserve to be as highly paid as anyone with a degree. That narrative hopefully, is changing!

Cleaners a looked down on . But cleaning is a very important job . See how long a hospital would last without cleaners . I’ve done the job and I loved it .

Anyone who works in ‘banking’/ ‘the City’ - they make money (often) randomly pushing other people’s money around whilst doing nothing to create anything meaningful (like jobs etc) that filters down. They are gamblers and bottom dwellers who have somehow found themselves at the top (….and I have more Tory political leaning than anything else….).

Celebrities and “influencers” which you can’t really say why they are “famous” (no issues with actors, musicians, presenters etc) but I have the utmost respect for those doing tough jobs like bin men, road crews, carers especially. Minimum wage workers more generally my hat goes off to you

Also, office- based non- customer-facing jobs are the definition of inefficiency. Office rental and maintenance costs are SO high. If you have people routinely working at home they are paying their own heating, accommodation, electricity, fibre/ phone, insurance and often, consumables, costs.

I used to be a hospital cleaner. One time, I was cleaning a corridor and I overheard someone tell her child that they needed to work hard at school or they would end up like me.

@Berryslacks Many of the most important jobs in society caring, cleaning, emptying bins and cleaning the streets, working in a sewerage works or a rubbish tip are looked down on by some people.

I don’t understand why jobs like these, that are physically hard to do and not many people want to do, are paid so poorly. Surely if it’s a job that people don’t want to do, they should be paid a lot, not paid NMW.

I am not sure you completely understand how the City works. They facilitate business and do create jobs, maybe just not in a way which makes sense to you.

Recruitment

So sorry to hear of your struggles.

I don't look down on you in the slightest. I have to utmost admiration for people like yourself that see the value in work/life balance. You've chosen an employment that addresses that balance. And it's obviously been successful, you've been there 12 years !

You've got something right that so many people get wrong: career hasn't trumped your health and needs to stay alive ! Too many people (particular on this site) see their and their children's worth in career and uni. Life is about a balance. And if your career/uni is bad for your mental health/clashes with the desire to start a family etc : you don't have to push ahead with it ! So long as you work and earn : who cares !

Plenty of opportunity for you to progress though and use your degree. You've more than proved yourself with a solid 12years of stable employment on your CV.

Mental health problems and past suicide attempts can leave a real scar on the victim (yourself in this case ) it can be really hard to leave it behind and keep having to have it dragged up and feel judged for it. I really hope you've closed that dark chapter and treat yourself compassionately today.