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?

People who own gambling and porn websites are the worst people doing the worst jobs. Exploitation as profit.

Patriarchy/misogyny. Big important mens jobs versus caring drudgery jobs for pin money that women do.

That’s awful. They might raise an economic high- flying type but there is a strong chance they will raise a moral bottom-feeder in the process. Imagine knowing that was your legacy.

Anyone in advertising or PR - basically your job is to corporate shill for capitalism and whatever gloss you put on that you are making the world worse for everyone who lives on it now and in the future, plant, animals or mineral. Somehow these people
convince themselves they are doing something admirable/worthwhile. Mad Men had it right - selfish capitalist debauchery from
the bottom to the top.

see also: ‘charity’ work where the whole purpose of the charity is to pay vast sums
to charity employees who put themselves on the back because they supported a start up in Ghana where the boss was able to pay employees equivalent of £500 a year.

I will never look down at anyone that is working hard, doesn’t matter if he or she is the cleaner at work or the receptionist.

But I will look down at people expecting a handout (when they clearly have arms and legs to do a job and assuming they are able to but just can’t be bothered) and people who still moan on about being tired/no time/ too busy despite not having a job (+have housekeepers, cleaners, nanny, always eat out).

I only 'look down' on people who don't work (unless they are retired, redundant through no fault of their own and job seeking, in voluntary work, too ill or disabled to work, in education or caring for a sick relative - think I have covered everything haha)

A VC and a real estate debt banker are totally different jobs done by very different sorts of people. They’re almost opposites. It’s a bit odd that this poster doesn’t realise this, and yet has very strong opinions about the finance sector (and mixes in an irrelevant opinion about PFI which was a government initiative invented by politicians and civil servants, and has broadly worked ok).

My strong view is that people who say they dislike the finance sector mostly just don’t understand it. That’s ok - it’s complex and often abstract. There’s lots of sectors I don’t understand. But if you have a bank account, a credit card, a mortgage, a car on finance, an insurance policy, an ISA, an investment account, or a pension, then you have no right to say the finance sector and the people within it are worthless.

💯

Spot on about (often large) charities who raise funds just to pay their management and employees high salaries and keep themselves in existence rather than serving their charitable mission. Even worse are those who supposedly help people in developing countries but actually go there to prey on the vulnerable. I don't just look down on them, I reserve my contempt for them.

when i worked in retail i was looked down on by the vast majority of people I served. I was treated very badly, as though I was barely human.
I’ve also worked in customer service and people have treated me as though I don’t count as much at all.
I look down on chuggers, there are other minimum wage jobs that don’t involve pestering people. I know, I’ve done them.

More fool them.

My brother is an electrical engineer (he's never been to uni but got A* in maths and all sciences at school) he went on to get HNC/HND. He owns a house worth an eye watering amount and bought his first home at age 22 (detached). He's one of the most clever yet practical people I know.

Why on earth uni and desky jobs with degrees are so brainwashed into the middle classes - ill never know.

I also don't see how trades are not skilled work ? Can anyone here fit a heating system ? Pave a driveway ? Build a home extension ?

Yet I'm the skilled one because I can write an assignment full of fluff at MSc level. I think it's a disservice to trades people to be honest to class them as less 'skilled' / less 'clever'. I'm academic minded, but I'm useless as shit when it comes to practical skills. I find it absurd that we value academia more than actual practical skills.

It’s probably been said already but I openly look down on influencers who use their kids to get money/free stuff. I find that worse than OF because at least that’s the individuals choice and theirs alone. So many kids are having so much of their life broadcast online to thousands of strangers with absolutely no say in the matter just so their parents can cash in.

Believe me I do - I worked there a good while….and lost my faith in humanity there too. To be fair there is the odd bit of value but there’s a shed load more of useless cowboy dross.

To be fair, I think for a lot of people, it's largely because of the fact that, as you say, they can earn a lot of money from it.

A lot use shady methods and emotional blackmail, as well as being economical with the truth.

I understand (I may be wrong) that most of your first year's directors debit goes straight to pay for the chugger - and if people sign up to get rid of a clingy one and then cancel as soon as they get away, that actually costs the charity using them a significant amount of money.

It's the way that most of them only care about getting DD sign-ups, through whatever method, and don't actually care (or even know without referring to their crib sheet) which charity they are claiming to be a passionate supporter of.

All that said, your partner sounds completely different from these common sort - so good luck and all the best to him.

Police.
Social workers.

Or supply and demand. It’s got nothing to do with misogyny. Do you honestly think banks (or their shareholders) would pay bankers their hefty salaries if there were qualified/equally skilled men or women willing to work for substantially less?

There are elements of many job categories I don't have much time for.

I don't necessarily have a problem with people in finance and banking for example. But I really don't think much of people in things like hedge funds.

I tend to think the insurance industry is a huge grift, but I know people who work in it at a low level that are selling a service to people who need to buy it.

Charities are a good thing imo but the people that seem to run the big charities, like AA, SW, Oxfam and the rest - I think they are grifters.

Similarly while I love literature and the arts, a lot of the people who seem to be there taking advantage of public funds and such seem to be fakes and fakers. I'd say the same about some university departments.

I also have little time for the advertising industry, which is essentially trying to convince people to buy things they don't need, which is a huge element of why we are in so much trouble with the environment.

okay, if you say so. The City is a wide church. I would not agree with your sensationalist description nor about not creating jobs.

Eh? Both vital jobs without which innocent people would suffer.

I knew it wouldn't take long for the legal profession to be brought up.

Exploit people ffs such ignorance.

The majority of lawyers do what they do for good. Some get paid a pittance to defend innocent people, some work to stop horrific human rights abuses or to seek justice for those abused, many ensure that money isn't spent unjustly and that important decisions are made fairly, the most wealthy are helping ensure commerce and business run smoothly. Most lawyers require empathy it is a key skill.

We specifically are not allowed to exploit people. Why do you think lawyers exploit people?

That's fucking disgusting 😡

Middle class arsehole.

I work in healthcare , fairly senior. I know the cleaners by name, have chats in the corridor (not because I'm a do gooder and want to give them a patronising pat on the head ) but because I started off in a similar role and always remember the ones that treated me like I mattered and the ones that treated me like I didn't exist. And funnily enough, once you 'rise above them' in rank, they act very different and a little coy and red faced. They know and I know. I don't forget being 'at the bottom' (horrible turn of phrase that it is ) so see the people at the lower end of the pay scale as the same as me : because it was once me.

I'm a working class girl that worked hard and got myself a "middle class" job. But the values of your upbringing stay with you. My mother worked at a poultry factory when I was little. My colleague who comes from a family of lecturers and doctors (same job role as me) nearly choked on her sandwich when I told her. Could hardly contain her horror ! 😄

I bet you've got a better work/life balance that some. I loved my mum being at home when we were little and I always felt she put us first.

Also: the domestics know who the nice people are - we get a sly cuppa on the tea round 😉 which is very much appreciated I can tell you !

That person who works for 'Sky technical services'

I agree it's very judgey. Surely we've all done jobs because we have to at some point or are we all so priviledged? I remember my then boyfriends sister once referring to sales people as 'the lowest of the low' in front of me when she knew I'd taken a temporary sales role post uni as a stop gap while very ill. The flexible hours worked for me and I could hide away on the phone all day making a living until I recovered. I wasn't flogging rubbish either but then she always liked to have little digs.

Why on earth would I look down on anybody going out to work?

Yes, the main element that determines why jobs get more or less money is how easy it is to find people to do them. It may be very important to be a childcare worker, but there are a good many people who can do a good job at it. You can even find women who will do it to supplement themselves to stay home with their own children which makes it cheaper.

Plus if it gets too expensive, it no longer makes economic sense to hire a childcare worker, the parents won't earn enough to justify it.

However, it is very difficult to find someone who is a world class footballer, and millions of people will buy tickets to watch a good team.

Value to society isn't really anything to do with it.

Sales type stuff. As plenty have said, folk need a living