I saw this today. I'll make sure not to change my career.
stressful jobs
(11-16-2009 01:26 PM)noelle Wrote: [ -> ]I saw this today. I'll make sure not to change my career.
stressful jobs
I got those beat. I used to do on-air graphics for TV news. I made $16,000 a year, and yes, that was a slave wage at that time, too. I worked under conditions of 3 hard airtime deadlines each day, with people screaming at me non-stop. They screamed at each other, too, which also adds to stress levels. I watched a near fist-fight in the hallway between the technical director and the sportscaster on my first day on the job. I did this for about 4 years and it nearly killed me. At one point I got really sick with some kind of flu virus, but had to keep working anyway and I ended up in the hospital. The worst part is many TV stations are structured so that if you've been there too long and you've got some kind seniority and deserve some kind of pay raise, they will lay you off and hire kids fresh out of college to replace you, so they never have to raise the pay for the jobs. I wasn't there long enough for them to do that to me, but I watched them do it to several anchors and nearly all the reporters at one point.
Data freaking entry.
Customer service.
Sales clerk.
Telemarketing.
Tech support.
These should all be on the list.
(11-17-2009 12:42 AM)Eddy Wrote: [ -> ]Data freaking entry.
Customer service.
Sales clerk.
Telemarketing.
Tech support.
These should all be on the list.
All of those are right down at the bottom of pay, and all the way up on stress. I also did a job where you called businesses for their sales figures, compiled them into reports and sold them. Voice mail put an end to that job. No one wants to give that stuff out for whatever reason. And customer service has got to be the worst.
At the local VA hospitals, there's a central, regional appointment location where all appointments are made, changed or cancelled for a population of around 50,000 vets. The turnover in there is so bad that they are forced to hire people who:
a. don't speak English as a first language, or at all.
b. have speech impediments.
c. are developmentally disabled.
d. are drunk.
It's a real crap shoot when you call as to whether you will get a functioning human or not. And the good ones? They can't tolerate it. They are gone in six weeks.
Eslbee, why is that? I would think taking appointments would not be that bad.
(11-17-2009 06:52 AM)Dana Wrote: [ -> ]Eslbee, why is that? I would think taking appointments would not be that bad.
It is bad. I had a job for a couple months where I lived in Pennsylvania but was setting appointments for people to go to an eye doctor in Detroit, Michigan. It honestly wasn't the worst job but I can think of a few reasons.
It's low paying. Pretty demoralizing right there.
You can't take a break because the customer can call any time.
Your boss can listen in and if you have a jerk on the line and you lose your cool you're the one who gets in trouble while the jerk gets soothed.
It's low paying.
You get people who scream at you because they need that appointment now.
You get people who scream at you because they had an appointment at 9 am but weren't seen until 9:15 am.
It's low paying.
You get people who want to tell you their life story when all you want to do is schedule an appointment for them.
You get people who just ask questions that you can't answer. I'm sorry sir but I do not know what your prescription glasses cost. You need to contact the office itself.
You get people asking for directions. I live in PA, not Detroit. I don't know the location. The funny thing was after two weeks of doing the job I was actually able to give directions simply because I just asked people where it was and what was nearby and what the buildings looked like. Still it's a little difficult to give a referral to a place when you have no clue what the damn building even looks like.
Oh, did I mention it's low paying?
ITA with event coordinator. Although never a professional one, I've done my share of corporate events and let me tell you, they are a pain in the ass as well as stressful.
the worst thing about planning large corporate events (as well as weddings I would assume) is all the changes. People are constantly changing their minds about everything from the catering to the decorations. No one can make up their minds about anything and it usually leads to a mad, stressful scramble at the last minute.
That's right folks, eat drink and be merry, for one day you might wake up to find you're a social worker.
Although they were really general with their description. It didn't mention the degree of the lady in the article, most MSW's can earn well over $12/hour. They were going with the stereotypical social worker in a broke agency in a poor neighborhood working with the impoverished, not the well paid private practice social worker. It really depends on your specialization and location, as well. School social workers in rich districts and medical social workers can also bring in a respectable salary.
I know I'll never be filthy rich, but life is too short to waste it on a job you hate. That's one of the most important lessons I've learned in hospice.
Eddy - you aren't even allowed to go pee? Dang I'd not last a day ha ha! No food breaks either? Again, I'd not last a day!
It wasn't quite that bad Dana since I had coworkers who would cover for me but the rest is true.
Catsnotkids also brings up a very good point. Event planning must suck majorly because I did A/V support for events on the college campus and the logistics are incredible. You need A/V of course (yes I brag a bit about supporting events with hundreds of people because I was good), then you usually need catering, then you need to have little things like how many tables and chairs you need, the lighting, flowers on the table, etc. It's amazing how much you need to do even for just a simple meeting with a PowerPoint yet alone a full blown wedding.
There are all sorts of things that can go wrong. You can have too little food prepared or not enough chairs or they don't like the lighting or the computer doesn't work or they decide they want full surround sound when they ordered video only. The coordinator is the first point of contact and believe me they hear about it when the client isn't happy.
(11-17-2009 06:52 AM)Dana Wrote: [ -> ]Eslbee, why is that? I would think taking appointments would not be that bad.
Just thanking Eddy for answering this!
And because they make shotgun appointments from each clinic without coordinating, and always assuming you are available although most of us are WORKING and have to schedule appointments carefully. So almost every appointment originally made by the hospital has to be changed by the patient.