From the time we are children, most of us have a "dream" career. Whether one dreamed of being an astronaut, an artist, or a doctor, nothing feels like more of an accomplishment than when they finally land the job they've fantasized about for a lifetime. Sometimes, however, a realization will sink in afterward that causes an individual to realize that their "dream" job is, in fact, a nightmare...
So, when Redditor u/yosai_cool recently asked, "What's a 'fun' profession that's really hell if you've actually been in it?" Past and present employees felt the need to share stories about the darker sides of their chosen fields. From bartenders and influencers to veterinarians and bakers — here are 19 people who regret choosing a "fun" job:
1. "One of my best friends is an Instagram influencer and model. Now, she's studying hard to change her profession because being an influencer obviously looks glamorous and has many upsides, but you never get a break. "
2. "Doggie daycare 100%. It's all fun and games with the cute doggies until you have 25 of them with behavioral issues in a room together..."
"Some of them will eat other dogs' poop as much as possible, so you gotta be ready with a bag at all times to get to it before the 'poop-eaters' do. Plus, you must remember which dogs are the poop-eaters because they'll also try to lick you.
Then there's breaking up dog fights. Some dogs react to loud noises, some react to squirt bottles, and with others, you just have to stick your boot in between them to break up the fight. It's the worst. Serial offenders get put with a different group of dogs for safety, but it's trial and error. You aren't sure if two dogs will get along until you try, and some dogs operate on a hair-trigger.
The barking is constant for eight hours daily — which really grates on your nerves. Once people start picking up their chaotic dogs and you're left with a few chill ones, it's okay, but jesus, it's a lot."
3. "Standup comedy is basically just spending an enormous amount of time watching and studying yourself, polishing your presentation and delivery, and repeatedly telling the same jokes."
"You're relieved when there's an audience because at least SOMEONE likes the jokes you've told (and heard) hundreds of times. Then, if you're successful and have a special or something, you agonize over the editing and deciding which camera angles to use at various parts. No thanks.
I remember some commercial where Chris Rock turned on a TV, and it was his standup. I would be like, "NO! I'm not watching this again!'"
4. "I'm a travel writer. When I tell people what I do for a living, they envision me leading an exciting, jet-setting life..."
5. "Bartender here. Everyone thinks the job is an ongoing party with endless shots, hot customers, and a bunch of tips."
"It’s physically a disaster. Any lower body injury you acquire never heals because you can never give it a chance to heal since you never sit. Your hands are messed up from constantly being wet or cut. I don’t pee like a normal person because ducking out just to pee for two minutes over an 8+ hour shift invites someone to rant and complain. I did god knows what damage to myself by breathing in thick cigarette smoke 8+ hours per day for six days per week for 16 years.
I can’t even have a normal, trusting relationship because of the endless conversations I’ve overheard from men talking to each other at the bar, so much about cheating on their wives or speaking of women in the most degrading possible way."
"I’m legally responsible for people who need a babysitter. Still think drunk driving is cute in 2024? That person’s choices can destroy my life. Cut them off? I go to a job where it isn’t unusual for someone to be standing in the middle of the room and screaming at me that I'm a bitch."
"Half the owners of bars and restaurants are the most ignorant, misguided, or laziest people you have ever met, and the high failure rate is no shock. 'I like booze and food' is not a good basis for opening any business."
6. "Truck-driving. Everyone assumes you're 'getting paid to travel.' That is technically true, but you don't get time off in convenient places to see what you're traveling through."
"There are hardly any places to park without being harassed when you drive a big truck, so it’s not like we can stop at a park or a monument. Sure, you can take an Uber and do things, but you’re on a strict time crunch because you're working.
Truck drivers in the United States are limited to a 14-hour work day (on paper). In that 14-hour day, you’re allowed to drive 11 hours. For every eight hours of on-duty time, you have to take a 30-minute break. I typically start my day by buying what I need in a store and then driving four hours. Then, I stop for food and finish up the rest of my 11-hour drive period."
"In that time frame, you cover a lot of ground, and companies usually schedule you on an average travel time of 50 mph, and loads are scheduled for deliveries. So, you don't have many options with the time crunch of your allotted hours in a day and being in a big truck."
"I’ve been doing it for 12 years now. My back is f*cked, and I’ve missed a lot of family events while on the road — all for low pay and no benefits. On the one hand, I can’t see myself doing anything else, but on the other, I wish I could get another job doing something else, but I don’t qualify for any other type of work.
So yeah. Trucking is okay if you like driving. But that’s about it."
7. "Personal trainer here. Many people think we get paid to exercise, hang out with fitness models, and make bank while chatting with people for a living..."
8. "Librarian: Many people think it's a dream job where you read all day, etc. Instead, library employees are social workers in one of the first departments that get budget cuts when the local government reviews costs."
"People want to complain about free services not being good enough and then complain about their tax dollars being wasted on libraries.
Meanwhile, during my time at the library, I've dealt with stalking, assault, harassment, mental health crises, biohazards (blood, feces, urine, and other questionable liquids), death, bomb threats, bedbug infestations, and now we have parents who think we're grooming their kids because they can't be bothered to parent them and check what they're reading.
Libraries in the US have been turned into a social security stopgap without the resources or the funding. I love my job, and it will always be my dream job, but the way the government, as well as patrons, treat library workers is incredibly demoralizing."
9. "Modeling. When your career goes international, you will live with 14 other models in apartments that should be condemned (think mold and broken toilets)."
"Your 'roommates' often try to sabotage your career. The people from your agency can be very sleazy, and there is no regard for your personal space or time. You will go to over ten castings daily and then work into the night with zero breaks. They will weigh you in front of each other and remind you that any change in weight beyond 2kg will result in you being sent home — I’ve heard the most horrible things said to young people.
The pay can also be really bad. I’ve had contracts where half of the pay automatically went to your agencies. Then, they take expenses from the 50% you have left over.
Unless you’re one of the few ultra-famous models, you won’t make much money (but you'll definitely develop crippling mental health issues)."
10. "Owning a 'cute little coffee shop/bookstore/bakery' is not the dream job everyone makes it out to be. The only reason it's portrayed as a 'dream job' is because it's predicated on the fact that you have to be so wealthy that you can afford to maintain a business that will always be bleeding money. If you don't want it to be bleeding money, you can't run it as you imagined."
11. "Aide work for older adults or those living with disabilities. I hate the advertisements and TikToks that make it look like a fun job where you hang out with a buddy daily."
"Yes, those friendships can happen and may occasionally be fun and rewarding.
But what they don't show is you getting smacked in the face, having your hair pulled, being punched, kicked, scratched, spat on, and having things thrown at you. Not to mention the verbal abuse — not only from clients and their families but also from coworkers and sometimes your boss.
You're told you're not allowed to say 'no' to any requests, and then you're blamed because your client behaves in a certain manner. You're given no support whatsoever, no defense training, no de-escalation training. You watch your clients be ripped off, abused, taken advantage of and are then told to keep your mouth shut or you'll lose your job. You spend 10 hours per day on your feet, bending and lifting, constantly moving, and dealing with urine, feces, blood, vomit, snot, and drool incessantly — alongside being expected to do literally everything because some of the people you care for view you as a servant, not as someone to support them through everyday life."
12. "Forensic work, in general, is not as glamorous as television shows would have you believe. I have a degree in forensics, and my current job has me working closely with people who do firearms investigations, and the work looks extremely monotonous. I wouldn't be able to do it."
"I was a crime scene investigator for several years. I have dug through dumpsters with six inches of garbage juice, looking for a murder weapon that wasn't there. I've spent prolonged time in a third-floor attic with no air in the middle of summer trying to find a knife that turned out to be on the front porch next to homicide detectives the entire time. I have gone into homes so infested with cockroaches, bedbugs, or both that the walls looked alive. My personal vehicle had tear gas residue for about a week after examining one scene because it was on my clothing — even after I changed my outfit before getting into my car. I know what a human body's skin feels like after death, and I've seen innocent people who've been violently killed.
CSI looks fun on TV, and I did enjoy certain aspects of it. But it is 100% not a job that you can just be trained to do. You have to be able to handle it, and some parts of the job can't be taught."
13. "Photography: I worked as a professional photographer for about 15 years — first at a major newspaper, then on my own. So I'll cover the bad in both."
14. "My dad, uncles, and grandfather were all bakers who owned their own bakeries. There is a fulfillment that comes from making something so sweet and joyful, but the behind-the-scenes work is WILD."
"My father is the hardest worker I’ve ever met, and even he had to take multiple years-long breaks to recover.
A baker must wake up at 3 a.m. to ensure the breakfast items are fresh daily. The machines in the back are big, hot, and dangerous. I was never allowed near them because they could easily rip an arm off and keep chugging along without a pause.
And that’s just an average day. From early November to early January every year, I hardly ever saw my father because he was at the bakery all day, every day, to prepare for the holidays."
15. "Being a 'video game tester.' Playing video games all day and getting paid sounds great in theory, but in reality, you're just playing the same game every day."
"All I got to do was research glitches, validate that they were fixed, run tests constantly, and write very specific reports — all while having little to no socialization. Sometimes, I would write a bug report that a developer didn't think was a priority — only for that specific issue to cause issues on day one. My hours for the month before a specific game launch were 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., five days per week. Overtime was 'optional' — as in, if you didn’t do it, you would likely be let go. That's a 78-hour work week.
My mental and physical health were the absolute worst during this time period. I lived off Hot Pockets and noodles. I do not recommend that lifestyle at all. Quality assurance workers have my respect."
16. "Being a makeup artist is not as glamorous as one might think."
17. "Aviation. No matter which path you take in the field, it’s a brutal industry that ultimately exchanges your physical and mental health for extremely low hourly wages."
"These days, it’s gotten a little better, but back when I was starting out, it wasn’t uncommon for 6-10 guys to share a mobile home inside a hangar and be on call around the clock with no defined rest periods. All the while, they were maybe making $14,000 a year.
Between the leaded gas, radioactive pharmaceuticals, poor maintenance, 14-20 hour work days, and toxic fumes that will randomly kill people — it's a shitty industry.
If you survive all that, there’s the medical and family complications. Divorce is common, and so is alcoholism."
18. "Being a veterinarian is not what it's cracked up to be..."
"You work long hours and are constantly over-booked and under-staffed. You watch animals suffer and often contribute to their suffering in order to try and help them.
Owners are, at best, ignorant and uninterested in being educated, and at worst, they genuinely could care less about their animals. On the off chance they do care, they don’t have the money, so you have to run a constant mental calculation of how much you can afford to discount their treatment to help them this month without getting fired and still be able to pay your techs — all while you're facing the crushing burden of student loans. Sometimes, a truly terrible day can include a potential lawsuit, death threats, or physical violence.
I have seen some vets online who say they enjoy their job, and I’m happy for them. I personally don’t know a single one that doesn’t regret their choice — and I know MANY."
19. "I was able to quit my job at a hospital and become my own boss by selling my art online for about seven years now. It definitely sounds fun to work from home, sleep in, choose your own schedule, and not have a boss, but…"
