# Any job that you will not do/are above doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506 "2014-02-04T19:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/41 "2014-02-05T00:49:54Z")
I’d rather be homeless than be a stripper, a porn star or a waitress at a strip club or anything even related to the sex industry. I think most of the jobs on “dirty jobs” would be too much for me, Id be vomiting all day. Oh and crab fisher? Couldn’t do that either. I can’t do sales, I suck at waitressing. I was pretty good with kids and Id do it again if I had to. The pay is so horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/42 "2014-02-05T02:34:15Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Secretary. I spent a number of years working as a secretary, and the one thing I swore when I left that job was that I would never, ever be a secretary again. I just couldn’t take the constantly answering to someone’s whims – I think I would have the same problem being a personal assistant, or a maid or valet in the _Downton Abbey_ style, who just has to obey every order given by a master. That’s the funny thing about working in an office - some supervisors make you feel like a serf, and some make you feel like a co-worker. I have a serious problem with the first kind, and no problem at all with the second. Hell, I _enjoy_ helping the ones who treat me with respect. > [@pbbth](#): > > \ > 2. Scam artistry. Those people who work for card holder services who call you and try to steal your credit card information? I am above that. I could not ever steal for a living like they do. That’s a good one. I think jobs like that are technically legal, but they’re completely morally bankrupt. > [@EmilyG](#): > > I did once last only half a day at a job where I was supposed to put door-hanger-ads for an air duct service on every person’s door along many streets. So I was essentially paid to put garbage on people’s doors. Didn’t like it. Only lasted half a day, like I said. Still, I got $20 out of it. I think I’d enjoy that - I like walking, and I like being outside. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Dumpster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Desert\_Dumpster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Dumpster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/43 "2014-02-05T02:46:26Z")
I would never be a traffic cop, because I couldn’t do a job that involved, day after day, creating misery for others. I have the same though less intense objections to being a meter maid, a person who collects fines, etc. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/44 "2014-02-05T13:48:09Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I did once last only half a day at a job where I was supposed to put door-hanger-ads for an air duct service on every person’s door along many streets. So I was essentially paid to put garbage on people’s doors. Didn’t like it. Only lasted half a day, like I said. Still, I got $20 out of it. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I think I’d enjoy that - I like walking, and I like being outside. Yeah, you gotta be fit to deliver door hangers as the typical walker does 5-15 miles/day. Only large people among my delivery crews are the drivers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/45 "2014-02-05T14:05:08Z")
… And reading the above, it comes across a bit rude. I didn’t mean to imply that **EmilyG** is not fit, it’s just that delivering door hangers is one of those things that looks easy, _is_ easy, but still ends up kicking your ass by the end of the day. I can understand her issue with the job. But I’d still deliver hangers than clean hotel rooms. :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/46 "2014-02-05T14:34:55Z")
Couldn’t be a nurse or doctor or EMT. I approve of blood, just not people wearing it. I could clean up piss or shit, one wrinkles one’s nose, puts on some gloves, and does it. But look at someone’s innards in surgery? Or bones sticking out at an accident scene? Urk. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/47 "2014-02-05T16:12:12Z")
I’ve done mostly manual type labor in my life: warehouse, factory; I kind of enjoy physical, repetitive stuff. Currently I work the early morning breakfast shift at a fast food restaurant and I enjoy it too. My town has a chicken processing plant and it’s fairly competitive to get on there, especially these days; full time and better than minimum wage. But hell no. I could never deal with all the raw chicken and guts and feathers. Also the chickens come in live so someone has to kill them. But not me, no way. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/48 "2014-02-05T16:27:08Z")
I have no problem doing work that is physical, dirty, or uncomfortable. Dig a ditch? Work on a car engine? No problem. But I won’t do regular retail work. And I won’t do a job that requires me to lie or be deceptive. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/49 "2014-02-05T17:22:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’ve been an office worker for about 17 years now, and I learned early on that answering phones for a living is not for me. I’m not above it; I just really, really hate having the ringing phone interrupting my work constantly (even when answering the phones IS my work!). Ditto. I was a receptionist for about a year and hated every minute. I like office work – used to play secretary when I was a kid. I love to file and organize, but only if I have a free hand with supplies. I have one of those nifty label maker things at work and have spent days happily setting up third-cut files with pretty labels. My daughter was desperate for work last fall and took a job in what she thought was just a hatchery. Well, it was, but the end product was pet food. She had to take live baby chicks and put them one-by-one into a machine that made a chomping noise as it pulverized them. She lasted for about a week and cried every day on the way home. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/50 "2014-02-05T17:58:55Z")
I’ve done a lot of jobs in my life, I pumped gas in a full service station through my last year of high school (pro tip, two wardrobes, two closets NO crossover), I worked for a memorable 3 months as office support for a timeshare sales office, my first job was as a waitress at the Zellers restaurant and I worked in retail management for a little over a year. Basically there’s not a lot of jobs I wouldn’t do but many of them I would never do again. Oddly Leaffan’s contribute just made me sad. I don’t think I could do it as a living but I would love to have horses again and the daily chores that go along with them. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/51 "2014-02-05T18:17:51Z")
Anything involving menial labor. I’ve done enough to know that I don’t have the capacity to perform as fast as others and that was before my sciatica became a real problem. Speaking of which, anything that would keep me on my feet for long periods. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/52 "2014-02-05T18:30:38Z")
I am not above any of these things, but I would not be good at them: 1. Daycare worker - I actually did it for a summer, and when I get a migraine, screaming kids is just a bad idea… 2. Data entry - it was the one thing I said when I was a temp - don’t put me in data entry. It’s too mind-numbing 3. Nursing home - It’s just so sad ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/53 "2014-02-05T18:38:56Z")
I think I understand where the notion of being above a certain job comes from for some people but I don’t share it. My kid needs shoes, and food and a warm place to sleep I’ll clean whatever needs cleaning and cart whatever needs carting… I’ve been fortunate in that I have worked for 30 years in a job I don’t mind doing. Haven’t gotten even close to rich doing it, but we’re getting by. That said, there are more than a few jobs I would be terrible at and am grateful that I don’t have to do them. Above I said I’d be willing to clean whatever needs cleaning. If that turns out to be the outside of the windows on your highrise I’d be a very poor candidate for that job. I’d do okay at babysitting for one or two kids but I cannot see myself teaching in a daycare or classroom setting. I think I’d be a terrible (and forgetful) waitress, and that if I were to need to take it up now my current foot and back problems would become unbearable. I’d hate to work as or for a bankruptcy attorney. It would be an endless parade of people going through a terrible time. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/54 "2014-02-05T18:55:55Z")
Me? Unless I was absolutely broke (i.e. not even anything left to pawn or sell) I wouldn’t do the following: 1. **Any type of fast food work** - The customers are terrible and the bosses are too. I did it in high school and I don’t have fond memories 2. \*\*Any type of convenience store or liquor store cashiering \*\*- It’s dull, the chances of getting robbed are high and the pay is low. People who come in will take out their frustration on you and I don’t need that. 3. **Most warehousing work** - Picking and packing or humping boxes out of a truck. The work is tedious and mots places treat you like crap (especially if you are a temp) 4. **Daycare** - Either for myself or a business. I’m a man so it’s likely that I wouldn’t be hired anyway (and I was, then I probably get all kinds of stares and concerned glances) and frankly other people.s “precious snowflakes” are a huge pain in the a\*s. 5. **Housekeeping/janitorial** - Working as a contractor on the road I have seen enough motel rooms to have an idea of how nasty some people are. Hours of cleaning up after them would be depressing. Also , being a janitor in an office building is like being an insect. People go out of their way to ignore you and they assume that you’re an idiot. They certainly to talk to them as if they are. If I was 100% flat a\*s broke, I might do the above. But it has been so many years since I have been at that point that I’m pretty certain that it will never happen again. That means I get to choose what I do. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/55 "2014-02-05T21:20:10Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Yeah, you gotta be fit to deliver door hangers as the typical walker does 5-15 miles/day. Only large people among my delivery crews are the drivers. 😉 I worked as a door-to-door charity canvasser for a year or so - I couldn’t eat enough food to not lose weight. Of course, once I stopped walking three hours every day, it all came back. ☹ > [@Poysyn](#): > > \ > 2) Data entry - it was the one thing I said when I was a temp - don’t put me in data entry. It’s too mind-numbing \ I take data entry over answering phones any day. I put my headphones on, turn my brain off, and just enter data. Different strokes for different folks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/56 "2014-02-05T22:30:38Z")
I’ll dig ditches, clean poop, whatever, but I couldn’t work in marketing, or hold any position where use of business-speak is expected/common. I’d loathe myself. Guess I’ll never make VP. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/57 "2014-02-05T22:36:37Z")
I index books. I would flat-out refuse to take a book written by a Holocaust denier or an anti-vaxer, no matter how much they wanted to pay me. ---
**Author:** ![Dustin\_the\_Wind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@Dustin\_the\_Wind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dustin_the_Wind)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/58 "2014-02-05T22:56:47Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > I’d hate to work as or for a bankruptcy attorney. It would be an endless parade of people going through a terrible time. I actually work as a paralegal for bankruptcy attorneys and it’s the best job I’ve ever had, thanks to my bosses. I do agree, though, it can get pretty grim sometimes. I once had a rough, tough, strapping guy leave crying - It was Christmas and he was simultaneously going through a divorce and filing bankruptcy. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/59 "2014-02-05T23:25:14Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > I’d hate to work as or for a bankruptcy attorney. It would be an endless parade of people going through a terrible time. I would have a hard time doing that because so many of them became that way because of bad decisions they made. ☹ :rolleyes: ETA: I wouldn’t work at a payday loan place, either. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506/60 "2014-02-06T03:14:48Z")
Seriously, nobodies mentioned being shot out of a canon? Tough bunch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-job-that-you-will-not-do-are-above-doing/680506.md?page=4)