# Careers that just simply aren't for you. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378 "2007-08-29T16:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/1 "2007-08-29T16:27:08Z")
Now sure there’s tons of undesirable jobs out there (septic tank cleaner anyone?), but I loosely refer to careers that have a certain amount of prestige to them at least, but which you would never want to work at no matter how much they might pay you. Or ones you know you would simply not be good at even if you had the inclination or ability to pursue them. For me the obvious one is being a physician. My Dad was a surgeon so I got this all the time when I was growing up, but no I don’t plan to be a doctor like Daddy was, thank you very much. Blood and guts even now make me very squeamish, and I’d be deathly afraid that I would make one wrong move with the scalpel and that would be all she wrote-couldn’t live with myself. I sometimes literally feel the pain that the patient feels (if I am visiting or something), and when I was a kid I literally fainted when my mom used that red iodine lotion to “paint” a cut I had. This despite having the mental aptitude (and college transcripts) which would have easily qualified me for the medical school of my choice. Guess I could never get that “detached” from my work like doctors are supposed to get. That’s the basic idea-so what careers out there just never appealed to you at all? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/2 "2007-08-29T16:29:31Z")
Caregiver to the mentally disabled or ill. Teacher to non-adults. Psychologist. Hell, let’s just say anything where you have to deal with people at all, and call it a night. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/3 "2007-08-29T16:31:29Z")
I’m currently playing the role of office manager. Too much bookkeeping for me. I’m on the verge of quitting. That’s okay, cuz this was just a job to pay the bills whilst I transferred cities. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/4 "2007-08-29T16:31:34Z")
Anything medical. And what Priceguy said. Teaching/caregiver…nope. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/5 "2007-08-29T16:34:58Z")
Funeral home. I’m not good at interacting with the bereaved, nor do I personally get much help from the deceased being on display. Plus, the idea of living in or near a funeral home makes me nauseous. Cleaning septic tanks would be a breeze in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/6 "2007-08-29T16:37:48Z")
An actor, especially on Broadway; anything where I’d have to perform for a crowd. Public Defender; while my heart would be in it, it might be _too_ in it and I’d be hard pressed to adequately detach my emotions from the plight of the wronged. An accountant; I’m pretty sure I could actually die of a digit overdose. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/7 "2007-08-29T16:41:35Z")
I couldn’t be a police officer. The stress and the danger involved would just be too much for me, even if I were in a Mayberry-esque community, not to mention having to deal with the types of people police officers typically come in contact with. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/8 "2007-08-29T16:43:37Z")
Anything where I’d have to do any type of public speaking. Anything dealing with the public at large. Teaching. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/9 "2007-08-29T16:49:17Z")
Sales. If it was just a matter of people coming to me, asking me to sell them things, that maybe I could handle. But for me to go up to people (or call them on the phone or whatever), to try to get them to buy something or do something (especially if it’s something they don’t need or don’t want to do)—yech. Not my kind of job at all. Which may help to explain why I don’t have many dates. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/10 "2007-08-29T16:54:31Z")
Math teacher. The subject bores me to tears so I suck at it. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/11 "2007-08-29T17:34:11Z")
Teacher, funeral home work, police officer. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/12 "2007-08-29T17:43:03Z")
Farmer or farmer’s wife. Gardener. Construction worker. Teaching anyone who’s not in college/university. Child care. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/13 "2007-08-29T17:45:54Z")
I’m a Registered Nurse in California and my idea of Hell is somewhere like Coalinga–the big psych prison. The recruiter kept waving the money and bennies in front of my :eek: face but we couldn’t get past the average age of the violent sex offenders: 55, and the fact that they were violent sex offenders in for life. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/14 "2007-08-29T17:59:29Z")
Anything where I spend a large amount of time around the elderly, especially if their minds are slipping/slipped away. I had a grandfather and grandmother who both has very severe dementia, and it just beings back painful memories of having to watch them slip away when I was a kid. On the opposite end of the spectrum, dealing with lots of kids who aren’t yet teens or pre-teens. A few youngins is ok (like when I play with my cousins children,) but a whole herd of screaming five or six year olds? No way. With junior high and high school kids you can attempt reason (it might not work, but at least their minds _understand_ the logic behind what you’re saying.) Basically, I don’t like being around people that I can’t logically reason with. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/15 "2007-08-29T18:09:41Z")
Anything involving a lot of physical contact with humans - doctor, nurse, massage therapist, nursery school teacher, prostitute. I like certain individuals, and even quite enjoy extended physical contact with one or two, but as a species, humans squick me out. All those oozy bits… Oddly, I can’t think of any other species I have this aversion to, mammal, reptile, insect, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/16 "2007-08-29T18:39:50Z")
Ditto on sales. I just can’t. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/17 "2007-08-29T18:41:14Z")
Anything that Mike Rowe would want to do an episode about. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/18 "2007-08-29T19:01:19Z")
Bookkeeping or accounting. Waitressing. Beam-walker on a high-rise construction site. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/19 "2007-08-29T19:06:52Z")
EMT, or any job in an ER Sales Police or fire fighter Public speaking or PR Dentist Coroner ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378/20 "2007-08-29T20:20:33Z")
Just about anything in medicine, it seems there is always the possibility of blood and I can’t deal with that. Most anything that would have me in the public eye, acting, music and the like. As much as I would like to have pursued a music career, I enjoy my privacy too much. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careers-that-just-simply-arent-for-you/417378.md?page=2)