# What jobs have the highest concentrations of socially maladjusted people? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789 "2003-01-05T17:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/1 "2003-01-05T17:06:41Z")
Yes I know that one person’s general weirdo is another person’s hero, but seriously, in your life and work experience what real life job, profession or avocation has the highest concentration of people that would be probably be seen as seriously socially maladjusted outside their job? Jobs done by institutionalized people do not count in this context. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/2 "2003-01-05T17:22:55Z")
Lawyers, definitely. They are cruel, rude, and generally look down upon all of us lower life forms, the bastards. How do I know? Currently, I’m a docket clerk for a large law firm. Yes, there’s a few good apples, but the majority are the meanest SOBs to walk to face of the earth. I AM STILL A PERSON! I AM HUMAN! YOU CANNOT TRY TO SQUASH ME AND THEN SCRAPE ME OFF YOUR BOOT HEEL! JUST BECAUSE YOU FINISHED COLLEGE AND I’M JUST STARTING DOES NOT MAKE YOU INHERENTLY BETTER THAN ME!! Sorry, just a little pent up anger there… ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/3 "2003-01-05T17:29:35Z")
Message Board Moderators. Twitchy little things, the lot of 'em 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/4 "2003-01-05T17:31:17Z")
Make-up artists for corpses. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/5 "2003-01-05T17:41:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Urban Ranger \* > \*\*Make-up artists for corpses. \*\* Actually, the funeral director where my husband works (who applies the makeup and whatnot) is quite a well-adjusted guy. You’ll find that most people who work in that industry are often quite a bit more sane (and incredibly more humorous!) than most other people. You get a few loonies here and there, but by far it’s not more than average. I’ve always told people that they haven’t been to a good party until they’ve been to a party with people from a funeral home. For hubby’s christmas party we all went to a well known brewery/steakhouse type of place. The dozen or so of them managed to drink the entire place dry of Jack Daniels. It was a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Coda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Coda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coda)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/6 "2003-01-05T17:42:11Z")
My first job was in a hospital closest to my home. I worked in the inpatient psychiatric ward - a locked unit. I learned two things. A-People can make just about anything out of their own feces. B-A Psychiatrists best friend is Haldol 5mg. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/7 "2003-01-05T17:43:31Z")
University Libraries. Note that I think this a point in **favor** of libraries. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/8 "2003-01-05T18:17:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coda \* > \*\*My first job was in a hospital closest to my home. I worked in the inpatient psychiatric ward - a locked unit. I learned two things. > A-People can make just about anything out of their own feces. > B-A Psychiatrists best friend is Haldol 5mg. \*\* I once took a job at a state mental hospital and was assigned to the Invol ward. This was a place to warehouse those folks that had no hope of ever returning to society. I quit 3 days later. It was like a horror movie to me. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/9 "2003-01-05T18:33:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coda \* > \*\*My first job was in a hospital closest to my home. I worked in the inpatient psychiatric ward - a locked unit. I learned two things. > A-People can make just about anything out of their own feces. > B-A Psychiatrists best friend is Haldol 5mg. \*\* So there is no mis-understanding, I am talking about the people that _do_ the jobs not the people they care for or interact with in the course of that job. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/10 "2003-01-05T19:40:17Z")
Night watchmen. I apologize to the well-adjusted night watchmen who may be out there, but my experience is that people take that job when they have no other marketable skills, not much ambition, and really would rather be alone. ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/11 "2003-01-05T19:47:20Z")
According to this movie with Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis (it takes place in Canada, I can’t think of the name of the thing)…dentists. In the movie, they say more dentists wind up committing suicide than the members of any other proffession. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/12 "2003-01-05T19:51:38Z")
Telemarketers. 😃 You wanna _meet_ some of the people who ring you on the phone. Call-centres are the last refuge of those who _would_ be admitted to nut-houses if only there were more beds available. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/13 "2003-01-05T20:06:08Z")
Cecil already addressed the issue of [whether dentists have the highest suicide rate](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010420.html). > [@](#): > > Suicide among white male American dentists is higher than average but not as high as among white male American doctors. (Sorry to limit this to white men, but that’s all the data I had to work with.) Don’t fret, though. Dentists’ death rates from other causes are lower, and on average they live several years longer than the general population. Ditto for doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/14 "2003-01-05T20:09:58Z")
[Suicide by Profession: Lots of Confusion, Inconclusive Data](http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan01/suicide.html). > [@](#): > > And in fact, points out Ronald Maris, PhD, director of the Center for the Study of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior at the University of South Carolina, “Occupation is not a major predictor of suicide and it does not explain much about why the person commits suicide.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/15 "2003-01-05T20:13:31Z")
Orange Skinner: the movie was _The Whole Nine Yards_ and it takes place in and around my city, Montreal. If anything, it suggested that members of organized crime (and their wannabe recruits) were pretty loopy. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/16 "2003-01-05T20:20:28Z")
Crack whore? More seriously…cops. I know a few personally, and three guys I graduated with became cops. Two of them I’d classify as complete sociopaths (IANAP). The third one seems OK. The rest of the cops I know are among the most paranoid-seeming people I’ve ever met. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/17 "2003-01-05T20:31:34Z")
Professional politicians (I’ve done consulting for a few). Sadly, it seems that those who pursue office most passionately are the most likely to abuse their power. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/18 "2003-01-05T21:37:13Z")
Well, I was both a night watchman and a telemarketer, and my shrink thinks I’m very well adjusted. 🙂 Seriously, the night watchman job was great. It was an easy job to get when I first got into that particular town, so I took it while I searched for other work. Once I did find a better-paying job, I kept the security job as well because it was easy. I mean, I got paid to read! A number of my co-workers were college students. I myself at the time had marketable skills and marketed them successfully. Most everybody there was pretty intelligent and well-adjusted. The telemarketing thing . . . well . . . okay, I must admit, there were some real looney tunes manning the phones at the two telemarketing companies for which I worked. Still, not everybody was crazy. The occupations which seem to attract the most maladjusted people in my experience are: cops, nurses, paramedics, mental health workers (from the minimum wage student workers right on up to the guys with all the M.D.s and Ph.D.s after their names), strippers, human resource personel, factory workers, cashiers, certain military occupations, and writers. Oh, and college is full of not-quite-right people. I don’t know who is worse–that is, stranger–the students or the faculty. Please don’t flame me. I’ve got friends in all the fields I mentioned except for human resources, and I’ve done a couple of those jobs myself. I think that most fields have quite a few people with loose screws and you’re bound to run in to quite a few nutjobs in any job that routinely employs humans. What would be interesting is to find a job dominated by people who aren’t nuts in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/19 "2003-01-05T21:47:37Z")
While I personally know a decent cop, I have had enough experience to know that there are a lot of people who get into law enforcement or security work because they are working through some issues about power and getting to be in charge. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/20 "2003-01-05T22:11:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysdad \* > **Crack whore?** Or even worse, Assistant Crack Whore. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789.md?page=2)