# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/41 "2003-01-06T17:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Themis00 \* > \*\*Bartenders!!! \*\* > [@](#): > > Restaurant workers. > > Wait staff that love to " be on stage " for the customer. The kind of people who make pickled lark’s vomit sound appetizing. Servers who flirt with everyone, I’m not talking about polite conversation. I mean the kind of people who were teases when in school, and still are. > > Bussers that will eat from someone elses retrieved plate. > > Kitchen staff that defies classification. You’ve not seen wierd ,until you’ve seen grown men doing Ethel Merman impressions, including choreography. Note to self: Don’t eat out in E. Sparta, Ohio. What’s wrong with bartenders? They’re usually the sanest. At least to the customers. They listen to the same boring stories, lame old jokes, political/religious/sports opinions & stupid personal problems all day. It they end up loopy, it’s probably due to too much exposure to the public at large. Wait staff can over do it sometimes, but it’s usually better to err on the side of over friendly than bored & stand-offish. You get much better tips that way. You’d be surprised how many people go out to eat just to feel pampered & special. If they don’t feel like they’re the center of your attention, you get stiffed. Bussers that eat off your plate when you’re finished? Well, you didn’t eat it. You don’t carry any disgusting diseases do you? If you really care what happens to the food you don’t eat & don’t want it to go to waste, ask for a take out box. 🙂 Personally, I’ve found scientists to be pretty whacked out & mainly only able to socialize with other scientists. Cops too. Excessive wealth seems to make people strange, too. But that’s not really a profession. ---
**Author:** ![sniglet999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@sniglet999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sniglet999)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/42 "2003-01-06T17:39:25Z")
Homeless people. {duck} Really, I’ve been working in Downtown Denver for three or four years now and the Homeless people have a Career just as much as the other white collar workers. The sign may say ‘Stolen purse, out-of-towner, can’t afford to get back home’, but it doesn’t mention WANTING to get back home, and WHEN the purse was stolen. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/43 "2003-01-06T17:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Haywood \* > \*\*Automobile salespersons, either new cars or used cars. This group of people putting the screws to the public. \*\* I used to know a new car salesman, and he said almost every salesman he’d ever worked with was financially irresponsible - they get paid mostly by commission, and whenever they got a large check, they’d blow it on drugs, gambling or whatever, and be broke next month when they got a smaller check. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/44 "2003-01-06T17:51:56Z")
Trusty? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/45 "2003-01-06T18:23:16Z")
Big Issue magazine sales persons. [http://www.bigissue.com/intro.html](http://www.bigissue.com/intro.html) This might be a UK phenomenon but it seems to be a requirement of the job before taking it on. Beats everything mentioned here by a big long country mile. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/46 "2003-01-06T18:33:39Z")
Law partners at major firms. Getting there requires self-advancement skills normally seen only in hyenas, so the end result is some incredibly damaged goods. Associates can be pretty awful, too, but those with a bit of self-perception weed themselves out, so as you go up the scale of seniority you develop a sort of distilled psychosis. The exceptions: people in really obscure specialties. In my experience as a corporate/securities associate, I found that tax and IP (intellectual property) lawyers were easier to deal with. For one thing, the pressure’s a bit less: they know the deal can’t get done without them, and they know that no-one’s going to try to figure out their job for them. People defer. Actors also tend to be nut jobs - not only self-absorbed, but completely caught up in fantasy. Hm. I’d hazard that professions in which the majority of those who enter will fail will attract those without too much grip on reality. ---
**Author:** ![Chanticleer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Chanticleer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanticleer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/47 "2003-01-06T20:04:32Z")
Physicians ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/48 "2003-01-06T20:19:09Z")
I work in graphic design, and I’d rather cornhole Oprah that do any more work for any engineer - every one I’ve met is so anal. Any engineers here to flame me?😉 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/49 "2003-01-06T20:28:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by casdave \* > \*\*Big Issue magazine sales persons. > > [http://www.bigissue.com/intro.html](http://www.bigissue.com/intro.html) > > This might be a UK phenomenon but it seems to be a requirement of the job before taking it on. > > Beats everything mentioned here by a big long country mile. \*\* We’ve got **The Big Issue** here too **casdave** , and in fact, it IS a requirement of the job. Most (all?) of the vendors are marginalised by virtue of psychiatric disability (to a greater or lesser extent) IIRC. Unable to find employment in the ‘normal’ sector, they are eligible to become Big Issue sellers. And where I live, some of them are absolute doooooozies. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/50 "2003-01-06T20:28:32Z")
First of all, I am going to apologize for the post that is going to follow, but in my limited career I have to point the finger at - **Infanteers and Special Forces Members** I think you have to be a special kind of “maladjusted” to do this job. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/51 "2003-01-06T20:31:44Z")
**seal\_clubber** Yes engineers are here to flame you. But I’ve met several of my own. (Personally, I don’t see myself as too anal, but I know what you mean.) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/52 "2010-03-27T20:58:11Z")
Accidently posted to old thread will ask mod to remove. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-the-highest-concentrations-of-socially-maladjusted-people/146789/53 "2010-03-27T23:14:14Z")
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