There are certain professions that you would only contact in cases of bad news. Morticians, paramedics, and the police all come to mind. Others don’t exactly have the most stellar reputation, like lawyers and plastic surgeons. All of you probably have some profession that you simply dislike out of principle or perhaps experience.
One internet user wanted to find out more, but with a twist. They asked for examples of jobs where “everybody hates me until they need me,” and people delivered. So scroll down and upvote the jobs which you agree get a lot of flack, but everyone needs at some point in their life.
#1
I scrolled a long time and didn’t find it:Fast food workers
They’re the butt of every demeaning comment about a lack of achievement or the reason why minimum wage shouldn’t be raised blah blah blah
But those people get real quiet once they’re ordering their Big Mac
Image credits: TheHomieData
#2
Paramedics for sure. Doctors and nurses spit on us and treat us like we have no qualifications. the media calls us ambulance drivers or ambulance workers.And whenever there are reports of the Healthcare crisis, you rarely hear about medics getting ground into dust due to call volume, its always about nurses and doctors.
TV shows only ever show medics being told what to do by cops, or just plopping a patient on a stretcher then disappearing.
The general public votes for policies that make us get paid like s**t.
Yet, when their family is dying at home or in a ditch, people beg us to help and cheer for us.
Image credits: breathlesstuna
#3
The US Coast Guard for fishermen and boaters. Usually there's a pretty good working relationship between them, but some hate the Coast Guard for the various inspections they do. But the USCG is also the ones who will come out there in a storm to rescue them.
Image credits: raym0ndv2
One of the first options that many people thought of are lawyers. From ambulance chasers to sleazy defense attorneys, there are so many examples of legal professionals who bend rules or generally are bad-mannered. But, as the question states, there are times when you really really need a legal professional. Lawyers can help you avoid a predatory contract or help you obtain damages when a neighbor floods your apartment.
Lawyers' poor reputation is actually a time-honored tradition at this point. Shakespeare alludes to it in Henry VI, Part 2 (act 4, scene 2, line 73, if you are particularly curious). When a group of pretenders to the throne are discussing how to improve the nation, one offers a simple idea: “The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.” This is presented as a reasonable idea. If a line like that can get a laugh almost 500 years later, that shows something.
#4
Plastic Surgeons. My uncle is a plastic surgeon and he does only reconstructive stuff, fixing burn victims faces and stuff like that. But when people ask him what kind of doctor he is and he says Plastic Surgeon, they usually kinda scoff.
Image credits: darkysix
#5
Lawyer here. The expectation that because you are a lawyer you know everything about every law everywhere. In reality most lawyers are highly specialised.
Image credits: Bisjoux
#6
Police
Image credits: FlyTerrible
Historically, lawyers have been a tool of the powerful to keep and legitimize their power. A regular person’s interaction with one would normally be costly and unpleasant. 19th-century American short story writer and journalist Ambrose Bierce defined litigation as "a machine which you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage.” This was also intended as a joke, though no doubt many people at the time lost their livelihoods and freedom to lawyers working in the interest of industrialists and other powerful groups.
#7
All the trades guys. “They’re so expensive!!!”Until that plumber shows up at 2am to prevent the sewage backup. Or the electrician that fixes an overloaded breaker panel, preventing a fire. Or the carpenter who builds the room for your toddler so you can get some sleep and *maybe* some sexy time.
Definitely tradesmen.
Image credits: Wolfie1531
#8
When I was a janitor I got a lot of hate for knocking out my 8 hour day in 4 individual hour long chunks of effort.I Was always available for spills and got extra work done every day but spent another 4 hours basically chilling and management not once got on my case.
The other employees despised this until a customer's colostomy bag somehow ruptured in the bathroom. From that day forward none of them gave a f**k if I was just hanging out on my phone.
Image credits: Electronic_Warning49
#9
Therapists. I'm a licensed therapist. Even in this comment thread someone called therapists "glorified life coaches" which couldn't be further from the truth. We are significantly more qualified. Everyone wants to s**t on therapists until someone gets hurt or hurts themselves and suddenly "Mental health matters! They should've had a therapist!"
Image credits: oaksmokedtruffle
Another common option where those salespeople who contact you at the strangest time to suggest you update your car's extended warranty. While this doesn’t sound so bad, the main reason most people hate them is the fact that it’s generally just a scam. These scammers want to get some data about you, like your social security number, credit card information, driver’s license number, or bank account information. This can then be used to defraud you in the future.
#10
Garbage collection workers. Without them, our streets would literally be overflowing with refuse, but people still talk down to them like they’re less than human.
Image credits: BuffaloWings068
#11
Dentists for sure
Image credits: Ohboohoolittlegirl
#12
The guys *actually* trying to contact you about your cars extended warranty
Image credits: PartTimePOG
While scammers are truly detestable, sometimes your car’s warranty or insurance really has ended. And since most people don’t keep their car insurance or warranty expiration dates marked on a calendar, someone needs to remind them. But let’s face it dear pandas, even if you didn’t know that many of these callers were scammers, most of us deeply dislike cold calls from strangers.
#13
I've been scrolling forever and haven't seen this yet:Scientific research.
During downtime, we routinely get made fun of for doing "pointless" things like dropping balls down a waterfall or making people listen to sounds. Our staffing is small and we're chronically underfunded, which only gets made worse when some guy in a basement thinks he knows more about climate change than someone with a PhD and politicians claim vaccines cause autism.
But then a catastrophe happens and suddenly everyone looks to us to churn out answers at 300% speed.
#14
Journalism feels more and more like this.
Image credits: LysWritesNow
#15
Locksmiths, or people in general who know how to pick locks or how they work.
Image credits: DuckJuice128
#16
Essential services during COVID, bunch of derps calling us heroes now back to s******g on us#17
Truck drivers. Everyone is either scared or annoyed at us, but good luck buying anything without truckers.
Image credits: ExcellentPlay9684
#18
IT, not the clown.
Image credits: Nebula_Forte
#19
Child protection caseworker. People generally hate us and vilify us but man when you need us you need us. Most people genuinely do not understand the work that we do (I work in Australia) and I have been chased out of houses with knives, punched, had abuse hurled at us, had my kids threatened the whole shebang but we never stop trying to keep kids safe.#20
UX designer here. Every engineer thinks they know how to make an interface, yet the software or site they create is terrible and they would rather accuse users of being dumb than admit their baby stinks.#21
Traffic control. They make you late to work but they are there to protect construction workers.#22
Teachers
Image credits: Aquorral
#23
Lineman. Been called a lazy overpaid drug addict by old men I don't even know. God forbid we go grab lunch or a coffee.
Image credits: MaesterKyle
#24
Tow truck drivers
Image credits: diasaurus1
#25
Insurance or tax people
Image credits: BookofMidnight10
#26
Criminal defense attorneys#27
People are very quick to look down on people who work retail or in the food industry, people openly disrespect sanitary workers and even USPS and DMV workers but our society couldn't function without any of them.Honestly though USPS and DMV workers are almost always rude and because the U.S loves to make simple things complicated all the stupid rules at both the places are almost physically painful and If I had to deal with it for 40hrs a week I would probably be rude too.
Image credits: Dudebrohoe
#28
Lawyers and mechanics. You want to have a good one of each, but you never want to have to call either of them.#29
"Lawyer" is going to be the most common answer to this question by *far.* But I suppose any licensed service provider could fall into this category, given the right context.Plumbers are another good example. Everyone thinks they're scum and crooks until the washing machine breaks down. Electricians, contractors, locksmiths, etc. They all fit this mold. Unless you work with them daily, you're not going to be seeing them very often. And you're only seeing them when there's a problem -- so you're primed to be upset by the time they even show up. Psychologically, you associate the plumbing issue with the plumber, when ironically, the plumber is there to fix it. Everyone wants to shoot the messenger.
IT people and network security professionals are another classic example of this effect.
#30
accounting.
Image credits: tadashi4
#31
HR
Image credits: Basic-Green-8112
#32
Disease Intervention Specialist!!! By state law, when you test positive or are exposed to a certain infection (in my work’s case, STDs), the state health department is required to reach out to you to follow up and make sure you have access to treatment, resources, answer questions, etc. DAILY I am cursed out (as if I’m the one who gave them Syphilis…), hung up on, told to never call them again…….until they realize they have no idea where to get treatment. Then they come crawling back, being as polite as ever, because they finally realized we’re literally just trying to help them get through a potentially scary/confusing situation.#33
Proctologist
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#34
Safety manager.Everyone thinks they’re sissies that needlessly spend money and complicate things… until someone gets hurt or the company gets cited, then suddenly everyone wants to know what can and should be done to remedy the situation.
#35
Thanatologist, embalmers...any funeral workers really.#36
Realtors. Everyone hates them until they dig up some serious dirt on a property and help you dodge a bullet. The caveat is the barrier to entry to become a realtor is way too low. Bad realtors are on every corner and can cost you big, but a good realtor is worth their weight in gold.
Image credits: Few_Psychology_2122
#37
Psychiatrists#38
Maintenance#39
Me. A tax adviser ?#40
Nurses. A lot of people think they don’t deserve pay raises or think we’re not overworked, or that not much education is required but they don’t realize a 12 hour shift is 13 hours with patient handoff, most hospitals require a bachelors rather than associate’s, and a lot of hospitals stick a nurse with 6 patients which is extremely demanding and also dangerous for the patients and can result in a nurse losing their license if something goes wrong. Nursing is 100% either manual labor+ critical thinking or tedious charting, there is 0 downtime for 13 hours straight.If nurses didn’t advocate for their patients, nobody would. Doctors treat the illness, not the patient. I’m not trying to downplay the importance of doctors or anything but if they actually had to take care of the patients they treat, the patients would be dead. Nurses are specialized in reacting to the needs of a patient and identifying underlying causes quickly.
EDIT: People are interpreting this wrong. I'm not saying other healthcare professionals don't care about their patients or protect them, but doctors see 20+ patients a day in a hospital setting and spend around less than 5 minutes around each patient in most cases. (Yes they are taking care of their patients all day long but its by orders, virology, etc. They are barely with the patient at all unless something arises). My point is that nurses do nearly all of the direct medical care and CNAs do a lot of the daily living tasks. This isn't the doctor's fault its just a symptom of our broken healthcare system. If the doctor is not in the room with the patient for 23.9 hours out of the day, how are they going to do anything for their patient without a nurse first inquiring on the patient's behalf?
#41
Contractors.#42
Veterinary professionals.#43
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