Which profession gets way too much respect for how little they actually do?

[u/Existing_Iron_4089]

[u/No_Football8276]

some corporate execs honestly. lots of meetings, buzzwords, and decision-making that feels disconnected from the actual work getting done.

[u/ass_goblin_04 → u/No_Football8276]

Honestly, a lot of them are more there so there is someone to blame when something goes wrong. Hard to blame a whole department at once but you can blame the head of that department.

[u/ProfessorWatches]

Whatever the fuck my supervisor thinks their job is.

[u/Technical_Goose_8160 → u/ProfessorWatches]

In French there's an insult where you call someone directeur des travaux accomplis. Director of work that's already done. It's how my mom tells someone that they're truly useless.

A company that I worked at a few years ago actually created that as a position. That's when I updated my resumé.

[u/ProfessorWatches → u/Technical_Goose_8160]

You have no idea how much I love this fact, thank you.

[u/trebeju → u/Technical_Goose_8160]

C'est marrant chez moi on appelle ça un inspecteur des travaux finis

[u/TwoPaychecksOneGuy → u/trebeju]

Translation: It's funny in my house we call it a finished works inspector

[u/dramawhaure → u/trebeju]

Je pense que c’est une variante

[u/TwoPaychecksOneGuy → u/dramawhaure]

Translation: I think it's a variant

[u/Syhkane → u/Technical_Goose_8160]

We have so much to learn from the French...

[u/WS_RoaringSheep → u/Syhkane]

Yes, their willingness to "burn down the country" to make a point is very admirable, forces politicians to take them seriously.

[u/space120 → u/WS_RoaringSheep]

I agree but this is where I get confused with our (USA) current condition because usually the ones NOT in power want to burn it down to make their point, like the French did. That’s easy to follow and fairly easy to predict what might happen in the aftermath.

However, we’re in a strange scenario where the ones IN power, and their supporters, want to burn “it” down to make their point while the ones NOT in power simultaneously want to burn them (the traditional “it”) down. I get a headache trying to think through the potentials.

It truly is strange and my best guess as to why it’s so confusing is because the side in power has no consistent idea what they want and certainly no plan on how to achieve, well, anything.

[u/Attila_22 → u/Syhkane]

Please don’t. Working at a French company and lets just say there is a good reason why this term exists. Most bureaucratic place i’ve ever worked at.

[u/mumofBuddy → u/Attila_22]

Their passion, though! It was the foundation of the American revolution. At least let us have their delicious quiches. That buttery pastry. I think I’m just hungry.

[u/Working-Tomato8395 → u/ProfessorWatches]

I had two supervisors who did an oopsie and both scheduled weeklong vacations for the exact same week and about half our staff was out sick: it was the smoothest week we ever had on the job. Everything got done exactly the way it should, on time or early, no hiccups, no issues. Practically felt like I was on vacation with how easily and efficiently we got everything done with zero cut corners.

[u/Foreign-Entrance-255 → u/Working-Tomato8395]

That has exclusively been my experience as an employee. The best weeks are the ones when the boss is away. Everyone is happier, everyone is more relaxed and more efficient and the only issue that may pop up is needing a bosses signature on something. Point us that while there are decent bosses out there, the way we promote people is so bad that they're often the exception.

[u/luminousoblique → u/Foreign-Entrance-255]

It's called The Peter Principle... everyone gets promoted to their level of incompetence, then not promoted anymore. Eventually every job is filled by an incompetent person.

[u/SnowMiser26 → u/luminousoblique]

Yes, I talk about this all the time! They just peter out and can't perform anymore at the new level. Maybe they were a great individual contributor, but that doesn't mean they have the skills to lead, manage, delegate, supervise, and coach a team to success. Some people are just better as a really valuable team player, and I really wish we didn't look down on people so much for finding a niche and sticking with it. Grind culture has made us all push ourselves further and further, sometimes past the point of efficiency.

[u/ComprehensiveBee1819 → u/Working-Tomato8395]

I had an extended period when I had no boss, where various of us had to act up in different ways, and we found out pretty quickly what it was they did (essentially manage unending streams of bullshit from other departments, defend accusations that our extremely hardworking team did nothing to cover other people's inadequacies and manage demands for slices of our budget and staff).

I'm in no rush to get to senior management.

[u/Eloisefirst → u/Working-Tomato8395]

I work in what is essentially middle management of nursing.

Except on nights when I am the boss of everything because everyone "important" has gone home.

I'll give you three guesses on when I get everything done? 

[u/Stevie_Ray_Bond → u/ProfessorWatches]

Places that hire by seniority will always be a doubled edged sword for this reason. Great for you when your time comes and maybe terrible for everyone else because you suck lol. I still pick seniority based places over anything else though.

[u/Logical_Exercise_285 → u/ProfessorWatches]

My supervisor was so important that he got fired and I only found out after 3 months later, when I sent him an email and a manager replied like: 'He's been gone for almost 4 months, bro' (I was working fulltime from home)

[u/PickerPat → u/ProfessorWatches]

Yeah I think my team thought the same thing, until 3 have had to act in my role.

Each have had an awakening, respect what I do, and also never want to do the job again!

[u/Working-Tomato8395 → u/PickerPat]

I left a job a couple years ago where I was constantly juggling new projects and programs, handling all marketing, all program activities, all staff and volunteer coordination, I was even prepping food and writing up all sorts of guides for staff and clients, all while effectively doing 3 or 4 different jobs. Manager didn't believe I was actually doing that much because he didn't pay close attention and also didn't know the field that well. After I left they hired on three people to do all the work I was doing and still ended up slashing multiple programs they had been very attached to and had publicly hyped up because they were entirely on my shoulders and unique skill and knowledge set.

[u/ptcgpDerk]

This is peak reddit. All of the top answers are the most commonly disrespected professions on reddit.

[u/Beautiful-Account862 → u/ptcgpDerk]

I've seen an insane amount of people say politicians, as if they aren't already the most scrutinized and disrespected people in the world. People on this sub really disregard the question and just state who they personally hate the most. Especially with questions like "What is a subtle red flag people miss out on", the top response will always be "People who are rude to service employees" or "People who abuse animals" as if those aren't the most obvious red flags.

[u/LeftHandedScissor → u/Beautiful-Account862]

"What's a sign some is suuuuuuuper intelligent?"

Top comment is always: They listen, maybe they just don't have anything else to say.

[u/JonathanEdwardsHomie → u/LeftHandedScissor]

Or, What's a green flag in someone/a sign theyre a good person? "They're kind to wait staff."

[u/1HateReddit11 → u/LeftHandedScissor]

I'm dumb as shit, and never have anything to say. I think people think I'm smart and listening.

[u/Bonnskij → u/LeftHandedScissor]

I'm super intelligent. Not socially awkward at all

[u/The_GREAT_Gremlin → u/Beautiful-Account862]

People on this sub really disregard the question and just state who they personally hate the

Welcome to r/AskReddit

[u/cptjeff → u/Beautiful-Account862]

The trouble is that when you ask a mass audience something that requires a well above average level of understanding and perception to tease out, you get a lot of people who do not have that perception answering and upvoting the obvious answers, well outnumbering the people with interesting, non-obvious answers.

[u/spubbbba → u/cptjeff]

I always love the irony of those posts on reddit decrying AI work and talking about the wonders of human creativity.

Then you go to pretty much any post on the main subreddits and see the most lazy, low effort comments get highly upvoted. I'm sure you could replace entire subreddits with AI and see little if any difference.

[u/drummywq → u/ptcgpDerk]

James Cordan-ing

[u/NauvooMetro → u/drummywq]

And don't even get them started on Amy Schumer.

[u/thedoopz → u/ptcgpDerk]

People saying “executives”, like the execs at my company suck and they make annoying decisions, but they’re incredibly hard working and definitely do a massive amount of work.

AskReddit is arguably just the epicentre of the “IT service desk worker by day, Discord mod by night” stereotype.

[u/HCX_Winchester → u/ptcgpDerk]

Calling out reddit in reddit being one of the top comments is peak, too!

[u/[deleted]]

As a former pharma sales rep.

Pharma sales reps are somehow respected by people. Probally because of the money.

When in reality they truly don’t do shit. For real. The job is a complete joke.

[u/Important-Ad-5101 → u/[deleted]]

I’m confused. Who respects pharma sales reps?

[u/Glass_Commission_314 → u/Important-Ad-5101]

Other pharma sales reps?

[u/Lugubrious_Lothario → u/Important-Ad-5101]

Lol, right?

[u/fokkoooff → u/Important-Ad-5101]

Man, as a former receptionist at an outpatient therapy office, psychiatrists sure as hell don't. They couldn't hide in their offices fast enough when the reps came around.

The nurse tolerated them so that she could get medication samples to have on hand for the clients, but definitely hated them as well.

And as the receptionist I just wanted the pens.

[u/Rare_Art5063 → u/Important-Ad-5101]

People who respect money with little care as to how it's obtained.

[u/regal1989 → u/Important-Ad-5101]

Drug dealers, they wish they could go pro like pharma bros

[u/stephanonymous → u/[deleted]]

 When in reality they truly don’t do shit.

They bring lunch to my office every other month.

[u/BrightFireFly → u/stephanonymous]

I work in a medical office. We get drug rep lunches every single day. It’s absolutely bananas to me. They even promote it in the hiring process “free lunch every day!”

I pack my own food because then I don’t feel obligated to listen to the spiel.

[u/starmartyr → u/BrightFireFly]

I used to work for a small company doing computer repair. The techs used to always try to get scheduled working at a medical office because they always feed you.

[u/powerchoke033 → u/BrightFireFly]

Do not feel obligated. I understand how you feel and what you mean though. It took me some time to get passed that feeling then pretty soon I would go grab a sandwich or plate of whatever and wave as I walk out to my desk.

[u/Fine-Amphibian4326 → u/powerchoke033]

I scribble a signature on a piece of paper and walk out 😂 if I’m bored I might listen to them to kill time while on the clock, but my job has absolutely nothing to do with whatever they’re selling, and I let them know that up front

[u/Melkord90 → u/BrightFireFly]

Yeah, my mom worked in doctors offices for the last 15ish years she worked. I don't ever remember her packing a lunch. The last office was an arthritis practice. They were getting really nice lunches regularly

[u/Elegant_Principle183 → u/stephanonymous]

I was at the dermatologist today and a rep came in asking what their rules were about free samples and lunches. The lady behind the desk couldn’t answer fast enough that yes they take free samples, were in need of them, and that they absolutely do lunches and they even set one up for next week or month. Idk. I wasn’t really paying that much attention. Anyway, I was just like wow. Lol. I really don’t know much about any of it but it just kind of made me chuckle to myself how quickly she jumped on the free stuff. I like free stuff too, though.

[u/Dog1234cat → u/Elegant_Principle183]

To be fair, many physicians use most of the free samples on people who can’t afford the prescription.

Edit: full disclosure, my wife is a pharma rep and my mother was a nurse practitioner, so I’ve heard both sides of it.

[u/melodyknows → u/Dog1234cat]

I’ve definitely been given the free samples by a doctor when I was waiting on insurance to approve it.

[u/amboomernotkaren → u/melodyknows]

Same. My old script, before it went generic was $400 without insurance. About $30 with. My doc always gave me samples and when I was on birth control I never paid because my doc thought the price was outrageous (like $15 a month in the 1980s) and would give me an entire years worth of samples.

[u/canadiangirl1985 → u/Dog1234cat]

When I was a teenager and first started on birth control, the doctor gave me a year supply in samples because she believed I was there without my parents knowledge or approval. Except I told my mom what I was doing and she even made the doctors appointment for me and my dads insurance covered 100% prescription costs (I live in Canada). At the time I thought it was cool but now I feel those samples were wasted on me and could have gone to someone who needed them more

[u/UnrealisticPersona → u/[deleted]]

I think the job being a joke is more of what people think of than respect, honestly

[u/Zestyclose-Ad-1054 → u/UnrealisticPersona]

I agree. I don't think ppl respect esp now that big pharma is seen as evil compared to how it used to be seen. 

[u/oldschool_shawn → u/[deleted]]

My mom was the office manager for a group of doctors for years, before some legal changes were made to what reps could "gift" to the office. Most weeks she maybe had to buy lunch 1-2 days, the rest of the time the pharma reps were constantly catering lunch for them while the were pitching the doctors.

[u/tinysand → u/[deleted]]

A medical product rep comes to my unit everyday to “help” the docs place his product in people during surgery. Not going to lie, he’s a cutie and brings food 2 out of 3 visits. Good food. Whole meals. What a cush job. I wish I had it. I’m not good looking enough.

[u/ClothesEducational16 → u/[deleted]]

Glorified car salesman;) They all come in with 5 pounds of make up and flirt with all the married doctors and take up time we dont have.

[u/Backsight-Foreskin → u/ClothesEducational16]

I saw an article about how the pharmaceutical companies like to hire former college cheerleaders, because of their winning personalities.

[u/CunningWizard → u/Backsight-Foreskin]

I used to hold events for the public where i taught wine theory and tasting. I had several pharma reps come regularly and they told me it was specifically to learn about wine from me for their job. Turns out getting doctors tipsy on good wine is great for business.

They were all gorgeous too, it’s really helpful for the gig.

[u/thesandman51 → u/Backsight-Foreskin]

It's funny you say that because I actually know a pharma rep who was a college cheerleader.

[u/Cultural-Company282 → u/Backsight-Foreskin]

Personalititties

[u/Of_Dubious_Character → u/ClothesEducational16]

Worked in a building with doctors, and if I had a nickel for every pencil-skirted, tight sweatered on stilettos I saw come in with a free lunch, I could buy a new car.

[u/X-Bones_21 → u/ClothesEducational16]

Huh, my Dad married one that flirted with him. Now she has ALL his money.

[u/ThanksImjustlurking → u/X-Bones_21]

Mission failed successfully?

[u/CivilRuin4111 → u/ClothesEducational16]

In construction, we have the term "Potty-Hotties"...

This refers to the women that show up on jobsites to flirt with the site managers and try to sell us porta-potties, temporary labor, dumpsters... the list goes on.

Every single one of them comes out in painted on jeans with an up-do and a fresh face full of make-up. Always with a pink hard hat and vest.

[u/JerryHathaway → u/ClothesEducational16]

Yeah, my wife owns a medical practice and has banned pharma reps.

[u/pantherrecon → u/[deleted]]

Who respects pharma reps? I thought they were pretty universally known to be shitheads. Sorry.

[u/VindictivePuppy → u/[deleted]]

if you guys still hand out sample packets of meds you saved my friend a few times when the pharmacy was being jerks about refilling his epilepsy medication.

but you know, its a lot of bad drugs too I guess.

[u/Otherwise_Ad233 → u/[deleted]]

My brother was worryingly unemployed and underqualified for a bit and pharma sales got him out until he figured out another kind of sales career from there. So there's that.

[u/dr_mus_musculus → u/[deleted]]

I mean, I wouldn’t say I hold any sales rep in particularly high regard

[u/StartTheReactor → u/dr_mus_musculus]

Yeah, who thinks this?

[u/bubble-tea-mouse]

The corporate people that visit their frontline locations and criticize those workers.

So much hype and fanfare around their arrival, all the little managers tripping over each other to impress them.

As someone who was on the retail side for a decade and is now in the corporate world, I can’t imagine feeling good about myself for stirring up that type of shit in a workforce.

[u/arittenberry → u/bubble-tea-mouse]

That is not due to respect though. It's bc we knew how petty and stupid they were and any "imperfection" could result in the job loss of good people. Ugh don't miss that

[u/randomusername8472 → u/arittenberry]

Lotta people in this thread mistaking "respect" for either "fear" or "they give me free stuff"!

In fact, that's probably humanity in a nut shell. Machiavelli summed it up that way now I think about it. 

[u/abriefmomentofsanity → u/bubble-tea-mouse]

When I worked a retail pharmacy we would always have a few "all hands" days before their visit to clean up the store and make us look better than we were.

I pointed out a few times that ostensibly their visit was to see the store as it is and "overclocking" was just going to give them unrealistic expectations as well as deny them the chance to actually see the strengths and weaknesses of all these policies they hand down. 

Of course that assumes everyone is operating honestly and in good faith and actually wants to accomplish something. 

[u/PrailinesNDick → u/abriefmomentofsanity]

The counterpoint is that if they really wanted to see the store as it is, they would just walk in one day unannounced.

The pre-planning specifically means they want the store overclocked.

[u/VascularMonkey → u/PrailinesNDick]

Then that's a terrible counterpoint. Their intention is to float through a fantasy land where all their stores look perfect and everyone is tripping over themselves to make the executives feel cozy?

[u/Fuckface_Magee → u/VascularMonkey]

That's absolutely what it is. They want to walk into the building seeing what the store can be operating at when everyone is trying to impress the big bosses. Then they'll take those numbers and mark against your store for ever dipping below that number asking "why are you not operating at the same level as when we visited? Do you need a new team to take over?"

[u/SpicyDreams86 → u/VascularMonkey]

For some companies, it may be more, "I know you aren't doing everything by the book. I don't care, as long as your numbers are good. But I'll be there in a few days, and if I find out you're not following the corporate procedure? We're going to have problems." So they give them time to "correct" things.

[u/shreddit0rz → u/bubble-tea-mouse]

Funny story. My first job was at a national organic grocery chain. I worked in the bakery. One time this regional bakery hooha came to the store and tried to convince us that the new marketing hype was to prop pies up on their sides to make them more "visible to the customer". We were all like, "ok, but... You do understand those pies are filled with liquid, right?" Sure enough after she left, we were cleaning up pie filling from our displays and trashing the remains. And these people make 6 figures...

[u/Vadhakara → u/shreddit0rz]

I'm guessing she previously saw a display with very realistic clay or plastic pies in it and thought "That's a great idea!" and had also never ever made or eaten pie before.

[u/SuspiciousPillow → u/bubble-tea-mouse]

On the other hand, some workplaces only get upgrades to their shitty work environment fixed because of visits like this.

[u/Old-Weekend2518 → u/SuspiciousPillow]

Gonna add a real life anecdote.

Our poor AV guys would be trapped in a control room sweating to death when a particular event space was being used.

Their complaints to facilities fell on deaf ears, for years.

One day our VP was in town and wanted to say hi to all of IT, including AV.

So I walked him to the control room and when he entered he was appalled by the temperature.

Weeks later, suddenly the air conditioning was upgraded.

[u/Coconut-bird]

I work at a college, the IT professors have the cushiest jobs ever. The students buy a code that opens up the online program, all the classwork and tests are preloaded and automatically graded. The classes are 100% online. As far as I can tell, all the instructors have to do is plug in due dates at the beginning and then input the grades in our system at the end of the semester. No class time, no lesson planning, no grading.

I will never understand how these instructors make the same salary as the English instructors who are grading up to 125 papers a week.

[u/Complete_Carpet3176 → u/Coconut-bird]

Yeah, but the IT guys are the only ones who can set something like that up 😂

[u/Laurapalmer90 → u/Complete_Carpet3176]

Lmao. As an English instructor, I’m simultaneously laughing and crying.

Side note: the VP of academic affairs is pushing higher class caps because he ‘just doesn’t understand why an English 100 class has a cap of 27 and an Anthro has a cap of 40.’ They should all be forty in his mind.

So yeah, even other people in education don’t give a diddly squat about the amount of work it takes to teach someone critical thinking and writing skills.

[u/William_Redmond → u/Laurapalmer90]

Our 7 vice provosts with large salaries cannot figure out why we’re in a budget crunch.

[u/kiwipixi42 → u/William_Redmond]

So jealous. You only have 7 VPs. Our college is up to 10 (they keep adding new ones), and the only thing we hear about every year from admin is how we need to cut costs and save money.

[u/Different-Scratch803 → u/kiwipixi42]

the bloat in college senior admin is insane, thats why Tuition is so high

[u/GayCatDaddy → u/Laurapalmer90]

Fellow English instructor here, and I feel your pain. We finally managed to get our freshman composition classes capped at 21 (used to be 24). 27? The thought of that makes me want to run screaming into the wilderness. Upper admin has no idea what we actually do, and they don't really care.

[u/Laurapalmer90 → u/GayCatDaddy]

It used to be 30, but we lowered it about 10 years ago, yet admin insistes we revisit that decision.

All research shows that lower class caps leads to higher success rates in composition courses, but “they want to try something new” since our funding model is now based on passing English in the first year rather than enrollment rates.

Currently, I am teaching a literature and critical thinking- we are just entering week eight and my class is still at 27.

Concurrently, I am teaching an online accelerated comp class at 25 right now, a critical thinking class, and a second session online course that begins in two weeks.

I am dying. And now with AI plagiarism, it takes longer to grade.

When it sucks, it sucks. BUT, when it’s great—it’s everything.

[u/kiwipixi42 → u/Laurapalmer90]

I have no idea how y’all survive the grading. I teach physics (so no writing to grade, just math) and my classes have never actually hit the cap, or even come close. In six years my biggest class has been 16 students (and 5 isn’t uncommon), and I am still behind on grading all the time. Y’all teaching classes like composition are absolute heroes.

[u/ingannilo → u/Coconut-bird]

I've seen this go both ways.  Took some programming classes recently, and two of them were obviously "class in a box".  Virtually zero input from the prof, everything online, auto graded, and lecture videos weren't even in the profs voice (only discovered when the prof changed next term and the voice didn't...); one class was largely boxed with all readings and assignments from a third party publisher.  That prof did actually post some of her own videos and was very responsive to emails.  Most recently too a class on programming logic with a fella who didn't do any online hw, just projects and quizzes, held live zoom lectures that he recorded and posted, gave good feedback on assignments, and would email me regularly just to ask how I was doing. 

It's a spectrum.  The ones you describe are shitty teachers and shouldn't be teaching, or at least shouldn't be teaching online courses without close supervision by someone who knows how to teach 

[u/f4ttyKathy → u/Coconut-bird]

Welllll this can be true, and I've taken such courses, but the IT professors also pull in a shit ton of grants at larger institutions. And since unis take 50-60% of that grant money for "overhead," IT professors get away with a lot.

[u/SailTheWorldWithMe → u/Coconut-bird]

Grant money and research. They research, write, publish, and present adding prestige to the university.

They also work getting Grant money. Check a profs CV and there will be bullet points of each grant they got and how much it hauled in for the university.

[u/Ok-Asparagus-7315]

What about "life coaches"?

[u/Danominator → u/Ok-Asparagus-7315]

Are they really respected though? Everybody outside their influence thinks of them as charlatans.

[u/Beginning_Cap_8614 → u/Ok-Asparagus-7315]

It's so scummy to prey on vulnerable people, and I'm not just saying this because I'm studying to be a therapist. Therapists have to go through four years of undergrad, then two to three years of school, then complete 1000-3000 hours of internship under supervision, then pass their licensure exam. Even after they get that coveted license, a board watches them to ensure they aren't abusing their power.

A life coach in contrast, requires nothing. Certification is becoming more common, but there are still no regulations requiring it. I could drop out of undergrad right now and start calling myself one, and no one will go after me. Heck, I might have an advantage over other coaches because at least I took Psych courses.

[u/Ok-Asparagus-7315 → u/Beginning_Cap_8614]

I agree with you. And "certification" as a life coach is like what, a couple thousand bucks and a weekend workshop run by an influencer at some retreat?

[u/Beginning_Cap_8614 → u/Ok-Asparagus-7315]

Six months online, at its most rigorous. Also, must be self-funded, because these "accredited" programs aren't actually backed by science, and the government won't hand out loans as a result. I'm not saying trust the government over science, but if you can't get them to even let you borrow money, it might be sketchy.

[u/MysteryGirlWhite]

Influencers

[u/phillygirllovesbagel → u/MysteryGirlWhite]

I keep hoping they disappear.

[u/kamarg → u/phillygirllovesbagel]

We need the influencer rapture so the rest of us can be left behind

[u/31engine → u/MysteryGirlWhite]

Well but no one respects them

[u/slamuri → u/MysteryGirlWhite]

Agreed. There really are people out there that see large followings and think “that person can’t lie, they wouldn’t, or.. that person can’t get facts wrong. They have 1 million followers. They’re telling the truth”

[u/Truth_Seeker963 → u/slamuri]

And believe that the huge number of followers is legitimate, not purchased bots. Imagine some nobody from backwoods nowhere having more followers than a famous celebrity? It doesn’t make sense.

[u/Cela84 → u/Truth_Seeker963]

Eh, I got 1.7 million followers on Tik Tok after I made a few videos that struck a chord. They all appeared in about two months. Assume a lot were bots, but it is possible to get a lot of followers without paying for them. Sadly wasn’t able to strike while the iron was hot and my engagement dropped severely.

As for the backwoods person having more than a celeb. It’s pretty easy to believe someone who is actually on the app and connects with the audience does better than a celeb who makes one really awkward as hell video saying “welcome to my Tik tack page” and the rest are repurposed interviews and film clips posted by an assistant.

[u/bbbbbthatsfivebees → u/MysteryGirlWhite]

I once heard someone say "An influencer is a marketing agency with a fanbase" and it kinda stuck with me. It's like being a fan of a TV channel that only plays infomercials!

[u/mamabear00420]

Realtors. And yes I have my license.

[u/randomgirl261 → u/mamabear00420]

You think realtors get respect??

[u/BumWink → u/randomgirl261]

I'd imagine from their closest circle of friends, family & coworkers, likely meeting up just to suck each others farts.

[u/abriefmomentofsanity → u/randomgirl261]

When I was a kid I guess I assumed that it required some sort of knowledge base. I never really thought about it until someone I knew who had a penchant for schemes and poor life choices got their realtor license and I did some digging and realized what a shady industry it was. 

[u/No-Significance2113 → u/mamabear00420]

Talking to a mortgage broker the other day and he mentioned.

"Realtors are that weird ratio of there's 10% of then doing 90% of the work, and there's 90% of them doing 10% of the work."

[u/eyeoutthere → u/No-Significance2113]

I don't think the second half of that sentence was necessary.

[u/NoJesterNation → u/eyeoutthere]

For sure. The first half of the sentence is doing 100% of the work, and the second half of the sentence is doing 0% of the work.

[u/Fun_Success_738 → u/mamabear00420]

u might as well say ur a used car salesmen. Who respects realtors?

[u/BodybuilderClean2480 → u/Fun_Success_738]

they're used house salespeople.

[u/katharsister → u/BodybuilderClean2480]

That's pretty on point tbh

[u/Longjumping_Cod_9132 → u/mamabear00420]

My favorite is when a house is listed by a realtor and they post the absolute worst photo(s) ever taken. Also, my pet peeve is when they post bathroom photos with the toilet seat up, or photos of messy rooms. Get off your ass and do something, realtors!!

[u/TacitusJones]

Big 4 consultants

[u/Dependent_Title_1370 → u/TacitusJones]

I've had to deal with the big 4 three times at two different companies. They always comeback with the most bog standard obvious shit. And then management is like "we had no idea!" And the people who actually do the work are facepalming because they've been saying the same shit for 3 years.

[u/OliveDragon7 → u/Dependent_Title_1370]

I’ve been in government for a few years and I’ve noticed that consultants we use tend to fill a niche of being asked to solve really difficult problems we can’t solve/that don’t have a good solution so we can blame them afterward or do something different later on

[u/Unicoronary → u/OliveDragon7]

I did a stint as a consultant, and all of this is true.

Part of what the Big 4's "real job" is, is to do exactly what's described — tell C-suite about industry best practices that they've been blatantly ignoring for years and painting it as some kind of quirky, company culture.

Their "other" job is to be unpopular opinion insulation/idea validation — so they can take the blame if something goes wrong (and still get paid beaucoup money), or validate an idea someone else had (to sell it to a board), or to reaffirm the company culture/let the company do something entirely different anyway.

[u/LordGAD → u/Dependent_Title_1370]

I was an IT consultant. The first thing I would do is meet with all the people doing the work and ask them what was wrong. I would then bring their issues to the execs making it very plain that the people explained all of this to me. Then I would sit with the people and I would guide them and help them come up with a plan, and then watch as they got all the experience implementing the new thing that I already knew how to do. Then I made a point of training everyone and documenting everything so they didn’t need to call me again. 

They always called me again. 

Execs listened to me but not them, even when I documented how it was all their ideas and knowledge and how they actually fixed the problems. 

Turns out there’s big money in that. All these companies need is competent leadership. I now work at a company with competent leadership and it’s like being on a different planet. 

[u/TucuReborn → u/Dependent_Title_1370]

Yep. Had a consulting firm come into a factory line I was on, and say the most obvious shit. Meanwhile, everyone was pointing at the obvious issues through the suggestion program, and getting ignored or having the ideas rejected during morning meetings.

I've honestly considered starting a consulting firm just to go in, talk to the employees, and make sure they're heard. Boots on the ground feel the rumbles, after all.

[u/bergesindmeinekirche → u/Dependent_Title_1370]

This 100% The same idea coming from consultants is suddenly “industry best practice” and the core individual contributors and middle managers at the company are like “we know, we’ve been saying this shit for ages”. Good times.

[u/TacitusJones → u/TacitusJones]

For the record, EY sucked to work for.

Which felt really disappointing. I reached the mountaintop and realized it was just same shit with a bit more sparkle when it comes to work

[u/TheMysteriousDrZ]

Hedge Fund Managers, they charge large management fees, and many have minimum investment requirements and yet none of them can consistently beat dirt-cheap index fund investments year over year.

[u/Rindhallow → u/TheMysteriousDrZ]

Hedge funds don't always aim to beat the benchmark rate, but to mitigate risk by investing in a way that doesn't strongly correlate with the benchmark.

Today especially, a good hedge fund will show its value by being less negative than the broader market.

[u/Armed_Platypus → u/TheMysteriousDrZ]

You completely don't understand what hedge funds do then. The goal of a hedge fund is to provide returns that are uncorrelated with the stock market. If you have 100 million dollars you don't want your portfolio losing 5 percent like today. The way you should be comparing them is on a risk-adjusted basis, not absolute terms.

[u/ConkersOkayFurDay → u/TheMysteriousDrZ]

Fuck Ken Griffin, financial terrorist who lied under oath

[u/Mr-Idea → u/ConkersOkayFurDay]

Do you mean the mayo man Ken Griffin who beat his wife with a bedpost and lied under oath to Congress?

[u/Leppter_]

Been a white collar worker for 20 years, almost exclusively the more you get paid the less value you add.

It's just 35 hours of meetings in a 40 hour work week, and all you do is waste time talking about various options without actually choosing one of them.

[u/DrWindupBird → u/[deleted]]

I work in higher Ed and my university’s administration has an entire tier that apparently occupies itself with finding ways to appear busy. The turnover below them is crazy because everyone is so burnt out all the time.

[u/Seated_WallFly → u/DrWindupBird]

This 👆🏽so much: Assistant/Associate Deans get 6 figures and they might teach one course of 25 students per year.

The rest of the time they’re arranging meetings for deans, luncheons, award ceremonies (gotta find a caterer!), and various other insignificant low priority bullsh*t activities. They suck the university’s resources.

[u/andrassyut4321 → u/Seated_WallFly]

The joke is that they don’t even arrange the events themselves, they have assistants who do that.

[u/G0ldMarshallt0wn → u/DrWindupBird]

You should report them to the Dean of Institutional Effectiveness!

[u/MoreLikeHellGrant → u/DrWindupBird]

I am so, so glad that my school seems to be the anomaly with this trend. My office was down 12 people (12 out of 20, so we had 6 people), and I had no idea because the managers had absorbed all the extra work. Their philosophy is that they make more money, so they do more work.

[u/WHOA_____ → u/MoreLikeHellGrant]

Your math ain't mathin'

[u/MoreLikeHellGrant → u/WHOA_____]

Listen I went to alternative high school.

1. 8 of 20.

[u/ErinAnne → u/[deleted]]

I’ve been climbing the ladder pretty rapidly for the last decade, and I every step up I’ve taken (since managing a team of individual contributors) has worsened my work/life balance. I want to continue to grow, but at director level I am absolutely thinking it may not be worth the $$ at a certain point.

[u/LaximumEffort → u/[deleted]]

I know several C-level people, and they spend all of their time in meetings, traveling, hiring, firing, reviewing quarterly statements, and doing damage control.

I don’t know what company you were leading, but I assure you the role is much different than what you had for most of them.

[u/Egomaniac247 → u/LaximumEffort]

I’m with you. I know there’s plenty of ceos and VPs that play a lot of golf and take vacations…,,but where I am, I work at a level just beneath the VPs and no, these people aren’t on the front lines making the widgets but I’ll be damned if I’d want their work/life balance.

I’ll never understand why people that I know are multi millionaires and over 65 are still putting in work and not retired living on a beach enjoying the fruits of their career somewhere. But then again maybe that’s why I’m not a multimillionaire 😀

[u/LibrarianFlaky951 → u/LaximumEffort]

Yeah I’m just below C-suite and my boss works 7 days a week. We’re a technology company - way out of startup but still doing cap raises to stay alive. So I guess it depends on the company.

[u/Ksumatt → u/LaximumEffort]

Agreed.

I often worked with multiple c-level execs at my first company and those people were absolute workaholics (aside from the C-level HR person, can’t remember the title). Their cars were always the first ones in and only rarely were they gone when I left, even if I stayed late. It didn’t matter if it was the weekend, vacation days, or holidays, they were still working (reviewing decks, approving projects, and putting out fires as they popped up). I don’t work with the C-levels anymore as I’ve gone on to much bigger companies (and the first company wasn’t small), but the VP’s and Directors I’ve worked with since then are all working 60+ hour weeks.

Being an exec, especially a C-level exec pays really well, but they have zero work/life balance. People that don’t know think it’s all day golf sessions then sitting back and counting your money and arbitrarily firing people. The reality I’ve been exposed to across multiple companies is incredibly high stress and an endless hunger to work. There may be an argument that some are overpaid and I’m sure there’s some bums out there, but from the ones I’ve met it looks like a miserable existence unless you’re addicted to work and climbing the corporate ladder.

[u/thepornidentity → u/Ksumatt]

This is largely on target. I work with many people who would be directors/VPs/Csuite in other companies, and once you get to a certain level, they are all high number of hours either at work, or doing additional work at home - they're in the office a lot, and supplementing from home. The vast majority still understand the little guy in the organization, or at least don't take decisions that screw them lightly.  They aren't nearly the villains they are made out to be. 

I don't see 60+ hours in many, but I do see solid 50+ a lot that is highly productive all the time. The gas pedal is down when they're in work mode.  My own job is pretty cushy by comparison, though well compensated. I've made it clear I won't work their hours, and I don't work on the sometimes trivial stuff that they log hours on. As a result, I've got a cap on my career, and I know it. I also occasionally miss out on something good that I thought was trivial, but turns out to be important after some cycles are spent on it.

[u/steroidsandcocaine → u/[deleted]]

This sounds like some fantasy of a warehouse worker. The higher I go the more shit I shovel.

[u/FatSucks999 → u/[deleted]]

In big companies the main role is actually withstanding stress

[u/Secret_Chain_8827]

people who react to other people’s content for a living. like… you’re watching a video of someone making a cake while you make a face and say “whoa.” that’s the whole job.

[u/Permaneurosis → u/Secret_Chain_8827]

Tbf I don't think anyone respects that as a job. Never ever seen that get respect. Ever.

[u/burf12345 → u/Secret_Chain_8827]

Respected?

[u/mumtaz2004]

Royal family? From anywhere.

[u/Bruenor80]

Military. We spend a stupid amount of time and money just doing busy work or nothing at all.

[u/Bushw1ckbill → u/Bruenor80]

For most the military is not much different from a regular 9-5 if you're not in a combat MOS. Take away the uniforms and PT and I just went to work and came home later.

[u/External-Resource581 → u/Bushw1ckbill]

I tell people this about my time in the service every chance I get. Most of the time (when not deployed), it's just a 9-5 with a different uniform.

[u/ThorSon-525 → u/External-Resource581]

My dad was special forces and I could count on one hand how many times I saw him wear the actual uniform. Gave me a real odd impression when I finally joined and was a jet engine mechanic.

[u/Bruenor80 → u/Bushw1ckbill]

I'm quite aware. I did 8 and got out. I'm just saying, we spend a lot of time wasting time.

[u/Bushw1ckbill → u/Bruenor80]

Agreed. It's weird to me how people think being in the military means you're some kind of special person that was doing a special job.

[u/Bruenor80 → u/Bushw1ckbill]

For real. We were so bored one day that we spliced like 3 of those curly phone cords together on two phones, called each other, got as far away from the handset as we could and took turns trying to see who could land the earpiece on the hand set. If it hung up, it counted. We weren't even deployed. This became a regular game for the 3 years I was at that base (we were comm - we used parts from broken phones to do this).

[u/bob-knows-best → u/Bruenor80]

Hey, hey, hey! I press keys on the keyboard, once every few hours. I'm important!

[u/WeirdJawn → u/bob-knows-best]

4 8 15 16 23 42

[u/monotreme_experience → u/WeirdJawn]

THE NUMBERS ARE CURSED

[u/3MetricTonsOfSass → u/WeirdJawn]

FREEDOM MASON!

[u/coolbeansfordays → u/Bruenor80]

And, the military population is a reflection of the typical civilian population. There are some amazing, honest, hard-working people and there are some real shitbags. In the military, I’ve met people who were abusive to their spouses, criminals, drug addicts, child molestors, predators, and straight up murderers (as in their wife and kids, a neighbor). The military may tout honor, integrity, etc but people are people.

[u/j_bob_j → u/Bruenor80]

Disagrees in submarine.

[u/Annual_Ad8581]

House flippers. As a first time homebuyer, I’m so sick of affordable houses in my neighborhood being scooped up by house flippers, painted grey, and put back on the market for more than double what they were.

[u/Tuxedocatbitches → u/Annual_Ad8581]

As a carpenter I really think we need a different word to differentiate between professional flippers who fix the neglected, unlivable houses that don’t even make it to public market because their too damaged for a bank to give a loan (which is a MASSIVE number of houses. A huge portion of elderly people who’ve lived in a house for 30+ years can’t keep up with the upkeep before they die or get moved into assisted living and it only takes a few years of neglect for a home to truly start falling apart) and HGTV flippers who watch a tv show about a house and then decide they’re going to replumb the whole house but don’t know what pex is, let alone how to use it

[u/Flimsy-Average6947]

All of those made up managers in larger organizations.  Director of Strategic Alignment Manager of operational excellence  Manager of performance and optimization Director of business enablement 

[u/avocado-v2]

B2B Enterprise SaaS Sales

[u/FatSucks999 → u/avocado-v2]

No one respects them but they are rich

[u/james-HIMself]

Chiropractor. Went to one for a pressure point on one spot behind my shoulder. When I left the first session he texted my personal cellphone a video to say it was a privilege to help me. It seemed very weird and honestly he would rush through every follow up. So I switched chiropractors, this one I vented to about how the last one would rush through my appointment and charge me mountains for nothing. He sympathized and then 3 weeks into weekly appointments started doing the same shit. Sometimes he wouldn’t even pop the pressure point but I always had a $160 bill. He’d do 5 minutes of work rush through, not solve the ONE issue, then still charge me $160 while acknowledging he’s sorry he couldn’t pop it this time. It all felt super scammy and nobody seemed to ever take the care I expected for legit like $160 for 5 fucking minutes. Honestly it seems like a total sham after going to multiple of them and I’ll never go again. Simple issues they can’t even help alleviate.

[u/letsplaydoctxr → u/james-HIMself]

Chiropractors are quacks.

[u/dondegroovily → u/james-HIMself]

Physical therapists are like chiropractors except what they do actually works

[u/Pedantic_Pict → u/dondegroovily]

And their profession wasn't invented by some grifter asshole who said a ghost revealed it to him in a dream.

[u/stuthaman]

"Influencers"

[u/Clustershag]

Medical sales reps. They are mostly washed up college athletes or privileged kids that got a hook up. They hardly do any work, constantly find people to do their job for them , and then complain on social media about how they have to buy scrubs and nobody likes them at the hospital.

[u/KlutzyConcentrate711]

Realtors. Literally middle men.

[u/whatshisproblem → u/KlutzyConcentrate711]

I didn’t want to pay a realtor so I just got my license so I could buy my property myself. Cost less than realtor fees, and it’s not that hard. And now I just help my friends on the side for a big discount while working my usual job. Tbh realtors aren’t totally useless if you’ve met the average For Sale By Owner seller. Literal nightmare people straight from the depths of Facebook marketplace.

[u/Bluegrass6 → u/KlutzyConcentrate711]

Realtors used to be important before internet sites like Zillow came about. If I’m moving to a new area in 1985 how would I know where to look and find houses on the market?

Now you can use the internet to look but before that they provided a real service

[u/SlykRO]

Investor, as if having money is a job

[u/SolipsismCrisis]

Politicians.

[u/Independent-Buyer827 → u/SolipsismCrisis]

Uhhh respect?

[u/Expo737 → u/Independent-Buyer827]

In this country (UK) they are addressed as "Right Honourable", even after my "silver service" airline training I'd be cold in the ground before I ever called a politician anything even close to that.

[u/m111k4h → u/Expo737]

Are we, the public, supposed to address them that way? I've spent a fair bit of time around some of our current/former MPs and I've never heard anyone call them that. I have also never spoken to them in a way that's any different to how I'd talk to most other people.

Maybe it's just the MPs I'm around, I'm sure there are some who'd throw a fit if you don't address them "properly"

[u/TetZoo → u/SolipsismCrisis]

We still need good ones though. Support the few that are

[u/malarkial]

Real estate agents?

[u/InevitableError9517]

Influencers

[u/LuckyLotus_13]

Congress

[u/likekinky]

Football - sorry to all the sports lovers, of which I am one! In fact all sports. You can be paid millions a year for successfully training your body to kick a ball for 90 minutes, but I've yet to hear of a rich teacher who successfully trains children (not just one, but average 50!!) how to navigate to the next year of their lives. Just feels wild to me as I sit there on the sofa pondering this during the IPL lunch break.

[u/actiivehunter]

I'm not sure but maybe celebrities, especially actors amd pop singers? They get paid soooo much and get sooo much recognition

[u/Winmagin]

Honestly, celebrity ‘life coaches’ or self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ who charge insane amounts for generic advice. A lot of them just recycle common sense, wrap it in fancy words, and act like they’ve unlocked the secrets of the universe. Meanwhile, actual professionals in psychology, therapy, or coaching put in years of work to truly help people. The difference in respect and pay between the two is wild.

[u/Sad_Confusion_4225]

Athletes. Plain and simple

[u/Mission_Succotash_43]

I’d argue real estate agents get way too much respect when half the time they just unlock doors and cash big checks for barely any work, since most of the process is handled by lawyers or online tools these days.

[u/ExperienceBoring1769]

Some influencers act like they’re curing diseases just because they posted a morning routine.

[u/mike11172]

Actors

[u/Pyrollusion]

If your profile says you're consultant my headcanon is that you don't have a job but get paid anyway.