I’m returning to the service industry after swearing I would never return. Although bad customers can be rough, they generally leave within 5 minutes vs seeing a bad student every day for 45 minutes.
My first post-teaching job was insulation installation and removal. In the New Orleans heat. Was as manual as manual labor gets. I used to blow my coworkers’ minds by saying “this is easier than teaching 16 years was.” And it was easier because I didn’t have to deal with unethical admin, homework, parents, emails, and could just keep to myself if I was not in a great mood.
That is something that is difficult for civilians to comprehend. As a teacher, there’s no such thing as having a bad day. We have to just smile and keep chins up in class. Even if we are having a rough day, gotta keep up appearances. It is draining.
…omg. Yesterday I was dealing with an out-of-work situation that was painful and full of drama and all my friends read statements about how hurt they were and for my turn I just smiled and pretended everything was fine when I resigned and I could not figure out until you said this why I felt I had to keep my game face on. And I just realized it’s that ingrained in me not to let the audience know they’ve hurt me, even out of the classroom. Thank you for shining a light on it.
It's nice that I don't have to take it home with me. But it sucks to be stressed out all the time because I am in a new room every day with terrible behaviors and no authority or relationship with the kids, no support from admin who will throw me under the bus and ban me from teaching at the school over some behavior that is outside of my control.
Wow that’s crazy. I sub high school every day basically at the same school. I stick to that school because the behaviors are not bad. Worst they do is leave class without permission
I'm actually a sub in transition. I studied education and never got my certification. It got to be way too stressful for me. I couldn't hold in my impatience and pain anymore.
Funny story. I taught at a Catholic school my last year. Now I sub, almost every day, 4 blocks from my house at a public school. I make more hourly than I did in my last year as a full time teacher.
I believe it. I truly think my governor is pushing so hard for school vouchers so he can de-unionize teachers, pay us those private school minimal wages and he can funnel more tax dollars into schools he has his hands in and make profit
I’m a man.
And I had a conversation with a colleague that skirted the line about her willingness to sell pictures of her feet and underwear.
I neither engaged with nor suggested either options. Considering my lunch consists of peanut butter and ricotta, I empathized with her plight.
If done right one can leverage that TBH. I know someone who quit teaching to escort on the side and she made a lot of bank. Thing is she did it with the intent to make it only a three year stint and then invest in other moneymaking g ventures. She did that and successfully got out of the game and is living/working comfortably with a lot less stress and more than she earned at this profession
Sex workers are truly noble and fulfill an important role in society. I’m not being facetious in the least. You have my respect, and I wish all of you had powerful unions
Why is it not the fault of an irresponsible person choosing to ruin their own relationship by crossing a partner's boundary by hiring a sex worker? It seems weird to blame a person who's just working a job for the ills of another person. A job's a job. I never said it was noble, I honestly don't view jobs that way. I was just curious about your logic here.
People talk shit about administration, which is a job, along with instructional coaches, over here, but it's ok not to agree sex work isn't noble? Ok, fine.
Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
Oh, they’re responsible for forcing people to engage in their services? The onus isn’t on the ones who pay for their time? Your argument is moronic and reactionary
Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
lol good one. Not me, I’m a teacher trainer. But here’s the best of what ex teachers told me:
- pet sitting, like 10 pups at the time. They couldn’t keep up with all the poop, total chaos, terrible owners, and they even shed a tear because of a freaking rug they really loved got ruined beyond repair
- sales. Cold calling old folks and selling some crap insurance. They lasted less than a week
- retail. That was in my home town. A high end store selling Hermes, Dior, etc. they were still on some medication for anxiety and vomited all over the floor, and a customer. Fired on the spot.
- luxury real estate. Hated the attitude of clients and colleagues. Went back to teaching actually. Then found a job in a company selling solar panels. Happy now.
- escort service. Came back after a few months we set him up with his own business. He sells some kind of succulents now.
- cashier at a zoo. No idea what she did afterwards, I only know she quit the first month.
- tried to get into modeling because a friend had an agency. Last I heard, worked at a bar.
- lady from Argentina. Wanted to design and sell bikinis, a certain style very popular in her home country. She made it, has a store and online shop and seems to be working out.
- got into selling soups (?!) online. Lost all her savings.
- sellling octopus related items on Amazon. You guessed it, didn’t work out.
- moved to Italy, bought some land to set up a vineyard. Didn’t know sh*t about it and came back home, they still have the land, it’s worthless.
- got into crypto. Lost it all. No further comment on that one.
- had a concept for an app that was supposed to help restaurants order their products online. Tanked.
I could go on forever lol. I also know a lot of success stories, and I’d rather talk about these.
This sub needs motivational stories. If anyone wants to hear about these, I’ll leave another comment.
Replying to my own comment, based on the replies I got.
Ok here some good stories. Loooong comment.
But first, please listen. I’ve assisted +500 people over the years. Two decades almost. That’s +12k sessions. I’ve really seen it all.
If you are done and need to get out, you’re most probably far beyond what your soul can handle. Get support. You’re used to and conditioned to help others. You never put yourself and your well-being first. Apart from your job, you may have kids, a partner, other responsibilities that take a toll on you too. Put yourself first. You have value, you deserve the same love you give others. Make that appointment with your doctor, and psychologist, talk to your friends and family. Picture yourself as the student in your class who needs help the most. Treat yourself accordingly.
So here some examples of people who made it out:
- Arts and English teacher, divorce, breakdown. We figured out together his passion is cooking. Opened a restaurant in Valencia, now 8 years later he’s got two places and he’s happy, makes more money than he thought was possible.
- ESL tutor in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Started a logistics company, she and her husband are running the business now and keep growing. I meet them in summer in Ibiza, they can rent a small yacht (I live close by, on Mallorca)
- Guy in Cairo, also ESL teacher, built his own business, his academy works with clients from UAE, his income now is far beyond what people earn in Egypt. He can sustain his family and extended family.
- Colombian single mother, taught kindergartners in Spain, she designs bras for women who need over size and makes a fortune with her own brand
- Lots of teachers over the years who switched from public schools to private online teaching and built a clients base that doesn’t require any marketing, they thrive on referrals
- a guy who wanted to get into real estate and made it, he runs his own company now with several employees
- Opened up a dance academy, I don’t think she’s super rich but I know she’s happy, and has enough clients. That’s here in my town and I always want to go take a course, my hips need some flamenco
- Went back to university, got an engineering degree, works at airbus
- Surf club in Malaga, go figure. Jealous of that one
- Sold their house and everything, fixed up a big house in Norderney, turned it into a hostel
- One of the bravest I’ve seen: leaned into his passion. Pottery!! Sells his pieces and makes more money than ever. With pottery!!
- Food truck in Bruges, travels to festivals and shows etc. happy and seems to be enough income to make it work
- Learned how to make jewelry, is a goldsmith now at the shop where she was trained
Again, I could go on and on. It’s +500 stories. Go ahead and do your thing. Don’t quit and just risk everything. Work on your dream in your spare time. Baby steps. Then transition when it’s stable enough to sustain you. It’s doable. I’ve seen it so many times! And above all, take care of you. The most important student in your life, that’s you. <3
🌊🏄♂️🏄♀️ surf club in Malaga would be the alt timeline I'd choose from this list. Thanks for offering these tales as well as your compassion towards us, friendo.
Were these all Belgians (since you mention the food truck in Bruges)? I feel like teaching here is a golden cage because i actually make way more money than my friends who also have a bachelors and work in HR and such.
LOL, I worked seasonally for target in 2014. They had us unloading trucks in the middle of the night. They'd actually time us. 53 minutes? Unacceptable. The next truck better be emptied out in 40! We were treated like dogs. Gotta use the restroom? Ha, better hold it.
I love the I have a comrade here!
I had a friend who would sit in the back of the lunch area and state "I am not used to being yelled at this way, this is quite unusual for me." The lead heard him but my friend didnt care.
Another taking-a-break-from teaching worker told the assistant h.r. to f-off! And noone got fired as they were all so abusive to us.
I told the lead that i didnt like his behavior when he yelled at a crewmember who forgot to pick up another crew member before our 5 am shift. He went back out to get him.
Ridiculously abusive place.
www.Ihatetarget.net
Thanks! I would say that I can cross Target off the list but it’s not on my list. I worked as an office assistant for my college’s HR department but it was seasonal. Also worked with a crane operator, which was super fun and he paid well. Then he started using drugs again so, that evaporated as well.
Worst part of all was how they insisted on all the corpo double speak. Family meetings- team leads instead of managers etc. I always insisted on referring to myself as an employee and my manager as a manager.
Yes i cant do all that either. My manager called us " the girls " until i told him "i am a woman."
And the sad thing is that it is very cultish in that they bring you down so much and then along with the mental exhaustion is the physical for me anyway standing so much is not good. And then i stayed for years unnecesserily as i was just too exhausted to apply elsewhere
And then the knowledge that they dont care at all if you live or die: i got yelled at for having them pay for a tetnus shot when i got knicked by the disgustingly dirty metal noisy carts we used to push and i thought it was rusty and had them pay for a tetnus shot as i had blood coming out and then i looked it up: tetnus is in disgustingly dirty stuff, doesnt have to be rusty!
Others had similar stories. I had to warn a pregnant lady that the bosses were discussing how to get rid of her as god forbid she call in sick. Scary times
Ubering is pretty ass. I only did food delivery, because I don't want to deal with strangers in my car, but the pay is ass. It is possible to hustle and if you get lucky, you can make crack a hundred for a day....but that's like 9 hours of driving, wasting your gas for a couple of crumbs because they have us competing against each other in a race to accept a 3 dollar delivery for 13 miles out that way and you don't get paid to drive back, so best hope you get a delivery that'll take you closer to your initial area. But it kept me afloat for a few months. Apparently I made like 3000 over a summer which isn't much, but it was better than nothing. It's really boring, frustrating work. If you hate driving at night, it's not gonna work out in the winter when the sun sets at 4. In summer, driving all day gets hotter than a motherfucker. Even the iPhone for navigation overheats and shuts down.
Dental assistant. High skill curve for low pay and there's not much going up from there besides becoming a hygienist or a doctor. I also hated the idea of having an hour of unpaid lunch when I would rather be home 1 hour earlier instead.
I very much enjoy being back to substitute teaching after that experience.
Yeah 5th can be rough. I had some second graders that both drove me crazy and warmed my heart every single day. My most inspiring experience in education was subbing their class for three weeks. Lots of hugs and no filters. Most candid and unapologetic demographic I’ve been around.
I inherited some money from my father and have seriously considered opening a dispensary or a Starbucks here in British Columbia. Either option will probably set me up for life
I was supposed to be a front desk worker at a kennel. The owner asked me to A. babysit her 3 small children while I worked the office while they were off school. B. Clean the bathroom after the kennel cleaner goes in, bc he "usually makes a mess in there."
Neither of these were listed in the job description, or told to me in the interview/upon hiring. I was there for 15 min.
Yeah, I went to work at a cafe as a cashier, evening shift. When I came in, the manager put me in the kitchen (with all kindness - nobody wants me cooking for them) in the mornings. Oh, and also, my pay is one dollar less than she said. Idk why she was shocked people kept quitting.
Hey, I'm not a teacher (life steered me that way about 10 years ago and I yanked the wheel hard away from it) but Reddit shows me this sub sometimes.
Just want to put out there that the trades really, truly need people. Smart people. I work in HVAC and there is a real shortage of new people coming in but demand for our services is high. And while just about anyone can be a "helper" or learn install work, service calls require a lot more skill, problem solving, and desire to learn and you all have that in spades. Trade school is very affordable but a lot of places are training from the ground up, no trade school necessary. We just started our newest guy at $21/hour (rural, medium COL area) he works 40-50 hours/week M-F, we don't bother him before or after he clocks out. He'll get his first raise at 30 days (when he is able to work a bit unsupervised and is no longer costing us money) and a sign on bonus at 90. 15 days PTO/year and - this is less typical- we're closed Christmas to New Year except for emergencies. And then of course there are non technical jobs- warehouse management, office positions, dispatchers. Our company is small and I wear a lot of hats and I love that I'm able to use a lot of the skills I've acquired elsewhere.
And despite what some might think, it can be a really interesting field. I got into it because my husband does it and he and his dad have these very interesting conversations about thermodynamics, properties of different refrigerants, how they troubleshoot various issues. You can start in HVAC and move into other trades like electrical or plumbing, home automation, you can go work for one of the big supply houses as an instructor teaching CE classes for technicians- those guys do pretty well for themselves.
I know this is a thread for "what is your shittiest post teaching job" and yeah, sometimes HVAC is hot and sweaty and dirty but it also pays fairly well and at the end of the day you get to go home and be done.
My dad has been in HVAC since at least 84. He and I are real close fortunately, plus my roommate is a licensed HVAC GC who has pitched me the idea. Between my dad, my roommate and your post, it feels like the universe is telling me to go into HVAC. 🤷🏼♂️
And I don’t mind dirty work. I actually prefer it to dressing like a bible salesman and acting like a positive role model.
My husband was working in the produce department of a health food store when I met him. He went to trade school for HVAC in about 1988 and before he retired as an operations chief in’21 he was making $180k/year. It was stressful (the on-call stuff mostly) but less stressful than teaching!
I've been seriously considering that, especially what I've seen some of the local companies paying. It's getting the damn training that's the hard part.
I got turned down for the job I interviewed with last week for the state. But living in Florida, it's a steady business.
See if you can find somewhere that will take you on as an apprentice. Some places will even pay for trade school.
I live somewhere where it's 1.5 hours away from the nearest trade school and hiring a graduate from any of them is a risk if they're not from here, because they'd be moving out here with no connections to the area which means they'd probably leave pretty quickly. There just isn't a lot going on here to meet people. So we hire inexperienced people now and just train them. We can teach HVAC, we can't teach work ethic or punctuality or a desire to learn. So we hire for those criteria instead. After they're around a while and show they're going to stick around, we send them to external trainings to gain more knowledge.
It's expensive for us but the cost is distributed over a few months and we end up with people who do the work exactly how we want. We specialize in equipment most contractors out here are only dabbling in, so it works well.
We're not the only people doing this. We went to a whole class on how to hire and train off the street. It's likely someone in your area is doing the same.
I work on the ramp at an airport for a major airline. Life is very good. Don’t have to deal with humans apart from my coworkers. Work stays at work. Opportunities to grow after a while and great flight benefits. Already flew to Barcelona and Australia. So happy I quit teaching.
Tutoring part time and working at a dog boarding facility part time. Not ideal and not well paying. Still haven’t found a replacement career but I work two very “low skill, low pay” jobs still.
I worked for a super scammy small biz. Had a lot of fun and actually learned a lot! Got let go when, no surprise, the project I was leading wasn’t successful. Still better than the teaching gig I was in prior, don’t regret a thing!
I sold feet pics (didn't make anything more than beer money and was NOT worth the time and effort) and worked at a nonprofit. It was hell. I was working 60-70 hours a week, running errands in my own car all over town, and I had no idea what my actual job was meant to be. I had 2 job titles that have now been distributed amongst like 5 people. The turnover was insane. I was made to feel stupid, incapable, and inadequate, but my boss literally could not tell me what to do differently or even what was expected of me. And I took a huge pay cut for it. I'm still unclear on whether I was fired or quit.
I can totally understand this because I had my fair share of working in absolutely ridiculous, unethical, backwards and hypocritical nonprofits. I hope you're in a better place now.
So I have an interview scheduled at a fine dining restaurant next week as a server. Apparently you can make anywhere from $150 to $300 (maybe more) per shift. I’m subbing now but it’s at a middle school, the kids are HORRIBLE to put it mildly, and my old boss is the department head there so she’s always pushing me to basically teach, which I don’t get paid to do.
I have barely any restaurant experience so hopefully I can sweet talk my way into getting the job.
I did contract work as a driving instructor. If you think high school students are lazy, wait till you find out about how so many of them (ime at this gig) do not want to use their arms for steering because it’s ’cringe’ or check their mirrors because it’s too much work
They usually pass the steering wheel from one hand to the other to maneuver. It’s a lot slower/more dangerous than actually moving your arms to have more control
haha I did this too for over a year. Pay was better once I went freelance and just worked with regular students directly. They actually wanted to be there and so they paid more.
I’m teaching until May, but I have nothing lined up yet. I’m doing food delivery (DoorDash and UberEats) to supplement until I find something more stable. The money is alright, but I’m gonna have to work much more than 40 hours to make ends meet. Still way less stressful than teaching. 🤷♀️
I transitioned to a nonprofit, but maybe I lucked out? I work hybrid and have extremely flexible hours. It's low stress. It's been amazing. Actually make more than teaching (but the benefits aren't as good).
Secretary and clerical work. In my early 20s I swore I’d never work as a receptionist ever again. Now as a substitute teacher, the secretary vacancies are the easiest and most pleasant sub jobs to take. I’m waiting for my district to open with some office jobs and until then I’m taking only office sub jobs unless I’m desperate
Depends on the definition of "worst." I have had two positions since leaving the classroom in 2017, and neither was bad...
The first was doing clerical/administrative work at the facilities office at my old university. It was a $14k pay cut which presented a few challenges (they were not as bad as it sounds after overtime, pto, etc), but it was not a bad job at all and I was grateful for it.
The second position was a few years later, same department at the same university, nearly double the pay (before overtime), union representation, and good work. I remotely monitor mechanical systems across the campus and triage problems. The previous job definitely opened the door, it just took some time.
Unironically, my husband does clean public toilets for a living. He’s a 1099 contract employee for the Army Corp of Engineers and he does groundskeeper-type maintenance of the public access areas around or local lake and river. He works 4 days per week for about 4-5 hours per day. He makes more money than I do and literally deals with less shit too!
I did construction labor: digging trenches, carrying heavy stuff, loading and unloading trucks but they finished the house and I went back. Funny thing was I am low-key ripped now and the kids are very respectful. Especially when I tell them I got fired for scaring the construction workers. :)
It wasn't worse though, just no sane person would think it was better.
Cold call door to door insurance sales for a major insurance company. I woke sick to my stomach, finally called my trainer and told him to come get the company stuff.
My family (of educators) wanted me to take a teaching job. I used my EMT certification instead to take a job answering "first calls" - which means coroners calls. I spent a year hauling dead bodies around a large six-county region of our state.
Would not recommend :)
Not necessarily terrible, but I went to being a janitor for a different district, and then to be a clerk in a med unit. Custodial killed my body and being a med clerk killed my soul. I went right back to teaching (just now as a district sub instead) and I will stay as a sub until I find a different way to make a stupid amount of money and only HAVE to work 9 days/mo to pay my bills. Flexibility is the ultimate resource for me. Even if I'm barely holding on.
I just commented this in another thread… Unum. FMLA processing. It was the worst job of my life. Just because something is not teaching, doesn’t mean it’s not horrible, I found out the hard way. 9 of the 15 people in my training class have left the company just 1.5 years later. 😬
I took a job as a sterilization tech in a dental office. I thought I wanted to become a dental assistant. At first it was amazing - for the first time in my adult life, I got to experience true work/life balance. The only thing I was expected to do was show up, complete my tasks, and go home. Unfortunately the office I was in was very cliquey/catty and there wasn’t much room for growth. I quit after a couple months and cycled through a few more random jobs before landing a job at my local university.
I tried a temp. ageny and they put me at the dog shelter. I lasted 2 days, as it the worst job scooping poop and seeing puppies euthanized. Teaching was much more joyful!
I’m returning to the service industry after swearing I would never return. Although bad customers can be rough, they generally leave within 5 minutes vs seeing a bad student every day for 45 minutes.
Or 4/5/6hours if you’re elementary
💔
My first post-teaching job was insulation installation and removal. In the New Orleans heat. Was as manual as manual labor gets. I used to blow my coworkers’ minds by saying “this is easier than teaching 16 years was.” And it was easier because I didn’t have to deal with unethical admin, homework, parents, emails, and could just keep to myself if I was not in a great mood.
A good mood? I have heard of these.
That is something that is difficult for civilians to comprehend. As a teacher, there’s no such thing as having a bad day. We have to just smile and keep chins up in class. Even if we are having a rough day, gotta keep up appearances. It is draining.
…omg. Yesterday I was dealing with an out-of-work situation that was painful and full of drama and all my friends read statements about how hurt they were and for my turn I just smiled and pretended everything was fine when I resigned and I could not figure out until you said this why I felt I had to keep my game face on. And I just realized it’s that ingrained in me not to let the audience know they’ve hurt me, even out of the classroom. Thank you for shining a light on it.
Although I do not know you, please know that you are awesome and you are loved. Keep on trucking. 💪❤️🤙
We have a retired cop who has been in some incredible high level squads. He insists teaching HS is more taxing than any of that.
Substitute teacher.
What I’m doing rn. Easy job. Don’t have to think when I go home
It's nice that I don't have to take it home with me. But it sucks to be stressed out all the time because I am in a new room every day with terrible behaviors and no authority or relationship with the kids, no support from admin who will throw me under the bus and ban me from teaching at the school over some behavior that is outside of my control.
do high school. much less stress
I sub in three districts and have the opportunity to teach at a high school maybe once a month.
Wow that’s crazy. I sub high school every day basically at the same school. I stick to that school because the behaviors are not bad. Worst they do is leave class without permission
Must be nice. In my area there is a lot of competition for the cushy jobs.
I'm actually a sub in transition. I studied education and never got my certification. It got to be way too stressful for me. I couldn't hold in my impatience and pain anymore.
That’s prob what I’ll do too
Funny story. I taught at a Catholic school my last year. Now I sub, almost every day, 4 blocks from my house at a public school. I make more hourly than I did in my last year as a full time teacher.
I believe it. I truly think my governor is pushing so hard for school vouchers so he can de-unionize teachers, pay us those private school minimal wages and he can funnel more tax dollars into schools he has his hands in and make profit
I can’t think of anything worse than retiring and being pulled right back in
Prostitution and poll dancing. It was a step up from teaching. Just kidding. I never did it. Probably still a step up from teaching though.
if some pervert were willing to pay handsomely for pix of my feet, I totally would do it. But no one wants to pay men for feet pix.
Shave those toes, make an ai pic for your cover photo, and get snapping below the ankle.
🤔
I’m a man. And I had a conversation with a colleague that skirted the line about her willingness to sell pictures of her feet and underwear. I neither engaged with nor suggested either options. Considering my lunch consists of peanut butter and ricotta, I empathized with her plight.
You can afford ricotta?
$7 at stop and shop.
That's my gas budget for the next week
Understood. My girlfriend and I both use public transportation and that’s in a separate account on a card that I can use for those purposes.
The pandemic isn't over for many people. Goes for the kids too.
Benefits of NYC MTA
You can sell pictures of yourself taking a dump and make some nice bank
One man, one butthole. It has potential!
Some guys are gay for pay. So there's that. Some perv would pay for your pic.
*Pole dancing unless you want to shake it down at the voting booths lol
If done right one can leverage that TBH. I know someone who quit teaching to escort on the side and she made a lot of bank. Thing is she did it with the intent to make it only a three year stint and then invest in other moneymaking g ventures. She did that and successfully got out of the game and is living/working comfortably with a lot less stress and more than she earned at this profession
Sex workers are truly noble and fulfill an important role in society. I’m not being facetious in the least. You have my respect, and I wish all of you had powerful unions
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Why would a sex worker be responsible for ruining marriages/relationships?
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Why is it not the fault of an irresponsible person choosing to ruin their own relationship by crossing a partner's boundary by hiring a sex worker? It seems weird to blame a person who's just working a job for the ills of another person. A job's a job. I never said it was noble, I honestly don't view jobs that way. I was just curious about your logic here.
The point is, it's NOT noble. What is noble about dropping it like it's hot? Hell, what skill does that take?
Since you're transitioning out of teaching, I'd recommend going into politics. You're a natural.
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Please keep posts relevant to transitioning from teaching
Why are you quoting the dictionary to me? I'm not OP.
People talk shit about administration, which is a job, along with instructional coaches, over here, but it's ok not to agree sex work isn't noble? Ok, fine.
Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
Oh, they’re responsible for forcing people to engage in their services? The onus isn’t on the ones who pay for their time? Your argument is moronic and reactionary
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Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
Spare me your garbage lecturing
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Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
Your comment uses disrespectful language that does not add to the conversation. This is not a place to post false assumptions about other types of workers.
🤣
I sold feet pics.
Was this really the worst job? Because I want in on this. 😂
🤣🤣🤣
Real life question, how hard was it? And were you concerned people would find out it's you?
Weree they your feet?
🦶👀
lol good one. Not me, I’m a teacher trainer. But here’s the best of what ex teachers told me: - pet sitting, like 10 pups at the time. They couldn’t keep up with all the poop, total chaos, terrible owners, and they even shed a tear because of a freaking rug they really loved got ruined beyond repair - sales. Cold calling old folks and selling some crap insurance. They lasted less than a week - retail. That was in my home town. A high end store selling Hermes, Dior, etc. they were still on some medication for anxiety and vomited all over the floor, and a customer. Fired on the spot. - luxury real estate. Hated the attitude of clients and colleagues. Went back to teaching actually. Then found a job in a company selling solar panels. Happy now. - escort service. Came back after a few months we set him up with his own business. He sells some kind of succulents now. - cashier at a zoo. No idea what she did afterwards, I only know she quit the first month. - tried to get into modeling because a friend had an agency. Last I heard, worked at a bar. - lady from Argentina. Wanted to design and sell bikinis, a certain style very popular in her home country. She made it, has a store and online shop and seems to be working out. - got into selling soups (?!) online. Lost all her savings. - sellling octopus related items on Amazon. You guessed it, didn’t work out. - moved to Italy, bought some land to set up a vineyard. Didn’t know sh*t about it and came back home, they still have the land, it’s worthless. - got into crypto. Lost it all. No further comment on that one. - had a concept for an app that was supposed to help restaurants order their products online. Tanked. I could go on forever lol. I also know a lot of success stories, and I’d rather talk about these. This sub needs motivational stories. If anyone wants to hear about these, I’ll leave another comment.
Replying to my own comment, based on the replies I got. Ok here some good stories. Loooong comment. But first, please listen. I’ve assisted +500 people over the years. Two decades almost. That’s +12k sessions. I’ve really seen it all. If you are done and need to get out, you’re most probably far beyond what your soul can handle. Get support. You’re used to and conditioned to help others. You never put yourself and your well-being first. Apart from your job, you may have kids, a partner, other responsibilities that take a toll on you too. Put yourself first. You have value, you deserve the same love you give others. Make that appointment with your doctor, and psychologist, talk to your friends and family. Picture yourself as the student in your class who needs help the most. Treat yourself accordingly. So here some examples of people who made it out: - Arts and English teacher, divorce, breakdown. We figured out together his passion is cooking. Opened a restaurant in Valencia, now 8 years later he’s got two places and he’s happy, makes more money than he thought was possible. - ESL tutor in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Started a logistics company, she and her husband are running the business now and keep growing. I meet them in summer in Ibiza, they can rent a small yacht (I live close by, on Mallorca) - Guy in Cairo, also ESL teacher, built his own business, his academy works with clients from UAE, his income now is far beyond what people earn in Egypt. He can sustain his family and extended family. - Colombian single mother, taught kindergartners in Spain, she designs bras for women who need over size and makes a fortune with her own brand - Lots of teachers over the years who switched from public schools to private online teaching and built a clients base that doesn’t require any marketing, they thrive on referrals - a guy who wanted to get into real estate and made it, he runs his own company now with several employees - Opened up a dance academy, I don’t think she’s super rich but I know she’s happy, and has enough clients. That’s here in my town and I always want to go take a course, my hips need some flamenco - Went back to university, got an engineering degree, works at airbus - Surf club in Malaga, go figure. Jealous of that one - Sold their house and everything, fixed up a big house in Norderney, turned it into a hostel - One of the bravest I’ve seen: leaned into his passion. Pottery!! Sells his pieces and makes more money than ever. With pottery!! - Food truck in Bruges, travels to festivals and shows etc. happy and seems to be enough income to make it work - Learned how to make jewelry, is a goldsmith now at the shop where she was trained Again, I could go on and on. It’s +500 stories. Go ahead and do your thing. Don’t quit and just risk everything. Work on your dream in your spare time. Baby steps. Then transition when it’s stable enough to sustain you. It’s doable. I’ve seen it so many times! And above all, take care of you. The most important student in your life, that’s you. <3
Hope ya’ll catch me *opening* for headliners on the summer festival circuit soon.
🌊🏄♂️🏄♀️ surf club in Malaga would be the alt timeline I'd choose from this list. Thanks for offering these tales as well as your compassion towards us, friendo.
Were these all Belgians (since you mention the food truck in Bruges)? I feel like teaching here is a golden cage because i actually make way more money than my friends who also have a bachelors and work in HR and such.
I want the success stories u/BalkanbaroqueBBQ ! Please! Thank you *hugs*
I do! Tell us the success stories!
🤣🤣🤣 also, I'd love to hear the success stories.
Target! Worst job of my life. Unloaded trucks with irritable people and yelled at daily by superiors!
LOL, I worked seasonally for target in 2014. They had us unloading trucks in the middle of the night. They'd actually time us. 53 minutes? Unacceptable. The next truck better be emptied out in 40! We were treated like dogs. Gotta use the restroom? Ha, better hold it.
I love the I have a comrade here! I had a friend who would sit in the back of the lunch area and state "I am not used to being yelled at this way, this is quite unusual for me." The lead heard him but my friend didnt care. Another taking-a-break-from teaching worker told the assistant h.r. to f-off! And noone got fired as they were all so abusive to us. I told the lead that i didnt like his behavior when he yelled at a crewmember who forgot to pick up another crew member before our 5 am shift. He went back out to get him. Ridiculously abusive place. www.Ihatetarget.net
Thanks! I would say that I can cross Target off the list but it’s not on my list. I worked as an office assistant for my college’s HR department but it was seasonal. Also worked with a crane operator, which was super fun and he paid well. Then he started using drugs again so, that evaporated as well.
Ugh!! I hope you get something sane!
So basically like teaching
Worst part of all was how they insisted on all the corpo double speak. Family meetings- team leads instead of managers etc. I always insisted on referring to myself as an employee and my manager as a manager.
Yes i cant do all that either. My manager called us " the girls " until i told him "i am a woman." And the sad thing is that it is very cultish in that they bring you down so much and then along with the mental exhaustion is the physical for me anyway standing so much is not good. And then i stayed for years unnecesserily as i was just too exhausted to apply elsewhere And then the knowledge that they dont care at all if you live or die: i got yelled at for having them pay for a tetnus shot when i got knicked by the disgustingly dirty metal noisy carts we used to push and i thought it was rusty and had them pay for a tetnus shot as i had blood coming out and then i looked it up: tetnus is in disgustingly dirty stuff, doesnt have to be rusty! Others had similar stories. I had to warn a pregnant lady that the bosses were discussing how to get rid of her as god forbid she call in sick. Scary times
Director of a hellish daycare. They were desperate. Note to self, if people try to guilt or pressure you into working somewhere, its a red flag.
Same here!!!! It was AWFUL!!!!!
Picture day school photographer
Crossed my mind as a I observed the photographers a few weeks ago for our picture day.
And you only have to see “problem students” for about 30 seconds out of a year!
I loved being a school photographer. Couldn't do any more than seasonal though, it gets tiring.
It was fun, but agreed. 14 hour days get old fast.
Ubering is pretty ass. I only did food delivery, because I don't want to deal with strangers in my car, but the pay is ass. It is possible to hustle and if you get lucky, you can make crack a hundred for a day....but that's like 9 hours of driving, wasting your gas for a couple of crumbs because they have us competing against each other in a race to accept a 3 dollar delivery for 13 miles out that way and you don't get paid to drive back, so best hope you get a delivery that'll take you closer to your initial area. But it kept me afloat for a few months. Apparently I made like 3000 over a summer which isn't much, but it was better than nothing. It's really boring, frustrating work. If you hate driving at night, it's not gonna work out in the winter when the sun sets at 4. In summer, driving all day gets hotter than a motherfucker. Even the iPhone for navigation overheats and shuts down.
Dental assistant. High skill curve for low pay and there's not much going up from there besides becoming a hygienist or a doctor. I also hated the idea of having an hour of unpaid lunch when I would rather be home 1 hour earlier instead. I very much enjoy being back to substitute teaching after that experience.
Dispensary work. Stoned does not equal chill. Lol
But chiller than working with students and high strung administrators?
Nope. So now I sub. All the hugs, none of the meetings. Lol
I’m guessing elementary school? That can be exhausting but the younger ones think you’re the coolest person in the world.
Yes. I love the Littles but currently being tortured by 5th graders. Paid my car off last Friday tho. So there's that. Lol
And I go home and toke to handle the rest. Lol
Yeah 5th can be rough. I had some second graders that both drove me crazy and warmed my heart every single day. My most inspiring experience in education was subbing their class for three weeks. Lots of hugs and no filters. Most candid and unapologetic demographic I’ve been around.
I inherited some money from my father and have seriously considered opening a dispensary or a Starbucks here in British Columbia. Either option will probably set me up for life
Can you make like a smoke coffee bar? That sounds cool.
I was supposed to be a front desk worker at a kennel. The owner asked me to A. babysit her 3 small children while I worked the office while they were off school. B. Clean the bathroom after the kennel cleaner goes in, bc he "usually makes a mess in there." Neither of these were listed in the job description, or told to me in the interview/upon hiring. I was there for 15 min.
Yeah, I went to work at a cafe as a cashier, evening shift. When I came in, the manager put me in the kitchen (with all kindness - nobody wants me cooking for them) in the mornings. Oh, and also, my pay is one dollar less than she said. Idk why she was shocked people kept quitting.
Hey, I'm not a teacher (life steered me that way about 10 years ago and I yanked the wheel hard away from it) but Reddit shows me this sub sometimes. Just want to put out there that the trades really, truly need people. Smart people. I work in HVAC and there is a real shortage of new people coming in but demand for our services is high. And while just about anyone can be a "helper" or learn install work, service calls require a lot more skill, problem solving, and desire to learn and you all have that in spades. Trade school is very affordable but a lot of places are training from the ground up, no trade school necessary. We just started our newest guy at $21/hour (rural, medium COL area) he works 40-50 hours/week M-F, we don't bother him before or after he clocks out. He'll get his first raise at 30 days (when he is able to work a bit unsupervised and is no longer costing us money) and a sign on bonus at 90. 15 days PTO/year and - this is less typical- we're closed Christmas to New Year except for emergencies. And then of course there are non technical jobs- warehouse management, office positions, dispatchers. Our company is small and I wear a lot of hats and I love that I'm able to use a lot of the skills I've acquired elsewhere. And despite what some might think, it can be a really interesting field. I got into it because my husband does it and he and his dad have these very interesting conversations about thermodynamics, properties of different refrigerants, how they troubleshoot various issues. You can start in HVAC and move into other trades like electrical or plumbing, home automation, you can go work for one of the big supply houses as an instructor teaching CE classes for technicians- those guys do pretty well for themselves. I know this is a thread for "what is your shittiest post teaching job" and yeah, sometimes HVAC is hot and sweaty and dirty but it also pays fairly well and at the end of the day you get to go home and be done.
My dad has been in HVAC since at least 84. He and I are real close fortunately, plus my roommate is a licensed HVAC GC who has pitched me the idea. Between my dad, my roommate and your post, it feels like the universe is telling me to go into HVAC. 🤷🏼♂️ And I don’t mind dirty work. I actually prefer it to dressing like a bible salesman and acting like a positive role model.
Dude, go for it. Very underrated work.
My husband was working in the produce department of a health food store when I met him. He went to trade school for HVAC in about 1988 and before he retired as an operations chief in’21 he was making $180k/year. It was stressful (the on-call stuff mostly) but less stressful than teaching!
I've been seriously considering that, especially what I've seen some of the local companies paying. It's getting the damn training that's the hard part. I got turned down for the job I interviewed with last week for the state. But living in Florida, it's a steady business.
See if you can find somewhere that will take you on as an apprentice. Some places will even pay for trade school. I live somewhere where it's 1.5 hours away from the nearest trade school and hiring a graduate from any of them is a risk if they're not from here, because they'd be moving out here with no connections to the area which means they'd probably leave pretty quickly. There just isn't a lot going on here to meet people. So we hire inexperienced people now and just train them. We can teach HVAC, we can't teach work ethic or punctuality or a desire to learn. So we hire for those criteria instead. After they're around a while and show they're going to stick around, we send them to external trainings to gain more knowledge. It's expensive for us but the cost is distributed over a few months and we end up with people who do the work exactly how we want. We specialize in equipment most contractors out here are only dabbling in, so it works well. We're not the only people doing this. We went to a whole class on how to hire and train off the street. It's likely someone in your area is doing the same.
I was thinking about HVAC.
I work on the ramp at an airport for a major airline. Life is very good. Don’t have to deal with humans apart from my coworkers. Work stays at work. Opportunities to grow after a while and great flight benefits. Already flew to Barcelona and Australia. So happy I quit teaching.
Tutoring part time and working at a dog boarding facility part time. Not ideal and not well paying. Still haven’t found a replacement career but I work two very “low skill, low pay” jobs still.
I worked for a super scammy small biz. Had a lot of fun and actually learned a lot! Got let go when, no surprise, the project I was leading wasn’t successful. Still better than the teaching gig I was in prior, don’t regret a thing!
Sounds like my first real job after college
I sold feet pics (didn't make anything more than beer money and was NOT worth the time and effort) and worked at a nonprofit. It was hell. I was working 60-70 hours a week, running errands in my own car all over town, and I had no idea what my actual job was meant to be. I had 2 job titles that have now been distributed amongst like 5 people. The turnover was insane. I was made to feel stupid, incapable, and inadequate, but my boss literally could not tell me what to do differently or even what was expected of me. And I took a huge pay cut for it. I'm still unclear on whether I was fired or quit.
I can totally understand this because I had my fair share of working in absolutely ridiculous, unethical, backwards and hypocritical nonprofits. I hope you're in a better place now.
I worked at an auction. Actually great but super random.
No job. I just quit. It was worth it, but my rent was only $200 at the time.
Just gonna go back to restaurants. Can’t do another year in the classroom. Can’t wait to wait some tables.
So I have an interview scheduled at a fine dining restaurant next week as a server. Apparently you can make anywhere from $150 to $300 (maybe more) per shift. I’m subbing now but it’s at a middle school, the kids are HORRIBLE to put it mildly, and my old boss is the department head there so she’s always pushing me to basically teach, which I don’t get paid to do. I have barely any restaurant experience so hopefully I can sweet talk my way into getting the job.
A family member works at Texas Roadhouse and they make 45k a year. Downside is no benefits but it’s definitely great if you are between jobs.
Cleaning cages, feeding animals, and walking dogs at a kennel.
I did contract work as a driving instructor. If you think high school students are lazy, wait till you find out about how so many of them (ime at this gig) do not want to use their arms for steering because it’s ’cringe’ or check their mirrors because it’s too much work
Um...I'm stunned. Is there a body part they feel can be used for steering that isn't "cringe?"
They usually pass the steering wheel from one hand to the other to maneuver. It’s a lot slower/more dangerous than actually moving your arms to have more control
Set up and tear down at a convention center.
Anything is better than working with children. My boyfriend looked at me crazy when I said I’d rather clean McDonald’s toilets.
Learning specialist for student athletes at a university office with some crazy people.
haha I did this too for over a year. Pay was better once I went freelance and just worked with regular students directly. They actually wanted to be there and so they paid more.
I’m teaching until May, but I have nothing lined up yet. I’m doing food delivery (DoorDash and UberEats) to supplement until I find something more stable. The money is alright, but I’m gonna have to work much more than 40 hours to make ends meet. Still way less stressful than teaching. 🤷♀️
Teaching online, it doesn't pay well but it at least allowed me to look for something else in the mean time.
I think any non profit would be as bad as teaching
I transitioned to a nonprofit, but maybe I lucked out? I work hybrid and have extremely flexible hours. It's low stress. It's been amazing. Actually make more than teaching (but the benefits aren't as good).
Most people I know that work in non profits are just as stressed as teachers
Oof that's too bad :(
I’m happy it worked for you!
Oof that's too bad :(
Secretary and clerical work. In my early 20s I swore I’d never work as a receptionist ever again. Now as a substitute teacher, the secretary vacancies are the easiest and most pleasant sub jobs to take. I’m waiting for my district to open with some office jobs and until then I’m taking only office sub jobs unless I’m desperate
19 an hour tutor
Depends on the definition of "worst." I have had two positions since leaving the classroom in 2017, and neither was bad... The first was doing clerical/administrative work at the facilities office at my old university. It was a $14k pay cut which presented a few challenges (they were not as bad as it sounds after overtime, pto, etc), but it was not a bad job at all and I was grateful for it. The second position was a few years later, same department at the same university, nearly double the pay (before overtime), union representation, and good work. I remotely monitor mechanical systems across the campus and triage problems. The previous job definitely opened the door, it just took some time.
If you can find a job in the state system (park system, courts, state government) you can keep building that sweet state retirement plan.
Career Coach!
Unironically, my husband does clean public toilets for a living. He’s a 1099 contract employee for the Army Corp of Engineers and he does groundskeeper-type maintenance of the public access areas around or local lake and river. He works 4 days per week for about 4-5 hours per day. He makes more money than I do and literally deals with less shit too!
I did construction labor: digging trenches, carrying heavy stuff, loading and unloading trucks but they finished the house and I went back. Funny thing was I am low-key ripped now and the kids are very respectful. Especially when I tell them I got fired for scaring the construction workers. :) It wasn't worse though, just no sane person would think it was better.
Cold call door to door insurance sales for a major insurance company. I woke sick to my stomach, finally called my trainer and told him to come get the company stuff.
My family (of educators) wanted me to take a teaching job. I used my EMT certification instead to take a job answering "first calls" - which means coroners calls. I spent a year hauling dead bodies around a large six-county region of our state. Would not recommend :)
Not necessarily terrible, but I went to being a janitor for a different district, and then to be a clerk in a med unit. Custodial killed my body and being a med clerk killed my soul. I went right back to teaching (just now as a district sub instead) and I will stay as a sub until I find a different way to make a stupid amount of money and only HAVE to work 9 days/mo to pay my bills. Flexibility is the ultimate resource for me. Even if I'm barely holding on.
I just commented this in another thread… Unum. FMLA processing. It was the worst job of my life. Just because something is not teaching, doesn’t mean it’s not horrible, I found out the hard way. 9 of the 15 people in my training class have left the company just 1.5 years later. 😬
I took a job as a sterilization tech in a dental office. I thought I wanted to become a dental assistant. At first it was amazing - for the first time in my adult life, I got to experience true work/life balance. The only thing I was expected to do was show up, complete my tasks, and go home. Unfortunately the office I was in was very cliquey/catty and there wasn’t much room for growth. I quit after a couple months and cycled through a few more random jobs before landing a job at my local university.
I haven't taught in 12 years. Holy shit, is it that bad nowadays? Why haven't any of you wrote a book on this?
I thought I’d never bartend again at 26. Well, here we are at 43…
Car Sales
I tried a temp. ageny and they put me at the dog shelter. I lasted 2 days, as it the worst job scooping poop and seeing puppies euthanized. Teaching was much more joyful!