Job...outside perceptions vs reality

[fatpies]

Inspired by this thread.

Grass is greener etc etc.

What is your job, what's the generally accepted outside perception of your job, and what is the reality of your job. Include some anecdotals of jobs people you know happen to have as well.

For example Anthony a friend of mine is a comercial pilot.

Perception - high paid interesting role where you get to bang the air hostesses visit exotic locations and go partying when you arrive.

Reality - flies a fedex cargo plane with only a co-pilot for company...he's on call almost 24/7 and can be called away on barely any notice. It affects his planning and relationships badly. Work involves programming the flight computer pressing a button sit on rear end for the duration of the flight. To mundane locations in the middle east where alcohol and partying are frowned upon. There are no air hostesses to bang and nothing interesting happens on the flights.


Me? I'm self employed buying and selling junk.

Perception -control of me own life, everything I make I get to keep most of and I can take any time off I want.

Reality - I'm sat around waiting for couriers and delivery men most of the day who promise to come at a certain time. I'm bombarded with marketting calls.
"Can I speak to the owner please?" 6-7 an hour is normal.
Meaning I can't take much time off, its not well paid compared to the time I put in and I'm constantly worried about the next 3-6 months.

You
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"It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one"

[oldpink]

hard to describe my job, general IT troubleshooter running websites for a company in the canna industry

perception - I get to smoke a lot, attend cannabis cups, take part in judging etc

reality - smoke some weed, look after websites, meet some interesting people

money is Ok and not the reason I do it, I genuinely do enjoy my job
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I have become comfortably numb

Theory & hazard 24-may 2016, CBT 8th June 2016, MOD 1 2nd Aug 2016 Mod 2 2nd-Nov 2016 - Current bike CBR 600 RR

[Nexus Icon]

Job - Run the Rapid Prototyping machines for an F1 team.

Perception - "You work in F1? That must be f*cking awesome!"

Reality - It's f*cking awesome.

Seriously though, it's often hard work and can be very high pressure. Making parts, wanted around the other side of the world, which are still being designed on the day before free practice is a mental concept but it gets done.. most of the time. The money is also slightly better than a similar role outside of the sport would pay.
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Greetings from Shitsville!

[Shaft]

Job - Radio DJ

Perception - Paid exorbitant amounts of money to play your favourite records and natter a bit for a couple of hours, then a never ending round of highly paid personal appearances and hanging out with celebrity mates.

Reality - The above is mostly true if you're on R1/2, for everyone else it's four hours of sitting in a sound proof room, probably with no natural light, watching a computer play the same 40 songs, chosen by someone else, then down the supermarket, usually to do some shopping, very rarely to open it; occasionally, you might get to interview the bloke who finished second on last year's Australian Big Brother and it doesn't pay very well.

Brilliant job if you're on a high profile show, like watching paint dry if you aren't.
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[D O G]

[Shaft]

I've been both, which is how I know.
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[rac3r]

[Fairies attack]

Fabricator/Welder/Erection slecialist

Preception - Sat on your arse holding people up. Whistling at pretty ladies.

Reality - Very early mornings (work in 4hrs) long nights. Very tight deadlines. witj the possibility of falling off a building and dying.

Perks - Good pay, good laugh, second family (if with the right set of blokes)

Down side - Don't meet much of the female variety, constantly tired, don't know when day will end, could die putting up a job.

It's all relitive. Could die get paid more.

[herulach]

[Fairies attack]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Job : NHS Service Desk Technician.
Perception : Spend all day telling people to turn the PC off and on again.
Reality : Hot phone sex with nurses, then telling people to turn the PC off and on again.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lO2-nloXdQ4/Tl5bkRLPWcI/AAAAAAAAA8k/lGAT-BpPT6M/s1600/fuck_yeah_.jpg
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Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
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[The Original Muzza]

Scientific analyst in the oil industry.

Perception: Boring and not as well paid as engineers in the same industry.

Reality: Boring and not as well paid as engineers in the same industry.

Well paid enough that I can save enough cash to do a post-grad in medicinal research, but until then I'm stuck analysing oil.
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Current Bikes: Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 (2020)
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From then on, I and the bicycle feelings deeper.

[Rogerborg]

My first job was a game developer.

Perception: Underpaid staff who don't know any better, crazy hours, abusive work environment populated by egotistical nobbers, Sisyphean futility, stress, burnouts, crushes your spirit and sours your opinion of the human race.

Reality: See perception.
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[Nai]

I don't really have a definable job at my company. Warehouse manager / tech guy / guy who deals with awkward customers & suppliers / guy who deals with 'couldn't live up to a stereotype more if they tried' Indians. Everyone that sees me at normal working times perceives my job to suck balls. Reality is it does suck balls. However, when times are quiet, there is one annoying as hell perception.

Perception : When its quiet at Nai's he sometimes doesn't do any work for up to 3 weeks at a time.

Reality : Great for a day, but theres only so many websites to browse, games on the phone to play with, cups of coffee to nurse before boredom of the most epic kind sets in.

My job pays very well, but Christ I cant wait to get my distance learning degree done and start getting out of this job. Long term exposure to boredom does things to you and turns your brain off.

[G]

Brings to mind this, though not entirely appropriate:
https://i18nblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/developers-designers-pms-qa.jpg

I used to work in QA and yes, I'd say it's quite accurate .

[deleted111]

"Customer Services Administrator"

Perception: Spend all day on the phone on a script, average pay and an easy day, I guess. Or atleast that's what all my friends seem to think I do when I'm asked what my job title is.

Reality: Work long(ish) hours, constantly screamed at, spend probably an hour in total on the phone each day. Rest of day spent compiling spreadsheets, maintaining databases, keeping tabs on productivity and locating room for improvement, spotting what can be improved and how we can go about doing it without upping the resource (engineers) available. Then I've got countless other mind numbing tasks that are thrown at me on a daily basis. But, to be honest, I guess that's what I get for being at the bottom of the food chain. Maybe things will be better in a few years time.

It's all b*locks.

[Daimo]

[Rogerborg]

[Daimo]

[Suntan Sid]

CAD Technician, (Civil Engineering, contracts)

Other peoples perceptions

Cor, you must be dead clever to be doing that, bet you get good pay as well, must be really interesting.

Reallity

A certain amount of knowledge is required, not a lot though.
You can learn basic Cad in a few hours, you pick the rest up as you go along.
Pay can be good, depends on the contract, it’s above average at the moment.
Sometimes it is interesting, I enjoyed working on the new airports.
In my previous contract, (18 months), I didn’t actually set foot on site, which is unusual.
If you go in with a project management team you can spend fookin’ weeks sitting around doing nothing!

Can’t complain too much really.

Some details of the following have been changed to protect the guilty.

This is quite hard to explain, a friend of mine runs his own business in, shall we say, manufacturing. He doesn’t actually manufacture anything anymore, he just receives orders, takes his percentage off the price and passes the order on to another manufacturer. Nice work if you can get it!
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[The999Kid]

Ambulance Technician

Perception - Rocket around the town on blues, jumping red lights, saving people's lives generally being awesome

Reality - spend ages sitting the crew room drinking tea waiting for a call... which then invariably turns out to be a time waster / pensioner needing company / RTC reported several hours ago and phoned in again by a "Helpful Citizen"
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NDB 19/10/1989 - 1/11/2010 |Nowhere.Elyseum wrote: I get the distinct feeling that Tim should be our secret weapon for future trolling. I don't know many people that can rip the piss in Iambic pentameter

[Kickstart]

[fatpies]

[Redoko]

Perceptions: Shelf Stacker, ultimately. Boring job and tedious, only for students to get by.

Reality: Hard work, great people to work with, pay is good for the work, benefits are huge, working with friends takes the boredom away. All in all, a fun job that is worth the time and effort.*


*(Source: Employment from a 'posh' retailer.)
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"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."
Sudika Sportsman SK50QT > Gilera DNA50 > Honda CBR125 RW7 > Kawasaki Zephyr750 > Suzuki GSXR600 > Honda Hornet CB600F '51

[Pie-Roe]

Sous (second chef) at a busy restuarant

Perceptions: Hard long hours, shouting, sweating and having sex with waitresses, being fat, stress, low pay for working unsocial times

Reality: Long hours, not hard if good at job, stress, enjoyment from quality. Buzz from a busy service. varied shifts, most evenings and weekends working, but don't mind. Pay is good for my age. Waitresses are hot and easy when drinking cocktails after a 12 hour shift.
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