"I Wouldn't Want to Have a Doctor who Hated his Job."

[Palamon]

Now, this thread requires you to think.

What are three jobs you feel like a person would be bad at, if they disliked it? I could only come up with two, that being doctor and teacher. I know I wouldn't want to have a doctor who didn't like their job, that's for sure.

 

[EC]

Gonna go off the board here and say delivery person. You know, USPS/UPS/FedEx. You see videos every so often of delivery people who don't care and just throw packages around like they are the morning paper.

 

[tonbo]

if the guy who cleaned the school toilets hated his job, i'd hate my life. also, people working in restaurants, and people doing child care. the last one especially could go horribly wrong, imagine someone neglecting a room full of toddlers. not good.

 

[Jessie]

An airplane pilot.

Please for the love of God, if you're going to fly me around in the air, love your job. Be one with the plane. Live the plane. Love the plane. The plane is your best friend.

 

[Somewhere_]

Teachers, especially in elementary school. Education is very important, and it can be very bad to have a terrible teacher. A good teacher can create an empowered student.

 

[Imperator161]

I think some of it depends on disposition, and how you respond if you don't like your job. For example, if you're in a service industry job, and you don't like it, it'll be a problem if you respond by being rude to your customers. However, if you can keep it to yourself, it may not matter that much.

I've known doctors who don't like their jobs. Sometimes patients can tell, and sometimes they can't. For some specialties, especially without much patient interaction, I don't think it matters that much. (E.g., if you don't like being a pathologist, but you're willing to put the time in and do a good job, it may not hurt your job performance that much.) However, there are definitely careers that are draining enough that it's hard to excel in them without some degree of passion. Medicine and teaching can fall into this category, as previously mentioned. I would argue the same for scientific research; it's hard to put up with grant and paper rejections and failed experiments day after day if you aren't excited about what you're doing, or don't feel like there's a valuable ultimate goal.

I also get the sense that you have to like politics and have a certain "fire in the belly" to be US president or a similar position. There is constant stress, and it's really a 24/7 job in many ways, so if you aren't excited about it, I'm not sure you could get through the 4 (or 8) years of presidency without collapsing under the pressure (let alone the other elements of a political career necessary to get to that point). Plus, if you seem burnt out and tired, who is going to take you seriously?

 

[Nihilego]

My job - research science - is definitely one that you have to like to do well in. Two reasons:

1) Outside of enjoyment and interest, there really aren't many reasons to do this job. Long hours, relatively poor pay, high stress, etc. Almost all of the scientists I know are very, very enthusiastic about the job in comparison to people in other lines of work and it's simply because, if you aren't enthusiastic about it and if you don't love what you're doing, it's an unfair and disproportionately demanding career which you'll want out of asap. Scientists who don't love science do not survive in this field of work. It's too demanding for too little reward.

2) If you don't like doing science, your experiments aren't going to work properly. This is either due to a lack of understanding of what you're doing (since you lack interest in your work), or a lack of care and attention. It's a big, big problem because a), your experiments probably won't work properly if you aren't paying them the proper understanding and attention, wasting your time and resources and b) the experiments that you end up publishing may not be scientifically sound because you're rushing to get them over with. This is an even bigger issue because, when bad results get published, it hurts not only your reputation as a scientist but the entire scientific community that works in your field. In general, a lot of trust is put into published work so when bad work is published, it can cause big problems for people who put faith in it and conduct their subsequent work accordingly. Experiments can get very long-winded and tedious and nightmarish if you don't enjoy doing them, so liking your job is definitely key here.

I also get the sense that you have to like politics and have a certain "fire in the belly" to be US president or a similar position.

Heh, maybe in the US. In the UK, most politicians really don't give two shits about their job. Lots of them don't bother to turn up for discussions in parliament and actively try to cut their own working hours whilst simultaneously increasing their own pay. This goes for our prime minister, too. Every now and then you get a decent one but really, most of them don't deserve their positions of power because they sure as hell don't use them properly.

 

[AlphaTangoFoxtrot]

I feel like a mechanic who hated his/her job would be really bad at it. Also, a sales rep of any kind.

 

[pkmin3033]

A dentist. The difference between my NHS dentist and my current private practice dentist is shocking. The guy who I originally saw clearly didn't enjoy his job, and he didn't really seem to give a crap that I was freaking out; it was a quick in-and-out with no time for questions, an ultimatum for treatment presented without discussion, and that was it. My current dentist is far more understanding, actually bothers to explain the processes and discuss possible options, and he's generally a really nice guy. He does his fucking job properly, basically. Something like that is VERY important, considering the serious amount of pain you can go through regarding dental work, the costs involved, and the need to have check-ups so you can nip things in the bud before they blossom into something highly unpleasant.

I think Video Game Developer might be one of these, too. I generally get a sense of a lot more passion - and a higher quality product - from smaller developers who take the time to do interviews, post progress diaries, and generally keep players informed of the process, as opposed to AAA corporate scumbags who post trailers and give an awful hammy speech about how you should BELIEVE THE HYPE and all that trash.

I'm drawing blanks for a third one at the moment.

 

[sirboulevard]

I can honestly say that if and when I have kids, if their pediatrician doesn't like their job, I would be scared s***less. And that's a hard job even by doctor standards because not only do you have to do doctory things, you also have to put up with little kids being little kids (read: awful).

I suppose having a dispassionate urologist or proctologist would scare me too. You're touching sensitive stuff, guys!

Gonna go off the board here and say delivery person. You know, USPS/UPS/FedEx. You see videos every so often of delivery people who don't care and just throw packages around like they are the morning paper.

I worked for UPS a few years back. Honestly, alot of them really love their jobs (but hate their hours). But really, the higher ups really did not give a minute's thought about stuff. I can't tell you how many packages broke because the truck's storage area was so poorly designed the packages broke in transit. The only time I threw a package involved a very very mean dog.