That must be so rewarding! What does that even mean and does it even exist?

[Generalist]

I work as a caregiver for disabled elderly adults. I have heard more then a few times, that must be so rewarding. I like my job, at times I actually feel a sense of satisfaction but not once have I thought, this is so rewarding! tee hee! What does that even mean? would anyone honestly say their job is rewarding even if they like it? For people who actually like their jobs, would you say it is rewarding? When people say that to someone, do you think they even believe what they are saying? Thanks to anyone who shows interest.

 

[Yuurei]

I work as a caregiver for disabled elderly adults. I have heard more then a few times, that must be so rewarding. I like my job, at times I actually feel a sense of satisfaction but not once have I thought, this is so rewarding! tee hee! What does that even mean? would anyone honestly say their job is rewarding even if they like it? For people who actually like their jobs, would you say it is rewarding? When people say that to someone, do you think they even believe what they are saying? Thanks to anyone who shows interest.

As a disabled ( not elderly) adult who was able to work for a whole 4 yrs before I broke myself too much- yes, yes it is. I hated my job but it was so unimaginably rewarding to be able to have my own money that I was allowed to spend however I wanted, to not have to dread those government letters, or to report every insignificant aspect of life to a parole board. The feeling of
independence and freedom is a greater reward than any medal.

In your case though, I think that is just something people tell you when they don't know what else to say. It also probably makes them feel like good people.

 

[entropie]

From a purely superficial standpoint, its kinda dumb to say that. Cause if it was THAT rewarding, everybody should do it. It's basically something superficial people say but it aint even intelligent.

To see a job as rewarding in the light of a freedom enabler, I dont know. It does put me in a cage for 40 hours a week so I am rewarded for imprisonment. Real freedom feels differently. But my job is rewarding when I see things that I planned actually happen in my hometown.

 

[21%]

I think it means different things for different people. If it makes you feel good then it's rewarding. I think the meaning has been diluted now and it's used mostly when people think of jobs that seem selfless in nature that actually helps other people.

I get satisfaction from my job, but I wouldn't call it 'rewarding'.

 

[Obfuscate]

I work as a caregiver for disabled elderly adults. I have heard more then a few times, that must be so rewarding. I like my job, at times I actually feel a sense of satisfaction but not once have I thought, this is so rewarding! tee hee! What does that even mean? would anyone honestly say their job is rewarding even if they like it? For people who actually like their jobs, would you say it is rewarding? When people say that to someone, do you think they even believe what they are saying? Thanks to anyone who shows interest.

i've done that sort of work... i most likely will be again (come spring)... people often have said more or less the same sort of thing to me... i'm really not sure what to make of it myself...

i can tell you that at least it doesn't feel useless... i have worked places where i felt like it didn't matter if i showed up or not... those other jobs were much more of a mental drain... i would rather deal with the "less glamorous aspects" of the job... so i guess in some way it must be rewarding, though while i am doing it i generally can't think of how... around half of the people i took care of where entirely ungrateful (and that is only including those aware of reality)... saying that makes it sound like i feel i should have undying gratitude or something, but that isn't what i am getting at... anyhow there is a good tenth that is entirely too grateful and that is very flattering...

i think the most common thing i heard about it was "you're a better person than i am... i couldn't do that"... i thought that was a silly thing to say... i "couldn't" work in construction; i don't have patience for that work environment... i don't think that makes construction workers better people than i am... we simply are different people with different levels of tolerance...

it is easy to think of bad things about that line of work...

the worst part of the job is taking care of people that ask for you to kill them... or maybe the worst part is taking care of people whose family never visits even though they live minutes away... or perhaps the worst part is the moment when someone with dementia/alzheimers comes to long enough to realize how far gone they really are... i guess the worst part could be seeing someone with an active mind unable to find an outlet... the worst part could be watching someone die, and not feeling sure if you should be happy or sad that they have moved on... it's pretty terrible not having enough time for people because your employer won't keep the proper number of people on staff, but i don't think that is the worst part... walking into a room when a person has literally filled the bed with liquid excrement is a runner up... the worst part is when someone dies because the next shift didn't listen to what you told them...

 

[Ghost]

I'd think they meant it's admirable that you do something that directly helps people, especially people who are perceived as vulnerable.

 

[magpie]

I'd think they meant it's admirable that you do something that directly helps people, especially people who are perceived as vulnerable.

I agree with this. For me, when I hear that phrase in that context, there's an undertone of condescension toward disabled people.

 

[ceecee]

In your case though, I think that is just something people tell you when they don't know what else to say. It also probably makes them feel like good people.

I tend to agree with this. I would just smile and nod.

 

[gromit]

I find my work pretty rewarding.

I'm a PT and it is a rewarding and satisfying feeling to help someone develop movement strategies to do the things they want to do in life. It is hard too, because there is some really tough depressing stuff that people have to face, and it can be sad to not be able to help. And also, in the end, there is only so much I can do. So much of it comes from the patient themselves. So I guess it's rewarding in some ways but thats not the whole of it.

For some reason in your case though, when a person says that to you, it seems like something they would say if it's something they cannot for the life of them imagine doing and the only reason they can think someone would do that would be if it were meaningful in some way.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I work as a caregiver for disabled elderly adults. I have heard more then a few times, that must be so rewarding. I like my job, at times I actually feel a sense of satisfaction but not once have I thought, this is so rewarding! tee hee! What does that even mean? would anyone honestly say their job is rewarding even if they like it? For people who actually like their jobs, would you say it is rewarding? When people say that to someone, do you think they even believe what they are saying? Thanks to anyone who shows interest.

I think it means that it is especially helpful, meaningful work- that it is work in which you know you are helping people in a tangible way.

Edit: Also, a lot of people actually have a hard time facing aging and dying, so they tend to avoid the elderly. The people who work with the elderly are doing something that some percentage of the population chooses to avoid. When people do jobs others consider hard, they will use words like "rewarding" to mean that you are getting a special benefit that must offset their perceived difficulty of it. I could be wrong about that, but that is my impression.

 

[Yuurei]

I find my work pretty rewarding.

I'm a PT and it is a rewarding and satisfying feeling to help someone develop movement strategies to do the things they want to do in life. It is hard too, because there is some really tough depressing stuff that people have to face, and it can be sad to not be able to help. And also, in the end, there is only so much I can do. So much of it comes from the patient themselves. So I guess it's rewarding in some ways but thats not the whole of it.

For some reason in your case though, when a person says that to you, it seems like something they would say if it's something they cannot for the life of them imagine doing and the only reason they can think someone would do that would be if it were meaningful in some way.

I love PT's! Ten years ago I had a serious back injury. It never healed fully ( well it did but I lost the disc.) it's caused me problems ever since. Only last year did someone have the brains to reccomend PT. It made an amazing difference!
It helped with my knees too. During my first eval, I didn't have the strength to resist any force at all. At the 1st quater re-evaluation were strong enough to not be moved at all. I am so very greatful to my PT.
...not so much to my insurence who will not allow me to have anymore this year and only a week later my back pain returned with a vengeange.
Anyway, yeah, I can see how being a PT is very rewarding; seeing the results of your hard work help to make people better when nothing else wotked.

 

[Showbread]

What does that even mean? would anyone honestly say their job is rewarding even if they like it? For people who actually like their jobs, would you say it is rewarding? When people say that to someone, do you think they even believe what they are saying? Thanks to anyone who shows interest.

I think it means I find value and gratification from doing my work that is separate from the paycheck. I work with academically high risk undergraduate students, essentially I help them get their shit together so they don't get put on academic probation. They're all very intelligent, but have struggled with school in the past for various reasons. The work I'm doing isn't just helping them get better grades, it's changing the way they view themselves. It's teaching them that they ARE smart, capable, and that their hard work can pay off. To me, seeing their confidence and excitement when they do well is in itself a reward.

From a purely superficial standpoint, its kinda dumb to say that. Cause if it was THAT rewarding, everybody should do it. It's basically something superficial people say but it aint even intelligent.

I don't think that's true at all. A surgeon who donates their time and skills to people who need operations in 3rd world countries probably finds that incredibly rewarding. Does that mean I should go to medical school so I can fix cleft palates in Africa? No. People are good at different things.

People usually find things rewarding because they know they are doing something good, usually to help others. And I DO think that everyone should do something along those lines.

 

[Yuurei]

I don't think that's true at all. A surgeon who donates their time and skills to people who need operations in 3rd world countries probably finds that incredibly rewarding. Does that mean I should go to medical school so I can fix cleft palates in Africa? No. People are good at different things.

People usually find things rewarding because they know they are doing something good, usually to help others. And I DO think that everyone should do something along those lines.

People have different ideas of " good". They also have different levels of what they can tollerate. I admit that while I am great at getting along with people, and do like to help humnamity as a whole, the more I get to know people the less I like them. ( my hisband jokes that my super power is " The 5 minute rule." Give me five minutes with any stranger and they will absolutley love me. Any longer and the disdain begins to show.) Point being that I would do well in a behind-the-scenes job, where I know that I am helping someone without getting to know them.

 

[entropie]

I don't think that's true at all. A surgeon who donates their time and skills to people who need operations in 3rd world countries probably finds that incredibly rewarding. Does that mean I should go to medical school so I can fix cleft palates in Africa? No. People are good at different things.

People usually find things rewarding because they know they are doing something good, usually to help others. And I DO think that everyone should do something along those lines.

Ya, but there are 99% of people talking about doing something good and 1% who actually does it. Thats why I dont like people, who talk about it.

 

[Lark]

I think it means different things for different people. If it makes you feel good then it's rewarding. I think the meaning has been diluted now and it's used mostly when people think of jobs that seem selfless in nature that actually helps other people.

I get satisfaction from my job, but I wouldn't call it 'rewarding'.

I'd say most care giving jobs are demanding rather than rewarding, I think sometimes people who remark on that sort of work as rewarding know that but its something neither party wants to discuss or acknowledge in any depth.

It is something which I think attaches more readily to those sorts of care giving roles, like people dont usually say that service jobs or stocking shelves in a supermarket is rewarding.

Also I think there's something about it being a job that people associate with altruism and the half remembered idea that altruism and kindness used to be considered pleasures or that duty was constantly being recommended as rewarding or its own reward.

 

[Lark]

Ya, but there are 99% of people talking about doing something good and 1% who actually does it. Thats why I dont like people, who talk about it.

Sometimes I do like people who talk up work they've been doing too, if its an excuse for them to channel narcissism for instance, or they are simply using it to talk themselves up as better than others.

I've known and witnessed a lot of people in caring roles who make my skin crawl too, they're exploiting the fact others are in need and depend upon them and any sort of power imbalance they can find in their circumstance.

I think of the cases in the UK of nurses poisoning babies or elderly people, that one case of a care assistant who poisoned their clients and the staff with insulin and tried to blame it all on one of their colleagues, those cases in Japan were the guy killed all those learning disabled people with a sword and the second mass poisoning in a care home reported lately.

There's a lot going on in that field and its not all a matter of people "doing good", if it ever changes in the future and there's some good examination of people in those roles it could uncover a lot, I dont mean scandals and abuse enquiries alone but the amount of people who've been "conscripts" rather than "volunteers" in that line of work and just looking an exit one way or another, usually the one that flatters their egos the most.

 

[Lark]

Something I'd say though, since I've worked in a field which is similar to this one mentioned, is that when you have a good team of people involved, good management and people arent stressed or unhappy all the time that line of work IS great, the human relationship matters in most transactions or exchanges or interaction, a lot of the time its second to business, in that line of work it IS the business and that can be a really great thing.

Paid to listen and talk to others, develop your communication skills, provide a quality of attention that's absent in most exchanges between people on a regular basis? You couldnt beat it. It can be a kind of privileged position to be in.

 

[cascadeco]

I work as a caregiver for disabled elderly adults. I have heard more then a few times, that must be so rewarding. I like my job, at times I actually feel a sense of satisfaction but not once have I thought, this is so rewarding! tee hee! What does that even mean? would anyone honestly say their job is rewarding even if they like it? For people who actually like their jobs, would you say it is rewarding? When people say that to someone, do you think they even believe what they are saying? Thanks to anyone who shows interest.

I think in this example, a person saying something like that can be a form of small talk. A way to keep convo going / the person trying to put a positive spin on what you do.

To the deeper question, I think a given job can be VERY rewarding for a person - if they find it meaningful and feel good about what they do and get a lot out of it emotionally/interpersonally/etc. Of course it doesn't have to be anything humanitarian, it'll be specific to the individual and what drives them.