[NF] NF's what jobs have you tried and liked-disliked?

[Ethiope]

Let's see...

Liked:
Desktop Publishing - liked the creative side of it but got good at it pretty quickly and then got bored. Also, liked that I could focus on what I was doing and generally be left alone.
Waitress - wouldn't want to do it for a long time, but for a summer job during school, it was ok.
Sales at Victoria's Secret - really don't like sales in general, but I liked the laid back attitude at VS and the classical music.
Veterinary Assistant - love animals but didn't like the putting them to sleep part.
Medical Transcription - was good at it and the earphones were the perfect thing to stop people from talking to me when I didn't want them to.
Newspaper obituary writer - was very formulaic, so no real creativity, but liked being in the newsroom and basically worked alone but could talk to people when I wanted to.

Dislike(d):
My current career as a gynecologist - for too many reasons to mention, but the top ones - too much stress (not from the care of patients per se but from fighting with insurance companies and patients to pay and worrying about lawsuits), lack of creativity, having to function within strict rules and regulations set by others, call. But even worse was when I did...
OB - Oh my God I hated it. Stress, stress, stress and monotony! And, absolutely NO creativity. You have to follow guidelines to obviously avoid hurting anyone, but sometimes the guidelines aren't necessarily the best thing for the individual patient but you still have to follow them to avoid lawsuits. Glad that's over with!!!
Retail at The Limited - they wanted me to be all perky and stuff, ughh!
Telemarketing - do I need to explain?
Tutor - don't seem to have enough patience when people don't get things quickly that I find obvious.

 

[Froody Blue Gem]

One job that I have tried and disliked was a stock clerk type job with some retail things involved. The tasks there weren't so bad once I got the hang of it. The part I didn't like was when customers needed help, the socialization bit. This was my first job ever so a lot of new stuff. There was a lot that I didn't know and am generally awkward when dealing with people, I prefer a job with little interaction with costumers. "I don't know" or anything along those lines is not an acceptable answer. I struggled with getting the tasks done quick enough as well.

I get the impression that my supervisor at that job didn't really like me much either. Near the end, things got better but thinking back on that job, I remember the negative over the positive. It was also my last year of high school, when I was dipping my toe into the world of adulting so it was a dark stressful year that year.

 

[Lexicon]

Absolutely hated anything in the food industry. Also hated sales - where you work on commission/follow people around. Unpleasant.

Call center - I did fundraising for universities. That was ok. If it were telemarketing or debt collecting, it would’ve been really negative on a daily basis.

Security guard - boring, but also ok. Had time to read or do college hw. It was an overnight job in a giant corporate office maze building.

Retail/cashier - didn’t like it, but didn’t abhor it the way I did with food/sales.


I did unpaid volunteer work at animal shelters in the past, and that was rewarding. I probably wouldn’t mind a job as a vet tech (requires more school though), even if animals are ill or stressed. I’m usually good at calming them down/reading them. I think I’d probably get too angry about negligent or ignorant owners, though. Like people who feed their pets loads of table scraps or crazy hippies who use essential oils on animals (can poison them). I’d either get fired or become a silently very hateful person. I’d probably be too paranoid about bringing germs home to my cat, at this point, too.



Remote assistant for an online talent agency - that was a good job. Mostly virtual paper pushing, but it revolved around what I’m passionate about in some capacity, so it was still interesting. Nice to work from home.


Extras- as in, these don’t count as “jobs,” but I did get paid:

- Participant in clinical trials. I’ve been in like, 5 different paid studies for migraine medications over the past few yrs. They paid a couple hundred at the very least, & one was $700 at the most. Was nice to be compensated for trying new treatments, since I was doing that unpaid anyway.

- Consumer product testing. Pays practically peanuts (like between $5-$25 per product, & you don’t always qualify to t3st the product, so opportunities aren’t consistent/terribly frequent, but it all varies based on the company. You get to try new products for free before they’re out. Gotten a variety of things to test in the past year or so:
- bar soaps
- hair mousse
- skin care kit
- paper towels
- a frozen dinner (they shipped it to me packed in dry ice, which was pretty neat)
- antiperspirant
- kitty litter
- bath gel
- scented candles

... to name a few.

 

[Population: 1]

A job I’ve enjoyed? Well I didn’t get paid but DJing back in college. I’ve always been passionate about music and I have the voice for it so yeah that was fun.

Everything else has been because I had to or because it paid fairly well but I hated it. Planning ahead has never been a strong suit of mine. I also don’t share the values of my society. Intangibles hold more value to me than bragging rights and how many figures I can reap. I constantly feel like an alien. Still, I wouldn’t change my views.

 

[MyINFJness]

I have loved all of the jobs I have had. As a younger person, I worked in a copy center (organization really floats my boat) and at a call center (my phone skills are actually pretty good when I'm 'in mode'). I loved the fast paced nature of the restaurant business, but the fast-pacedness also resulted in my really sucking as a waitress (overwhelmed busy-brain). But I have always been a social worker. Fulfills my need to stay busy and useful, problem solve and live in a world saturated with feelings. Although the flip side is that it irritates those other aspects of my personality (feeling rushed often, many, many demands, not always having the answer, dealing with heavy, intense and overwhelming emotions regularly). Still I could do nothing else-Full on committed!

 

[Peter Deadpan]

I'm a slave to society and don't know what happiness and fulfillment are.

 

[MyINFJness]

I'm a slave to society and don't know what happiness and fulfillment are.

First you go find yourself a wishing star, you see, then you close your eyes really tight, fill your thoughts with a basket of cuddly puppies . . . take notes . . .

 

[cascadeco]

Let's see...

Long, long ago, in the late 90's and start of the 2000's... I did temp jobs over the summer and then some longer term ones post-college, that placed me in various companies, where I did mostly data entry, with other office type work. Never had to do phone assignments, though, which was a preference. I liked all of these gigs because they were short term, kept me busy since because they needed a temp they had definite work that needed to be done, and they were all non-customer interfacing. There were teams I worked with but nothing customer service related. Which was good. (This was back when temp work was a different world, unlike how it now is - you just got assignments and there weren't interview rigaramoles or nonsense like that; and there were many gigs to be had).

Volunteer version of an interpretive park ranger -- staffed the visitor's center, led hikes, created programs and gave presentations. I loved working for the park service and in a field I found meaningful. I did not care for leading the hikes; it was manageable for a short term job but career-wise it would probably have been too much for me as an introvert. That said I was such a youngun and these days I might be able to swing it better.

A few short-term environmental education jobs with county government and a watershed district -- enjoyed the subject matter, again, a field I found important/meaningful. Enjoyed making displays, pamphlets, any more creative endeavors; was less keen on the 1:1 customer consulting and interaction.

Financial services industry - many jobs over the years, from service rep to business systems analyst to project manager --- Liked the testing/analysis / requirements writing portion; disliked anything involving phone rep stuff and being the person running the meetings. (getting a theme, here? I worked 8+ years in these types of corporate jobs; the biggest issue however was the existential issues I ran into; just sitting in a cubicle day in and day out doing this ultimately (in my view) pointless endeavor, it all just made me quite depressed in a sense.

Briefly taught K-3rd graders for a spring season at a butterfly pavilion; enjoyed the subject matter, it was a good learning experience, but I'm not designed for teaching in a classroom environment. I did adequately well / got good feedback but it was too much of a natural stretch of my personality.

Coffee shop barista/ shift supervisor - enjoy always being on the move, not being chained to a desk or cubicle, variety of tasks and though there's monotony in every job out there, there seems to be less of it with this one. Enjoy opportunities I've been given in taking care of flower planters, doing signage, think I am good at running a team/floor, take people into account. Dislike the grind of customers (the people element is *really* difficult to deal with and it is cyclical for me, my ability to cope well with it) and their demands, and it can be challenging working with some people who are pretty slow / not very intelligent. There are enough here with strong education or varied enough backgrounds though that generally it stays interesting/ the people I work with are decent. It equates to a great lifestyle overall but there are drawbacks.

 

[frezekiel]

I've hated most jobs that I've had. They were necessary evils. Instead of getting a degree or pursuing a career, I got married and had three kids, so I don't really have the luxury of doing what I like to do, which would be illustration/fine art/film/other creative job.

My mom waited until she raised me and my four brothers and then she got her law degree, so I guess I'll probably do something similar, like finish my art degree when the kids are all grown.

Some of the jobs I've had:

Mc Donald's customer service rep -- when I was 14.
It was terrible. It was really hard and very low pay. Really shitty hours, and no respect at all.

Chuck E Cheese's customer service rep -- around 16 years old
Same as above.

Various cashier/customer service rep jobs -- Rite Aid, local hardware store, grocery, etc - 17-30 years old
Same as above.

State Job - Office Assistant -- in my 30s to the present (I'm 43 now).
Wow, does this job suck. But it pays the bills, and makes my family happy.

Pastor of a small, rural Baptist church -- I really enjoyed this, but it was hard because they couldn't afford to pay me anything, so I had to work full time while doing it, and I got burnt out.
Really miss those days.


One of my goals is to one day produce a short graphic novel. And hopefully, after that, make many more. But right now, with all of my responsibilities, its very hard.

 

[Abcdenfp]

I'm a slave to society and don't know what happiness and fulfillment are.

Just.. I heart you

 

[Peter Deadpan]

Just.. I heart you

That makes one of us.

 

[Tengri]

My earliest summer jobs as a teen and undergrad were generally service sector, some retail and government service. Food service had a meditative zen quality to it when you weren't aware of unhappy coworkers and dead-end bosses. I worked at a pizza parlor very briefly in college and the owner, a cantankerous, slightly paranoid European from the Balkans, kept insisting I must be Greek even as I politely insisted, "No, I'm this ethnicity." These strained reminders and others continued for the short time I worked there and if it wasn't for the funny memories and free large pizzas he let me bake at the end of every shift, I would've counted it as one my worst. Equally bad: I worked with Habitat for a season and something about the combination of driving around in unsafe urban neighborhoods, wearing uncomfortable Carhartt cold weather gear, and tearing houses down in the dead of winter made for an unfulfilling experience.

Working in academic libraries through my undergrad and after was easy overall, maybe less impactful is the right description. My coworkers were friendly, interesting, and I often ran across professors I liked. The few times I actually worked in law offices (mostly to make a little extra money), the stale environment, bespectacled, zipped up lawyers and paralegals, and uninspiring work left me tickled but listing for anything but lists, or something less humdrum than human misery transcribed to court systems. Working with animals and kids has so far been fulfilling work, by comparison.

 

[Cellmold]

I'm a slave to society and don't know what happiness and fulfillment are.

Well I agree.

I'm in a foul mood most of the time, primarily because I am obligated to work by systems I didn't have a choice in and never could have a choice in. The wheels are rolling and they're grinding my fucking soul in.

First few jobs: Odd jobs in construction with family and friends - Hated it, I'm not practical and unfortunately no amount of exposure (which has been ongoing since...the last 14 odd years) has ever helped in this department.

Working in retail as a stock assistant - Hated the work, but I got paid immensely well for the weekend hours and I had tons of time off in the week. For a comparison I'm currently employed full time as a veterinary care assistant (worst decision I've ever made- kids do NOT go into animal care) and I earn less working upwards of 80+ hours than I did working around 35 or less. Of course that had to stop because it's never a good idea to have employees who are capable of doing tons of work in less hours for more pay, so us newer generational employees got our contracts changed and the special pay for weekends went bye bye, but the older staff kept their pay and privileges. Cool beans.

Working at the local hospital in an admin department - Absolute hell. My first day an enormous lady from physical therapy (and who the hell was she helping to fucking walk? She couldn't fucking breathe) squeezed her way into our tiny photocopying department and asked where her 'fucking leaflets were'. My supervisor had popped out and so I asked her who she was and which department "I'm from physiotherapy you idiot, you people are always fucking slow with my stuff". And I told her it was my first day and I was unsure how to use the machines as I hadn't been shown yet (this is the first 15 minutes of my first shift) and went on a rant about how useless we were and how I shouldn't use it being my first day to excuse no knowing how to do stuff (that I hadn't even started learning yet).
I stuck it out two weeks. That lady was not even the worst of them, each department was filled to the brim with miserable cunts.

General retail and cashier - Well I worked at one retail outlet and nearly got into a fist-fight with a team leader on the shop floor, because he was a bullying piece of shit who would wander around doing fuck all and criticise everyone else around him. Including me for not shaving one day (despite the fact the reason was that I had been told I was on a late shift and then it was switched on me the previous night which I knew because I took a damn picture of the rota and they had me in that night as well and I didn't finish till 4 am and they were calling me at 8am, which I'm fairly sure is illegal) < read the parenthesis..I had no time to shave. But from a man with his gut hanging out...who had an actual beard...that took the cake...yeah sure..my appearance...right.

The other retail cashier job...that lasted until last year, but I was miserable the entire time. The staff was..okish...very unreliable and a lot of part-timers who didn't pull their weight or kept phoning in sick (with hang overs) but I generally got on with most of them and only had a few clashes. Problem is the council estate was rough as cat balls and in the time I was there I was spat at, nearly assaulted, my manager and myself have had knives and on one occasion, an axe, pulled out on us. Verbal abuse, constant thievery, drug dealing in broad daylight on the car park. One guy took a shit in our trolley bay. An alcoholic woman pissed herself in the queue. Another time I found a well-known criminal of the area sleeping out the back of the shop in our delivery lane. This is alongside mind-numbingly shit work and having to work every weekend. Also getting up at 5am and knowing that most likely I'll be at the place till 10pm as yet another person wouldn't show up.

Around this time I had a second job working at a haulage company. But it was an odd arrangement, the lady I worked with was the wife of a family friend and she worked from home. But she lived literally less than a hundred yards from the previously mentioned shithole shop above. You can see it right from the office window. So I would work at the shop on an early till around 3pm (if I was lucky) and then go to hers till around 9-10pm. And that was 5 days a week, at the weekend I only did 2 10 hour stints at the shop.
But that job was boring as all fuck and I hate admin and bureaucracy. I did it because she and her husband asked us for some help after her twins appeared (they weren't expecting 3).

I left that place around May 2017 thinking I was going to continue to work at the shop and do an english course on the side. But that course got cancelled. So I went back to her for a brief time from December to Feb. It was around this time that I fell into a deep existential misery which culminated in the dumbest decision I have ever made.


And that is my current pursuit of attempting to get into Veterinary Nursing, which my first year has been spent doing 9 months of non-stop work in order to get my VCA certificate. I am then supposed to start my level 3 (actual nursing) course in September, but after a big meltdown recently I discussed it with my tutor and I'm leaving it for next year...if I ever do it at all. I am too exhausted to begin to list the the problems with this job.

All I'll say is...don't do it. And I wasn't naive, I never assumed anything to do with cuddly animals or avoiding people, I knew it would involve the worst, guilt-tripping-pieces-of-shit-humanity on the planet and me mainly being thrust into situations I have been unprepared for and...lots of cleaning up piss, shit and vomit. But nothing really prepared me for the sheer misery of all the other aspects involved. Although I think a lot of them are to do with this area and it's problems.

And I know that from many a perspective, I'm being a whiny little fuckwit myself, taking for granted what others would kill for. Yet for some reason that realisation does not suddenly make the pains of life easier, maybe because the kind of people who say it are not really in a bad position themselves, they're just doing it on someone else's behalf, or trying to guilt you into keeping everything bottled up so they can pretend that life is ok, or that they're winning in the pain-olympics.

I do try my best to keep it bottled up, I really do. But it does come at the cost of intimacy, no one deserves to get close to me only for this stuff to come spilling out all over them like red-hot bleeding pus. I just struggle because nothing ever seemed obvious from the get go and I wondered what internal facade people use to keep moving forwards in their lives. Assuming that is that they ever feel the same way, which I'm sure many do.

But I'm not that bright and I keep going back to the grindstone (a grindstone that was built for a tiny % of the population who are addicted to productivity and work which is great for them but not for the rest of us) because of my inability to maintain a stable mental state long enough to make intelligent decisions. Its fascinating how the poor and bad experiences build up...unknown, and then blindside you at inopportune times, coming out of fucking nowhere.

Where am I storing these memories?

A year or so ago there was some captain of industry on the radio, talking about how he had gone from the stereotypical successful life of wealth, power, family etc...and left it behind for life as a man of the cloth. I know it was supposed to be moving and inspiring and the man was smart as a razor and I respect his achievements immensely. Yet I couldn't help but think that this is a nice life to hear about and then leave behind, but it's a life most people will never even scratch the surface of or come close to in their entire lives.

Most spend their time trying to get to even a minute amount of that life, and maybe the lesson was some ethereal notion of materialism, traditionalism and their inadequacies. But all I could think is that must have been a nice life to have tasted, yet it is so far from those of us who lack that brilliance. And I'm not so petty that I would stand in the way of someone's brilliance that way (I'm fair too self-guilting to do it) but it just left an empty feeling, not an inspiring one.

I think people like to believe that emotional content is manageable without an upper limit, but sadly the truth is you're working with a set amount from the start..and sure you can maximise...accessorise or whatever it is the delusional self-help and free-will types like to peddle. But the reality is that it comes to chance, and if the chances are that you have a low emotional content or do not experience intense emotions...well bully for you. The rest of us have to constantly manage a shifting tide of bullshit in the pursuit of stability.

The job requirements read: Sanity need not apply

 

[Firebird 8118]

TA in college (for two semesters) -
Android low-level tester - (second-worst boss ever)
Web developer intern - (worst boss ever)
ServiceNow admin -
Mail sorter -
ServiceNow contractor/developer -

Now if I could just reach a point where I’m hired directly (and therefore get twice my current salary), that will change to a

 

[Peter Deadpan]

I've only been a telemarketer, inbound customer service rep, and dog groomer.
It's because I enjoy suffering.

 

[Pionart]

I had a job involving book-binding and basic admin work.

I didn't mind it because I could do it on autopilot while thinking about other things.

 

[highlander]

I am an NT but believe I will answer it anyway because it is an interesting question

 

[highlander]

I'm an NT but am going to answer this anyway I've had a few jobs

Cafeteria Worker - My first job in college. I mopped floors, filled drinks and milk, washed dishes, etc. Some parts of it were a bit gross but overall, I liked it and felt like I was doing a good job. It was a great experience but I had to quit after a year and a half because it was interfering with my school.

Temporary Worker – I did this during college. I was a warehouse worker for a couple years which I enjoyed I was a call center agent for a few weeks. I was let go after a few weeks because apparently I would “rather play than work”. I think it’s because this really beautiful girl sat next to me and I talked to her too much. Mostly for two summers I worked at a warehouse doing odd jobs. I enjoyed it actuallu

Night Guard - Mostly this was at a girls dormitory between 11pm and 7am. I did it for a couple years. For a while, I did a good job of using the job to study. It was a distracting job though and hard to stay up so late.

Computer Programmer – I did this for quite a while. At first, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. After a while, I was good at it but it was a bit constraining in terms of scope of responsibility. I wasn’t the most gifted person at it but was good at understanding what people wanted.

IT Auditor – I did this for a couple of years. It was a career progression move. I liked it.

Cyber Security Consultant – I guess I have been doing this a long time, progressing to partner and all for a long time.

I honestly I liked all of them. I only hated only one boss. She didn’t care how much work I got done – just what time I got in in the morning and when Ieft.