It takes all sorts to make the world go ’round, and that includes a wide range of professional pursuits. Even though a job might not be for you – or you loathe the idea of anyone else doing it – the fact is, it has to get done.

And these people say that folks are generally happy they exist once they truly need their services.

 

Everyone hates the dentist.

I’m a dentist for kids. I am hated by parents and children. I had only a few fillings done as a child, and it was fine. But I didn’t realize how much fear and anxiety was in the world for dentists. I wears you down after a while, and a lot of dentists get burned out because no one appreciates you and how hard of a job it is.

You kind of have to give no fucks at a certain point because people need you, but then you have to hear shit like, “Hey good thing I’m getting this filling today, so you can make your boat payment.” when in actuality, you are getting paid $182 for that filling on a child while the mother is crying in the corner in worry, which barely pays the overhead of running a practice, while you have $500,000 in student loans. You do a good job, and then the parent says, “Let’s get out of this horrible place.”

Adults say to me, “I hate the dentist. ” and I say, “well, I am a pretty nice person.” and then they say, “Oh not you, just I hate everything you do. ”

The world is less tolerant of discomfort, and I think dentists need to use more sedation for treatment. But then people won’t want to pay $500 for it. so…..they will still hate us.

Worth their weight in gold.

Lawyers and mechanics. You want to have a good one of each, but you never want to have to call either of them.

Finding a good mechanic will 99% of the time save you the most money out of most of these answers.

Finding one that’s skilled, but doesn’t rip you off is a fucking godsend. I didn’t realize this until I married someone whose father is a mechanic. The amount of bullshit I no longer deal with is unbelievable.

IF YOU FIND A GOOD MECHANIC, DON’T PISS THEM OFF NICKLE AND DIMING THEM.

They are expensive, but…

All the trades guys. “They’re so expensive!!!”

Until that plumber shows up at 2am to prevent the sewage backup. Or the electrician that fixes an overloaded breaker panel, preventing a fire. Or the carpenter who builds the room for your toddler so you can get some sleep and maybe some sexy time.

Definitely tradesmen.

A necessary gig.

When I was a janitor I got a lot of hate for knocking out my 8 hour day in 4 individual hour long chunks of effort.

I Was always available for spills and got extra work done every day but spent another 4 hours basically chilling and management not once got on my case.

The other employees despised this until a customer’s colostomy bag somehow ruptured in the bathroom. From that day forward none of them gave a crap if I was just hanging out on my phone.

It’s necessary.

Auditors

I had someone get mad at me for asking them to fill out an expense reimbursement report. Apparently I’m supposed to magically know how much they spent that we’ll cover, I guess. They only begrudgingly agreed when I offered the alternative of skipping the report and not reimbursing them for anything.

Generally good.

The US Coast Guard for fishermen and boaters. Usually there’s a pretty good working relationship between them, but some hate the Coast Guard for the various inspections they do. But the USCG is also the ones who will come out there in a storm to rescue them.

They’re like military police, and you don’t have rights on the water like you do on land with normal police. They’re generally good and responsible, but I also understand why people have negative feelings toward them.

They all fit the mold.

“Lawyer” is going to be the most common answer to this question by far. But I suppose any licensed service provider could fall into this category, given the right context.

Plumbers are another good example. Everyone thinks they’re scum and crooks until the washing machine breaks down. Electricians, contractors, locksmiths, etc. They all fit this mold. Unless you work with them daily, you’re not going to be seeing them very often. And you’re only seeing them when there’s a problem — so you’re primed to be upset by the time they even show up. Psychologically, you associate the plumbing issue with the plumber, when ironically, the plumber is there to fix it. Everyone wants to shoot the messenger.

IT people and network security professionals are another classic example of this effect.

It’s rough.

IT, except people hate me when they need me, too.

On the one hand, they get the know-nothings who are like “wHy caNt I sENd emAIL to thiS (postal) aDdResS?” and, on the other hand, they get already annoyed jerks who get pissed off when the support person goes through the standard questions. “I already tried rebooting! What did you think I tried first?!?”

Hat’s off.

Lineman. Been called a lazy overpaid drug addict by old men I don’t even know. God forbid we go grab lunch or a coffee.

It’s not all elective.

Plastic Surgeons. My uncle is a plastic surgeon and he does only reconstructive stuff, fixing burn victims faces and stuff like that. But when people ask him what kind of doctor he is and he says Plastic Surgeon, they usually kinda scoff.

It is often forgotten, but Plastic/Cosmetic Surgery got a big start in the aftermath of WWI: there were plenty of vets with horrible disfigurements that were met with horror and revulsion returning to civilian life. The operations they took to repair/replace lost jaws, eyes, bones, etc were attempts to let these vets able to enjoy some normalcy in society.

Everyone’s realizing this now.

I scrolled a long time and didn’t find it:

Fast food workers

They’re the butt of every demeaning comment about a lack of achievement or the reason why minimum wage shouldn’t be raised blah blah blah

But those people get real quiet once they’re ordering their Big Mac

They don’t know it all.

Lawyer here. The expectation that because you are a lawyer you know everything about every law everywhere.

In reality most lawyers are highly specialised.

Don’t talk smack.

I would go so far as to say cooks in general.

Look I understand that having someone make your food for you (at least as an adult) isn’t considered a necessity and is more or less a luxury, but that’s what makes the shit you get as one so frustrating sometimes. People treat it as a luxury until they’re hungry, and now suddenly it’s a necessity. Feeding yourself is a necessity, but having someone else do it is totally optional; so cooks end up on the teeter totter of “we don’t need you, but I’m hungry so please do your job”.

That doesn’t even mention that cooking is a skill a lot of people don’t bother developing, or only develop certain styles of cooking in their own home; so if you want variety, you either have to spend time and more money just to learn that new recipe, or you have to go to someone else to have them make that food for you. It’s an industry that many people end up relying on for convenience purposes, but end up serving a necessity by serving that convenience, if that makes enough sense.

Plus, most of the people who talk smack about fast food workers or restaurant workers in general genuinely don’t understand how cooking works, and only care about their stomachs being full. Throw them in a kitchen and they’ll panic, get overwhelmed, and quit/walk away.

Yes, they can fix it.

Cyber security…

Why do we have to do all these dumb trainings! No one is this stupid!

Oh… uhhh… hey… I clicked on this link in this email from Gary in accounting and now it wants bitcoin to get my stuff back… you can fix this right?

Too many bad ones.

Tow truck drivers

My car has been falsely towed twice from the parking lot of my apartment and both times they argued against it and made me pay, got a refund after my landlord talked to them.

The last time they literally lied to me saying they didn’t have my car (literally gave them the exact model, where it was taken from and my license plate), even tho I called the night before and with a vague description they said they did. Asked the dude if I could look in the back but nah of course not, he “checked the camera for my car” by looking at it for half a second.

Tried to make me think my car was stolen. Called the police department and nope it was there. Had the parking stickers in my window and they said it was because my sticker was expired, even tho they don’t expire.

 

I mean, they have a point.

We’re all going to need them someday!