I read in BK's thread that bobrek admires members of the armed forces particularly because they volunteered rather than being drafted. I agree that it is a pretty thankless job, but it got me to thinking about other thankless jobs that exist today and go pretty much unappreciated. I'm not talking about doctors, lawyers or even police, fire and ems people. Their jobs are all important (well, maybe except the lawyers... ) but we hear a lot about them. We even hear about teachers though that doesn't really turn into increased salary. No, I mean the REALLY unappreciated people. (Feel free to respond with your own) <b>Janitors - Cleaning Crews</b> This has got to be one of the most thankless jobs on earth. You clean up other people's crap (sometimes literally), get paid very little and oftentimes are looked down upon by the very people whose filth you are paid to clean. <b>Window Washers</b> Would you dangle by ropes from an 80-story building so that the accountant in the office can have a good view? Neither would I. <b>Skilled Labor</b> These are machinists, carpenters, plumbers, you name it. These guys absolutely are the fabric of American capitalism. Without them, we would basically not have anything - cars, clothes, plumbing, houses. <b>Waiters/Waitresses</b> We've discussed how dissed these poor people are but it bears repeating. The crap they have to endure is unreal. <b>Geeks</b> Don't laugh. So often, geeks are made fun of, ridiculed or criticized, but they are the reason we have technology in the first place and the one's who fix it when you or I cannot. <b>Farmers</b> In the midwest, they might be appreciated, but not anywhere else. Have you tried growing your own food? How about food for a few thousand? It isn't easy, is it? <b>Nurses</b> Let's face it, doctors get all the glory but the nurses are the one's who do most of the work. They are there with patients every day, administering medication, talking to them and helping. <b>Clergy</b> I'm not talking about televangelists. I'm talking about the priest or pastor at the local church, the rabbi at the temple, the local religous leaders of different faiths who help people who need it, lend a sympathetic ear and reassure us all. <b>Volunteers</b> Every day in America, millions of volunteers are giving of their time freely for the benefit of those less fortunate. They work in soup kitchens or on low income housing. They help non-profit groups and even work in dangerous situations in foreign countries. And, they do it all expecting NOTHING in return - no money, no glory.
Health Department employees...people take safe drinking water, breathable air, babies, disease control for granted. HAZMAT guys....I had OSHA training recently and those suits are hot along with the pressure that all that stands between you and death is a synthetic suit, buddy, and positive pressure. Municipal sewage plant workers...everyone excreets and yet we still have relatively fresh air. Atheletes....yeah they get a lot of press, but they generally aren't respected for the service they bring to their community. Communities have rallied behind one athlete before. Its not some much at what they do, its what the people that follow them do.
Top of the list: Teachers. For the influence they wield over the minds and direction of our nation's youth, they are sorely underpaid, thus reducing the number of qualified candidates that are willing to do it. I would love to teach High School English, but there's no way I can afford to take the pay cut right now. And aside from being underpaid, there is the constant disrespect they are shown by students and parents.
Damn straight!! As Bill Gates once said: "Don't ever laugh at computer nerds, for one day you will be working for us."
Excellent post. As a child of two teachers (one is retired), you don't have to tell me about this sad fact of life.
I think <b>Behad's</b> work as Sergeat of Arms of the bbs while doing safety monitoring at the nuclear reactor plant is unappreciated. <b>treeman</b> and <b>mr. oily's</b> work as bad-thread stopper is wholly unappreciated, because no one wants to ruin their work by saying "thanks for that post that stopped this thread." <b>Achebe</b> for work on the anti-Spelling Police. We need someone to keep inventing clever new spellings to make the Spelling Police shoot themselves. <b>aelliott</b> for foresaking all posting fun by concentrating only on coming out of the woodwork to body slam overstatements and misstatements. <b>DoD</b> -- [nevermind, insensitve post deleted] <b>kbm</b> someone has to explain the counter culture in the parallel universe! <b>B</b> that job of taking a single letter moniker is totally unapprectiated <b>sirhangover</b> Mr. Slap-you-geeks-back-to-reality is unappreciated <b>Cato13</b> The Deliverer of the complete, unedited, 30T Moochie game is unappreciated. <br><br><br><h4>Most Overrated Jobs</h4> <b>keeley</b> as the unadministrator <b>Sane</b> as the President of the Cato "i still believe" Fan Club...not his fault, just that everything associated with Cato is overrated. <b>BobFinn*</b> with a Fantasy Forum named after him when The Cat does all the work. Does he even win??? <b>fromobile</b> just because you have the job of being CBFC's unpredictable brother (which builds his calm, cool and collected aura even more), and the job of annoying Karla-lovers like Jenna into leaving, doesn't mean you can start threads with DUH, DOYIIEEEE!!! in the title. <b>teeloo</b> being R0ckets03's game partner is totally overrated!! <b>Tmo</b> President of the 12th Man Club is overrated and overbudget from doing too much Marketing.
I'm not over, or under appreciated....I must be appreciated then as one cool, nice dude who likes to shoot my gun. bang, bang!