The most thankless job ever?

[Holdfast]

Being a thankless job sort of implies you expect thanks but routinely get none. It's the mismatch being doing what you feel is a worthwhile job and being abused for it that gives it that uniquely despair-inducing thankless nature. I doubt anyone going into the Traffic Warden business expects to ever be thanked for giving someone a ticket, or even thinks much of the job itself, beyond it just being a way of making some money. I dunno, maybe there are some traffic wardens out there who fully believe they're helping keep the streets safe for ambulances and kids crossing the road by ticketing cars parked on double yellows... but I really doubt it.

So my pick for being a thankless job would be any sort of telephone customer support role. Even if you're just following a scripted set of responses, your end-goal is still to end the call as quickly as possible with a good outcome, and the sheer number of aggressive, rude and stupid calls they get surely gives it one of the most severe mismatches between expected thanks and actual thanks.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

- Umpires

- Anyone creating a Trek TV series

- President of the United States

 

[Admiral Shran]

- Anyone in.... customer service.

DING DING DING! We have a winner.

A lot of people act like it's perfectly okay to treat anybody standing by a cash register like total crap.

 

[Holdfast]

- Umpires

Good call (pardon the pun).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Unless it's Joe West. That guy's just an ego-driven jackass.

 

[RobertVA]

Don't forget bill collectors and the tow truck drivers that re-posses vehicles securing delinquent loans and/or parking in unauthorized "towing enforced" areas.

I suspect the attendants at the impound lot and clerks that handle traffic fines at the courthouse don't see very many smiles either.

 

[MNM]

Even if you're just following a scripted set of responses, your end-goal is still to end the call as quickly as possible with a good outcome, and the sheer number of aggressive, rude and stupid calls

As a general point, I garauntee that a good percentage of the rude, aggresive.. etc calls happen becauise they know the person on the end of the call is reading from a set of scripted responses and trying to get rid of them as quickly as possible. It can be infuriating as the impression becomes that they are not actually trying to help you, they're just dealing with you.

 

[spooky spice]

Farming.

You're out in all weathers from early in the morning, till late at night, and there's the danger of being killed/injured by equipment and/or livestock. And then you get blamed for BSE and foot and mouth outbreaks, moaned at by motorist for holding up traffic driving to the fields.


There's a shop near me where the owner expects his staff to work (in rotation) every other Sunday, for free. As a 'thank you' to him for paying them for the rest of the week.

And, no, I'm not joking. He got away with it for years.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Truck drivers who go back and forth across the country, away from their families for days on end, supplying us with...everything, without us really thinking about it or ever knowing who they are.

 

[RoJoHen]

Don't forget bill collectors

It would help if they weren't such assholes on the phone.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Don't forget bill collectors

It would help if they weren't such assholes on the phone.

They're assholes because it works. People respond to pressure, threats, and guilt-trips. They don't respond to, "Please, pay your bill, or we'll ask really nicely again!"

 

[RoJoHen]

Don't forget bill collectors

It would help if they weren't such assholes on the phone.

They're assholes because it works. People respond to pressure, threats, and guilt-trips. They don't respond to, "Please, pay your bill, or we'll ask really nicely again!"

Does it really work, though? I've only dealt with one, and all he did was immediately put me on the defensive.

Of course, it didn't help that he refused to tell me where my "debt" even came from and demanded that I give him my credit card number. For the longest time I thought it was a scam until two years later it showed up on my credit report.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It would help if they weren't such assholes on the phone.

They're assholes because it works. People respond to pressure, threats, and guilt-trips. They don't respond to, "Please, pay your bill, or we'll ask really nicely again!"

Does it really work, though? I've only dealt with one, and all he did was immediately put me on the defensive.

Of course, it didn't help that he refused to tell me where my "debt" even came from and demanded that I give him my credit card number. For the longest time I thought it was a scam until two years later it showed up on my credit report.

Yep, it works. The most successful collection agencies are the ones that like to bend the rules and be abusive assholes to the people they call. It's often not even legal, but the penalties pale in comparison to the profits.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Truck drivers who go back and forth across the country, away from their families for days on end, supplying us with...everything, without us really thinking about it or ever knowing who they are.

My uncle is a trucker and I can tell you that this is very true.

 

[Kirby]

Janitor at one of those 'Adult Arcades'

Florida Marlins season ticket seller

The vet tech that expresses my dog's anal glands

 

[Broccoli]

Fluffer


/thread

 

[RoJoHen]

Fluffer


/thread

I thank my fluffer every day.

 

[Kemaiku]

Fluffer


/thread

Since cheap viagra became available to the porn industry, fluffers have not really been needed [insert obligatory laid off joke here].

 

[Warped9]

Someone said customer service---they got that right. Also anyone in fast food help, one of North America's versions of indentured servitude.

 

[SmoothieX]

The vet tech that expresses my dog's anal glands

BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHA!

As a dog owner I totally agree.

A couple months back, my dog dragged the vacuum cord down the stairs wit him, causing the vacuum to go tumbling down and smack into him. Now he weighs 90 lbs, so he was fine, but it literally the shit out of him. He expressed his glands all over himself. Man does that stuff stink, and linger.