Professions I will never mock,

[camwyn]

for I have either done their work and found it more than I want to deal with, or I have studied the subjects leading up to their work and have no intention of coming any closer, or I have read accounts of their work/spoken to members of the profession and know too much to mock them:

Accountants
Receptionists
Bricklayers
Dentists
Construction workers
Patent attorneys
Dermatologists (to quote That's Incurable!, "anyone who flays warts for a living serves a dark and hungry god")

Further updates as events warrant. But right now it's mostly the receptionists, because I have to substitute for the office receptionist (she has food poisoning) until the temp arrives. I've been at the reception desk before, back when I was temping after college. Didn't mind it all that much then as there weren't that many calls - I was working at a commercial real estate firm, and later at a video production company that consisted of four people plus me. Here, though? The phone rings too often for me to carry one thought coherently through from beginning to end. Grrr.

Comments

[cadhla.livejournal.com]

You have just defined, oddly, why I enjoy both reception and telephone tech support work -- two things that drive you up a tree.

In both jobs, it is my task to get you on the phone, talk to you, give you some answers, and get rid of you. If we never speak again, I have still done my job. If I've done it well, you're happy -- or at least happier -- and I have made the world a little better in a very little time. I can spread a hell of a lot of low-grade happy and polite if you get me to a phone.

You seem to prefer to follow problems all the way through to their ends, without interruption. See also why you knit and I do straight-ink decorations on greeting cards.

Love ya.

[zou.livejournal.com]

I have a measly two on my list, but:

Veterans
Food Service Industry people

I respect Veterans because I went through old army files when I held my longest-running job. While I did see medical reports for soldiers valiantly cutting their fingers accidentally on coffee can lids, I also saw medical reports for soldiers who were riding a motorcycle in France when a house blew up and buried them. I've also held papers that originated in Germany, from the jail papers of prisoners of war. I've read how those soldiers were when they got out.

My first two jobs, which both lasted a matter of days each, were in food service. One was a coffee/muffin/sandwich type place, and the other was the Pizza Hut Retail Business Outlet (RBO) in the local movie theatre with expensive tickets. The movie theatre was The Man. I couldn't call customers customers; they were 'guests'. Nevermind that I worked in a Retail /Business/ Outlet, they were guests. Anyway, I came to the stunning conclusion that I really just suck at food preparation. I don't know what I'm doing, I'm slow, and frankly, I find a lot of it gross. I can't do it, honestly. I don't think I'm too good for it - quite the opposite. I suck, they do not, they get my respect. So I try to tip well, be patient and pleasant, and I never ever leave the sandwich making area until I'm certain they're done asking me questions about my order. Nothing sucks more than calling, "Sir? SIR? Salt or pepper? ...Sir? Sir? Would you like lettuce and tomato? Sirrrrr?"

[mountainspeak.livejournal.com]

What about Histotechnologists? :)

[camwyn]

Funnily enough, the possibility of mocking them has never come up. Dentists? People make fun of dentists all the time. It's why the poor dears have such a high suicide rate- half of North America lives in terror of dentists. Dermatologists? They get hit with the same problem as veterinarians, namely, "But why aren't you a REAL doctor?" (Yeah, come over here and say that when the melanoma on your back's metastized because you didn't take it to a dermatologist in tme.) Receptionists? "Oh, she just answers the phone, files her nails, and reads romance novels." Pretty much all the professions on my list have been snarked at in my hearing at some point, so I wanted to make it clear I'm not gonna join in the snarking. Histotechnologists? Nobody's ever expressed an interest in mocking them in my hearing.

(Well, ok, patent attorneys get covered under the blanket heading of 'attorneys' - but I've worked for patent attorneys long enough to know how hard their particular specialty is. I'm not very clear on other varieties of lawyer.)

[mountainspeak.livejournal.com]

Well, thats true. Most just look at you blankly and go a Histo...whatsit? :) It came to mind more due to your mention of Dermatologists, who a few of our pathologists are.