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.