Jobs that make people work the hardest for their money?

[Novila]

Yikes. I would've said retail but I'm a little out of touch. As far as city jobs go, I would say retail is for sure one of the most underpaid jobs, considering there is plenty of hard labor involved, planning, customer service (exhausting) and people- and manager-pleasing. So if you're talking physical labor likely not up there with the rest, but otherwise exhausting, mostly unrewarding work for very low pay. Also, anyone in a factory, wherever those still exist, and working with dangerous or environmentally hazardous machines.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by Ehiesl

Yikes. I would've said retail but I'm a little out of touch. As far as city jobs go, I would say retail is for sure one of the most underpaid jobs, considering there is plenty of hard labor involved, planning, customer service (exhausting) and people- and manager-pleasing. So if you're talking physical labor likely not up there with the rest, but otherwise exhausting, mostly unrewarding work for very low pay. Also, anyone in a factory, wherever those still exist, and working with dangerous or environmentally hazardous machines.

I've worked plenty of retail jobs in my lifetime and can't think of any that I thought were exhausting. While they aren't generally all that well paying, the amount of mental and physical exertion to be successful at them isn't all that much either...

The last two retail jobs I've held were p/t on top of a f/t job and I didn't work there for the pay, but rather the discounts.

[macroy]

Originally Posted by hnsq

Depends what you mean by 'hard'.

Investment bankers on wall street work 90-100 hour weeks, all year long. A friend of mine was in the office 362 days last year, averaging 14 hours/day, seven days/week.

Agreed - there's the physically intensive jobs that many have indicated here. I certainly agree they are hard on the body. But just because you have an office job doesn't mean its any easier.... the stress/anxiety that follows you 24/7 can be even more detrimental in the long run.

I guess the "hardest" jobs would be ones that combine both physical and mental exertion (maybe not equal portions). I think being active duty military is tough. As well as being in law enforcement. ER doctors isn't exactly a cake walk either (especially if you're still in residency and can be pulling 24 hour shifts).

That said - just looking at the title, another way to define working hard for the money are those that get paid only for their results. i.e. commissioned sales etc. They also work fairly hard as they don't get paid otherwise.