I strongly suspect being a spy doesn't involve half as many high-tech gadgets and spontaneous sexual intercourse as I've been led to believe. -u/Rrraou

Anything in modern-day publishing. How many television shows and movies must I watch where the plucky young upstart graduates from college and gets a job at the magazine or newspaper of their choice and is respected and can make a living?

The pay sucks, you're in constant danger of being laid off (when your pub folds, usually), and it's usually a pretty corporate environment where you're tasked with multiple jobs for little hope of advancement. The names high up on the mastheads are usually those of rich people, and it's because they started off rich and could afford to stay in the industry. -u/SarahRecords

From what I've understood, being a cowboy was (is?) really awful. -u/foxmachine

Working on a film. If you're crew, it sucks. long long hours for what seems like very very slow progress on the picture, lots of standing around waiting, etc. You arrive well before everyone else and leave after everyone else. If this is an indie production you also may have to beg/chase down for your pay at the end of each week. Oh, and when the film wraps, you're now unemployed. -u/MrPelham

Being a therapist. Too many people I've met get into the field thinking it's how they saw it on TV: affluent white collar, own office, warm slow pace environment, where you get to sit on a nice comfy couch and be like "let's talk about your feelings." That's only if you get to private practice, which they don't tell you is also like running your own small business, which good luck is you have no business acumen.

The reality is you get out of grad school, get your first job working at a Community Mental Health facility because they are the only ones who will hire you with a limited license and no experience, getting paid less than $40k/yr if you're lucky, and then get put in a walk-in closet of an office, where they dump 100 client caseload on you the first day. Followed by your first client who has 5 different diagnoses and is on 12 different psych meds who says to you "f*ck you, you're the 7th different person I've had here, nobody cares about me." Yeah people go into $100k of debt for that... -u/Puzzleheaded-Art-469

Archaeologist, specifically field archaeology. 99% of the time you find absolutely nothing, it's often physically demanding (sometimes grueling), the pay is sh*t, there are no benefits, you have to constantly travel, there's very little stability, I could go on.

Source: have worked in CRM (Cultural Resource Management) archaeology for several years now. -u/eric3844

Lawyer. Number of historic, life-changing, precedent-setting cases participated in: 0. Number of angry, self entitled, abusive clients wanting to screw each other over: 842. Number of pages of paperwork that’s sucked up free time and social life: 84,836. -u/epicurious_aussie

Everyone used to think it was awesome that I worked in live sports TV. 70% of the people I worked with were miserable pricks with over-inflated egos, and then there were the athletes… -u/Shitty_Fat-tits

Ballerina. -u/purpleowlie

Apparently, lifeguards, because nobody can find them anymore. -u/Scrappy_Larue

Anything in the music industry. You're never really off the clock, the pay is terrible pretty much all across the board unless you're in the 1% of the top in any business. People think it's all glamorous because they see the popstars, the music videos, the award shows. Truth is, it's blood, sweat, tears, stress, lack of sleep, a lot of inappropriate behaviour, drugs (fun if you like it, not fun if you don't), alcohol (again: fun if you like it, not fun if you don't.)

And again: low pay, and then maybe once or twice a year you get a perk of going to an award show with free food, booze and a chance to say "Hi" to some celebs (can't even take a photo with them, really, as it's not deemed professional in a "work" setting). I've been there for 15 years give or take, branched out, still linked to it in some ways but I get my money (much better money, might I say) elsewhere now and without as much stress or worry. -u/TheRealDynamitri

Most (not all) jobs in the environmental sector. Pay is usually quite low, you tend to work in very ugly places (landfills, contaminated sites). You are expected to get jobs done in half the time you really need with as few resources as possible. And if you are consulting for other companies, nobody really wants to be working with you to “save the environment” - they generally are just trying to barely meet some regulations. -u/waldo_92

Anything that requires a lot of travel. Sounds glamorous but in reality, all you see is usually an airport, conference room, boring hotel room, and maybe a restaurant if you are lucky. It’s exhausting and it actually just sucks. -u/Electronic_Crab_8955

Computer game development, especially testing. That is the a** end of an industry that is mostly a**. -u/DrColdReality

Journalist. Expectation: I’m gonna be the next Hunter S. Thompson and write compelling feature pieces with a unique voice and get paid to travel the world! Reality: Talking to my editor about how my contact from the cat fashion show won’t call me back or do an interview unless we pay them $80 or adopt two cats. -u/kit_kat_barcalounger

Architect. You think you’ll be designing big fancy iconic buildings. Warehouses, Walmarts, strip malls, and sh*t box apartments all need architects and that’s probably what you’ll end up doing. -u/firenamedgabe

Teacher. Fantasy: I'm gonna change the world one student at a time. Reality: poor paying zoo. -u/beat_u2_it

Veterinary medicine. Fantasy: I get to work with puppies and kittens. Reality: a 3-month-old kitten died in my care, I've seen so much gore and blood and neglect, I've sent animals home with invasive cancers because families can't afford treatment, I've been the only comfort shelter animals knew before they left this world.

It is a specific and exhausting kind of pain and it isn't really talked about enough. People who say they couldn't do it because of euthanasia have no idea. -u/lilybear032

Chef/Cook - Sh*t pay. Toxic work environment. Sh*tty hot working conditions. Megalomaniac/incompetent management and owners. Long sh*tty hours. Working every weekend and every holiday. The only people you will see regularly are your coworkers. And most people descend into alcoholism or drug abuse to cope.

Most people get into it because they're passionate about it, and most bosses will take advantage of this. I spent 10 years in this field. I walked away with nothing other than the knowledge I gained, then had to reenter to the workforce at the bottom at the age of 30. Been out 5 years now, and started making more money and working less hours within a year. I wish I'd left sooner. -u/Lurkist

OBGYN Sonographer. “You get to scan little unborn babies all day!” Then you have an excited parent eagerly watching my face and looking at the screen asking all sorts of cute questions while I calmly tell them I can’t relay any results to them as I stoically measure a fatal abnormality, or record a motionless heart, etc.

Things they don’t teach you in ultrasound school: keep a pleasant expression that does not reveal anything negative about the exam but that also does not create a false sense of positivity. And do not, by any means, cry. -u/deezova

Pilot. You are essentially a bus driver with a really expensive bus, except the bus drivers I knew made better money with city benefits and a pension. -u/seamus_mc

Academic professor. For that matter, science in general. It's less Bill Nye doing cool sh*t and more editing copy to appease Reviewer 2 who simply has a thing against future tense and passive voice for whatever reason. -u/Prof_Acorn

Musician. Show up at Club at 5 pm, (or earlier) unload, setup, mic check, wait hours for the show to start, get sh*tty bar food or local fast food, play to half-empty room, tear down, load into vehicles, hopefully get paid enough to cover expenses.

Leave club 2-3 am, covered in sweat and physically exhausted, either drive to another location or sh*tty hotel. Lather, rinse and repeat... it's a grind for 99% of the musicians out there. -u/cloudywater1

Doctor. Fantasy: "I make lots of money, everyone respects me." Reality: "I watch people die every day, work exhausting 12 hour shifts, have crippling depression and multiple addictions." -u/LargeSnorlax

Probably anything in the entertainment industry, it's bogged down by a lot of workers' rights violations, insane hours during 'crunch time', no work/life balance, and you don't even get paid much because your employers and society at large think it's a privilege to even be working in the industry. -u/daydaylin