The worst job EVER!

The worst job ever!

The Picayune Item
Community Editor

Every year they come out with their lists. They, the list makers, who have nothing better to do in life than to research and analyze the worst’s of worst. Who are these negative do-gooders?

In this instance, it is CareerCast.com and their findings intrigued me.

If you haven’t heard the ‘rest of this story’ then you are thinking what could be the worst job of the year? Could it be yours?

And the 2013 worst job winner goes to…..Newspaper Reporter!

Did you feel deflated? Confused.

The report’s qualifying statement to support this horrible profession is, “Ever-shrinking newsrooms, dwindling budgets and competition from internet businesses.”

Thank goodness, there are fewer of them, right?

What jobs were not as bad as the reporter who is low paid, on call, long hours, lack of kudos, blamed for being too far left or too far right, worried every day of being unemployed and has no life?

Oh, just the cushy job of being a Lumberjack!

My Lumberjack

Lumberjack is second due to “the inherent danger of working with heavy machinery in remote locations, coupled with low pay and poor job prospects,” according to the article.

Ok, so I have been a newspaper reporter and not a lumberjack, forgive me if I am a bit skeptical that a back-breaking, limb-losing, death defying Lumberjack came in second to mild manner reporter.

Yes, newspapers are fading in numbers, but the market is transforming, shifting and the role of reporter is not like the employee at a Blockbuster Video. The need for news is constant no matter if it’s printed, online, or spoken on broadcast. The times are a changing but newspapers are evolving, not “extincting.”

Example of the evolving newspaper in Laurel, Mississippi

Don’t get me wrong, newspaper reporting was not easy, living deadline to deadline; but I never suffered physical pain or loss of limb. Although I did get really hot out in the Mississippi sun a few times, the suffering was more emotional; such as the trauma of witnessing the outcome of wrecks, tragic events, and the occasional “Froo Froo” ladies luncheon.

Reflecting back at my time as a newspaper employee all I can remember is how much I enjoyed it.

I wonder what Clark Kent is doing now?

Third on the ‘worst’ list is understandable: Enlisted Military Personnel which is also deemed the most stressful job of 2013. This is a position that you have to leave home for long periods of time, sacrificing family time, for mediocre pay and hope that you return home alive or at least with all your body parts.

I guess it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.

This heroic job is truly a noble profession, but much of the work is non-glamorous, support related and is not the stuff shown on Hollywood movies.

Speaking of Hollywood, next on the list is Actor. Could it be that reality television has shrunken the pool of acting jobs?

Oil rig workers which was the reigning champ in 2011 has sunk to the cozy position of fifth place. Long hours, dangerous conditions and being away from home make it on the watch list for future placement. Drill baby, drill.

Dairy farmers are next on the list. I get this one. My first husband was a dairy farmer growing up. He had to wake up before dawn, before going to school to milk the cows.

We got cows!

These days, how many teens get up in time to eat breakfast let alone work the family farm? Once home from school, those cows had to be milked again, seven days a week, no breaking for holidays or the cows would explode. That’s what I heard anyway.

Meter Reader, Mail Carrier, Roofer and Flight Attendant make up the rest of the list. I have been on a roof helping my dad replace the shingles on our family home and I thoroughly agree that it’s a very tough and HOT job, especially in South Mississippi.

What made the best jobs list of 2013 due to high pay, low stress, future job prospects, working environment and lack of sweat equity? You might consider being an Actuary.

I first thought it had something to do with birds.

However, it is not that exciting. It’s a person who assesses risk, usually for insurance companies dealing with data input, statistics and blah, blah, blah.

Biomedical Engineer, Software Engineers, and Financial Planners are some of the best jobs with bright futures and require more than a high school diploma and winning smile.

However, these list-makers failed to include one job that is never on anyone’s list whether best or worst —Domestic Engineer.

As Mother’s Day is sneaking up on us all, we should acknowledge the worst job ever, being a Mother!

Yes, I dared to say it.

It is the most challenging, grueling, unappreciated, low-pay, high-stress career position ever invented. The more kids the more deeply mothered you become and it is harder than anyone ever warned.

Glowing, happy-faced mothers who appear in public are Stepford Mothers who are either computerized, faking it very well, or not doing it right. I call them moms with live-in nannies!

A true mother who does it all, and that may include a full-time job on top of the duties of wife and home maker must be the most, incredibly hardest job of all time.

I have participated in all aspects of motherhood, from the highs of the firstborn panic of, “OMG, what have I done?” to the widowed, single mother of two sons wondering, “How do I do this alone?” The remarried mother trying to blend in a new father into the mix who is concerned, “Will my children accept the new guy?” To being the mother of twins!

I, however, have not played the part of step-mother, so I have no clue how that works except for fairy tales and that doesn't look very good.

I have been the full-time employed mother of four trying to squeeze in laundry at midnight and writing articles with sick, daycare-less children crawling over the keyboard. I have been the stay at home mom, the work from home mom and the, “I can’t afford to work mom because the pay scale is too low, the daycare too expensive or the cost to my kids too high -- mom!”

From what I have discovered in my “momdom” is that no one could ever prepare me for the trials, the drama, the problems, and the total chaos that can ensue with having children.

AND, I only had boys! My mom friends with girls tell me it’s worse with hormonal females!

So, in my humble opinion, forgive me if I am bias, but the worst job of 2013, and 2014, and so on, and so on…is the job of being a mother.

Oh, and before I forget, I would not have chosen any other profession. Rewards are immeasurable.