I did retirement home training and used to think it was a sweet job. Then I got in the business and underestimated how demoralizing it was as they give you the easy elders in training while the others make you, or at least me, really think of the fact the job just amounts to an unkarmic freebie.
Elected Republicans
Police.
If you have to ask why at this stage you must also still believe the Spanish Inquisistion is necessary.
Yeah you’re right, local neighborhood militia sounds much better /s
The police do a valuable job if you’re living in a functional society.
Gated housing security/executives, HOA
Religious bureaucracy, barker
Pimps
Union busters
Search engine manipulators
Tanning salons
Deodorant advertisers
Smoking industry
Subprime mortgage brokers
Gambling industry
“And just like that, he left.”
“He what?!.. Did he say anything?”
“Nothing at all. He plopped the list on the ground and promptly walked out.”
“What a bloke.”
War profiteers. If you work for a company like Raytheon or Lockheed Martin then you are doing an incredible amount of harm to the world and I have even less respect than I have for people in the military. These companies are constantly looking to fuel conflicts, destabilize, and pump all sorts of weapons into every corner of the globe. These people are the true scum of the earth, they are among the worst people who have ever lived.
Bathroom attendants - since people got all the high value stuff.
I don’t mean people that clean the bathroom etc.
I mean the guy that stands at the sink and makes awkward small talk before handing you a towel you could have got yourself and expects a tip.
Bathroom attendants are there to discourage drug use and bathroom sex. That’s literally their primary purpose. The fact that they have towels and mints is secondary to the fact that they’re just a walking overdose deterrent.
That’s why they’re commonly seen in clubs and bars where people would be inclined to do drugs or have bathroom sex.
Bathroom attendants play a key role in maintaining cleanliness and providing a touch of personalized service, especially in high-end establishments. Their primary responsibility is to ensure the restroom remains clean, sanitary, and fully stocked with supplies. However, their role goes beyond just cleaning. At upscale locations, bathroom attendants offer a variety of helpful services, such as providing guests with towels, cologne, gum, or mouthwash. They also discreetly help you leave the restroom looking your best—whether that means making sure your shirt is tucked in properly, your tie and gig-line is straight, or there’s no toilet paper stuck to your shoe.
Most of their cleaning duties are performed between guests. While you’re washing your hands, they might simply offer you a towel or a spritz of cologne. But when the restroom is empty, attendants are hard at work, wiping down surfaces, checking stalls, and restocking supplies to ensure everything remains in top shape. This constant attention prevents the need for the restroom to be closed for cleaning by some sweaty guy in filthy coveralls swearing and muttering randomly, instead keeping the space clean and functional seamlessly throughout the night.
Bathroom attendants also provide a subtle layer of security, monitoring restroom usage to prevent smoking, drug use, or other inappropriate activities. In some cases, particularly at nightclubs, this may even be their primary responsibility. While lower-end venues may employ bathroom attendants to create a more VIP atmosphere, the attendants in these settings are often more like an extension of front-door security and are there to keep things safe and orderly, rather than to provide the full range of services seen in higher-end locales.
Next time you encounter a bathroom attendant, ask them how you look before leaving the restroom. They’ll likely be happy to offer a quick adjustment or a friendly compliment, ensuring you leave looking sharp. In a way, they’re like an underappreciated wingman, helping you make the best impression possible. They’re also usually wired into the rest of the house, so if you’d like the bartender to come by your table with something special or have some other special request, they can help take care of it.
It’s usually an old woman, and that keeps drunk bros from getting out of hand, assholes from littering paper towels, and you can just get your own damn towel.
I think it’s mainly higher end places thinking actual towels would be a nice touch but not willing to pay for them to be lost or stolen
Wait, what? What kind of crazy place do you live? I take it that everyone who applies to such a job is just a pervert who likes listening to everyone using the toilet. (or do you have separate toilet and sink rooms?)
Also, why are you paying them rather than the owner of the bathroom? I’m guessing this is American based on that detail haha
Apparently it’s not just an American thing, but maybe other countries have more sense not to do it anymore.
They’re usually in “high end” restaurants in big cities like Las Vegas. The ones I recall usually have the sinks somewhat separated from the stalls with a partition or turn, but they’re not wholly separate rooms. The motivations are probably more needing money, access to a fancy place, and being an extrovert than perversion - more windshield wiper gig than peeping Tom.
I think it’s a combination of a holdover from another time that maybe was useful when they had an expanded role - they probably actually used to keep the bathroom clean, and some guys will shine shoes etc. - and tip-based service jobs they gave to poor people. I think they do get an hourly rate, but it’s probably below minimum wage for the same reasons waiting tables is.
Advertisers. For-profit advertisers mostly. They intentionally skew people’s understanding of the world for the benefit (usually) of the rich.
Whatever job MBAs have
Managers without empathy.
Sounds a bit like doctors without borders now when I think about it, it’s maybe already a clan.
“influencers” should not exist in their form today. If you are to peddle a brand, you get to be responsible (as in legally liable) for the claims made
my feeling is, is if you are going to be selling a product and you use certain words or phrases like “scientifically proven” or “research shows…” that you need to reference your claim.
That’s not enough… not just because nobody would read it but because there is a LONG tradition of marketing funded junk science so they could very easily come up with some shitty paper that backs whatever they are saying.
The tobacco industry was famous for this and for years they produced studies that showed smoking was good for you
The tobacco industry still actively does this. For example, they published papers promoting vaping as a public health initiative–tobacco cessation or harm reduction, they called it. One of the doctors, for example, was a sex therapist. Another got his medical degree in the Virgin Islands. All published under the guise of a legitimate “think-tank” with the basic premise of, “how do we address the public health impact of smoking?”
See? Literally, this behaviour is why we can’t have nice things
Lobbyists
What about a lobbyist who works for say the Electronic Frontier Foundation? Or a nurses union. Or who works for the Sierra Club, or some organization trying to protect the environment?
“Lobbying” is just talking to a politician on behalf of a person or group. If the Hollywood studios all hire lobbyists to talk to representatives about why copyright terms should be longer and DRM should be mandatory, doesn’t it make sense that there should be people telling the other side?
I get that too often lobbyists overstep ethical boundaries. Often, they either effectively bribe politicians, or they write up laws allowing the politician to just rubber-stamp them. But, you could shore up and/or enforce laws restricting that kind of thing, while still allowing a representative of a group to meet with a politician and explain their point of view.
Yeah, I mean the bribery kind. We need to overturn Citizens United
Senior Bribery Logistic Engineers*
Lobbyist
Let’s say you lose your job because a company lays you off without notice amid record profits. With your new found free time, you get so angry you go to your state senators and representatives and try to convince them to make a law limiting layoffs to a 6 month notice period for profitable companies. You are now a lobbyist. You are saying not to lobby the government full time. But for the sake of clarity let’s say your coworkers also got laid off and pooled their money to send you to lobby on their behalf, you are now a paid lobbyist.
I feel like most people that complain about lobbyists are really just complaining about corporate lobbyists or lobbying groups paid by corporations. Lobbyists are a good and necessary part of any democracy.
And, even if you do lobby the government full time, what if you’re a lobbyist who works on behalf of environmental groups. If the Sierra Club wants to alert politicians about a secret clause snuck into a new bill regulating coal mines, they can hire you to talk to the right people. If a town like Flint, Michigan is having trouble with contamination of their water supply, they can hire you to find the right people to talk to.
Maybe in an ideal world every politician would have enough time and enough staff to fully investigate things on their own. But, in the real world, we’re probably always going to need people to talk to the decision makers and advocate on our behalf.
What we really should have is good oversight and tight rules to ensure it’s just talking and not doing favors, giving money, etc.
Yeah, hatred for lobbyists may realiy be hatred for corporate influence, but they don’t have to be the same thing. Limiting corporate money in politics, and adding some thirds rule would be go a long way
Up voting for your last paragraph. Totally agree. Lobbyists only interested in corporate profit are evil.
i wish that people had as vivid of imagination when thinking of ways to build a mass movement to fix the problems with our deeply dysfunctional “democracy” designed by and for the benefit of the wealthy 1%, as they did when trying to find excuses as to why every single part of said political system is totally irreplaceable and in fact is functioning perfectly within the best system possible.
A better world is possible, but it is up to us to change it.
I think you’re misattributing my intent. If you want to make corporate lobbying illegal or highly regulated I’m all for it. But lobbying overall is an inherently good and important part of politics. If you merely talk to a politician about a bill you want to pass you are lobbying. But you are likely very bad at it compared to a professional, so you pay an organization to do it on your behalf. Do you expect politicians to live in a black box completely disconnected from constituent issues as long as they are in office? Because that’s how you get laws passed that have nothing to do with human need. If I donate to the ACLU, HRC, or an environmental group, I expect that some of my money will be spent on lobbying congress. That is not bad or evil.
You are saying not to lobby the government full time
Yeah did you read the question? It asked what occupation. What’s the point of your entire monologue it’s irrelevant.
I absolutely read the question, accusing me of reading comprehension problems while having serious reading comprehension problems is some reddit level stupidity. Reread what I wrote, you read the first half and ignored the second half. I was merely illustrating that many paid lobbyist do very worthwhile things. From labor rights, to environmental justice, to human rights. The issue isn’t lobbyists, the issue is corporate lobbyists…
Influencers. Just ad extensions.
Lemmy users that post the same thing in multiple Ask Lemmy communities
They get paid for that?
Off-topic: Lemmy really needs better crosspost functionality.
Lemmy is a small group of people, let’s not divide it further by having the exact same conversation in two (or more) places.
Marketing. Anything having to do with marketing.
I’m a big fan of Bill Hicks’ philosophy in regards to those people.
You’re just going for that anti-marketing dollar
Anti-advertising advertising. Genius.
Marketing itself can be good, sadly the whole industry has gone off so far into the dark path that it’s irredeemable at this point.
Disagree with the first part. Agree with the second.
When I’m dictator they’ll be among the first up against the wall.
Fortunately for them, my lack of ambition and crippling video game addiction ensure I’ll never be dictator over anything more than my two cats.
Bad marketing makes me want to ship my pants.
Not aware of Bill Hicks’ take, but marketing effectively amounts to manipulating people into buying things that they otherwise would not.
There’s only 3 kinds of advertising that work on me.
-
“My business supports [thing I like] financially!” Ok, that’s fair. You donate to them, I purchase from you over competitors.
-
“Hello, I run [business]. I make sure to patronize [other business] to support [business] because [other business] does quality work. Check them out!” For some reason, this resonates with me. It sounds way more honest.
-
“Here is a picture of tasty food”. FOOOOOOOD 🤤
The only advertising I want is a list of specs for the product and maybe a video demonstration of it’s capabilities (not a highly edited misleading video like most advertising we see today).
I wouldn’t class that as advertising… That’s just product info, so you know what you’re buying.
Yea. That’s what advertising should be. What it is is worthless nonsense which is why everyone blocks as much of it as they possibly can.
There is exactly one ad that worked on me. It was a poster for a bottle of Oasis that said “you’re thirsty, we have quotas, let’s help each other out.”
Rebuttal/fact check:
- they donate 0.0015% of every $10+ purchase you make, on a Shursday, when it’s raining meatballs; additional terms and conditions apply
- [other company]: “we’ve never heard of them in our lives, but alright I guess?”
- “here is the food we advertise! and here is the garbage we slap together next to the dumpster out back that we actually serve at our fine establishments!”
Don’t trust anyone who needs to advertise. If they were actually good products/services, they wouldn’t need to advertise, as word of mouth and reputation does that for you. You don’t see any Rolls-Royce ads on primetime television…
If you find yourself interested because of advertising, always, always be skeptical of all claims. Don’t just believe, but research, verify.
If they were actually good products/services, they wouldn’t need to advertise
How do they get their first customers without advertising?
Friends and family, others who know you and your skills, etc
Jesus Christ dude, get some therapy. Not everything is bullshit all the time.
Have you been to the USA?
They have some really nice mountains! (The one they haven’t carved the to off)
I got a postcard in the mail for Granta, a literary journal. On one side it said “Just subscribe, you know you want to.” On the other side it said “We promise, no poetry. Ever!”
(sigh) Subscribed.
Discovered one of my favorite books and authors that way:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118585.Into_the_Heart_of_Borneo
-
Going after that anger dollar, I see. Big market.