Seven jobs that are worse than yours

1. Parking attendants

Universally unpopular, stuck on their feet all day and inciting ire wherever they go, parking enforcement officers have a pretty raw deal. According to one individual who went undercover in London to find out, they are also quite often the subject of #link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4596907.stm:assaults from angry motorists#. All in all, the job doesn’t leave anyone very happy:

2. Sewer inspectors

Complaints about poor working conditions are pretty common but let’s be honest, you’ll find few workplaces that stink more than this one. The job involves wading through raw waste in search of burst or cracked pipes. As well as having to work unsociable hours and in all weather conditions, sewer inspectors are at risk of catching diseases, like gastroentereis.

3. Lumberjacks

Working independently in the great outdoors might sound idyllic, but according to a #link:http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/jobs-rated-2014-ranking-200-jobs-best-worst:ranking by a US career institute#, it’s the humble woodcutter that comes at the bottom of the heap on three criteria: work environment, stress and future career prospects. Newspaper reporters scored only marginally better. Just as well Life Links is a multimedia project, right?

4. Factory workers

They’re the people who assemble your iPhone, sew your clothes and package your food. Factory workers have to deal with monotonous tasks and long working hours. Many suffer from health problems as a result of their work. A #link:http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/upfile/2013_7_29/apple_s_unkept_promises.pdf:report by a US-based NGO# found that workers, some of them underage, were working up to 69-hour weeks in an Apple supplier factory. Avoiding a repeat of the experience on an assembly line led one Twitter user to conclude:

5. Pest controllers

Anyone who’s ever had a mouse in the house knows how unpleasant the feeling of being invaded can be. But imagine dealing with pest and vermin every single day of the week! According to the UK-based National Careers Service, this is a job that would suit someone with an interest in “health and safety.” It might not be to everyone’s taste but that’s certainly not stopped Britain’s Pest Control Association, which represents more than 7,000 members, from coming up with a cheery rhyme to promote their work in the lead-up to Christmas:

6. Pet food testers

Considering that tasting your dog’s next meal #link:http://www.insidejobs.com/careers/pet-food-tester:could earn you more than 100,000 euros# ($124,000), this might not seem like such a bad job after all. But while many children may dream of becoming chocolate testers, few aspire one day to evaluate their pet parrot’s cuisine. As one jobs website points out however, being a pet food taster requires creativity too: it involves coming up with new nutritional snack ideas.

7. Secretaries

Often they do all the work and get none of the credit. They perform the same tasks as managers, consultants, phone operators and copywriters, yet are frequently treated as if their primary skill were making coffee. For such versatile individuals, the admin side of things can be painstakingly dull. This tweet on the monotony of filing says it all: