'Quit the next day': 10+ dream jobs that weren't what they were cracked up to be

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Jul 23, 2023 4:00 PM EDT

Did anyone else have a crazy dream job as a kid that led to some serious disillusionment as an adult? You could have had the aspiration to be an astronaut, to be president, or to be a pop singer. I'd be lying if I denied that my since deleted first email had the words "movie" and "star" in it. It's a common occurrence for kids to dream big, and this is by no means a suggestion that they shouldn't.

The disillusionment that comes with adulthood is inevitable, but we can all do a better job at preparing ourselves and our peers for that disillusionment. Even as adults, we come across job postings on the Internet that are so exaggerated and so idealized that they completely misrepresent the position. This might be a more minor form of a dream job turning into a nightmare, but the inability of employers to be transparent seems like an easy fix when it comes to helping all of us dreamers manage our expectations in the workforce.

Keep scrolling below for this collection of dream jobs that turned into nightmares, which were compiled from this r/AskReddit thread. Some include the realities of what it means to be a zookeeper, a coworker who made a dream corporate job miserable, and the harsh experiences of being a teacher. For more stories like this, here's one about a hotel employee who was fired on Day One.

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