“What Profession Was Once Highly Respected, But Is Now A Complete Joke?” (59 Answers)

Last week, Redditor u/jaysmith007 asked other platform users, "What profession was once highly respected, but is now a complete joke?" and people gave plenty of examples of careers that used to be highly regarded in society, but now, well, not so much. These jobs have become obsolete, distorted, or disrespected.

#1

US President

Image credits: The_snail_trebuchet

#2

Philosopher. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Now if someone tells you they are a philosopher you probably assume they don’t have a job and do a lot of drugs.

Image credits: Dr_Ugs

#3

Teaching. They get completely s**t on by the kids and the parents.

Image credits: LCCyncity

#4

Journalist. It used to be a respected and necessary career, now, for more than one reason, it's lost almost all the respect it had.

Image credits: Dovahnime

#5

Critic, for the most part. It used to be that to be taken seriously as a critic, you had to have some accomplishments in the field you were critiquing, to show that your opinion on the subject was worth some value. Somewhere along the way, the position devolved to "any as***le with an opinion is a critic". It has fallen even further in the internet age, with "critics" giving obviously stupid "hot takes" just so their name can be spread out among the media.

Image credits: FDRockAtWork

#6

Priest for obvious reasons

Image credits: WritingTop9204

#7

Lawyer.

I’m one and I’ve already heard all the jokes, thanks.

In the 19th century it really was a position of prestige. In the mid-20th century it meant Atticus Finch.

Now it’s just the equivalent of ambulance chaser in the minds of most people. And it’s too bad, because when you actually need one, you see what they genuinely do.

Image credits: amerkanische_Frosch

#8

Nursing. Long hours, hard work, front line workers for dealing with annoying ass and insane people, the definition of “I don’t get paid enough for this s**t!” Edit: thank you for the awards! My first ones :)

Image credits: alwaysconfused__

#9

In these current times, apparently a scientist.

Image credits: urbexcemetery

#10

Chef. My dad was a chef and in his day you could have your pick of jobs. Literally walk out of a restaurant and into another by the end of the day. People respected them and allowed creative and financial freedom. Now I work as a chef and I constantly have to answer to people ( managers, waitresses etc ) who have absolutely 0 culinary experience. The pay is sh**ty, the hours are ridiculous it's about 3 decades behind in terms of workers rights. This goes double for smaller places like non-chain bars and restaurants. They know that theirs always another chef looking for a new gig and often have no problems treating chefs like absolute dogs**t.

Image credits: BanditSurvivalist

#11

Air hostess- Once the symbol of glamor now its like a joke

Image credits: peoplecallmedude797

#12

Farmers. Agriculture used to be something everyone had to do. Now people don't give a second thought about where there food comes from.

Image credits: NotaFossilFool

#13

Milkman, now they are just everyones secret father.

Image credits: TheAngloLithuanian

#14

Elevator attendants. Once revered engineers capable of lifting humans hundreds of feet in the air. Now a comedic relic of a by gone era.

Image credits: Charming-Station

#15

Police, you would have to be crazy to join the force right now.

Image credits: bugenhagen15

#16

School principal. Teachers who fail in the classroom flee to administration because they're too heavily invested to quit and start a new career. Of those, the ones with high ambition, low self-awareness, and weak personal character tend to fail upwards by parroting trendy buzzwords and supporting failed pedagogy. You'll meet the odd unicorn, but most principals are incompetent at everything except camouflaging their incompetence behind buzzwords and task-offloading.

Image credits: AssistantT0TheSensei

#17

My aunt crushed it as a travel agent in the '80s/'90s. The internet totally blindsided her

Image credits: Remy1985

#18

Translators used to be members of royal courts, but are now full-on taken advantage of by agencies who know nothing about the industry, but hold all the clients. They often expect people with B.A.s, M.A.s, multiple certifications, and decades of experience to work for very low pay

#19

President of russia

Image credits: Electronic_Engine_92

#20

Spinster. In the middle ages, it was a respected career which could keep a woman financially independent and secure. She worked damn hard and had to be physically strong and good with money. And a spinster could choose to be in a relationship, but it wasn't imperative for her survival. Nowadays it's just become a term for middle aged or older single women and the fact it used to be a respected job title has been all but forgotten.

#21

My friends Dad was a pretty successful ad salesman for yellowpages. After no one needed phone books anymore and he cheated on his wife and had 2 divorces, and bought a purple harley with a dragon on it, he then became a seller of funeral packages...

Image credits: DarTouiee

#22

Models - seems like anyone with a camera and a social media account can call themselves one now.

#23

Human Resources.

I get it, the protect the company and not the employee, but over the last 20 years that scale has tipped so far that modern HR practices are barely legal and usually unethical.

#24

Alchemist

Image credits: mcfalgan

#25

Optician. Back in the day, if you were an old-school Optician you knew absolutely everything about complicated prescription issues, making glasses, grinding lenses, manufacturing a complete set of glasses yourself from your own lab in the back of the store. Nowadays it’s mostly 20 yr old idiots who take a crappy little express program to certify themselves as ‘Opticians’ , but all orders are sent to an outside lab to be made. If you have a problem with your glasses, 90% of these ‘opticians’ have no idea how to solve your problem. It’s also now essentially just a glorified salesperson job.

Source: Im an ex-optician who’s biggest mistake in life so far was wasting years on that sh**ty low-paying “career”

Image credits: MaybeBaby95

#26

Radio DJ. Even in small cities, the dj’s were well known. Today, there is still some level of fame in large cities (the morning drive time team), but radio is dying….

Image credits: ApoplecticAndroid

#27

Clowns were seen as funny back then, but now everyone is terrified of them

Image credits: Superbiollante7

#28

News media, regardless of their "slant." We've gone from Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite to talking heads and sound bites. Kids today won't believe that back in the day somebody came on TV or the radio and told you the who, what, where, when, why and how- and you were expected to make your own mind about it. Yes, there were editorial/opinion sections, but they were separate from the news reporting. And "journalistic integrity" is filed away somewhere with buggy whips and vacuum tubes.

#29

No professions seem to be respected these days. Respect went away roughly 10-15 years ago.

#30

Human Computers' to do mathematical calculations.

Image credits: HF_Rules

#31

Astrologer

#32

Royalty

#33

Lawyers are both loved and hated. Notice how parents are proud to say their child grew up to be a lawyer. How prestigious! But then when, as a society, we talk about "slimy money grubbers" lawyers get lumped in to that group not uncommonly.

#34

I wanted to say politician but they have always been hated the more I think about it

#35

Probably pilot Once second only to astronauts, now just glorified bus driver.

#36

Journalists and News Anchors (at least in America)

While there are still a great deal of respectable news outlets, a lot of respect for the industry has been lost because of those who are simply mouthpieces to the corporate propaganda machine.

Most major news networks and publishers have put profits over journalism, turned the news cycle into 24-hour theater, and caused untold damage to our collective mindset. They hire charismatic anchors and manipulative writers to try and make the readers and watchers believe whatever will bring the most profits and help those in power the most.

#37

Jester. In the olden times they used to be entertainers, housekeepers, comedians and yardsmen to kings and nobles. They had to empty the toilets and entertain the king while he took a dump.

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#38

Witches. Or Magicians.

Image credits: banditk77

#39

Umbrella repairman. We had one in our town years ago

#40

Congressman

#41

Journalist.

I still remember wanting to study journalism in college back in the early 90. I wanted to be the next Hunter S. Thompson (I definitely did enough hallucinogens) and in high school I had several short stories and articles published in a very niche tabletop gaming magazine that was distributed internationally. My life took a different turn and I'm glad it did. Nowadays there's no such thing as a respected journalist. They're all basically shills who seem like they need to hustle for every dime they make because thanks to the internet anyone can be a "journalist".

#42

Singer. They just use autotune with no real skil

#43

Anything in the corporate media

#44

Chief Information Officer; in the 1990s that was a very prestigious position in a company. It showed the street that the company took technology seriously.

Now, if you work in a business where tech isn't the product, your CIO or SVP of Tech reports to the Chief Financial Officer. Most times it isn't a strategic C-level job. You watch the budget and look to outsource as much as possible. Try to be aligned with the business, who really doesn't want anything to do with you other than what you can give them for less money. Rough gig.

#45

IT support

#46

Musicians that played dynamite saxophone solos in rock and roll songs.

#47

Commercial Pilot.

Back in the day, a pilot was a man's man with great pay. Today the regional carriers pay less than a minimum wage job at 40 hours a week. Just to get to that point a person must spend years of time building or fast track by spending a fortune.

#48

Door to door salesman — just not a thing anymore for safety and practical reasons

#49

I feel like the Air Force soldiers are made fun of because 'their work isn't holding a gun on the ground,' and feel like they only ever do work when there's a war and they need to fly planes. This is absolute bulls***t. More air force soldiers work with the space division, control satellites, do mapping, fly planes (yes) but not just during a war. They safely transport important politicians to necessary meetings. Their lives are high risk out there too. They are not to be demonetized just because they aren't out on the fields holding a gun. In fact, they do that kind of training too in case their plane gets shot on and they survive.

#50

Pharmacist.

#51

For me personally, doctor. I used to hold them in high regard until I started working with them. Most are lazy, greedy and do not know a single thing outside of medicine. Some don't even know medicine!

#52

The town crier

#53

Policeman in Germany... Used to be highly respected and popular among people. No the situation is different. Police forces had and still have problems with too many old officers retiring and not enough young people starting to work that profession. So they decided to lower "job entry requirements" which leads to complete idiots joining police academy

#54

Bard

#55

Anything in retail (mostly food shops) I often hear people saying to their children if they don't do well in school then they will work at "tesco" for the rest of their lives.

But in reality people in retail usually do it as a waiting ground or to fund other projects. For instance I do it to fund my films whilst I learn how to drive.

#56

Elected official

#57

Mail man.

To clarify I was a mail man for a bit and liked the job sometimes but all the old timers used to tell me the job isn’t what it used to be. Used to have to take a standardized test to get in for one. Also the increase in e-commerce made delivering all the mail in a reasonable time in our office an impossible task.

#58

Newspaper Journalists

With the death of print media, Journalism has died as well. Ultimately it has also killed the attention span as well.

#59

Soldier, police officer. I became a soldier but I can remember when I was a kid how all I wanted was to be a bike cop. That changed ricky f**kin tick quick.

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