10 most stressful jobs

I heard once that teaching is one of the most stressful jobs in America, up there with SWAT people and EMTs. That makes sense to me, since students can be a real pain in the butt. So I decided to look up a list of the most stressful jobs in America. I originally wanted to compare different lists, but they all kept referencing the one from CNBC. I figured it would work. So here they are, the 10 most stressful jobs in America, with a little bit about why they are so stressful.

10. Real Estate Agent – Its not just about location, location, location. Real Estate Agents have to deal with not only the annoying home buyers, who can be particularly annoying if they don’t know what the heck they are talking about, but also other agents, who might sneak in and steal a buy. It’s a highly competitive field, with varied hours and other fun things to make it stressful.

9. Advertising Executive – Highly competitive, long hours, and a high risk at loosing your job if you mess up makes this one pretty stressful. Its not just about sitting behind your desk and thinking of slogans. Its like working for the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland: You mess up, you loose your head, except by head we mean your job. Bosses aren’t that evil. . .

8. Public Relations Officer – Not only do you have to deal with the maddening crowd of people who want to kill you, you also have to deal with the media, who wants to strip you naked and take your picture. Your hours are pretty set, but you might still work long hours, trying to tie up loose ends. Plus you could mess up and ruin a company.

7. Highway Patrol Officer – You know all those movies/shows where the cop pulls over some guy, who then blows the cop’s head off with a shotgun? That’s a real threat to these roadway men in blue/brown. They might be annoying when they pull you over for speeding, but they are putting their lives on the line each time they pull onto the freeway. Crazy hours, plus limited weekends and holidays, make for a nasty stress cocktail.

6. Commercial Pilot – Least of his worries is crashing the plane. If he goes down in a fiery blast, he won’t be alive to worry about the people complaining about uncomfortable seats, delays, terrorists, etc. If he survives, he’ll probably be sued for something. Yeah, being a pilot isn’t fun. Plus the hours are hell.

5. Police Officers – This one goes without saying. Any job that involves running after crazy people, getting shot/shot at, or just dealing with all the things cops deal with deserves a place on this list. It’s a dirty, rotten job, but somebody’s got to do it.

4. Surgeon – As any episode of House, ER, or Grey’s Anatomy shows, Surgeons have much more to worry about than not killing their patients. Having to run into the operating room in an emergency, in the middle of the night is hard enough, but when millimeters divide life and death, the pressure is on. Plus, if you mess up, that’s it. You’ll be sued faster than, well, it’ll be pretty fast.

3. Taxi Driver – You talkin’ to me? I drive around all day picking up sketchy businessmen and you’re talking to me? I risk my a** all day driving in a city with more crack heads than chalk to feed their addictions. I’m like a rolling ATM for those guys. Plus I drive around on the nights, weekends, holidays. And half the guys then are wasted like trash. There’s no one else here, you must be talkin’ to me.

2. Corporate Executive – Long hours, enormous pressure to succeed or leave, and the fact that, again, if you mess up the whole company goes down. Think all the pressure from Wall Street, but just in a company. Again, not that fun.

1. Firefighter – No duh. I’m pretty sure if firefighter wasn’t at the top of this list, it would be rejected by pretty much everyone. Firefighters jump into burning building for crying out-loud. People die when they mess up. Not loose their jobs. Die. That’s pretty darn stressful. Add onto that risk of life and limb to themselves and everyone they work with. And if they don’t put out the fire, well, there goes the neighborhood. Plus having to be on-call constantly is pretty stressful too.

So that’s the list. No teachers. L Oh well. Maybe we’re number 11. Or not. Maybe the stress is just imaginary. Just like the excuses for why the students don’t have their homework.