What is the perfect job?
Is it the ones where you earn a comfortable living or afford a luxurious lifestyle?
Or is the perfect job the one that is most rewarding and satisfies the soul, even though it may mean you live paycheck to paycheck?
While most can fit in either category, the fortunate ones are those who have jobs filling both checkboxes–doing fulfilling work people are passionate about AND live way within their means.
Curious to hear of the ideal job scenarios, Redditor TrainerJohno asked:
"People with full-time jobs, do any of you actually enjoy going to work each day? If so, what's your job?"
The Interpreter
"ASL interpreter! I don’t think people realize how much schooling goes into it, or how stressful it can be; however. . . I’m like the proverbial fly on the wall!"
"I’m in labor and delivery rooms, therapy appointments, college classes, surgeries, you name it. I learn a LOT and also love serving the local Deaf community around me."
– buildingacozymystery
Courtroom Drama
"I work as a judge's bailiff, and I love my job. Easy. I watch court cases, and the people I work with are really nice. I don't 'enjoy' working, but I will probably never leave this job cause it's the best I can get."
– AlexAutoAxe
Our Heroes
"Im a Firefighter.... i look forward to going into work. I've been doing it for 14 years now in New England. It's still a good job where you can make a decent living."
"I'm a fire captain. Im in charge of a fire station and a truck. My duties are different from those of a regular firefighter. Regular firefighters are both paramedics and firefighters and are assigned to fire engines, ladders, rescues, and Special Hazard trucks throughout the city. We work 24 hours on duty, 48 hours off, then 24 on, then 4 days off, not including overtime or details."
– Mediocre_Present4450
The Inker
"i’m a tattoo artist. i love my job and my clients and coworkers. i hate working lol."
– kingtooth
"SAME! Not the tattoo artist tho, but no matter how fun the job is or the coworkers are, its still work 😂 rather do something else. Or the exact same thing but then not for work."
– Pinkagentelephant
Retail Work
"I work in retail as one of the lower-level managers. I actually enjoy my job, as well as most of the people, but what I don't like are the American policies for sick leave... I'm currently out sick (unfortunately) and could potentially lose my job because people can't leave their snotty, sneezy, coughing children at home."
"I know, were still in the sick season, but I should NEVER see both parents, both perfectly able, walking around a populated area with their kid(s) leaking snot on everything! That's honestly my main complaint with it lol."
– Active-Piano-5858
It's A Niche Thing
"I absolutely love my job. I summarize criminal files into an essay for the Parole Board to use in making parole decisions. If you like true crime stories, I basically write them all day! Some cases are obviously hard to stomach, but it’s very very interesting work."
– SheB*tch
Constant Travelers
"Flight attendant over 10 years now, absolutely love it! Different destinations, nice hotels, and lots of free time to do what I want. Look forward to every trip I have!"
– Ok_Huckleberry_8410
A Hole-In-1
"Golf pro at a daily fee course in Texas. I do so many different things every day. And I get paid to talk about golf. Which I'm going to do anyway, so..."
– riopga
Better Change Of Scenery
"I’m an inpatient RN. I hated my old floor, and I genuinely do like the unit I’m on now more. But the last few weeks have been really rough. I got punched by a patient this morning before clocking out. Supposed to go back tonight and not overly excited."
– justafloridawoman
For The Problem-Solver
"I’m a network engineer, specializing in a specific vendor’s cloud security products."
"I really do enjoy my job. It’s akin to playing those really difficult puzzle games like 'Myst' or 'Riven', only it’s like . . . 1,000x harder."
"But it’s still a lot of fun. My day is spent solving extremely complicated puzzles, and when you finally figure it out and that little light in a data center halfway across the world turns green you get the 'HAHA I’M A F'KING GENIUS!!' feeling."
"I like my job so much that I take PTO from my day job to go work other weird side gigs doing kinda similar things in weird locations."
– Princess_Fluffypants
For Commumity Work
"I'm a software developer for a university library. I am lucky to be treated well as a union worker, satisfied to work in an innovative environment, and proud to help the advancement of education to serve my community."
"I love my job."
"I would easily make twice as much working corporate."
– another_brick
The Office Job
"I work an administrative job at a small cardboard box plant. I actually find satisfaction and some mild enjoyment from the process of daily challenges. I have a lot of autonomy and a fair amount of responsibility, even for being a fairly low/ranking office guy. Everyone here knows everyone, and it’s very much a dynamic team atmosphere. That’s about half the days."
"The other half of the time I’m just slogging through. Sometimes I’ll have a repetitive task where I can pop in my headphones and listen to an audiobook for a couple hours, which is nice."
– chiefmud
Comforts Of Monotony
"I’m an office assistant that works M-F day shift and I really like my job. It’s low stress and pretty good benefits. I just get bored sometimes and don’t like sitting all day. But it’s better than being super stressed out. I’ll take that any day."
– Beautybabe09
Consistency
"I work in a health insurance company call center. Meh. Not the most exciting job in the world but it pays well, has great benefits, it’s within walking distance from home and the hours are extremely predictable and easy to plan around."
– TaraJo
This Holds
"Chemical manufacturing. I make glue. It's actually an interesting job with plenty of downtime while batches run, and it pays pretty well for my education level. Yeah I like it. I used to work sales and was miserable cold calling offices that just got a pissed off secretary. Now I make my batches and go home and get plenty of time off."
– Niznack
The Company You Keep
"IT. I enjoy a lot of aspects. My co-workers and boss are the best, we all bust @ss. The end users are great for the most part, pretty good friends with all of them. The workload is the struggle. I am buried. I work as hard as I can, no breaks, skip lunch everyday. Still buried. That's the only part that sucks."
– rrevilo
My previous profession in theater was a love/hate relationship situation.
While it was personally fulfilling my passion being an entertainer, the fleeting nature of shows that come and go and starting over from scratch auditioning for the next gig was exhausting.
While acting is definitely not for those seeking job security, actively performing and getting paid for it can make you feel relevant, validated, and spiritually fulfilled.
Despite the hardships and intermittent unemployment, I still wouldn't have traded my life on the stage or in front of cameras for anything else.
