Author Topic: Your lowest-stress jobs  (Read 5830 times)

RedmondStash

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Your lowest-stress jobs
« on: July 29, 2021, 02:22:59 PM »
I've worked in some high-stress, high-pressure, competitive industries (high tech, videogames, etc.), and while I like working, I hate the dysfunction and toxicity.

So. What are some of the lowest-stress and most enjoyable jobs you've had?

lhamo

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2021, 02:28:29 PM »
My first job -- library page at KCLS's smallest branch.  I had the shelves memorized a few weeks in and could often have a title in a patron's hand before they finished the name.

OtherJen

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2021, 02:35:42 PM »
I worked in an independent music store (CDs, vinyl) when I was in undergrad. I think it's still my favorite job. It wasn't stressful even when we had midnight sales or during the Christmas rush. We all dressed up on Christmas Eve and brought in food for a storewide potluck. We had cool regular customers and could play anything (that wasn't obscene) from the used CD racks over the speakers.

Second favorite was the research assistant job in the molecular bio lab attached to a big epidemiology research project at a hospital/health system. My coworkers were amazing and so funny. We had a lot of work and had to be careful to maintain good lab protocol and standard practices, but we divvied up the projects by skillset and got everything done with a minimum of stress. When upper management rumbled that things weren't getting done quickly enough, we invited them to the lab to watch the process. One of them spent a morning with us, and the rumbling stopped.

tygertygertyger

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2021, 02:35:51 PM »
*Temping in various offices. At one job, I was putting together freebie goodies in purses and bags for giveaways. At another job, I was given a bicycle, flashlight, and box of keys because the owner of the building wanted me to map which keys went to which offices. The electricity was off, so I biked through the dark hallways trying keys in locks. He was shocked when I needed more than one day to accomplish this. (Some previous owner had moved a lot of doors around...)

*Working in a dentist office. Always new interesting patients coming and going, and we had a great staff. Plus, no bringing home work stress! When the day ends, it ends.

*Writing film reviews for $. Very few $, but free movies.

*Freelancing for someone who wanted me to wade through a huge box of letters bought at an auction - all the letters were from a 1940s publisher in London. He hoped we would find a famous person's letter in there - and there were some, but they were simple business letters. The exciting parts were related to the war and German war camps. I never got to finish that project (my 'boss' got pulled into other things and didn't have time to continue working with me), but I would definitely not mind doing that work again!

Those examples are from before my "career" though...

Metalcat

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2021, 02:36:41 PM »
Ah, see there's a difference between low stress and low toxicity jobs.

There exists two forms of stress: positive (eustress) and negative (distress).

Positive stress is actually strengthening, it's the challenges that make life feel worthwhile, without it, life in actually more unbearable than if there's too much negative stress. Some people think a less challenging job is more pleasant, but that isn't necessarily true, some of the easiest jobs I've had have been the most miserable.

One reason was that without positive stress, the work was unbearably tedious and held no reward, in addition, my direct supervisor was a moron, so even with task stress, there was still plenty of toxicity.

On the flip side, some of the most pleasant jobs I've had have been insanely challenging and stressful, but I had near total autonomy, and the stakes for me personally in the event of task failure were minimal.

So lowering stress and challenge doesn't necessarily produce and easier to handle job, but systematically identifying what elements of toxicity you are disproportionately affected by will help you narrow down which jobs would best suit your comfort.

For me, the key negative stresses are ineffectual executives, any degree of day to day direct supervision (I have serious problems with authority), performance metrics that don't align with my perspective of what constitutes optimal work, and generally inflexible corporate structures. If I can avoid all of those, I can usually have a blast, even if I'm under diamond forging pressure.

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2021, 04:12:12 PM »
My career job is stressful but rewarding. I wouldn't change it for a lower-stress job, but I also need to limit how much time I spend in that environment.

On the other hand, I occasionally do hospitality work as a favour and kind of love it. It's active, you're interacting with people and doing something useful, the stakes are low, and when the shift is done you are DONE. No temptation to make it my full time job (nights and weekends, ugghh) but it is a refreshing change.

Working for a bank in their in-bound call centre when I was younger was enjoyable for similar reasons.

Thinking about my work history, I like to be busy but not worried.

Mr. Green

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2021, 05:56:11 PM »
Grocery Clerk at Publix. It was fast paced, which made for great physical exercise each day, while the fallout from occasionally underperforming was about as low as it gets. Worst case scenario, some groceries from the back don't make it out on to the shelves or all the aisles don't get perfectly straightened. I loved how mentally freeing that job was.

Channel-Z

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2021, 11:09:03 PM »
My worst job was also my least stressful job. For a semester in college, I washed dishes in a cafeteria. I worked alone, and my job duties were:

1. Wash large piles of dishes in commercial-sized sink.

2. Place dishes in dangerously hot sanitizing machine after washing.

lollylegs

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2021, 12:17:37 AM »
The least stressful job I had was working night-fill at a supermarket. Really good pay and just filling the shelves -no responsibility at all.

yakamashii

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2021, 12:39:30 AM »
Valet for special events. Lots of running around in the 30 minutes or so before an event would start, a few hours of sitting around reading or shooting the breeze with the other valets during the event, and then a very manageable workload as people trickled out to go home. Fancy cars. Great tips. Fun times.

2sk22

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2021, 03:33:49 AM »
This is a good questions. I really enjoyed my early days in software research in the 1990s. Pay was good, I had a lot of autonomy, and I got to publish papers. My company had a flat organization so promotions did not matter too much. But this lasted only a few years before the Dotcom bubble destroyed that cozy world :-)

soccerluvof4

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2021, 04:27:34 AM »
I would have to go back to HS when I was a lot attendant at a car dealership. Beyond that I was always pushing the envelope to try and improve my $ position and with that came different forms of stress. Then when I started my own businesses stress was part of being on entrepreneur. I think the word does get overused these days. Without some stress not sure anything would ever get done and its more how you handle the stress that matters.

asauer

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2021, 06:18:38 AM »
Lowest stress was being a weight room attendant for a gym.  Most rewarding was being a leadership trainer for a manufacturing company- so many people said they hated school but loved my classes and learned alot- was such a fun job though not low stress.

rantk81

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #13 on: July 30, 2021, 06:26:27 AM »
"Computer lab consultant" while I was in college.

I basically got paid to sit in the computer lab and do my course-work.  I had to occasionally re-load paper into printers.  Mostly I was just being a physical presence there in order to dissuade theft of equipment.

It wasn't very many hours, and I think it probably paid minimum wage.  But it gave me dedicated hours to do my course-work, and the pay was more than enough to cover booze/entertainment while I was a student.

hoodedfalcon

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #14 on: July 30, 2021, 06:29:33 AM »
Working in the receiving department of a small natural foods grocery store was hands down the best job I've had. We unloaded trucks, priced and stocked merchandise, helped folks find things. Drank a lot of coffee, joked around with co-workers and developed amazing friendships I still have today.

MudPuppy

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #15 on: July 30, 2021, 06:42:09 AM »
I worked as a private carer for a while. 36 (straight) hours a weekend, I lived with this family in their home and cared for their medically complex child. I slept in a bed in the person’s room and did everything with them so they could participate in family life. We watched movies, spent time in their pool, etc. I would cook some of the meals the family ate (though my client had a feeding tube) and was paid fairly well to do this. I went on two of their family vacations actually. I had a different client who was a nightmare after that, which really drove home how great this family was to work for.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 07:39:39 AM by MudPuppy »

Luke Warm

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #16 on: July 30, 2021, 06:53:20 AM »
i worked in a video store when i was going to college. super low stress. i got to see lots of movies, so much so that i have a hard time watching movies now. i learned a lot about people and the service industry. i also mowed yards for a while. low stress but awful work. summers are brutal and i'm allergic to grass. my dad was on me to get a job as i was a lazy turd living at home. i'm still a lazy turd but i get paid ok. i'm with malcat on the different kinds of stress. i like a challenge or the opportunity to learn something new. i like being high enough in the company that i can make some decisions on my own to keep a project moving forward. i like having a realistic deadline (or even a slightly unrealistic one). i don't like unending projects and turd polishing.

dcheesi

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #17 on: July 30, 2021, 07:07:27 AM »
As part of my summer "internship"1 in college, I was asked to fill in for the guy whose job was loading oscillator crystals into a machine (don't remember what it did). Literally his whole job was inserting crystals into a sort of wheel/ring and then putting that wheel in the machine to run for a while. Very low-stress, brainless (or mind-numbing) work.

Of course it's also the kind of job that would normally be automated out of existence, and perhaps it has been by now. But this was a small specialty manufacturer, so for the volumes they were producing, the man was (then) still cheaper than the machine to replace him.

EDIT to add the promised footnote: 1 Not a formal internship, but my brother worked there and got me hired on for summer work. My school didn't have a great intern/co-op program, so I was lucky to have "connections" to get that work experience.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 07:35:57 AM by dcheesi »

Rdy2Fire

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #18 on: July 30, 2021, 07:15:49 AM »
Lowest every is my making coffee in the morning daily.. I mean unless I run out of coffee or filters then it can be quite stressful because I have to put on pants and go get some coffee :)

wenchsenior

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #19 on: July 30, 2021, 08:27:50 AM »
My first job (clerk and later assistant manager) at a privately owned video store in the late 1980s was one of the most fun jobs I've ever had.  Once I got over the stress hump of learning the ropes (having never worked a job before), it was all great. Great boss, great coworkers, flexible schedule, fun work environment that was very permissive.

Later on on in college I also worked at a big chain video store (one of the worst jobs I've had...ugh...big corp), and then at a different privately owned store (again, one of the most fun).

Also, a lot of my field biology (wildlife research) jobs have been incredibly awesome. I wouldn't exactly call them low-stress, and several of them were extremely physically demanding, but they were super enjoyable. 

wenchsenior

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #20 on: July 30, 2021, 08:28:52 AM »
*Temping in various offices. At one job, I was putting together freebie goodies in purses and bags for giveaways. At another job, I was given a bicycle, flashlight, and box of keys because the owner of the building wanted me to map which keys went to which offices. The electricity was off, so I biked through the dark hallways trying keys in locks. He was shocked when I needed more than one day to accomplish this. (Some previous owner had moved a lot of doors around...)

*Working in a dentist office. Always new interesting patients coming and going, and we had a great staff. Plus, no bringing home work stress! When the day ends, it ends.

*Writing film reviews for $. Very few $, but free movies.

*Freelancing for someone who wanted me to wade through a huge box of letters bought at an auction - all the letters were from a 1940s publisher in London. He hoped we would find a famous person's letter in there - and there were some, but they were simple business letters. The exciting parts were related to the war and German war camps. I never got to finish that project (my 'boss' got pulled into other things and didn't have time to continue working with me), but I would definitely not mind doing that work again!

Those examples are from before my "career" though...

Oh, I forgot I did that, too!  That was a good gig.

StarBright

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #21 on: July 30, 2021, 08:56:59 AM »
Cater-waiter and later assistant event planner at a historic property: humane shift lengths, being around (mostly) happy people for weddings and parties, great stories when things went wrong, got to take home leftover food and booze after almost every shift and light problem solving.

I had so much fun at that job that for years after I would gift "event coordination" to favorite family members and best friends.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 08:58:34 AM by StarBright »

former player

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #22 on: July 30, 2021, 09:14:19 AM »
Holiday job as a student: riding a horse along a beach escorting holidaymakers on a trekking experience.

StarBright

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #23 on: July 30, 2021, 09:19:47 AM »
I worked in an independent music store (CDs, vinyl) when I was in undergrad. I think it's still my favorite job. It wasn't stressful even when we had midnight sales or during the Christmas rush. We all dressed up on Christmas Eve and brought in food for a storewide potluck. We had cool regular customers and could play anything (that wasn't obscene) from the used CD racks over the speakers.


I worked at a small local record store chain when I was in high school and the first summer after college. It was SO much fun (and was basically Empire Records minus Rex Manning). I hope younger people have awesome after school jobs like that now! I wonder what an equivalent job would be today?

Samuel

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #24 on: July 30, 2021, 09:37:19 AM »
My first job -- library page at KCLS's smallest branch.  I had the shelves memorized a few weeks in and could often have a title in a patron's hand before they finished the name.

Ha. Same for me. Same job, same library system, different branch. Perfect high school/college job. No stress at all, flexible hours (including extra shifts if you got on the sub lists for other branches) and you never left work smelling like onions like my friends did.

Oh, and an inside line on all the books, movies and music you wanted with no late fees.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 09:41:07 AM by Samuel »

DrinkCoffeeStackMoney

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #25 on: July 30, 2021, 10:01:03 AM »
My lowest stress job was as the warehouse "manager" (there were only two employees and the owner) of a small but high-end boutique style stone/tile company. I was paid for 40 hours a week, of which it took me about 15 hours to manage the warehouse well, and the rest of my time was spent sitting on the forklift or at my desk reading; and the owner was perfectly fine with that as long as everything was running smoothly.

As a natural introvert one of the best jobs I've had is inventory control manager with two different companies. It's basically a solo job at a lot of companies if you're good at it and I'm a numbers guy by nature, so it's been the perfect fit. I left that position about 6 years ago to chase money and climb the ladder and I've regretted it ever since. Now I earn about 40% more than I did as an IC manager but I also have 10X the stress.

PDXTabs

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #26 on: July 30, 2021, 10:06:26 AM »
I've worked in some high-stress, high-pressure, competitive industries (high tech, videogames, etc.), and while I like working, I hate the dysfunction and toxicity.

I've had some high stress toxic tech jobs writing software, but I've also had some lovely low stress ones doing the exact same thing.

LadyMaWhiskers

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #27 on: July 30, 2021, 10:23:57 AM »
I was an assistant in an early childhood mommy-and-me type program. I was being to study dev. psych. then, so I based did light chose while observing the amazing show of toddlers in a church basement who all have someone actually taking care of them.

Loren Ver

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #28 on: July 30, 2021, 10:34:26 AM »
I got to track nesting sea turtles on the beaches of Florida at night on the weekends during the summers while I was off from college.  It was great.  I learned tons and made college book money.  It was still tough (I had to identify what kind of turtle by the tracks in the dark using a red light before approaching) but the people were great and I still love knowing lots about turtles when I travel in turtle areas. 

Fishindude

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #29 on: July 30, 2021, 10:36:33 AM »
I climbed all the way up to the top of the ladder eventually owning a company.   Sold it several years ago and retired to doing farm work which is mostly good old fashioned, outdoor physical labor and messing around on machinery.   Work by myself with nobody else to deal with and thoroughly enjoy it.

I do not miss; vendors, subcontractors, employees, payroll, production deadlines, insurance issues, hiring, firing, etc., etc. one bit.

nessness

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #30 on: July 30, 2021, 11:08:00 AM »
I had a job for a few weeks working for a man whose late wife had hoarded books. My job was to enter some info about each book in a spreadsheet and put them in boxes, to help him prepare to sell the books online. I wouldn't have wanted to do it long-term, but it was a nice, stress-free way to spend part of a summer in college.

ChickenStash

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #31 on: July 30, 2021, 12:53:02 PM »
Probably the best job from a stress standpoint I've had was working the parts counter at AutoZone between college graduation and finding a "real job." Easy work, my coworkers were all car-people and we'd chit-chat with the regulars about their projects and such when it wasn't busy, decent hours. No vendor BS, no on-call, hardly any meetings, generally nice people.

I still consider going back there (or another parts store) as my "BaristaFIRE" option. My Dad did similar in his retirement but went the delivery driver route. Load up some parts, drive around town with no rush, drop off the parts. Still easy work, even less human interaction which is often a plus.

Monocle Money Mouth

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #32 on: July 30, 2021, 01:15:06 PM »
The least stressful job I had was working night-fill at a supermarket. Really good pay and just filling the shelves -no responsibility at all.

I used to work third shift at a Target unloading trucks, stocking shelves, and dragging what didn't fit back to the stock room. Doing third shift was fun for a few months. There's no mental stress but it puts a lot of stress on your body. I fell asleep in the middle of eating a couple of times because I was so exhausted.

use2betrix

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #33 on: July 30, 2021, 01:43:23 PM »
I spent a summer when I was 14 working in an arcade that hardly anyone came into at an amusement park. All I did was exchange people’s money for quarters. I had a radio and it was a very easy, boring job. It was not enjoyable.

sixwings

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #34 on: July 30, 2021, 02:01:29 PM »
I worked front desk/concierge at a small high end hotel during university. My shift was generally 3pm-11pm and I was generally busy till about 5 or 6 then had the rest of the shift to sit back and relax. There were always 2 of us and the hotel was small (50 rooms) and expensive. I generally did my school work, read or played video games. Management would leave by like 4 at the latest so it would just be the other co-worker who were always really cool and chill. The clientele was for the most part really great, only have 1 horror story, and I got really good at thinking on my feet and communicating with people. Did it full time for 5 years during university because i could do all my school work and I didnt have any loans as a result which really set me up for my early career to be a lot easier and flexible. Met my wife there who worked in housekeeping. It is also the hotel where all the celebs would stay when they came to town for filming, vacation, etc so I got to interact with them a lot which was cool and occaisonally get to spend time with them. Because of the need for discretion the pay was AMAZING for this kind of job ($30/hour + tips in 2007, tips could be several thousand bucks a month depending on how it went and who was there) I was a big golfer and had a student membership at the best golf club in the city ($100/month!) and as a result I would take guests who wanted to play golf but didnt want to play alone. I played golf with some big name A-list celebrities and got to know them personally. Eventually the golf course let me play there for free (and they still do) because it generated so much publicity. The celebs would get interviewed about their trip and they would talk about the city and how much they enjoyed the golf course etc. I am still in touch with some of them and one of them flew me down to LA to play with them at their course and hang out with their celeb friends which was really cool. Probably the only issue that i hated was when the media found out where the celeb was staying and would set up shop outside and i had to constantly chase them away, call the cops, etc. But the guests always really appreciated it. Once my co-worker and i ordered pizza and were talking to one household name guest, and they paid for the pizza and hung with us for like 3 hours eating pizza and just chatting. That job was the luckiest fluke i ever had in my  life. Those experiences set me up to learn to just talk with high level execs because I learned that really they are just people so I was never really intimidated by peoples positions in life which helped me move my career forward fast. It was just a job that was in a newspaper ad when i was looking for jobs right after highschool. I think my mom found it and made me go and apply. I walked in to drop off my resume, got interviewed on the spot and that was it.

Now i am in a senior leadership role at a rapidly growing tech company and boy do i wish i could go back to just chilling, playing golf for free, and enjoying life.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 02:03:13 PM by sixwings »

cannotWAIT

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #35 on: July 30, 2021, 03:05:48 PM »
I was a cabin girl at a dude ranch in Montana for a couple of years in the 80s. We would spend a couple of hours cleaning the cabins every morning and then the rest of the time hanging around in the kitchen, helping with the haying, hiking, doing Jane Fonda videos (!), flirting with the cute guys, drinking in the bunkhouse, and shooting pool at the bar. It was so beautiful and you know I don't remember any wildfire smoke at all back then.

TheFrenchCat

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #36 on: July 30, 2021, 03:52:41 PM »
My first job -- library page at KCLS's smallest branch.  I had the shelves memorized a few weeks in and could often have a title in a patron's hand before they finished the name.
I was a page for my first job too, and it was wonderful. 

My favorite though was probably my graduate assistantship.  It was in the school counseling department of a state university, so the professors were rewarded more for teaching than publishing, so there wasn't a ton of pressure.  Plus my bosses were all A+ counselors, so they were wonderful people.  I'd answer phones and emails, process data and just help out with whatever the students or professors needed.  I wish I could have just continued doing that, and I'm currently looking to get back into a similar role, but remote. 

My current job isn't bad on the stress levels, except when I have to watch my daughter and work at the same time.  But I think that would be stressful no matter what the job was.  But, again, my bosses are pretty great people, which I think think makes a bigger difference to me than the actual work.  Plus it's remote, so everything is documented-no worries about harassment or anything.

OtherJen

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #37 on: July 30, 2021, 04:52:04 PM »
I worked in an independent music store (CDs, vinyl) when I was in undergrad. I think it's still my favorite job. It wasn't stressful even when we had midnight sales or during the Christmas rush. We all dressed up on Christmas Eve and brought in food for a storewide potluck. We had cool regular customers and could play anything (that wasn't obscene) from the used CD racks over the speakers.


I worked at a small local record store chain when I was in high school and the first summer after college. It was SO much fun (and was basically Empire Records minus Rex Manning). I hope younger people have awesome after school jobs like that now! I wonder what an equivalent job would be today?

Exactly! I worked there from 1996-2000, and we joked that we were Empire Records.

Honestly, some kids might still work in record stores. The store where I worked went through a downturn during the Napster/early streaming period and closed its satellite location. The resurgence of vinyl saved it from going under. Now the owners throw big in-store parties on Record Store Day and are opening a new satellite location. They're good people, so I'm really happy for them.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 07:35:33 PM by OtherJen »

Zikoris

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #38 on: July 30, 2021, 05:00:01 PM »
I've been doing chill jobs for the last eight or nine years, and it is fan-freaking-tastic. Of course, it really depends on the company, but in general I think you're pretty set for low stress if you go that route. My last job was a hospitality clerk at a large law firm - a bit of reception coverage, and otherwise basically just making coffee for clients and ordering supplies. Great hours, environment, and benefits. Currently I'm a receptionist for a small department of a big company, and it's also super chill. I love having no stress, good coworkers, and a fantastic work-life balance.

lhamo

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #39 on: July 30, 2021, 05:05:12 PM »
My first job -- library page at KCLS's smallest branch.  I had the shelves memorized a few weeks in and could often have a title in a patron's hand before they finished the name.

Ha. Same for me. Same job, same library system, different branch. Perfect high school/college job. No stress at all, flexible hours (including extra shifts if you got on the sub lists for other branches) and you never left work smelling like onions like my friends did.

Oh, and an inside line on all the books, movies and music you wanted with no late fees.

I'm old and had that job back in the '80s when the system used to mail holds out in padded envelopes.  I used to send books and CDs to my friends all the time.  Highly illegal of me to look up their account info but I don't think we even HAD a privacy policy back in those early computer days....

3quarters

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #40 on: July 30, 2021, 06:27:58 PM »
Right after college my first "real" job was only part time for a while, so I also worked part time at a jewelry and imports shop in a tourist town to make up the difference. It was an absolute blast. So many interesting people came through (we had an eclectic inventory) and when it was slow I was stringing new necklaces or tidying up pretty shiny things. The boss was pretty chill, the owner rarely showed his face, and the crew was a ton of fun.

The money, of course, was garbage — typically around $7.20/hr (and this was 2006, not 1982) with occasional commission bumps if we had a good night. I'd do it as a post-retirement fun money gig in a heartbeat, though, which at least one of my coworkers back then was doing.

Morning Glory

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #41 on: July 30, 2021, 07:38:30 PM »
My worst job was also my least stressful job. For a semester in college, I washed dishes in a cafeteria. I worked alone, and my job duties were:

1. Wash large piles of dishes in commercial-sized sink.

2. Place dishes in dangerously hot sanitizing machine after washing.

Oh yes, one could say that detasselling corn is pretty low stress too. Miserable, but low stress.

I also hated being a file clerk and more recently a procedure nurse, because they were mind numbing and repetitive. I would much rather have chaos.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2021, 07:43:27 PM by Morning Glory »

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #42 on: July 30, 2021, 07:47:19 PM »
My most chill job was working at a tech company as a business insights analyst. When I started the job, all of our reporting was done manually in excel, and we would get asked by all the different teams in the business to do reports for them. A few months into the job, another enterprising analyst and I taught ourselves how to code in Python, and automated literally 90% of the work. I went from working 9 to 10 hours per day, to working only about an hour to 90 minutes per day.

Man, it was a glorious few months until our supervisor caught on and started assigning us more difficult work..

RedmondStash

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #43 on: July 30, 2021, 08:29:23 PM »
Some great stories here. Interesting to read about. Especially enjoying people's most "chill" jobs, which I think was what I was trying to get at in my original question. Thanks!

My most chill job was working at a tech company as a business insights analyst. When I started the job, all of our reporting was done manually in excel, and we would get asked by all the different teams in the business to do reports for them. A few months into the job, another enterprising analyst and I taught ourselves how to code in Python, and automated literally 90% of the work. I went from working 9 to 10 hours per day, to working only about an hour to 90 minutes per day.

Man, it was a glorious few months until our supervisor caught on and started assigning us more difficult work..

Awesome. I once had a short-term gig converting technical documentation from one format to another. Naturally I wrote a bunch of macros to automate the process and drastically sped up the work. Possibly I should have not mentioned that to my supervisor, but that did not occur to me, lol. But I did get a sweet raise partway through, so there's that.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #44 on: July 30, 2021, 08:33:37 PM »
Awesome. I once had a short-term gig converting technical documentation from one format to another. Naturally I wrote a bunch of macros to automate the process and drastically sped up the work. Possibly I should have not mentioned that to my supervisor, but that did not occur to me, lol. But I did get a sweet raise partway through, so there's that.

Haha, it all works out in the end! Reminds me of this story from a few years back :)

Spiffy

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #45 on: August 01, 2021, 06:19:09 PM »
I spent a summer when I was 14 working in an arcade that hardly anyone came into at an amusement park. All I did was exchange people’s money for quarters. I had a radio and it was a very easy, boring job. It was not enjoyable.
I did that in college. But we had a change machine, so I only had to give out quarters to the guys with crumpled bills. I got a lot of my homework done and friends stopped by to visit all the time, I loved it.

Spiffy

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #46 on: August 01, 2021, 06:26:21 PM »
My most fun and relaxed job was working in a a photo lab in high school and early college. My coworkers were fun and the only thing stressful about it was sometimes having to explain to a customer that you accidentally exposed their film while loading it into the developer. And yes, we did look at everyone's pictures. Mostly boring, but sometimes hilarious and yes, we did make copies for ourselves. I still have some.

Blindsquirrel

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #47 on: August 01, 2021, 08:41:10 PM »
Working at a golf course as a greens keeper, hard work at times  but laid back, outside all day, got buff and tan. no supervision at all most of the time. Best was after I had worked there a few years I got the gravy job of mowing the rough. Took about 3 and a half long days so as soon as I was done would start again. Had cooler for ice water, tunes, and a smaller variety pipe. Only stress was dragging a reel or hitting something but after a few months I could mow at night if I had to. By far and away one of the better jobs anywhere for me at that time of my life. I got an awful lot of thinking done.     

calimom

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #48 on: August 01, 2021, 09:45:01 PM »
In college I worked about 15 hours a week in an art gallery. Beautiful setting, and when it wasn't busy I could study. My main tasks were to hang out, look nice, and type up artist bios, which I did using colorful adjectives. Every so often there'd be an opening, so I'd cater to the artist, work the room, pour the champagne and tally up some sales. I'd get a hundred-dollar bill for those evenings on top of my reasonably generous salary. The gallery owners were a glamorous couple who had several homes - they let me and a group of friends stay in their Palm Springs house during spring break a couple of times.

Much later, I learned the gallery was a front for the drug-dealing enterprise that was their MAIN source of income.

Anon-E-Mouze

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Re: Your lowest-stress jobs
« Reply #49 on: August 02, 2021, 10:18:27 AM »
My current position is, overall, my most enjoyable and low-stress job. I'm a lawyer in a large (but not huge) law firm and I have a "counsel" position (which means I'm a senior lawyer but not a partner) focusing on knowledge management, regulatory analysis and legal writing in a specialist field. Almost all my work is non-billable and I never deal with clients. I spend my days reviewing and writing about regulatory developments (my favourite activity), identifying content (like articles and precedents) that should be made available to the lawyers in the firm, updating tables of data on deals, drafting presentations (and helping others prepare to make presentations), and helping lawyers get answers to certain kinds of questions. 90% of the time it's very low stress, and about 10% of time it's higher-stress and deadline-oriented. But everyone I've dealt with at the firm is incredibly friendly and kind, the firm is non-hierarchical, they're realistic about deadlines, and they go out of their way to provide positive feedback. And even when the job is stressful (usually because of a deadline + difficult issue to address), the work is super-interesting. And I'm fairly and well-compensated, and there are good perks.

We're also FI so I'm a SWAMI and know that I can walk away from this job at any point if I stop liking it as much as I do.

Runner-up enjoyable/low-stress jobs:

- Working at the Body Shop in university (back when it was a boutique chain and hadn't been swallowed by a soullless mega-corp);
- Volunteering at a wildlife rehab center (it's very meditative and satisfying to feed the patients and clean their enclosures);
- Summer job as a research assistant for a couple of economists at the Department of Fisheries;
- Summer job temping as a data entry operator processing bill payments for Esso (I got paid a lot of money ($16/hour in 1987) for work that was so chill I sometimes fell asleep while doing it.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!