The Most Stressful Jobs in America

im going into the military to be an air traffic controller and when im done with basic training im gonna be doing that at an international airport. so me being 18 i think you guys are ridiculous to say that you think teaching is stressful when air traffic controllers have one international flight every 30 seconds to land. you do the math and figure out how many peoples lives they'd be in charge of not ending per day and tell me your job is stressful. im 18 years old and next year im fully confident that i can handle it so teachers and all the stuff need to quit complaining for real. and to top it off try doing that same job in combat situations. so just chill out nobody elses job is that bad.

Posted on 03/31/2009 at 10:03:40 PM

Depending in which part of the country you're in, being a police officer can be one of the least stressful jobs out there. Nowadays, they have this Rambo type attitude. If you look at them in the slightest manner, you may get tasered for no reason at all. Firemen have a very stressful job, however, it really doesn't matter what job is or isnt stressful, it's your disposition and whether or not you can handle that kind of stress. Everyone is different and employers don't recoginize that. If John over there can handle his stress fine (goes home and beats up the wife but the boss never hears about it) and Jane starts crying at work because she's behind and nobody can help her out of if managements gets on her case, then Jane must see a psychiatrist so she can be medicated and cope with the job. That's life's answer, take a pill for normal day to day events. Make everyone think and behave the same way.

Posted on 03/16/2009 at 5:03:10 PM

I can't even compare my job stress to that of police, fire fighters, or members of the military. However, there is one career that I have not seen listed and that is a real estate closer (settlement agent). I am actually closing my business to get out of this lifestyle. The buyers are already anxious enough, but when the lenders do not send me loan documents until MINUTES before closing, I am not able to tell them how much money they have to bring to the table. I have even had instances of people sitting in my office for a closing the lender has known about for weeks and I receive 116 pages to print out, 15-23 of which are my instructions on what the lender expects from me PRIOR to closing! Also are the people that apply for loans or put contracts on a house and I am asked to handle closing. Since they all want it rushed through, I have to hire a title examiner so I can be ready. Then when the buyer changes their mind, I am not only out of the money for the work I have done, but

Posted on 02/22/2009 at 10:02:49 PM

I work in customer service. I will have to make the statement, that probably each one of you has called into some sort of customer service when u were having a bad day and yelled at the first person who answered, who had no idea about your account, bill etc. So now we as customer service become stressed out because of people like you who call into a customer service department just to vent. And, to keep our job without you e-mailing to the owner of the company that after you curse and yelled at another person that I should lose my job because I did not put on a smile on my face and my @## kissing boots. You believe in your mind that we are worthless and of course you dont give a !@#$ who I am or my feelings, you just want a credit on your bill. as you can tell I am venting right now, because you think that these desk pushing jobs are so easy, yea i understand nobody is going to kill me, but it would be nice that when a person contacts another person they can be courteous, not talk

Posted on 02/06/2009 at 10:02:37 AM

As a new teacher, I have to agree, teaching is VERY stressful - the teaching end of things is easy, but getting those kids to sit down and pay attention and not kill each other is the stressful part!

Posted on 01/13/2009 at 7:01:38 PM

you all have to let loose

Posted on 01/13/2009 at 2:01:23 PM

My job isn't too stressful. Sometimes if I am running a little behind it is but otherwise it is ok.

Posted on 01/13/2009 at 2:01:26 PM

@eagleriver While facing the threat of losing your life or accidentally taking the life of another person is indeed stressful, there are two important factors that you failed to take into consideration: the frequency and perceived severity of those threats. Yes, a police officer does run the risk of having someone shoot at him, but it's not like he comes into work everyday with bullets flying past his squad car. Now, compare this to the job of a soldier on the front lines. He too runs the risk of losing his life, but would it be fair to say that the job of a police officer is as stressful as said soldier? No, it would not. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to believe that there are jobs that can be more stressful than say a police officer's job and yet not face the risk of loss of life simply because of the fact that the source of stress is more frequent and of a greater perceived magnitude.

Posted on 12/30/2008 at 3:12:22 PM

Thank you for sharing. I agree with you that we each have the power to not let stress control our lives. It's such a hard thing to do... yet a very valuable skill if we can learn it. Your post was encouraging to me. Thanks!

Posted on 11/22/2008 at 10:11:52 AM

OMG you desk pushers crack me up!!! :) think about this logically... no-one is going to try and kill you, a mistake you make isn't going to kill someone, you're not in the top four professions likely to end your life with a heart attack, you're not in a profession that has been proven to reduce the average normal lifespan by ten years, you dont have to have unlisted phone numbers for your families safety etc etc. On top of this you talk about stress as being a bad thing... there is GOOD strees as well as bad, and its what keeps you focused and at the top of your game. IMHO any list that doesnt have (in no particular order) the following in its top ten is written by people who dont know what they are talking about... Prison guards(unarmed in a situation where people WILL try and kill you and get to your family) /air traffic controllers(can't afford a single mistake because just one mistake will kill circa 400 people) / armed police officers( where people try and kill you) / 911 oper

Posted on 10/07/2008 at 3:10:59 AM