Why Your Job Isn’t the Suckiest (Photo Essay)

All of us have days when we think our job must be the worst one in the whole wide world. Maybe it’s the insufferable boss. Or an annoying colleague. Or it may be the work itself. Even the lousy morning commute can put me off some days. Here are is photo essay that will hopefully put things in perspective. Bookmark it and return to it when you feel your job really sucks and believe me, you will got to work the next day feeling a lot better.

  1. Window Cleaners

  2. Would you rather hang off a harness every day, suspended several feet above the ground cleaning windows?

    Window Cleaning by kamoda via Flickr.



  3. Zoo Employee

  4. Or work at a zoo where you have to check the dental hygiene of animals or scrub them clean all over? Imagine the stench that will welcome you to work every day if your task is to clean the cages…

    (a)Open Wide by Turtblu via Flickr.
    (b)Hold That Pose by Eye Captain via Flickr.



  5. Rodeo Clown

  6. Or try to imagine this – your job is to grab the attention of an angry bull and distract it from the bull rider who has fallen off. You get the wrath of the bull, but none of the glory of the bull rider. The boss grabbing all the attention doesn’t seem that bad now, does it?

    Rodeo Clowns by the PhotoPhreak via Flickr.



  7. Funeral Home Employee

  8. Want to quit clowning around and get serious? OK. How about a job at a funeral home? Embalmer, mortician, funeral home director – anyone? Imagine having to deal with death day in and day out!

    He Was There All Along, II by DerrickT via Flickr.



  9. Septic Truck Driver

  10. Think your job is shitty? Wanna switch jobs with this guy who has to drive out every day to collect poo?

    Shitty Job by paperscissorock via Flickr.



  11. Slaughter House Employee

  12. Or work with carcasses hanging all around you? How can you enjoy a decent meal at the end of the day if you spend the whole day surrounded by raw meat?

    Slaughter House in Camberene, Senegal by smokecandy via Flickr.



  13. Jokeys, Models, Glam Babes...

  14. Imagine having to wake up at ungodly hours for training and exercise, eating only the bland healthy stuff, being criticized when you put on a couple of pounds even when your regular body weight is far below that of the average person…. all for a few moments of glory…

    (a)Jockeys by Ti-Bao via Flickr.
    (b)Couture fashion show at Waldorf Astoria by bnittoli via Flickr.



    OK. Now lets look at three of the most prestigious jobs a person can have. Would you like to switch with them?

  15. Soldier

  16. Would you rather spend months away from your loved ones, in a foreign land – different food, different climate, different language, different everything - where the locals detest you and try to kill you at the first opportunity they get?

    U.S. Soldiers in Iraq, March 23 2007. Public Domain. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway [via pingnews] via Flickr.



  17. Fire Fighters

  18. Or march into a burning building when every one is running out?

    Unnamed by bamakodaker via Flickr.



  19. Surgeon

  20. Imagine spending years together with no “life” to speak of mastering your trade so you may save lives and then one fine day after hours at surgery, the patient dies at the table. Or sues you for mal-practice. Sure, surgeons probably make a boat load of money, but would you be willing to trade your life for a life full of stress and where the life of another person is literally in your hands? And spend years of schooling and residency to get there?

    CPMC Surgery by crucially via Flickr.



    These are just 10 of the jobs for which I could find pictures on Flickr. It is just the tip of the ice berg. There are tons of other jobs out there which could make even these jobs look like a piece of heaven – have you ever watched the series Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel? Sure, my job may not be the cushiest or the best, but given some of the other things I could be doing, I think I will keep mine for now, thank you very much!


NOTE: All these photographs have Creative Commons licenses. If you want to use these photographs for commercial purposes, please contact the photographers directly (a link to their fickr profiles is provided below each photograph). This blog consciously tries to avoid copyright infringement. If you ever find a violation, please do let me know and I will immediately take the necessary action to rectify the situation.

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Why You Should Save for Retirement - A Photo Essay

Today you are young. And in the arrogance of youth you may believe that it is not necessary to start saving for retirement yet. But the consequences of such thinking are not pretty. Here are some stark reminders of what life can be like in our old age, if we don't plan for our retirement from right now. We may not be out on the streets, but wherever we work, if we are forced to do it to stay afloat, it will be equally sad!


Evening Post by rofanator via Flickr.



Old Thoughts by angelocesare via Flickr.



In suburbia by anyone_anywhere via Flickr.



Old woman selling peanuts in the beach by Henrique Vicente via Flickr.



Sweeping by zakwitnij via Flickr.



Lonely Lacie 1 by dave_merwin via Flickr.



Men at work by inoneear via Flickr.



Old Woman in Cathedral Village Regina by Daniel Paquet via Flickr.



Ever vigilant by Damgaard via Flickr.



Old woman by_gem_ via Flickr.



Tired by Farhang via Flickr.



Old Woman on Subway by MamboZ via Flickr.



The Old Man Of Wakefield by rofanator via Flickr.



NOTE: All these photographs have Creative Commons licenses. If you want to use these photographs for commercial purposes, please contact the photographers directly (a link to their fickr profiles is provided below each photograph). This blog consciously tries to avoid copyright infringement. If you ever find a violation, please do let me know and I will immediately take the necessary action to rectify the situation.

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Lessons in Entrepreneurship: Think Outside the Bag

(This post is a part of the "weekend's are for fun" series.)

If you are an entrepreneur (or plan on being one), then it is likely that sometime in your entrepreneurial career, you will have to work on creating brand recognition and advertising. For the most bang for the buck - think outside the bag (you’ll see what I mean). Here are some innovative ads that really amused me - hopefully they will inspire you in your quest for creating the most captivating ad as well.

Note: These images have been floating around for a while and you might have seen some of them already. So, I categorized them into three sections so you can skip over the sections that you have already seen. How thoughtful, huh? :)

  1. Shopping Bags
  2. Truck Ads
  3. Bus Ads

Shopping Bags


Advertising on shopping bags (“bagvertising”) can have a similar effect as advertising on bill boards. At a much lower cost, though. Compared to billboards, the advantage of using bagvertising is that shopping bags are mobile ads, whereas bill boards are stationary. So, bagvertising can reach all sorts of places that bill board advertising just couldn’t. The key here is to be innovative. Have an “oomph” design that will make a lasting impression to not only help with brand recognition, but also tempt the audience into going and making a purchase themselves. Here are some examples. Look to the bottom of the page for links with more pictures.

Stop ‘n Grow nail biting deterrent



Dubai Autism Center




Pieter Aspe – Belgian Crime Novel Writer



I am assuming this one is for a lingerie store!



Panadol brand pain reliever (Australian?)



Truck Ads


OK. Say you are stuck in traffic. And to make it worse, let’s you are caught behind (or next to) a huge truck. What would you rather stare at – the boring hind side of a truck with the name of some company in block lettering or some clever ad that amuses you? (For those of you who said – “Neither, I hate all kinds of ads”, I say “I pity the fool who cannot face reality and adapt to it!”). Anyway, a German company called RollAd sponsors an annual advertising competition for the cleverest ad designed for trucks called the Rhino Awards. Here are some of my favorites from the winners from 2005 and short-listed entries from the 2006.

Pepsi Light



Falk Navigation Systems




Sushi Factory (Does anyone else think an aquarium with cute fish is a bad idea for advertising sushi???)



Coca Cola Zero



Universal Pictures (King Kong)



Bus Ads


This is a genre similar to truck ads. In big cities where the public transportation is one of the primary means to get around, this can be a great means of advertisement. I wish every advertiser would recognize the value of “funny” and design ads that amuse us instead of bore us!

Duracell Batteries



Dr. Best Tooth Brush



Jet Star Asia



Mint



Toys ‘R Us



I know we money bloggers shun advertisements and gripe about how they corrupt the mind and tempt people into buying stuff that they don't need. But at the end of the day, the reality is that there will always be advertisements around us. If you plan on having your own business or entrepreneurial venture, you may as well make peace with ads and use them to your advantage. I hope these ads here convinced you of the potential that funny and innovative ads have, and I hope if you ever choose to create an ad campaign you will be be kind to us consumers by entertaining us instead of bugging us!

More Cool Pictures at:

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