What is your most & least respected profession?

treestump

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 11:04 am

amother wrote:

Gotta laugh at the "fakeness" of the responses here. No, in the frum community high earners are not respected more. Of course not. The young singles from poor families have the same shidduch prospects as the singles from wealthy homes. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. Out of the dozens of responses, no one here admits to respecting people who work jobs that make lots of $$$.

The fact that you know people who value money most doesn't make anyone's response here fake. You're using a logical fallacy. Perhaps the people who are drawn to answer this thread are a different sample than the people you know.

I have no idea what my friends earn. I have no idea what their husbands earn. I don't care. I value depth, kindness and intelligence. When I was 16, I found out that my best friend's father was a multi-millionaire. I had no idea before and the value of our friendship didn't change at all. I don't know how much anyone else earns and have no particular desire to find out.

Zehava

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 11:24 am

Personally I have respect for helping professions such as doctors, nurses, first responders, social workers etc. People who are willing to witness pain and tragedy in order to be of help. Ofcourse there are bad apples in every profession but in general those professions inspire me.
Professions I respect the least would be the kind that are only for money such as stock brokers and real estate magnates.
I used the word professions as ofcourse my respect for people is for who they are as a person.

Ruchel

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 11:29 am

amother wrote:

That's not true. Some circles go for frugal and all, others for rich, most for middos above those. Maybe NY is different, I don't relate to it.

Ruchel

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 11:32 am

sky wrote:

I think my shoe maker makes a decent living. My grand father was a tailor and shoe maker and provided for his family.

Doctors graduate school these dates with at least 100K in debt if not more. They carry very high mal practice insurance. Medicaid and state care pay very little. I know more then one doctor struggling financially while working crazy hours.

I also know doctors who don't have the best money. Though ours don't pay their studies like that etc. But that's not what I was posting about personally, I was simply, gasp, asnwering the question.

amother

Red

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 11:34 am

amother wrote:

Curious to know which profession is respected the most/least

Most respected: hard working trade jobs like a shoemaker, etc. honest at the core and knows true work

Least respected: mainstream doctors (paid for 8 min years of schooling to be trained by big Pharma funded books to be sheep and never question. CDC shall burn ....)

OP, this comment is absurd. And I say that as someone who deeply questions the efficacy of vaccines and prescription meds and does her best to keep her family away from most MDs.

I agree that CDC and big pharma have an agenda - an agenda that does not have helping people at the top of the list - but most doctors go into medicine to help people. They're not in it just to make a buck. Most doctors are not rich. They desire to care for people. The fact that you or I disagree with the way they go about it does not diminish their intentions or make them undeserving of respect.

As to your question of most and least respected profession... I never thought about it. Any person who works hard with honesty and integrity has my respect. Doesn't matter if it's a garbage collector, a florist, a lawyer or :::gasp::: even an MD.

shevi82

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 11:36 am

I don't respect people by their jobs.
But I have to say I am surprised to see no one said teachers.
They would highest on my list, if I had one.

I give them the most precious things I have every day.
And a good teacher can really change a child's life.

amother

Amber

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 12:33 pm

marina wrote:

Obv I respect many professions, but if I had to categorize the ones I respect most it would be professions that make 3rd world countries safer and better places. This includes Doctors Without Borders, Engineers Without Borders, Lawyers Without Borders, you get the drift.

And of course I can be all indignant and say that I respect people regardless of their professions and just for the quality of their characters and to some extent that's true, but if there are two people in front of me and one is an actuary and the other is a member of Doctors without Borders and I know nothing else about them, I will respect the latter more. Sorry to all who are actuaries.

So out of curiosity, and I say this as a big fan of all the chesed you do on this forum
Why aren't you involved with Lawyers w/o borders

marina

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 1:00 pm

amother wrote:

So out of curiosity, and I say this as a big fan of all the chesed you do on this forum
Why aren't you involved with Lawyers w/o borders

I wish I was knowledgeable in international criminal and civil laws so that I could be involved with that group. Instead, all I know about is American education law, which is of very little use to people in Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal, etc.

Maybe one day someone from Tanzania will have an urgent question about IEPs and 504 Plans and then my true worth can be realized. LOL

amother

Babypink

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 1:05 pm

OP wasn't asking about specific people - the real question is - what is a respectable way to make a living?

I don't see how being an actuary is any more or less a respectable way to make a living than being in a 'helping' profession. However - I would say that being a nurse is more admirable than being an accountant.

Any profession, trade or business which requires dishonestly is not a respectable way to make a living (IMHO).

I disagree that as a whole doctors are dishonest drug pushers.

MiracleMama

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 1:27 pm

amother wrote:

And which professions, trades or businesses require dishonesty?

amother

Babypink

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 2:07 pm

MiracleMama wrote:

And which professions, trades or businesses require dishonesty?

its a tough question to answer regarding professions - there are a few 'alternative medical' practices that I personally think qualify, but I'm not interested debating that. Not really a "trade" but commissioned sales positions - especially in clothing retail often require some skilled wordsmithing to close a sale. And businesses - anything selling a 'knockoff' of something else.

sky

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 2:11 pm

MiracleMama wrote:

And which professions, trades or businesses require dishonesty?

I don't want to paint anyone with a bad brush.
But almost all the real estate agents we have used, including some that are friends - I feel weren't 100% honest and had to really stretch things to make the sale.
You better grab it before anyone else (it sat after on teh market for a year)
Its a great neighborhood for you (the average age is 10 years younger then us)
The price is amazing (but only 100K more then our budget we discussed with you and the price really isn't that great...)
etc...

But I still respect them. They work hard. hustle. Make the calls even when they know the door may be slammed in their face.

finallyamommy

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 2:20 pm

It's not a profession in that it doesn't bring home money, but I do think stay-at-home parents deserve a lot more respect than they get.

Least respected professions, for me, are the obvious: prostitution, drug dealing, scams.

But whether someone is a doctor or a janitor, if he's making an honest living (and, if Jewish, he's Torah-observant), then he gets my respect.

It took me awhile to learn that, actually. I used to be mildly embarrassed when people asked what we did and I'd say that I was babysitting and DH was a janitor. But especially in Israel, I find that you have to start somewhere and any profession (with the obvious exceptions) is an admirable profession. (And now he's a manager in a catering company and I'm a WAHM, but we both took awhile to get here.)

PinkFridge

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 2:24 pm

Take a lawyer (please!) (98% of lawyers give the rest of them a bad name.) who helps people pro bono, needy people, his kids' schools, does an exceptional amount of chesed in the community....
When someone says, if I meet an actuary and a doctor yeah, I respect the doctor more, what does that mean?? Do you know that all else is equal? Does it translate into practical respect e.g. switch places with me in line? What if the actuary is a kohen? Should you switch places with him first? Anyone here reading this and thinking, "I think I'll steer Jr. and Jrette to this profession instead of xyz"? (Because if anyone is, here's some advice: Mommas, don't let your sons grow up to be cowboys.)
A lot of the posts here are leaving me Scratching Head

a little.

amother

Pink

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 2:36 pm

MiracleMama wrote:

And which professions, trades or businesses require dishonesty?

There's a certain amount of blurring the lines that can go on, and even be accepted and expected in some fields, but is of questionable ethics imo.

For instance, lawyers, billing by the hour, have an incentive to do unnecessary work, pad their time sheets, convince clients to file unnecessary motions to further run up a bill, promote machlokes when parties want to settle, etc. (Lawyer speaking here.)

Medicaid-funded businesses have a huge incentive to channel money toward salaries of higher up executives, and put less toward consumer expenses.

amother

Pink

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 2:37 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

a little.

amother

Mustard

Mon, Jun 05 2017, 3:54 pm

amother wrote:

I work in public health. Trust me, the vast majority of people go into these fields because they do want to help people and many are MDs. Pharma is a moneymaking industry but most people I know in that industry as well also truly take pride is saving people's lives.