Richard AgamaWe all chart different paths on our way to professional success, but let’s face it: some routes are dead ends. If your interpersonal skills are wanting, it’s best to steer clear of any business that requires you to play nice with others. Here’s some fair warning with a list of jobs and careers to avoid if you just hate people.
Teacher
If you were hoping to “educate” anyone, stay away from kindergarten, middle school, and probably high school too. While there’s a chance that you’ll profoundly impact a young person, you’ll be disappointed to find that the job involves a great deal of babysitting. You’d do better as a professor.
Landlord
Real estate can be a lucrative business. But if you want to rent out your investment properties, be warned that they won’t all be dream tenants. If you’re not up for midnight phone calls about plumbing problems, you can hire a management company to take care of the day-to-day duties instead.
Nurse
Doctors often get away with more brusque behavior, but we rely on our nurses for comfort and even sympathy. If you don’t think you can fake a smile on a bad day, spare your patients, who are probably miserable already. A better choice? Become a dental hygienist, and your patients won’t be able to talk back.
Esthetician
There are a lot of options in the beauty industry, beginning with hairstylists and makeup artists. But it’s hard to care about making someone gorgeous if most people annoy you. Above all, don’t go into hair removal, where you might take a foul mood out on a client. No one deserves that kind of pain. You can always develop beauty products instead.
Veterinarian
If you just hate people, why would you avoid a career centered on animals? Unfortunately, they have owners—hysterical, panicked, confused, cat-hair-covered owners who demand miracles from you and then balk at the bill. If you want to work with animals, you’d probably prefer an animal rescue facility. You might help find owners for pets, but you won’t have to actually deal with them.
