Most stressful job....?

[Countdown]

Watching a bus driver manouevre his way through rush-hour traffic this morning I was wondering which is the most stressful job around (in terms of "average daily stress" - to - pay ratio).

I can say with some authority that it's definitely not "Accountant" (In fact I can't think of many less stressful jobs), and it probably isn't IT Contractor either I would have thought.....

Soldier?
Paramedic?
A&E Doctor/Nurse?
Social Worker?

[kiethton]

Today I’d bet on it being:

Support services investment banker at Peel Hunt, Numis, Citigroup, HSBC or Santander....

[PHuzzy]

I'm pretty sure stress wise, Air Traffic Controller is usually up near the top.
They do get paid well though.

When not on tour, I can assure you that soldiers are not stressed, other than maybe some small tasks and physical training, the normal Monday - Fridays consist of sitting around bored and waiting for the weekend.

[budgie smuggler]

Countdown said:

I was wondering which is the most stressful job around (in terms of "average daily stress" - to - pay ratio).

Nursery worker. Dealing with petulant brats for minimum wage. And then when they've finished moaning and buggered off you have to look after their kids all day.

[RTB]

It's a good question. My sister is a district midwife, her bad day at work is a lot worse than my bad day.

I work in Reg Affairs for a pharma company, my bad day is getting a load of health authority questions with a really short turn around time (like 24 or 36 hours) - usually ends up requiring a couple of very full days to get everything answered and back to the health authority, but at the end of the day no-one dies and it's not very often that it happens.

My sister recalled a bad day that started off being called to a home-birth on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

What should have been a low-risk straight-forward delivery (this was the woman's 4th child) turned into my sister desperately trying to resuscitate a new born baby; waiting agonising minutes for the ambulance to get to the remote farm whilst trying to prevent the mother bleeding to death. Mother and baby were both OK, but I expect it made for a lively few minutes.

[generationx]

Bomb disposal

[irocfan]

Not a tube driver

[StevieBee]

I'm currently working on a project in Zanzibar. My client contact is an Italian lady who, until recently, worked in International Disaster Relief for the UN (and other agencies).

amongst the many tasks were included things such as locating the parents of dead babies before the bodies started to rot, evacuating towns before the next bomb strike / dam bursting, reconnecting power cables in monsoon rain, repairing septic tanks as human st pours out around your feet...amongst many others.

Assignments would be for three solid months - no weekends off. But no more than three months followed by a month off within which was included the opportunity to stay at any resort (think 5 - star all-inclusive), anywhere in the world for up to three weeks, which was often provided to the UN or whatever agency free of charge.

[austinsmirk]

drone capturing operative at a major London airport ?

[markiii]

around now,? British Prime Minister

[PorkInsider]

Interesting thread.

All the roles suggested so far, other than in Keithton’s post, are public sector ones.

[Countdown]

PorkInsider said:

Interesting thread.

All the roles suggested so far, other than in Keithton’s post, are public sector ones.

That doesn't surprise me. A lot of the frontline Public Sector roles have to deal with the Public. That's quite stressful.

[Pinkie15]

RTB said:

I work in Reg Affairs for a pharma company, my bad day is getting a load of health authority questions with a really short turn around time (like 24 or 36 hours) - usually ends up requiring a couple of very full days to get everything answered and back to the health authority, but at the end of the day no-one dies and it's not very often that it happens.

Ah, the joys of a HC 'clarifax', or anything from ANSM (why do they still use actual fax machines)

[lyonspride]

generationx said:

Bomb disposal

With daily targets to meet.



Although on a more realistic level, most jobs with impossible targets are not only stressful but extremely demotivating.

[irocfan]

generationx said:

Bomb disposal

And in the same vein - mine detecting

[Whatsmyname]

No such thing as a stressful job, stressful people however...

[urquattroGus]

Stress is all relative.

Could be any job on a bad day - those who are in an "un-stressful" job may not see it that way and might not have anything else to compare it to.

In my first year of work I remember watching a warehouse shelf stacker at work I knew well going off for a long time for stress that seemed to be very real to him and not related to home life either as far as we could tell.

[thebraketester]

ATC?

[The jiffle king]

I know a lot of people think that CEO's play golf and get wined and dined but I think they have a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. Not saying the most, but:
- 100's or 1000's of peoples livelihoods depend on them making the right decisions
- results are now quarter by quarter and if you don't deliver you can get booted out
- get it wrong and you cost people jobs
- get it wrong as a Pharma boss and you cost lives
- having to change subjects 200 times a day and always be the ultimate decision maker
I know they get well paid, but knowing a couple of CEO's there is no way I would every want that job even if I had the capability

Actually, surgeon, nurse, paramedic would be my personal choices

[fttm]

Not the most stressful but up there , hauling semi loads of liquid oxygen around Canada and the Northern US. After last nights freezing rain along side todays 4-8 inches of snow road conditions are interesting , hopefully no "full clench" moments between now and tomorrow night when my xmas holiday begins .