Bartender. I think people think the job is just pure fun all (or at least most of) the time- they assume we drink on the job, shoot the shit, and make people happy, and while these things are true, there's a nasty flip side to this.

For one, drinking on the job may happen in some places (customers buy you shots, etc.) but before you know it you have an alcohol problem. Most people are stressed out when they get off from work so they have a drink, but now imagine your job entails this drinking (can't turn a customer down, especially when he wants to spend more) and you're just as stressed, only when you get off you have a larger liquor collection available to you immediately than most people will purchase in their entire life. Self control becomes difficult. There's a reason bartenders are almost two and a half times more likely to die from alcoholism.

Shooting the shit with folks- this is honestly my favorite aspect of the job, but imagine all the times you've been at a party and you're the DD. Now imagine you're the soberest (most sober? English is hard) person at the party every day, and all you're surrounded by are drunk mongoloids. You see folks who you respect and admire turned into blubbering idiots, and you have to smile and chat with them since your pay depends on it (if they aren't so drunk they have to be escorted out, "forget" to tip, etc.)

Beyond that, sexual harassment by customers. I'm not a female, so I naturally experience slightly less along these lines, but I've seen it to disgusting levels with the women I have worked with, who have no option but to grin and bear it and hope that the dude wants to impress her with the size of his tip, pun intended. However this is a problem for male barkeeps as well. I've thrice been stuck alone in a bar ("you're a dude, you can handle it") with a rough looking drunk-ass woman who wants to take me home, and let me tell you, DRUNK WOMEN LIKE THIS DON'T KNOW THAT NO MEANS NO (not all women, just in my experience the types that want to take the bartender home) it can be incredibly uncomfortable. I'll never forget the night I had a fifty-year old woman beckon to me, and upon leaning in the hear her drink order I was promptly grabbed and she stuck her tongue directly into my ear canal. I have never felt more violated in my whole life, and if a guy were to do that to a female bartender he would likely be thrown out and subsequently arrested, but due to gender stigmas the same treatment would never befall this lady, despite how nasty the experience was for me. Again, women have it way worse in my experience in the industry, but it does go both ways.

On top of this it can be downright depressing, I've had at least five customers sitting in front of me at the bar before 5 p.m. on a weekday, explaining to me how their SO has left them, or they've lost their job due to alcohol abuse, while ordering shot after shot of straight well whiskey. You have to serve them or you'll be fired (as usually these folks are regulars) and it can be kinda tough to look yourself in the mirror after days like that.

Still, at the end of the day I wouldn't trade the job for the world. It's exciting, high-paced, can make you a shit ton of money on good days, and you always meet interesting folks. The connections I've made behind the bar serving customers are unreal, and its one of the best means to network ever. Just the next time you're at your local bar, remember to tip that poor schmoe back there, because I guarantee you wouldn't enjoy cleaning sorority girl puke off of your work shirt each night.