“People That Don’t Hate Their Jobs And Make A Decent Wage, What Do You Do?” (30 Answers)

I work at a pet store (only supplies, no animal sales) and make $18 CAD/hr. That might not sound 'decent' but it's better than minimum wage with no meaningful increase in responsibility (aka stress) compared to any other retail worker. In fact, my work environment is lower stress than any other retail/food job I've had and the owner has a keen interest in our well-being. Yearly raises, Christmas bonus, profit sharing, get paid our full scheduled shift if it's shortened or cancelled for weather, aiming to become a living wage employer with promises to increase wages beyond that so long as the business continues to grow.

Plus no one asks 'why' if I turn down a shift or decline to stay later. Respect for personal time is huge. I'm treated like a human being, not a robot with no life outside work.

I’m an accountant for a bank.

Good salary, great benefits, tons of PTO and all holidays off.

It’s not particularly exciting, rewarding, or fulfilling but it gives me the security and freedom to make my life as exciting, rewarding and fulfilling as possible.

I work as a housekeeper at a motel. I love my job. It allows me to work alone, I can listen to my music, and I enjoy making order out of chaos. Also, the money's pretty damn good. Because of the way our pay is structured, I make more than double the standard amount in this industry.

I make good money owning a nice dog boarding facility on my property. I do doggie daycare twice a week in addition to 24/7 boarding; picking up happy dogs around town is pretty damn fun. I love working at home, with dogs, and running my own business.

School janitor. $30/hour. 40 hours a week, 12 months a year. I get a shitload of awesome medical/dental benefits, paid vacation, sick days, every provincial and federal holiday off paid.

However, the real perk that I f*****g love, is that I work alone. Once the teachers leave, I have the building to myself. I see my boss once a month, if that. I just show up, put on my favourite podcasts, do my job and go home, money shows up in my account twice a month. I might speak 100 words a shift. It’s absolutely glorious.

About the only thing I don’t like about it are the crappy hours (3-11pm, followed by 7-3 during the winter/spring/summer breaks, but you get used to it), and the lazy f*****g teachers that make my job harder than it needs to be. Overall, I’d give it a solid 8.5/10

I am a kennel attendant. I care for and feed both dogs and cats. One of my daily requirements if I have time to do it, is literally to play with a dog/cat or puppy/kitten. It’s called animal enrichment. It’s meant to help prepare them for a life outside the shelter. Doesn’t even feel like a job.

I worked in construction doing flooring for 25 yrs. I was always excited when the weekend came to an end and looked forward to the work week. My wife got to stay home and raise our kids. We went on 3-4 vacations a year. Put both my kids through college. So satisfying to be able to work with your hands everyday and create something beautiful in someones home, that will last for years to come. Then cash a nice paycheck for all your hard work.

I got to work at JPL for 35 years, designing and flying deep space missions. Galileo, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Stardust, Solar Probe, InSight and others. It was an exceptionally fun job even when it was hard. And I met a whole bunch of very smart people.

Electrician. It’s hard work most days, but satisfying seeing it all lit-up and functioning properly.

Knowing my work will still be in service many years from now feels good, and seeing customers marvel at their new light fixtures looking great is a good feeling

Air Traffic controller. Made around $120k last year with overtime. Staffing sucks. Availability of leave sucks. Tons of mandatory OT. But I still love my job. 10 years in, 13 years until eligible for retirement. Forced retirement in 19 years.

I am the only IT guy for a family owned business. They know nothing about computers so as long as everything is running smoothly they leave me alone. I only put in about 45 minutes of actual work every week.

EnvironmentalPack451 replied: I got into a position like this fairly recently, and the toughest part was coming to terms with not working hard every second after years of working hard every second.

I work in the pathology lab at a hospital. I process blood and biopsy samples onto microscope slides for the pathologists to read. I love it! I feel like I’m helping people, even though I never meet them and they have no idea who I am.

Im a librarian and part of my job is organising and creating workshops for children/adolescents regarding STEM. So I get to fiddle around with 3d printers, lasercutters and all kinds of cool things. On the side I also do graphic design and build websites since my previous job was web developer.

My job is different every day and since I work for the government the benefits are really good. Only downside is the pay but I gladly earn a little less to do a creative job where I can basically do what I want.

Plumber.
I'm in high demand, so I get to work the hours I want for the pay that I want, more or less. Lots of autonomy, and I get to tinker with things and fix things all day.

Farmer here. In the winter I can be in knee deep snow with numb toes and fingers fixing fence, and in the summer I can be working on an irrigation system with a heat index of 110°F. I never feel like I'm actually working. Life feels like an open world RPG with somewhat vague deadlines to meet throughout the year. The hardest part is keeping yourself motivated so you don't fall behind. We start planting in mid April, but we've been working on the planter for most of this week and should be field ready tomorrow. I could sleep in till noon every day if I chose to but the seasons are changing....

Entomologist. I’m just here for the bugs. It’s like $65k a year, and I live in a not super expensive area, so it works out when combined with my fiancés income.

I’m a statistician and work with a government agency. I particularly really enjoy not having to interact with too many people.

I’m an Estate Buyer, I travel all over the country buying peoples stuff. Antiques and what not. Pays well and I don’t spend a dime on travel, rental car, even my food is paid for. I just show up to an event and buy. It’s wonderful and I get to see a lot of cool stuff I’d normally never see.

National Park Ranger. Thirty-two years and counting. As with any profession, there are still bad days.

BlueberryUpstairs477 replied: I did two seasons with the [Forest Service] as a wilderness and trails ranger but declined a position in 2020 because of fuck-ups due to covid — decided it wasn't for me and wanted to make more money. Well, I'm coming back around to the idea because I'd rather love my job and make ok money.

I’m a service navigator for children’s intensive mental health services. I work for a nonprofit so I make an ok wage (I’ve been able to be the main income provider in our household and although things are tight I’m not currently worried). But I also get 4 weeks PTO, a week off at Christmas, benefits for myself and my husband, and a pension. Everyday is different and I do my best to help people.