WITH the exception of travel bloggers, professional shoppers and perhaps hairstylists, everyone thinks their jobs are the most stressful in the world.
Yes, it is true that many vocations can pose a grave threat to mental and physical health, and significantly shorten one’s natural lifespan, but can they lay claim to being the “most stressful”?
To put this poser to rest, an online job database comes up with a list of the Top 10 Most Stressful Jobs every year.
The latest list by United States-based CareerCast was widely shared on social media recently, especially by journalists smug in the knowledge that their profession was last year’s worst job with a “growth” outlook of -9 per cent. Journalism is also an occupation with the sixth highest number of psychopaths, but that is another story.
According to CareerCast, being an enlisted military personnel is 2017’s most stressful job, followed by firefighter, airline pilot, police officer, event coordinator, newspaper reporter, corporate executive (senior), public relations executive, taxi driver and broadcaster.
The jobs named are undoubtedly nerve-racking and require a steady disposition but does the list apply in our country? In Spain, a bullfighter’s job is infinitely more stressful and life-threatening than a taxi driver’s, for example.
In England, a football manager deserves inclusion as it must be a very stressful job going by how they gesticulate wildly and shout profanities when players don’t do what they should.
In Malaysia, it is difficult to see how the gilded lives of young public relations executives who do their jobs largely through WhatsApp and emails can be considered stressful enough to be worthy of a place on the top 10.
Based on recent news reports and non-scientific research, the profession that should be included in the Malaysian list in place of public relations executive is teacher.
Our educators are not given the appreciation and respect they deserve when what they do require a plethora of skills and the ability to cope with constant, and sometimes sudden, changes.
Besides imparting knowledge, teachers these days must also handle mischievous and violent acts perpetrated by students in the schoolyard, and worse, face the parents of these miscreants later. The tremendous coping skills and patience their work require make it a job not for the weak-willed.
And, while being an enlisted military personnel is stressful, the number one spot on the Malaysian list should go to the strapping men of our Fire and Rescue Department, or Bomba.
This is because they are not only called upon to fight fires but often have to go beyond the call of duty to perform tasks not for the faint-hearted.
They are the go-to people when there are snakes and exotic birds to catch, and cats and dogs to be rescued from difficult-to-access locations.
They counsel suicidal persons intent on leaping off tall buildings, rescue those locked outside their homes and cut down beehives. As often seen on widely-shared social media posts, they also cut grilles to free trapped heads, hands and legs.
With similar dedication too, they snip off metal rings encircling certain body parts with their sophisticated equipment. Sometimes, it is not metal rings that are stuck on an unfortunate man’s appendage, but a mineral water bottle.
People in such extraordinary situations know that no one else can help them as even paramedics and doctors refer such cases to the Fire and Rescue Department.
It’s gruesome and bloody work, but our hardened firemen carry out these tasks gamely without a whimper of complaint.
As if these are not stressful enough, the men in orange are also sometimes called on to model for Bomba’s popular annual calendar, which should be considered for sale nationwide. It must be extremely stressful to strike curious poses while slathered in oil and holding various equipment, but the “abang-abang Bomba” do it professionally.
The ensuing attention they receive when the calendar is released must also be very unsettling on the nerves.
All these might just be enough to dissuade future generations from joining these professions and opt to become diagnostic medical sonographers, hairstylists or tenured university professors instead.
These jobs must be blissfully tranquil as they are among CareerCast’s least stressful jobs this year.
Email: sling@nst.com.my
This award-winning columnist, Chok Suat Ling takes a light and breezy look at hot, everyday topics. A law grad turned journalist, she is now NST Associate Editor News.