Who worked their ass off to achieve their dream (career, travel, etc) only to realize it was actually a nightmare? What was it and how did it affect you?

1. I busted my ass opening a burger franchise. It was a young company and I was to be their first franchisee in my late 20’s. Fast forward a few years later and one of my locations is really doing well. Great reviews online lots of customers and it’s selling franchises for the franchisor. Well the franchisor used an in house lawyer to threaten me with perpetual litigation and a loophole in our contract to muscle me out of my franchise so that they could capitalize on the popular location. This was 5 years ago and I have not recovered financially or mentally from the ordeal. Dude used to have me over for family dinners and gatherings and blindsided me, had no idea people could be so heartless.
   — Skanderani


2. I came into social work to improve children's lives but I rarely have time to spend with children and families as its all taken up with recording; most of which is duplication, especially court documents. All I have time to do is statutory visits which are along the lines of 'yes you're alive, see you in 2 weeks time'. We were taught to challenge but in real life if you want to climb the ladder you have to keep your mouth shut and do as you're told. There's no resources due to annual budget cuts and really all we do is monitor the worst cases and close the ones that are in need. Our thresholds for service are so high that many don't meet the criteria and we can't retain staff as the job is so stressful. And god help you if a child dies because, as the social worker, you are even more responsible than the parents who actually killed them.
   — miss_v_23


3. The military, everything hurts and now i drink too much.
   — puente000






4. My cousin worked sooooo hard to get through law school and pass the bar. He wanted to be a trial lawyer his whole life only to find it wasn't for him and he cracked under the stress and pressure involved with his job.
   — xCurryQx


5. I am currently working my ass off to become a doctor and this is my last year. I hate working with patients at the moment because i myself am so depressed. It is so hard to turn my doctor face on in the mornings. Obviously i care about the patient and want to help but it takes so much pure energy to activate that side of me. At this point in my career i want to finish and pay off my loans and then stop working and find another passion.
   — Pleasebeunique27


6. I had a friend who busted his ass for a masters degree in speech pathology. Worked in the field a bit and made good money. He ended up leaving the field to pursue a dream of being a federal mail inspector or something. Apparently it's a very legit federal job. He had to get a entry level job at the post -office for a few years to qualify. When the applications open (which is limited, like maybe only once every 2 years or something), he applied and went through the HUGE process for hiring. He went to D.C. for one of the final things which was a lie detector where they asked him all sorts of crazy questions, and asked if he's ever smoked marijuana. He said yes he has before, but not regularly and only once (legal in our state mind you). He got a call a week later telling him he was unfit because he did drugs. All that for nothing.
   — Tilted_Till_Tuesday






7. I had the dream of becoming a pilot when I was very young and always dreamed about making it my career. Being German, I tried out at Lufthansa but unfortunately did not get selected for their flight training programme. My parents were very supportive, however, and helped finance my pilot training in the US. I finished my training in the minimum time and never failed a Checkride, but when I got out the financial crisis happened and aviation has not been the same since. The only work I could find as a fresh pilot was flying charter planes in Namibia, and it was a very eye opening experience that made me switch careers. I the same year, I was accepted at one of the best technical universities in Europe and worked my ass off to get my Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering. But, now that I'm finished, I have to realize that the main employer here, Airbus, does not hire anybody and has barely been hiring for a long time. I'm slaving away for a subcontractor at the moment, which pays way below average, especially for my experience and technical background, and the outlook in this industry does not give me much hope. I am in talks with the German equivalent of NASA atm and hope to be able to follow my passion there. But if you ask me, the aviation industry is beyond messed up.
   — progSloth


8. I spent a year and a half building up a business. I didn't own it, but I was basically second in command to the guy who did own it. I worked ridiculous hours. Sometimes I'd go weeks without a day off. It sucked the life out of me and turned me into an alcoholic, but after a year and a half we were a viable business and I finally felt comfortable taking a step back and letting it run. My pay hadn't been great this entire time because we really needed every cent. We were barely scrapping by for about a year. We'd finally made it though and I thought I'd be raking in 6 figures between the profit sharing program, the massive pay raise I was going to get, and the bonus structure for top management. Here I was, 26 years old, thinking I'd be a wealthy COO and retired by 50. Well, the owner decided he wanted to retire right away. He sold the business with almost zero warning. One day I come in and he's there with three guys I'd never seen before who just bought the place. Those three guys ended the profit sharing and bonus structure, demoted me, and drastically cut my pay. They fired just about everyone I'd hired and trained and brought in their own guys who fucked every thing up because they wouldn't listen to me. The business started to fail and they blamed me (even though I'd been demoted and wasn't actually in charge of anything) and fired me. I'd worked my ass off, I sacrificed a lot and even now I'm still mentally recovering from this. All that work for the guy I trusted, the original owner, to just bounce out with his millions and leave me to sink. I'll never trust anyone again.
   — Judge_Bredd2


9. worked my ass off to afford a house. Bought the house, and now I am broke, and my damn house ALWAYS has something wrong going on.
   — effthedab






10. I worked my ass off for years so I could get a job in the film industry. I perfected my portfolio by spending hundreds of dollars going to conventions and showing my work to pros. I moved to LA and struggled financially with dead-end jobs, all for a chance to work in the industry I love. Finally landed my dream job and had it for all of 3 months. I won't go into details for the sake anonymity but in short, the studio went into production too early and they realized that they had to scrap everything and start over. They laid off most of the art dept. Every film-related job I applied to after that wanted me to spend 20-40 hours working on unpaid art tests just to get to the interview stage. My savings had dried up and I had to get another "normal" job just to survive, so I had little free time to do a good job on the tests, which meant that I couldn't get more film work. I eventually realized that even if I did get any of these jobs, it was likely I would be let go from the studio the moment the project was over and I would be SOL all over again. I knew there would be gaps in my employment due to the nature of the industry but I didn't realize that these gaps would last YEARS. I've met unionized industry vets who still have difficulties finding work even with 20+ years of experience. I became very disillusioned and after a lot of thinking I decided to no longer pursue work in the film industry. I still do occasional freelance projects but at least it's supplemental and not my main source of income. It's actually kind of liberating to no longer have to worry about breaking into the industry again. My friends and my family probably think I'm a failure for giving up but I don't want to spend my entire professional career constantly trying to jam my foot into a door that is hell-bent on slamming in my face.
    — Antlered_Crusader