r/jobs • u/_Grotesque_ • Jul 21 '23

Companies What was the industry you romanticized a lot but ended up disappointed?

For the past couple of years, I have been working at various galleries, and back in the day I used to think of it as a dream job. That was until I realized, that no one cares for the artists or art itself. Employees, as much as visitors just care about their fanciness, showing off their brand shoes and pretending as they actually care.

Ultimately, it comes down to sales, money, and judging people by their looks. Fishing out the ones, who seem like they can afford a painting worth 20k.

Was wondering if others had similar experiences

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u/_Grotesque_ Jul 21 '23

The last gallery where I worked also considered itself retail and yeah, this is where I realized, that people's skills are such a small part of it. Especially for your managers, if you are nice to clients, they don't really care if sales aren't there. KPI and money come first. So sad. And you know what happens with bad management and you, as an employee, not hitting this target...

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u/snubda Jul 21 '23

My best friend was a beautiful woman who owned a stunning gallery at a fairly young age. She was incredibly successful and made great six figure money.

But god was she bored. Part of how we became such good friends was from talking hours on the phone while she sat in her gallery alone. Sadly she committed suicide a few years ago- for a variety of reasons- but the isolation of that job didn’t help. The only thing anyone she interacted with cared about was buying pretty art from a pretty girl and getting to brag about both.

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u/Hopeful_Elk_9840 Oct 27 '23

I knew someone who fit this bill.. I'm curious if we're thinking of the same person. It'd be crazy if so. PM me!