Global Q&A: ‘What’s the toughest job you can think of?’

High country sheep farmers, surgeons, and construction workers are representative of tough jobs that Epoch Times reporters from New Zealand to Brazil found when they asked locals:

Hamilton, New Zealand Peter Bos, 64, City Councilor Being a high country sheep farmer in late winter when you have got 5,000 ewes lambing. It’s been raining for two weeks, and it’s about to snow, and you are short of grass. I think that is the most stressful job. You have your family to consider, the well being of your farm, and the well being of your animals.

Bogotá, Colombia Maria Cristina Lozano Díaz, 42, Speech Pathologist I think that the work of a physician is the most difficult. Medicine as a career is very risky and with much responsibility, especially for surgeons, the cardiovascular and gynecology and obstetrics in general all work involving human life.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates Mike Meijer, 24, Student From a personal standpoint, the toughest job for me would involve being in charge of euthanizing (putting down) stray or unwanted animals. Although the physical process itself is quite painless, pets don’t have the luxury people do of choosing their own fate. Domesticated animals depend on human kindness and understanding to survive and live comfortably. And I think that we as the people who domesticated them in the first place and have them as pets, should take responsibility for their domestication. Every time an abandoned animal has to be put down, we as compassionate human beings have failed.

New York, USA Rob Alfonzo, Security for High End Retail I would say construction. Because number one, it is very dangerous; number two, it is not a consistent job. You can get a project and you could be working on it for a few years straight putting in long days of 13-hour shifts, and then there might not be anything available after that. Also, construction is very physically demanding with very little recognition after a project is completed.

Piracicaba, Brazil Maria Bermudez, 54, Laboratory Technician I think it’s a mason, because working in the hot sun with poor conditions. I just saw on the street a mason who fell from a building. The fireman was saying that they should pay more attention to their safety. Another profession that also works in the sun, and I think has worse conditions, is sugar cane cutters.

Lima, Peru Edgar Chanca, 53, Automotive Mechanic I think that no jobs are difficult for humans because it really all depends on the will. If you always have a negative attitude, it is always going to be quite hard to do. If at some point in my work I am given a task that everyone sees is difficult, I realize that they have confidence in me and that I can perform well, and so all goes well.

Malmo, Sweden Ion Miu, 70, Retired High School Teacher and Engineer My opinion is that the toughest job in the world is to work with people (in general) and especially to work with children. In many other occupations, your own professional competence is enough. But when you work with people, it is almost impossible to reach the perfect point of professional competence. To succeed in this area, you need to be a professional in three areas, I think: 1. The leader must know himself/herself very well. 2. To know the people who you work with very thoroughly, more on a deep level. 3. The leader must be a great person who can communicate spontaneously, from the heart, and honestly with his coworkers. I think that these three factors are almost impossible to fulfill all together at a workplace.

Puerto Montt, Chile Alexis Velasques Rantul, 30, Legal Technician Without a doubt, the hardest job I’ve ever done in my 30 years of life has been working in the prison of Osorno. Specifically, with the lower section of the prison detention center in 2002 and 2003. For some years, I worked with seven other people and without compensation. These hard years of work with these young inmates due to various situations or reasons, it was definitely something that caught my attention. Among the most common (in my opinion), were robberies. Furthermore, it was shocking to see how children not exceeding 16 years of age were involved in these types of offenses, now with a history of having had to live the life of a prisoner.

Look for the Global Q&A column every week. Epoch Times correspondents interview people around the world to learn about their lives and perspectives on local and global realities. Next week’s global question: “What’s your greatest concern about being a parent?” The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.