I really, really love my job as a reporter for my college's newspaper. My coworkers are hilarious and easy-going, and you get a lot of freedom to write from different angles, so long as it's professional and suitable for the public. It's also really flexible work. I only have to sign up for one editing hour a week (though usually I go in for much more than that) and you can take as many assignments as you like, as long as you take at least one.
The only thing that I didn't really like is that the deadlines can get a bit overwhelming, especially since I always procrastinate.
You get to talk to so many people, asking them about their feelings and whatnot. One time I wrote an article about a "Toys from the Heart" charity that one of the fraternities does to give toys to low-income children for Christmas. One of the guys went on and on about how much he loved dressing up as an elf, giving toys to the kids. He was like "There's so many toys, they don't even know what to do with themselves!" I thought it was such a sweet, lovely interview.
Another cool thing-- if you write an article on art, like a play, or a symphony, you actually get to talk to the artist/director about it. I love watching the plays at my school, and I LOVE talking to the directors about their feelings, why they chose to do things a certain way, etc.
However, I don't know how I would feel about professional journalism. I mean, don't get me wrong, at my college, we have to conduct ourselves professionally, and we've won a lot of rewards because of hard work. At the same time, everyone kind of expects you to make little mistakes every now and then, because they know that you're young and still learning.
Some factors to consider when reading about my great experience in student journalism:
-We have a very small staff, so we're all kind of pals as well as coworkers. This definitely makes the job more enjoyable, but not all papers/magazines will have such a close-knit staff.
-It is my understanding that professional journalism is rather cutthroat. This could definitely interfere with ENFP values.
-I go to a smaller college, so everyone kind of knows everyone. I don't think that I would expect such friendliness in "the real world" of journalism.
It is for the reasons above that I would not pursue journalism as a life-long career.
As for a job I didn't like-- McDonald's employee.
Ohgawd. People are so patronising to McDonald's employees. They think "Oh, she's in fast food; she must be an idiot!" Customers make such a huge deal out of small things, and it's hard not to take it personally. Sometimes I legitimately lose my faith in humanity after someone just cussed me out because their milkshake wasn't thick enough.
Also, the coworkers make me feel out of place, because most of them are ghetto. I have had my life threatened multiple times by coworkers.
I had one manager who was barely literate, but would constantly call me stupid and incompetent because I wasn't meeting her standards (One time I had JUST clocked in, and they put me on fries... no one was on fries before me, so of course we were behind. "I need three medium fries," she'd say to me, and when they weren't already up there waiting for her, she'd turn around and make a comment like "I hate waiting on fries when we have a fry person."
Fast food is a really fast-pace job. There is very little moment for rest, because people are constantly coming in, and they all expect their food in a timely manner. It really sucks when you're stressing out because someone just ordered 10 mcdoubles and you have 7 orders to make after that, then you have someone constantly criticizing you while you're trying to keep up.
The only thing I liked was some of the coworkers who actually appreciated/liked me. My other manager has actually bought food for me before when he saw that I was having a bad day. Also, you occasionally get the appreciative customer. My favorite was when an old lady came in, was very happy about my attitude, and told my manager that he needed to hire six more people like me. :3
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