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Work Context Index

Jobs where you rarely deal with angry or unpleasant people

O*NET asks people in every occupation "How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?" and publishes the mean answer on a 1-to-5 scale. This page lists the 25 occupations whose mean sits lowest, with the BLS wage, education and outlook for each.

Which jobs involve the fewest unpleasant, angry or discourteous people?

Across the 894 occupations O*NET 30.3 rates, the 25 lowest for Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People average between 1.24 and 1.86 on O*NET's 1-to-5 scale, where 1 means "Never" and 5 means "Every day"; the median across all occupations is 2.8. Lowest are Cutters and Trimmers, Hand (1.24), Rock Splitters, Quarry (1.37), Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators (1.42). Their median BLS wage is $55,690 (2025, 25 of 25 with a BLS line item), and 12 of the 25 with BLS education data typically need less than a bachelor's degree.

Occupations compared
894 O*NET 30.3 occupations with published Work Context ratings
What O*NET asks incumbents
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People: "How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?"
Scale
1 = Never; 3 = Once a month or more but not every week; 5 = Every day. Values are mean incumbent ratings.
Wage and outlook source
BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, Table 1.2 Occupational projections, 2025–35, and worker characteristics, 2025 (Employment in thousands). 8 of the 25 occupations listed have a dedicated RoleSprint page.

Source and method

O*NET 30.3 Database (Work Context), U.S. Department of Labor, and BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2. Verified 2026-09-05. Ratings are reproduced from O*NET as published mean incumbent responses on each question's own 1-to-5 scale. Percentile ranks, composite averages and the resulting order are RoleSprint's computation and are described on the methodology page. Wage, education and outlook fields are reproduced from BLS for the matching SOC code and left blank where BLS publishes no line item.

What this page does and does not claim

People search this as “jobs where you don't deal with difficult people”. This page answers that with the measurement behind it: Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People, rated on a fixed 1-to-5 scale by people who do each job.

It does not say which jobs suit a personality, a temperament or a health condition. It reports a measured condition of the work and lets you decide whether that condition is the one you meant.

The 25 occupations

Ordered by mean rating for Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People, lowest first. Scale: 1 = Never; 5 = Every day.

#OccupationO*NET valueRankBLS wage and education
1

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

O*NET-SOC 51-9031.00

1.24 of 5

Never

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$38,020 median (2025)

No formal educational credential · -18.9% 2025-35

2

Rock Splitters, Quarry

O*NET-SOC 47-5051.00

1.37 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$48,740 median (2025)

No formal educational credential · +5.8% 2025-35

3

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

O*NET-SOC 27-1013.00

1.42 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$55,490 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · -2.9% 2025-35

4

Software Developers

O*NET-SOC 15-1252.00

1.46 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$135,980 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +10.2% 2025-35

5

Animal Breeders

O*NET-SOC 45-2021.00

1.50 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$51,130 median (2025)

High school diploma or equivalent · +3% 2025-35

6

Dishwashers

O*NET-SOC 35-9021.00

1.54 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$34,810 median (2025)

No formal educational credential · -1% 2025-35

7

Food Batchmakers

O*NET-SOC 51-3092.00

1.58 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$42,290 median (2025)

High school diploma or equivalent · +6.5% 2025-35

8

Biological Technicians

O*NET-SOC 19-4021.00

1.58 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$57,510 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +7.4% 2025-35

9

Dredge Operators

O*NET-SOC 53-7031.00

1.58 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$49,640 median (2025)

High school diploma or equivalent · +0.7% 2025-35

10

Models

O*NET-SOC 41-9012.00

1.60 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$48,470 median (2025)

No formal educational credential · -2.1% 2025-35

11

Fallers

O*NET-SOC 45-4021.00

1.62 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$52,100 median (2025)

High school diploma or equivalent · -9.9% 2025-35

12

Electronics Engineers, Except Computer

O*NET-SOC 17-2072.00

1.66 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$130,220 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +3.7% 2025-35

13

Fuel Cell Engineers

O*NET-SOC 17-2141.01

1.67 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$104,110 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +11.2% 2025-35

14

Actuaries

O*NET-SOC 15-2011.00

1.67 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 99%

of 894 occupations

$130,000 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +9.2% 2025-35

15

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

O*NET-SOC 51-4034.00

1.72 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$50,620 median (2025)

High school diploma or equivalent · -11.3% 2025-35

16

Environmental Economists

O*NET-SOC 19-3011.01

1.74 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$124,720 median (2025)

Master's degree · +4.7% 2025-35

17

Astronomers

O*NET-SOC 19-2011.00

1.74 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$128,820 median (2025)

Doctoral or professional degree · +7.8% 2025-35

18

Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

O*NET-SOC 51-9021.00

1.75 of 5

between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month"

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$48,540 median (2025)

High school diploma or equivalent · -1.7% 2025-35

19

Operations Research Analysts

O*NET-SOC 15-2031.00

1.81 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$88,940 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +11.9% 2025-35

20

Tile and Stone Setters

O*NET-SOC 47-2044.00

1.82 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$55,690 median (2025)

No formal educational credential · +9.8% 2025-35

21

Economists

O*NET-SOC 19-3011.00

1.83 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$124,720 median (2025)

Master's degree · +4.7% 2025-35

22

Hydrologists

O*NET-SOC 19-2043.00

1.83 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 98%

of 894 occupations

$96,600 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +1.5% 2025-35

23

Bioinformatics Technicians

O*NET-SOC 15-2099.01

1.85 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 97%

of 894 occupations

$81,490 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +7.1% 2025-35

24

Business Intelligence Analysts

O*NET-SOC 15-2051.01

1.86 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 97%

of 894 occupations

$120,230 median (2025)

Bachelor's degree · +34.6% 2025-35

25

Agricultural Equipment Operators

O*NET-SOC 45-2091.00

1.86 of 5

Once a year or more but not every month

Lower than 97%

of 894 occupations

$41,730 median (2025)

No formal educational credential · +8.6% 2025-35

Values are mean ratings from O*NET 30.3; most come from surveys of people in the occupation, some from occupational experts, and some for newer occupations from O*NET analysts. Wage, education and outlook are from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 for the matching SOC code and are blank where BLS publishes no line item.

How this was measured

Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People (O*NET element 4.C.1.d.2). The question put to incumbents: “How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?”

  1. 1

    Never

  2. 2

    Once a year or more but not every month

  3. 3

    Once a month or more but not every week

  4. 4

    Once a week or more but not every day

  5. 5

    Every day

894 of 894 occupations have a published, unsuppressed value for this element. The percentile beside each occupation is its position among them.

The full method, including how ties are broken and what the data cannot tell you, is on the methodology page.

Narrow the list with BLS data

Each variant keeps the same measure and restricts the occupations by a published BLS threshold. A variant exists only where the restriction actually changes the list rather than the heading; the combinations that left the answer much as it was were not published.

Combine this with other conditions

The explorer ranks all occupations on any set of measures you choose, with the same values and the same arithmetic as this page.

Open the explorer with this selection

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. RoleSprint has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Wage, education and outlook figures are reproduced from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What to do next

These rankings describe occupations in general. The next question is whether a specific opening in one of them actually matches what you can show, and that is answered by comparing the posting with your resume.

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