But that’s not where the similarities stop.  

Three of the characters who garnered Emmy noms for their respective actors work in health care, two are comedy writers, two are mid-level managers and two are lawyers — for a grand total of 20 out of 24 characters that share an occupation with at least one other Emmy-nominated character.

With all the different careers paths out there (the Bureau of Labor Statistics  lists 280 different occupations in its Occupation Outlook Handbook), that’s got to say something about our entertainment — or occupational — preferences. 

Below, a list of Emmy-nominated characters that are also professional peers.

The high school staff:

• “Glee”’s Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, Spanish teacher and glee club director, William McKinley High School
• “Breaking Bad”’s Bryan Cranston as Walter White, high school chemistry teacher
• “Friday Night Lights”’ Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor, coach, Dillon High School football team
• “Friday Night Lights”’ Connie Britton as Tami Taylor, guidance counselor, East Dillon High School

The investigators:

• “Monk”’s Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, police homicide consultant, San Francisco Police Department
• “Dexter”’s Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, blood spatter analyst, homicide unit, Miami metro police department
• “The Closer”’s Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Johnson, deputy chief, Major Crimes Division, LAPD
• “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”’s Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, detective, Manhattan Special Victims Unit

The business execs:

• “30 Rock”’s Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, vice president of East Coast television and microwave programming, GE
• “Mad Men”’s Jon Hamm as Don Draper, partner, advertising firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Price
• “The New Adventures Of Old Christine”’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell, owner, women’s health club
• “Damages”’ Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, partner, Hewes and Associates LLP

The health-care workers:

• “House”’s Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, doctor and chief of diagnostic medicine, Princeton‑Plainsboro Teaching Hospital
• “Lost”’s Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard, doctor
• “Nurse Jackie”’s Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, nurse, All Saints’ Hospital

The comedy writers:

• “Curb Your Enthusiasm”’s Larry David as himself (a comedy writer)
• “30 Rock”’s Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, head writer, sketch comedy show 

The mid-level managers:

• “The Office”’s Steve Carell as Michael Scott, regional manager, Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Inc. (A division of Sabre)
• “Parks And Recreation”’s Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, director of the Pawnee (Ind.) Department of Parks and Recreation

The lawyers:

• “Damages”’ Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, lawyer(also partner), Hewes and Associates LLP
• “The Good Wife”’s Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, lawyer

The others:

• “The Big Bang Theory”’s Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, theoretical physicist
• “Glee”’s Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, student
• “United States Of Tara’’s Toni Collette as Tara Gregson, mural painter
• “Mad Men”’s January Jones as Betty Draper, housewife

Who will take home Sunday’s awards? Let us know your favorites in the comments section!

For more on work and the entertainment industry, check out:

When Celebrities Decide to Un-retire

The 10 Worst Movie Jobs

Back to Work at Sterling Cooper

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While some things in life may come tough for lefties — like finding a decent pair of scissors or a dinner companion who can keep their elbows to themselves — other things, like creativity and leadership ability, may come fairly easy, and help shape the career choices of those we affectionately call “goofy.” 

Though there are various theories for why this is, one of the most predominant has to do with which brain hemisphere controls what side of the body. “Handedness” is a function of the brain, and since the left hand is controlled by the right side of the brain, a dominant left hand means a dominant right brain.  Because the right side of the brain is responsible for non-verbal, random, holistic and fantasy-oriented processing, lefties are thought to naturally be more inclined toward creative careers. 

Whether you buy into this theory or not, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to left-handers and creativity. Take these famous left-handed creative types:

Actors/Comedians

• Tim Allen
• Matthew Broderick
• Tom Cruise
• Robert DeNiro
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Goldie Hawn
• Angeline Jolie
• Diane Keaton
• Nicole Kidman
• Jay Leno
• David Letterman
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Julia Roberts
• Jerry Seinfeld
• Bruce Willis 

Musicians

• Paul McCartney
• Mozart
• Paul Simon
• Ringo Starr

Artists

• Leonardo DaVinci
• Michelangelo
• Raphael 

In addition to creativity, left-handed people may also be more inclined toward taking on leadership positions in their careers. It has been reported that 66 percent of U.S. presidents over the last 30 years have been left-handed, including three out of the last four: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 

Other leftie leaders throughout history include:

• Buzz Aldrin
• Steve Forbes
• Henry Ford
• Benjamin Franklin
• Al Gore
• Helen Keller
• John McCain
• Ronald Reagan
• Oprah Winfrey

So, while it may have taken you a while to overcome certain difficulties in your career — everything from health care exam rooms to cash registers and computer mice (mouses?) are designed for the right-handed — take comfort in knowing that your determination may one day make you a leader in your right-hand dominated field. Who’s goofy now?

Have any other famous lefties to add to our list? Include them in the comments section, below.

For more pop culture posts:

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The 10 Worst Movie Jobs

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If you have a knack for guessing the outcomes of sporting events and you regularly win the NCAA office pool, you may have a future at a Sports- Betting Hedge Fund.

The new investment strategy, currently employed by only one firm, London-based Galileo Managed Sports Fund, yields returns for its investors by betting on sporting events. According to an article appearing in BusinessWeek yesterday, the investment fund seems to be profitable, meaning that copycat firms could soon start to crop up.

Unfortunately, it is still unclear as to whether such an investment structure would fly in the United States, since most states have strict anti-gambling laws when it comes to sports (though the Galileo fund maintains that it is a hedge fund, rather than a glorified gambling ring) which may make it more difficult for such a company to succeed on our side of the pond.

But who knows — the Spanish Prime Minister just offered to send a protective detail for the Octopus that predicted his country’s World Cup win. Stranger things have happened.

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Even if only for two weeks, the United States caught World Cup fever. That’s no easy task for a country notorious for not necessarily disliking soccer but basically not even acknowledging its existence. (Be honest: How many MLS games have you ever watched in your life?) But thanks to nail-biting games and awesome performances by Landon Donovan, Americans got caught up in the excitement. Workers were streaming the game on their computers or running to the break room to check the score. Some even put the game on projection screens in meeting rooms. It suddenly became inescapable.

You probably know that the World Cup is the single most popular sporting event in the world, so even after the U.S. was eliminated, millions of people kept watching. An article from The Associated Press highlights how workplace productivity during the World Cup is a quadrennial battle for employers and employees.

From the article:

“One study suggests the German economy, Europe’s largest, loses more than $8 billion in productivity, about 0.27 percent of gross domestic product, during the monthlong tournament. Surveys in Britain predict output losses there of $1.5 billion to $2.3 billion.”

In some countries, watching the game at work is just a given, as the article points out. In other places, workers are warned not to let the fun of the game interfere with productivity.

However, if you couldn’t watch the game during work, you probably tried to find a way to get updates. Perhaps you just wore one earbud so you could hear the play-by-play (and drone of vuvuzelas). Or maybe you feverishly refreshed a blog that was giving live updates of the game. On the surface, doesn’t it seem as if we’re a culture of multitaskers who can handle following a game and doing other work? Maybe not. Perhaps we weren’t meant to split our minds between work and other distractions.

In the last few weeks, Nicholas Carr’s book “The Shallows: Has the Internet Rewired Your Brain?” has made headlines. In his book, Carr looks at the history of written language and how people have absorbed information. His concern is that the Internet has turned us into a culture of skimmers. If TV news made the sound bite omnipresent, then the Internet, he suggests, has made paragraph-length information the most we’re willing to process. This review from NPR highlights one important quote:

“Dozens of studies by psychologists, neurobiologists, educators and Web designers point to the same conclusion: When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.”

That’s not to say the Internet is a waste of time, but how we use it might be forcing us to think we can process more than one task at a time when really we’re just skimping on all of our responsibilities.

Take this conclusion from reviewer Oscar Villalon:

“With ‘The Shallows,’ Carr attempts to snap us out of the hypnotic pull of our iPhones, laptops and desktops. He reveals why we’re suddenly having a hard time focusing at length on any given thing, and why we compulsively check our e-mail accounts and Twitter feeds and never seem to be able to get our work done.”

The World Cup takes up four weeks of soccer fans’ attention. Recently, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s hearings were streamed online for anyone to watch. Opening day for your favorite baseball team happens each year. March Madness dominates workplaces each spring. E-mail, phone calls, instant messages, text messages — they’re not going anywhere. And we’re convinced we can handle all of them, but can we?

Do you think you or workers in general have mastered multitasking? Or have we just convinced ourselves that we have no choice but to multitask because of increased technology? Perhaps fear of losing our jobs during a struggling economy is our main motivation for spreading ourselves too thin.

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I know 24 is a young age to retire but you heard it here first I’ve #retired

Retiring at 24 seems hasty to me. Bynes, whose roles include Nickelodeon’s “All That” and the feature film “What a Girl Wants,” might stick to her word and stay out of the film industry for the rest of her life. After all, at her age and with her (presumed) wealth, she has the chance to pursue many other opportunities. Still, if you’re in your 30s, think about the decisions you made in your 20s. Chances are they weren’t always wise decisions. After all, Bynes did announce her retirement under the Twitter handle Chicky, which sounds like a name she might rethink when she’s older.

Time will tell if Bynes can resist the lure of the industry forever.

If she decides to backtrack on her plans, she’ll be in good company

*Update* She’s back!

Many celebrities have announced their retirement only to revive their careers shortly after. You can’t blame someone for realizing that life isn’t as exciting when they’re not doing the thing they love the most. However, celebrity retirements and unretirements are interesting to compare to the professional exits of your regular, everyday worker. Many people worry that they won’t have enough money to retire. Others push off retirement for several reasons. Perhaps they don’t want to spend their days on hobbies and want to stay in the field, so they switch to part-time or contractor status. Many employers ask their would-be retirees to stay on at the company until the new batch of workers has the knowledge and skill to replace them. And many retirees who like their quiet time at home don’t want their spouses ruining their golden years, so they don’t allow them to completely retire.

Here is a list of notable retirements that didn’t last very long.

Muhammad Ali
After an unprecedented boxing career, Muhammad Ali retired in 1979. The man had beaten virtually every boxer in the world at that point, so it made sense to go out on a high note. However, the next year he decided to fight Larry Holmes and another year later to take on Trevor Berbick before finally retiring for good.

Lily Allen
File this retirement under TBD. Last year Lily Allen wrote in a blog post that she wouldn’t record another album. She also decided to give up social media, which meant pausing her MySpace page and Twitter account. Then she came back to  Twitter earlier this year and has composed new music for other projects since, in addition to appearing at awards shows. She says she still won’t be writing and recording music for albums that she plans to release herself, so this might be the promise of a pseudo-retirement that she keeps.

Garth Brooks
In the 1990s, Garth Brooks managed to make country music palatable for an audience that often dismissed it as a lesser genre. He sold records and concert tickets at historic rates and then decided to retire in 2000. He decided to walk away from touring and releasing new albums until his youngest daughter was 18. Aside from performing a few charity shows and releasing box sets of older material, Brooks kept his promise. Last year he announced his return to live shows by doing a residency in Las Vegas. He’s neither touring nor making a new album, so he’s only somewhat out of retirement. For now.

Brett Favre
In March 2008, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre announced his retirement after 17 years in football. During that summer, Favre gave interviews suggesting he would be returning to football the following season, and, after some turbulent discussions, he was traded to the New York Jets. Following a short stint with the team, he moved to the Minnesota Vikings. Talk of retirement surfaced again earlier this year, so his future remains to be seen.

Jay-Z
When one of the most famous rappers of all time announced his retirement with the release of 2003’s The Black Album, people scoffed. Sure, Jay-Z would be going out on top with a career spanning eight albums and hits, not to mention critical praise and millions of fans. Plus, a year later he was named president of Def Jam Records. So Jay-Z didn’t need to work, but in late 2006 he released a new album and has only gained popularity since. In fairness to Jay-Z, he told Entertainment Weekly, “It was the worst retirement, maybe, in history.”

Michael Jordan
Few athletes have the iconic status of former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan. For that reason, Jordan’s retirement on October 6, 1993 was watched by everyone. Unsurprisingly, his return to the Bulls was watched just as closely less than two years later. After deciding to retire one more time from the game in 1999, Jordan said he was 99.9 percent sure he wouldn’t play another NBA game. Of course, that pesky 0.1 percent pulled him from retirement in 2001 when he decided to join the Washington Wizards. He retired once again in 2003, so this one might be the retirement that actually sticks.

Frank Sinatra
When Frank Sinatra announced his retirement in 1970, he was already a legend. With his Rat Pack days and a series of memorable songs behind him, he could’ve stepped out of the limelight and still be considered an icon today. However, in 1973, he decided three years of retirement was enough and returned to music with “Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back.” He continued to record for the next three decades. In 1980 he recorded a rendition of “Theme from New York, New York,” which went on to become a signature song and a staple of New York City’s soundtrack. Maybe coming out of retirement was good for him (and the Yankees) after all.

So, will your retirement be a done deal or do you think you’ll be tempted to return to work? Any other celebs whose unretirement we forgot to include?

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Since the Stanley Cup marks the official end of the hockey season, here’s a look at what the top 10 11 highest paid players made during the 2009-2010 season.

1. Vincent Lecavalier

Team: Tampa Bay

2009-2010 Salary: $10 million*

2. Sidney Crosby

 Team: Pittsburgh

2009-2010 Salary: $9 million

3. Evgeni Malkin

Team: Pittsburgh

2009-2010 Salary: $9 million 

4. Alex Ovechkin

Team:  Washington

2009-2010 Salary: $9 million

5. Chris Drury

Team: New York Rangers

2009-2010 Salary: $8.05 million

6. Daniel Briere

Team: Philadelphia

2009-2010 Salary: $8 million 

7. Scott Gomez

Team: Montreal

2009-2010 Salary: $8 million 

8. Dany Heatley

Team: San Jose

2009-2010 Salary: $8 million

9. Wade Redden

Team: New York Rangers

2009-2010 Salary: $8 million

10. Jason Spezza

Team: Ottawa

2009-2010 Salary: $8 million

And one for good luck next season:

11. Marian Hossa

Team: Chicago

2009-2010 Salary: $7.9 million

 *Salary information provided by CBS Sports

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Alas, rarely is a job – summer or otherwise — like how it is in the movies. Those vying for a seasonal job this summer may not get that Hollywood ending they are hoping for, according to the results of CareerBuilder’s Annual Summer Job Forecast. On par with last year’s forecast and in line with current economic conditions, job seekers are facing more competition for fewer jobs.

Here are some of the major results of the survey:

• 22 percent of employers say they plan to hire seasonal workers for the summer, in line with estimates from 2009
• 15 percent of employers say they are planning to hire the same amount of summer workers as last year, while 5 percent plan to add fewer
• 71 percent of hiring managers will offer the same pay to seasonal workers this year as they did last year, 14 percent will offer more
• 43 percent) plan to pay summer workers $10 or more per hour and 6 percent plan to pay $20 or more per hour. Thirty percent anticipate paying between $8 to less than $10 per hour, while 9 percent expect to pay less than $7 per hour.

If you’re hoping your summer job will fill the gap during your unemployment or lead to full-time work, consider this: More than half (57 percent) of companies reported that they would consider some of their seasonal recruits for permanent placement within their organizations when the summer ends.

Across all industries, the most popular summer positions are being offered in:

• Retail – 40 percent
• Hospitality – 33 percent
• Office support — 28 percent
• Customer service — 21 percent
• Landscape/maintenance — 16 percent
• Research — 13 percent
• Sales – 12 percent
• Restaurant/food service — 12 percent

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Do you hear something? It’s the sound of proud citizens around the globe puffing their chests as athletes from their nation head to the Olympics. *hums national anthem*

Every two years, either the summer or winter games dominate our TV viewing for two weeks. Events we wouldn’t normally give two hoots about suddenly must be recorded. I admit, I only think about the biathlon every 206 weeks. Still, billions of people tune into the games every time they air. You don’t go out as much. You ignore the ringing phone. You pretend a foil-covered Ring Ding is a silver medal in bobsledding. (No? Just me?)

Host cities pour unbelievable amounts of money and energy into readying venues and lodging for the games. As a result, each city — this year Vancouver — experiences a temporary boost in jobs to construct and staff new stadiums and housing. London’s already seeing this happen for its 2012 games. And other existing jobs are put into overdrive as the city becomes the momentary center of the athletic world. For example, Ron Cameron is the general manager of BC Place, the stadium hosting the opening ceremonies. Read about his job here.

Because I have the games on my mind, I did a little digging to see how some past Olympians are earning paychecks now that they don’t have to devote 80 percent of their waking hours to training. As expected, many finish their educations and start families — especially when you remember that many Olympians are teenagers during competition. So here are a few medalists and where they are today.

Beth Barr
Event: 4x100m Medley Relay
Year: 1988
Medal: Silver
Current occupation: Owner of a training center for swimmers and triathletes
Source: NPR

Carly Patterson
Event: Women’s Individual All-Around gymnastics
Year: 2004
Medal: Gold
Current occupation: Singer
Source: Her own site

Dan O’Brien
Event: Decathlon
Year: 1996
Medal: Gold
Current occupation: Motivational speaker
Source: Forbes

Jair Lynch
Event: Parallel bars
Year: 1996
Medal: Silver
Current occupation: Heads an organization that, according to its Web site, “specializes in the responsible transformation of urban markets.”
Source: NPR

Peggy Fleming
Event: Figure skating
Year: 1968
Medal: Gold
Current occupation: Breast cancer activist and co-owner of a vineyard and winery
Source: WKYC

As always, good luck to all the Olympians (who are probably too busy to read this blog, but still) and have fun watching!

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But when it comes to finding love, it’s not just reserved for primetime. Regardless of the economy, one thing remains the same: The workplace fuels romance.

“Employees are working longer hours and under increased pressure, creating an environment that could cause relationships to bloom,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder.

CareerBuilder’s annual office romance survey of more than 5,200 workers found that nearly four-in-ten (37 percent) workers said they have dated a co-worker at some time during their careers. That’s in line with the 40 percent who said the same in both 2009 and 2008. Almost one-third said they went on to marry the person they dated at work.

And what about the office crush? While eight percent of workers currently work with someone who they would like to date, with more men (11 percent) than women (4 percent) reporting they would like to do so.

Twelve percent of workers reported that their relationships started when they ran into each other outside of work. Some other situations where Cupid’s arrow flew between co-workers:

• Happy hour
• Lunch
• Working late at the office
• Company holiday party
• Business trip

The question remains: Once the relationship is established, should workers keep it a secret?

“Workplace relationships are more accepted these days, with 67 percent of workers saying they aren’t keeping their romance a secret. However, it is the responsibility of the individuals to understand company policy and make sure they adhere to it,” said Haefner.

The survey also showed the repercussions of workplace romance, with 5 percent of workers saying they have left a job due to an office romance. To be on the safe side, Haefner offers these tips if you want to spark a workplace romance:

• Know your company’s office relationship policy: While some companies are completely open to office romances, others may have stricter policies. Make sure both parties in the relationship are aware of potential rules or consequences.
• Beware of social media: Before you start posting pictures and status updates about your newfound coupledom, it may be better to inform your co-workers or boss in person. That way, there is less chance for gossip or speculation.
• Always take the high road: If your relationship should end, do your best to maintain professionalism and not let the issues affect your performance on the job.

So tell us your office romance story. Was it a success or did it fizzle?

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Lights! Camera! Fantasy! Movies are where we go to forget how boring our lives are. Well, unless you’re into obscure independent movies that aim to capture our tortured, meaningless existence in gritty, hand-held camerawork. But on average, movies let us disappear into the celluloid world for a couple of hours and get lost in the images flashing on the screen.

Sometimes a movie can make us feel good about ourselves. Not because the story is uplifting but because we look at the characters and think, “At least I’m not you!” And that feeling of schadenfreude is worth the ticket price. In that spirit, we put together a list of movie characters whose jobs are less than ideal. The real-life equivalents of these jobs are perfectly fine, but in these movies no paycheck would’ve persuaded you to accept the position.

Here are the 10 worst movie jobs:

Barney Matthews in  ‘Silence of the Lambs’
No, Matthews doesn’t get eaten in the movie, but that doesn’t mean his job is peachy. How would you like to be the primary caretaker for one of the scariest inmates a prison cell has ever seen? Anyone who works in incarceration facilities has to be thick-skinned and on alert at all times, which is why not just any person is up to the challenge of the job. Throw in having to deal with Hannibal Lecter and I’d guess the list of qualified and willing candidates gets even smaller.

Chris Parker in  ‘Adventures in Babysitting’
Haven’t we all babysat to earn a little cash at some point in our lives? At worst, we had to cut gum out of a toddler’s hair or rush someone to the ER for unsuccessfully doing cartwheels off of the couch. But suburbanite Chris Parker takes three children into the scary world of downtown Chicago in the 1980s without telling their parents. They outrun  gunshots, knife fights and organized crime. Oh, and they’re forced to sing the blues in a  nightclub. Totally not worth the five bucks an hour.

Commissioner Gordon in all the ‘Batman’ films
I’ll say right now that I’d love to live in Gotham and have Batman protect me from crazy villains. However, I would not want to be the police commissioner who doesn’t get much of the spotlight for defending the city. Think about how long Gordon worked to get to that post, and now that he’s there, some guy in a cape gets all the credit for protecting citizens.

Dorothy Boyd in  ‘Jerry Maguire’
Forget about the happily ever after. The two hours leading up to the end of this movie aren’t that great if you’re Jerry Maguire’s assistant. You’re the only employee in his newfound company, so that means doing anything he doesn’t want to do. You don’t have all the perks of your previous job, which you left for him, and business is shaky, seeing as Maguire’s agency has only one client. Oh, and you fall in love with your boss only to realize he doesn’t love you all that much (at least for a while). The performance bonus had better be awesome.

Everyone in  ‘Office Space’
The fake software company in “Office Space” is the epitome of the beige cubicle world that’s been demonized by every movie, TV show and comic strip in the last few decades. It’s what so many college students fear is their future. Look at poor Milton, whose job is so pitiful he cares more about his stapler than anything else. The setting makes for a fun movie but a horrible workplace.

Grace Coddington in ‘The September Issue’ / Andy Sachs in  ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
These are two different films. “The September Issue” is a documentary about the work that goes into publishing an issue of Vogue magazine, which is under the watch of Anna Wintour. The other film is a fictitious take on what it’s like to work at a glossy fashion magazine under icy editor Miranda Priestly, who shares many similarities with Wintour.

Coddington is a stylist and creative director for the magazine and, as the film shows, her hard work getting just the right look for a spread can take weeks of planning. Then Wintour can walk in, wrinkle her nose and decide the images won’t appear in the magazine. In “Prada,” Sachs is an assistant who works herself into a frenzy just to keep Priestly happy – or as close to happy as possible. Only she quickly finds out that Priestly doesn’t care how long it takes to do something or how much effort you put into it – if it’s not what she wants at that moment, it’s useless to her. We’re not saying everyone should be handled with kid gloves, but the occasional pat on the back seems like the least a boss could do for any employee.

Lucy Kelson in  ‘Two Weeks Notice’
Kelson wants to work in the nonprofit world and go after the big corporate enemies. Instead, she finds herself working for a greedy, narcissistic head honcho. Of course they fall in love and things get sorted out because that’s what romantic comedies do, but forget that part. If you don’t have a business mind and you want your job to align with your core values, taking a job that contradicts everything you believe in is a bit  torturous. Every day you earn a fancy paycheck but hate yourself for it. All the while you’re catering to a boss you hate (though secretly love, of course). Get past the heartwarming smiles of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock and you have one pretty crummy job situation.

Norma Rae Webster in  ‘Norma Rae’
Any mention of Norma Rae in a list of workplace characters is a bit cliché, but her situation is the epitome of the workplace pits. Her struggle to stay healthy in an overwhelming and physically taxing workplace is bad enough, but when her efforts to change things at the factory cause her trouble at work and at home, life gets worse. Kind of puts the arguments about who ate your last string cheese from the lunch-room refrigerator into perspective, no?

The staff in  ‘Jurassic Park’
You’d think that getting to work alongside dinosaurs would be pretty cool, but one power outage later and suddenly the gig isn’t so sweet. Even the best veterinarian or the most scholarly paleontologist wouldn’t be able to handle himself or herself against a carnivorous velociraptor. Stick to your regular amusement park jobs where you can ride the roller coasters for free and eat cotton candy.

Wall-E in  ‘Wall-E’
Sure, Wall-E is the cute little garbage compactor everyone loves, but his job is actually kind of horrible because he’s all alone. Not alone the way you might feel in your cubicle with your headphones on. I mean alone alone. As in nobody-else-in-the-entire-world. For hundreds of years  he’s gone about his job, organizing the mess left behind by humans, and he only has his cockroach pal to keep him company. I think we’d at least want to have the obnoxious chatty co-worker to keep us company.

Did we forget anyone? Let us know your picks.

Bing: Movie roles stars turned down

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