In these trying economic times, we’re not about to begrudge anyone a job. Heck, we’ve all got bills to pay. But some workers are willing to point the finger at themselves and admit that what they do for a living is maybe kind of sort of making the world a worse place. A new survey asked a variety of workers if their jobs do good things for the world, and plenty of those polled replied, “Nope.”

CNNMoney has a comprehensive roundup of about 15 jobs sussed out by a PayScale survey, so we thought we’d take a look at some of those to get a general idea of which workers admit they’re contributing to the downfall of society or whathaveyou.

Fast food worker: A whopping 38.4% of fast food workers said their jobs were making the world a worse place by slinging all those burgers and salting all those fries. That profession was the clear winner for the title of Best At Making The World Awful, partly because some workers feel like they’re just feeding in to the nation’s obesity epidemic. As a PayScale economist noted, “A lot of fast food isn’t healthy for you, and [fast food workers] are continuing to feed it to people even though they know that it’s not.”

Telemarketers: Surprise, surprise. A decent chunk of telemarketers, 9.4% owned up to the fact that all those dinner-interrupting phone calls isn’t helping the world out at all. That figure might not seem like much, until you compare it to the industry wide average of less than 1%. Partly because telemarketers know that they’re being annoying and no one ever greets their phone calls with a smile. The job can be made meaningful for some workers, however, if they actually believe what they’re shilling is worthwhile.

Bartenders: Now, I’ve got to say that a good bartender goes a long way toward helping the world, or at least helping lonely souls who need an ear to bend after a hard day/week/month/life. But 6.7% of bartenders say their work isn’t going toward the greater good. Perhaps getting people tipsy isn’t the loftiest calling, but they should remember that beyond sliding drinks across the bar, they often act as therapist figures for people in need of a little sympathy, or just a nice conversation.

Loan collector: Another “duh” right here — 4.9% of loan collectors feel crunchy inside over having to track down people who owe money. It takes a toll on them, as well, as one career coach notes: “A loan collector may feel guilty when trying to collect from customers who have fallen on hard financial times.” Gee, ya think?

Investment banking associate: Even though many investment bankers are raking in the dough, that high pay doesn’t always mean they feel good about what they do. The 4.6% who say their jobs make the world worse off might feel that way because they’re making a lot of money from making a lot of money, says a PayScale expert. Sure, some people cash in big on investments, but plenty of others don’t see a dime.

For the rest of the list, check out CNNMoney’s slide show in the source link below.

Jobs that make the world a worse place [CNNMoney]

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