A "Real" Job

A "real job" is any voluntarily accepted work that is meant to receive payment on the part of the worker.  Not all jobs are equally profitable, and not all jobs are equally significant when it comes to meeting the needs or desires of others.  However, none of this means a job is not "real" if if falls below an arbitrary level of financial gain or social status.  A job that does not pay well or that is rather nontraditional is just as real as the most prestigious, profitable, or important job, even though it may be 1different than the typical or expected kind of work.

The no true Scotsman fallacy is especially appealing, here and elsewhere, to those who want to feel like they have an arbitrarily defined sort of illusory legitimacy behind their worldview or work, as is evidenced by the reaction when their stupidity is challenged.  The person who wants to treat the concept of any given job as if simply being a job doesn't qualify a certain kind of work for the definition is likely motivated by a kind of arrogance.  No other criteria could make something a job other than payment and the consent to work for that payment.

There has been a gradual acceptance of nontraditional jobs, especially online jobs, thanks to the internet's increasing integration into practical and corporate life, so the number of people who might misdefine the word job are decreasing.  However, certain types of jobs, such as those which are strictly conducted online, might still be considered illegitimate or inherently inferior to the norm, especially by conservatives.  These online jobs may nonetheless require a great deal of professionalism, skill, and familiarity with special information not known by more than a minority.

Ironically, the conservatives who might tend to fallaciously look down on online jobs by default might be forced to acknowledge the convenience and importance of online work during the present COVID-19 panic!  Some traditional jobs are incapable of producing steady income during times of crisis, even when that crisis might be misrepresented as far more dangerous than it truly is.  It is actually beneficial to have at least one online job, even if only as a fallback option for such times.

As long as there are fools who assume that novelty is a negative thing, there will be people who react to "unusual" kinds of jobs with misunderstanding and perhaps even contempt simply because they are not traditional.  It takes rationality to see that a job is not worthy of dismissal just because it is different.  When such a person makes this assumption, they only show their own unintelligence to those around them.  They also position themselves to have greater difficulties in enduring a time like the immediate pandemic.