Which is why romantic comedies almost always feature impossibly cool jobs that pay well and take place in smartly-designed offices. They never feature a dude sitting around on his couch, unemployed and browsing Reddit.

I’m not saying that it has to come to that, but, at the very least, we should put a moratorium on all the hackneyed jobs that characters in romantic comedies have. I think I’m meeting Hollywood more than halfway here. I mean, they even get to keep the sappy speeches at the end.

Event Planner

Offenders: The Wedding Planner, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Nothing is more indicative of the type-A control freak that needs to loosen up than a career as an event planner. It shows that the character thrives on stress and can juggle a million different tasks at once. You know what else can show those traits? That’s right. Thoughtful writing.

This also works well, because the same type of women (and men) that are into romantic comedies are probably also into huge events like weddings and fundraisers and the Catalina Wine Mixer. So, you know, two birds and whatnot.

This job makes sense though, as many women (forgive the generalization) seem to have an unhealthy fascination with event planning and all that it entails. I could not think of a career I would hate more than planning weddings professionally. I understand the allure, but at some point, don’t people who aspire to this realize that the novelty would probably wear off? It’s tantamount to working at Ft. Knox because you just love gold so much.

Magazine Editor/Employee

Offenders: Devil Wears Prada, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, The Proposal, 13 Going On 30, Confessions of a Shopaholic

Who wouldn’t want to work at a high-profile fashion or lifestyle magazine? Well, unless you’re Anna Wintour, pretty much everyone. Not only do romantic comedies only examine the most interesting jobs in the world, but they fall all over themselves to make those jobs seem like the most interesting things in the world. Sure, being a tastemaker in the media sounds great, but proofing copy until your eyes bleed is a more honest portrayal of the lifestyle.

Working as a magazine writer or editor or whatever also affords chracters the luxury of “investigating” some phenomenon for the sake of an article. Because in real life, Cosmo has a LOT of investigative journalism behind it. Tons.