My MC is getting into some late-night supernatural shenanigans, and has a neglectful father. Mom's out of the picture (preoccupied with new husband/step-kids on the other side of the country.) Ideally, the father would be working most nights, and maybe traveling often too. What are some realistic jobs her father might have? Any suggestions?
Night security guard is the first thing that pops into my head. A bartender might keep him pretty preoccupied as nights as well?
I would agree with @dedebird to a degree. It would be beneficial to have him posted at a hospital, or other type of facility that is staffed around the clock. You could also make him an MP at a Guard Post at a base. He could be a doctor that works the night shift, if you need him to be really preoccupied at work. Your best bet would probably have him be an MP who lives off post, or a suburbanite security guard that has to commute 50-100 miles to another city/town where he guards a hospital during the night. Alternatively an airport, or train station would also work, as they run 24hrs a day. Just depends on what he can feasibly do and still be around just enough or not all, to come off as a deadbeat dad. Or he can be a businessman who has to travel for work as a salesman or company Representative. This would give you the whole world to send him off too for his job, while showing off how neglectful he is as a parent. An airline pilot could also do the trick, as they work long hours and are all over the place every week and day. A limo/cab/bus driver. Trucker driver, or train/metro/subway conductor. A shady porno director, or a journalist. Even a fluffer on a shady porn set. Or if you are feeling adventurous: A mafia goon, hitman, black market dealer of arms/organs/drugs. Ok, I have exhausted my bag of tricks, hope you find one that will work for you.
Neglectful parents come in all types. Dad could be a Wal~Mart clerk that only works from noon to 6 PM, but still spends his evenings at the bar rather than with his kids, and then disappearing with girlfriends for a 3 day drunk. The job really doesn't matter.
He owns a string of vending machines and has to restock them. Or he could be with a band. Or he could run leadership conferences for businessmen. All depends on how you want to play it. Wealthy, flighty, middle class.
My dad is an accountant. From the months of January to April, he worked from 8am to 8pm, six days a week. When he gets home, he's so tired, he often goes straight to bed with little conversation. During his off season, he regularly goes out of town on golf trips with his company or to audit businesses in other states. He frequents Colorado, a ranch in Kansas, and somewhere down south.
In my city the obvious answer would be warehousing or in fabrication/manufacturing. A lot of major cities have a logistical hub city on their outskirts or a warehouse district within them, or for coastal cities, docks.
His dad could be active Navy, on sea duty. He would be occupied with training detachments and deployments. Navy comes first.
I have a character whose neglectful parents are a nurse and a low-tier mafia type (gets all the most unpleasant, inconvenient jobs). When I was growing up my dad had a day job as an automechanic, which had regular hours, and a second job at a bar; you might consider a set-up along those lines if times are tough. I also have a friend who works in IT of all things but is on call, so something like that's even an option.
My dad's a software engineer. He gets so lost in his work that he'll be at the office until the early hours of the morning, and then he willingly goes in on weekends... till the early hours of the morning.
I had a neglectful parent growing up and he was a Soldier in the U.S. Army and was gone on deployment a lot.
Be careful about equating "working a night or out-of-town job" and "being neglectful." The father who does the former may be doing absolutely the best he can for his kid, especially in the present economy. He certainly would not be a deadbeat. If I wanted "working-but-neglectful," I'd go with ideas like @Imaginarily and @KhalieLa proposed. In other words, there's time he could spend with his daughter, but he chooses not to.
This is true. My Dad worked nights at a sawmill when I was growing up. Dad was always there, he just slept on a different schedule than we did. It actually made summers really fun because he'd get home around 3 AM and wake me and my brother up to go catfishing. We'd light a fire on the bank, eat hotdogs for breakfast and watch the sun rise. Looking back I realize those fishing trips likely had more to do with ensuring my brother and I would sleep during the middle of the day so he could too than a deep desire for quality time. Even so, to this day I can't listen to "Fishin' in the Dark" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band without feeling wistful. Neglect is not occupation related. One of my favorite authors, Sherman Alexi, covered neglectful parents in his book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian." In it, the MC, Junior, says everyone is down on Native American fathers because they disappear on a 3 day drunk 3 or 4 times a year, but white fathers disappeared every night by simply melting into the recliner in the living room. The white kids might not speak to their fathers for months despite the fact that they lived in the same house and saw each other every day. Neglect comes in many forms.
If you want him to be neglectful due to his job (read: workaholic), I'd give him a high-power job like an attorney or the CEO of a company, most likely a startup company, since that would require a lot of working hours and travel. If you want to portray him as more of an over-all deadbeat dad, I'd give him several low-income jobs, and have him choose to not spend time with his kids when he has the opportunity. Maybe he does odd jobs, or bartends and spends the rest of his time at the bar where he works, drinking.
You want deadbeat, neglectful, and absent, try my father's father. According to my dad, he never held down a job for very long at a time. Occasionally he'd start a little home-based business, like making up sandwiches to sell to workers at construction sites, but once it started making any money, he'd get bored and quit. If he had any money at all, he'd spend it on flashy suits and betting on the ponies down at the city race track. When my aunt died of pneumonia at the age of 9 and my grandmother cashed in the burial policy they had on her, Grandma never told Grandpa there was money left over after the funeral expenses. Otherwise, he would have taken it and gambled it away. He took off for good when my dad was 14, leaving him, the oldest child, to support the family. Fortunately Daddy was good at fixing radios . . .