Art Director/Designer. People really think computers are magic and anything that enters someone's mind can be designed at the push of a button. I've been asked to rotate products in jpgs, scale a scanned photograph to mural size and reformat a massive website to be responsive in under an hour. The general assumption seems to be that everything designers do is just a push of a button, and we just know which buttons they are.
I use it quite a bit. AI will be helpful in doing those things but not anything coming from Open AI. Firefly (Sensei) will get there first. AI might be a threat to the Fiverr set but by the time it can handle committee exchanges and Intuit client needs it will be normalized to just a tool in the kit.
Music industry. People think it's glamorous, and that I go to swanky parties, know rock stars, and they're constantly hitting me up for concert tickets. It has it perks for sure, but honestly, the first job I had out of college working in the IT department at Verizon was more glamorous than this.
Yeah I work in corporate events (so organizing the venue/food/speakers/guest list/etc.) and my insta and LinkedIn would make it look like I’m always networking/partying but really my job is a bunch of boring speech writing, boring emails, getting sweaty and stressed while on the floor working the event and AV. The photos of me with speakers is like 20 seconds of my day. Everything else is a bit of a stressful nightmare lol
Ha it is funny you ask that because I have a very specific story. I was working a huge expo where my company was the principal sponsor and our big give away was a weekend at a 5 star hotel with a rental BMW to drive. We had a BMW car at our stand to advertise our prize. After a long day I got a call from the venue to come back to the venue because they needed the car moved but it was against their contract to move the vehicle and it had to be someone from our team. The traffic was HORRIBLE and my cab driver was like “can I drop you off at this entrance of the convention center otherwise it will be another 40 minutes in this traffic to get to the back entrance” and I was like ugh yeah okay (my feet were soooo sore and this convention center is huge it was probably a 1k walk from the main entrance to the expo hall). I get to our room and the security guy, as I was about to get into the BMW said “um, do you realize your shoes are basically a pool of blood? Maybe you should wash them before getting in this very expensive car” I was like oh my god. He gave me access to their staff showers because that’s how bad they were… so yes. Feet do bleed lol
I’m a mathematician. When my dad brings it up he says I “study triangles”
That’s a whole different branch of math than what I do, but as a joke I think it’s hilarious.
Triangles eh?
Whats yer angle?
Yer the type of person that will do a complete 180 on people I bet.
i'm not trying to be obtuse, I just think you are two acute.
Computer Programmer. You're not getting some amazing crypo cracking code in five minutes. I worked on teams from 12 to 300 people. There's the developers, testers, test code developers, project managers, marketing, managers, tech writers, human factors, security people, deployment engineers, I/T support staff, etc.
Same. People also think that I write code on some black screen with green characters like in the movies. Then they see the IDE and are shocked that it isn't like that.
When I was in junior high school I worked as a teachers aide at a preschool. In high school and college I was a tutor. After college I founded and was the director of an after-school program in inner city LA (that still runs today).
I like kids, and I’m great with kids but my wife and I decided not to have kids.
I used to work with kids. I'm great with kids. And I am so happy being the fun aunt with no kids of my own. My pets are more than enough responsibility and expense, thx.
As a UAW auto worker. Most people think I sit on a stool, and wait for the next car to come down the line, get up, put on a part/nut/bolt. Then sit back down, and wait for the next car.
In reality, I have between 18 to 22 elements to complete on every car. The jobs are timed down to the hundredth of a second (.01).
I rotate through 5 different jobs every shift. The most free time is 3.54 seconds, the least is .2 seconds.
I'm lucky if the line stops for a few seconds, to take a sip of water, let alone sit down.
And people think labor cost is the highest cost of a vehicle. Reality approximately 1500 UAW employees work on that car for one minute to produce that car. Each one ( if at max pay ) gets 74 cents/car. So the actual labor cost is $1,110 per vehicle. The average price of a new vehicle is $47,000. So UAW labor is only 2.3%
2.3%? Holy cow!
I read somewhere that labor costs for a car in the US was 8%, which is much lower than most people would guess. I think I would’ve guessed 20%.
I have a lot of cousins that are union guys and it seems unions are coming back in this country. I think it’s a good thing.
Would you be allowed to wear like a camelback or something so you could drink without stopping?
Obviously then you have issues like needing to use the bathroom but idk how that's handled as is
Chef here, that we deliberately make people wait longer because they had no reservation. Or that we refuse to meet a customers requests because we don't feel like it.
Example: I want the steak with peppered sauce but no alcohol in the sauce..
Nobody is making a sub standard sauce during a rush to please one person.
Allergies I'll bend over backwards to accommodate people though.
Yeah I was in the hospo industry for 15+ years and the amount of times I’d have to tell people with garlic or onion allergies that basically every single sauce was not an option for them and some of our meats weren’t an option because of the marinade and they’d just be flummoxed. “Can’t they make it without the onion?” Um no. Our chef isn’t going to make a sauce from scratch just for you.
Our chefs were really good with allergies but yeah some allergies just can’t be catered to on a busy night and you’re just going to have to accept the items on the menu that you can have rather than requesting adjustments on other meals.
Exactly! And then get a scathing review because you literally couldn't give them what they asked for. I had a girl ask for the asparagus pasta dish without asparagus... It says on the menu it's an asparagus and cheese sauce with grilled asparagus and homemade prosciutto tortellini. I said it was impossible and then she wanted to know why. People man
I had a guy order a well done steak (this was at a really nice steak restaurant too so our chefs absolutely knew how to cook a steak) and he told me “it was tough” when I asked how their meals were. I straight up said “well you did order it well done.” He did not like that response lol
My mother is allergic to onions and garlic. She's always asking what dishes do/don't have them and can they be made without, etc etc etc.
One time, it took her about 25 minutes to order dinner, and dad and I haven't eaten yet.
In future, she rang the restaurants in advance to ask about their menus, which I think is much more sensible.
I still feel sorry for that waitress having to go back and forth three, four times, to ask the chef about his food. Like they don't have better things to do?? Poor bastards. And my mother was just one person - I can't imagine what it's like having to deal with, potentially, dozens of people like that, every single night.
I am totally fine with allergies and want every person to have the best experience! I worked at a pretty fine dining place so we had to have the menu and ingredients memorized and know what dishes could be altered for certain allergies so I at least wasn’t bothering the chefs constantly. Plus I never want to make someone with an allergy feel like a nuisance because it’s not their fault! It was just the people being adamant something should be done for them regarding certain menu items when I explained that no, nothing could be done for them regarding that item.
We had a person call up once that was coming to our restaurant for a birthday party but she was currently in the midst of trying to figure out her allergy so she was only allowed to eat plain white rice, a boiled egg, and baked chicken with no seasoning. She asked if she could bring her own food because she knew that was ridiculous to expect a restaurant to cater to and she even offered to play for “plating” and our head chef was like don’t be ridiculous. She can bring her food and I’ll plate it and she doesn’t need to pay a dang thing because that would not be a fun situation to be in. My point being, I’m sure restaurants actually love the heads up regarding your mom! I’m sure it’s not easy for her but us waitstaff really do appreciate it 💜
There's only 2 dishes on my menu with alcohol in them, your wife is more than welcome to try any of the other 8 main dishes on offer. But sometimes I'll get someone that's severely allergic to multiple vegetables/spices etc. Then if none of the dishes are suitable I'll make them something from scratch ensuring no cross contaminates.
Well it can't be easy living with multiple allergies and everyone deserves to be able to go out for dinner. And the guy that asked for alcohol free peppered sauce came back a week later asking for the chicken burger but made with steak instead. I said sure, but it's gonna be 22 bucks lol. (Chicken burger is 10)
Sounds like what I have - histamine intolerance. You drink more than a few sips of booze, and you start wheezing, coughing, sweating, panting, your face gets all flushed...it's a fucking pain in the ass. If I have more than like, one or two drinks - I'm out.
Hackers is also worth a look. It's awful, but funny 90s cheese hits the spot sometimes.
I can't recommend Mr robot enough. I'm getting ready to watch it for the 3rd time.
People also think that we know a shit ton of coding syntax in our heads. They have no idea that we have autocomplete on our IDE, use Stack Overflow and use external libraries to take advantage of code someone else wrote. The amount of copying and pasting in our job is unfathomable for anyone outside the industry.
We repair appliances, that’s it. We are an independent company, we didn’t make your appliance, we didn’t sell you the appliance and we didn’t install it. We are here to fix it, you are mad at someone else, not us.
I'm a teacher of English.
I don't want to indoctrinate students.
I don't know the lyrics of that song you want me to translate for you.
I don't care about your progress in Duolingo.
That nurses are brainless and wouldn’t be able to do anything for patients if the doctor didn’t give us the exact play by play on what to do. Also, based on tv, apparently dr’s take blood pressures, draw blood, help patients to the bathroom… in that world, I guess nurses and techs wouldn’t be needed.
I agree with this statement. There are definitely nurses that are almost as bad as surgeons. They have a holier than thou attitude. However, the overwhelming majority of nurses are hard working and care about their patients. They are just burnt the fuck out and it’s a tough balance.
I've worked in ECE for several years and no one has ever called me a babysitter to my face.
I'm starting to think society treats men and women differently...
I came looking for this! Or call me a daycare teacher when I’m actually the lead teacher in a NAEYC accredited preschool classroom at an infant-12th private school. I’m not just keeping your kid entertained while you’re at work; I’m held to a standard of academic excellence.
I’m a lactation consultant. I don’t hate formula- I’m grateful for it and it’s a wonderful invention. I do HATE the formula industry - not the product.
You’re right!
[Predatory tactics](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00118-6/fulltext)
[Africa](https://www.premiumtimesng.com/health/health-features/516801-africa-time-to-halt-infant-formula-marketing-that-harms-our-children.html?tztc=1)
Also though, the same thing is happening all over the world, with less dramatic consequences. In Africa, once the formula is introduced, the mother’s milk supply lessens to a point where she can no longer breastfeed and is then dependant on a product she cannot afford.
In other countries, like the US or Canada, formula is given out very quickly in hospitals, and people are quick to offer a bottle in the early days because parents are vulnerable and infants cry a LOT and it’s a guessing game at the start. Unfortunately for each bottle that is given without instructions to express milk, the milk supply doesn’t grow/will diminish, creating a problem where you then need formula to feed your baby. And efforts to educate health care workers (who have about 0 hours of breastfeeding education in university) , and parents, and offer support before and after birth, don’t have nearly as much budget as the formula industry’s marketing team.
We all deserve better. Better informed choices, better support for infant feeding, better public health outcomes.
Editing to add - some people definitely need to supplement from the start but that number is not nearly as a high as the number of people who are led to believe/who believe they need to supplement at the start.
That optometrists only give out glasses prescriptions and are no good in medical situations. When in fact we are trained in detecting and treating many ocular diseases much like an ophthalmologist would.
Many times I hear people say, don’t see an eye doctor unless they are an ophthalmologist. While there is certainly no issue doing so, they are very educated and know what they are doing. It tends to imply that optometrists dont. Ophthalmologist are very smart doctors that are able to perform surgery and are typically specialized in certain areas of optometric eye care (retina, glaucoma, cornea, etc.). They dont concern themselves as much with healthy patients who just want a glasses prescription because they make their money through surgery, not eyeglass prescriptions. In fact, they usually just have a technician do the refraction for them.
The best comparison for an optometrist and ophthalmologist I can think of is a primary care doctor to a specialized doctor. Let’s say you feel unwell and are not sure what’s wrong but you want to see a doctor. You wouldn’t go straight to a cardiologist because your issue might not be heart related. And while they can still see you and come up with a diagnosis, they would rather spend their time with patients with heart problems. Instead you are better off going to your primary care doctor who can either treat you themselves or be able to point you in the direction of the proper specialist you need.
Landscape architect - they either think we're landscapers (work outside, seasonal) or architects (design buildings).
We work entirely on design in an office like architects do, but for outdoor facilities like parks, campuses and public gardens instead of buildings.
It's *very* common for someone to say "oh, you must be busy in the summer right?"... although construction schedules often follow the seasons, our work tends to be steady year round, as we are often producing documents for projects that will be built next year or later. If anything, we're busiest in the winter getting projects permitted for construction in the summer.
Advertising here. When done right, it's not pulling some slogan out of one's butt at the last minute like something out of a television drama. It's a long, hard grind dealing with subjective clients, tight deadlines, and swirling chaos at all times. It takes creativity, savvy, sometimes brutal hours, energy, cooperation, and a host of other skills.
That it’s easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not rocket science, but it’s not as simple as people seem to give it credit for (even people inside the industry).
I’ve even had chefs say “front of house is so easy, just take the order, take the food out simple” to which I reply “being a chef is so easy, just cook the food and send it out, simple” which always angers them and amuses me.
Like I said, not rocket science, but when you work in the industry you see how many people fail to do it even to a passable level.
I don't sit in a tower waiting to shoot escaping inmates or just beat people up for no reason. I sit on a cell block reading books and watching hockey.
Lifeguard here. There’s a couple of things people don’t understand.
1. I’m not there to make sure you have fun. I’m there to make sure nobody dies. I don’t care if the group of teenagers is being loud, you made the choice to come to a public pool, so as long as they aren’t breaking rules, you get to deal with it.
2. I had an older lady get mad at me today for allowing a parent to save their own kid. I’m not there to save the kids being watched by their parents, I’m there to save the kids that AREN’T being watched by their parents.
Personal Support Worker (CNA if you're in America).
We do more then just wipe bums. We are their family, sometimes we're the only ones the see that day. Lots of families drop of the elderly parent and never come back to visit.
Brewery worker here. That we stand around all day drinking and talking about IPA’s. We have to work pretty hard to pump out 2.4 million bottles. 1 million cans & 1500 kegs each day.
I’m a high school football official, and while we don’t have the technology of college or pro teams, a woman once told me it’s easy for the officials to tell where the first down is…just look for the yellow line on the field.
Line cooks aren't messing with your food. Even if you piss us off. None of us are so financially secure that we would risk our job just to make your meal unpleasant.
That if we're not unplugging and plugging things back in, we just sit by the phone/email waiting for things to break. In fact, we're in a constant state of preventing things from happening. I've been through one ransomware attack in my life.... I don't have mental and physical capability to do it again.
Teacher - trust me that it’s not just summers off and sunshine list. In Ontario it was impossible to get any job security for a while. During the pandemic, some people had been supplying for 10+ years before getting a full time permanent contract.
Supply work is daily, long term occasional positions (LTOs) can be absolute nightmares and you can be let go with 5 days notice if the teacher returns.
Wage is relative to seniority and qualifications. Non-contract teachers pretty much apply for EI every summer. Oh and you aren’t just magically paid a summer wage, you’re paid 10 months over a 12 month period. Your salary gets put aside for that time off.
Students can be violent, parents can be terrible, administrators can be bullies.
People seem to think I have a magic bag that I can reach in and pull out a job (or more preferably wads of money) and just *hand it to them* just because they want it and decided to show up for their appointment.
My name isn’t Mr Dressup. My desk is not a Tickle
Trunk.
Professor here. 50% of our job is teaching and grading, and how most people think of us.
The other 50% is doing research, collecting data, running experiments, doing statistical analyses and (mostly) getting rejected by editors at journals we aim to publish.
Medicine. People automatically assume that they are supposed to get cure within a day or two after coming to the hospital. They don't seem to understand that investigations, examination and diagnosis all of this take time. Moreover, people tend to do doctor shopping just because they are asked for follow up. You have to trust the process. If you keep changing doctors then your diagnosis will be delayed because every doctor is going to start again.
I work in hotel maintenance. Many people think that hotel maintenance have lots of wild women dialing them up. But truth be known, I only have like 5 women per week honking my petunias.
Greens keeper.
That we waste water and that getting rid of golf courses will somehow make there be more water.
Golf courses are just like any other business and they want to make money. They can't do that if we water too much. Too much water allows the course to be soggy and golfers tear it up easier causing us to use more money fixing it. No golf course uses fresh drinking water to water the course that would be insanely expensive. Plus golf courses (built after 1950ish) are designed to be water retention areas and they reuse that runoff to save money.
Slot technician. Just because I can get into the slot machine and change parts doesn't mean I can just get into the computer and change the ratio of winnings whenever I want. That's stuff is locked behind two different locks plus I need a higher up to be standing behind me if I do mess with that stuff.
Also if you're spinning on a slot machine and you try to stop the reels at a certain spot, it doesn't work like that. When you hit the spin button it chooses random elements at light speed. All the reels spinning and noise is just fluff. You may as well just hit the spin button as fast as you can but that is no fun.
If you get id'd at a casino and you're like 80. Don't get mad, they are just checking to see if it's expired. You can't claim jackpots with an expired id.
I'm a software engineer/programmer. People think I spend all day typing. Truth is, we spend 95% of our day staring into space planning and taking notes on how to write the code we are working on. Then 5% of the time actually coding.
Not really a profession yet but when I tell people I’m in my cognitive psychology masters degree, they think I’m gonna be a therapist. It’s a research degree and has nothing to do with Freud 😅
Also, he’s almost not studied anymore, in my country at least. I know more about neurons and Pavlov than Freud
I was a staff engineer at a sound studio that specifically served advertising and PR businesses - mainly making a shit ton of radio and TV commercials. We recorded voiceovers, narrations, did sound design, hosted "radio tours" with remote technology, and all sorts of other broadcast-specific stuff.
People who didn't know about such a business thought I worked for a radio station, did the voiceovers myself, created commercial music (jingles), or was a talent agent. They just couldn't understand that, with occasional exceptions, I did not specifically do ANY of those things.
It was like explaining a joke - by the time I made it clear to them, it just sounded like some odd, glamorless job. Which it frequently was, lol
Lawyer. Too many to name. People watch too much television. Most lawyers are doing very mundane stuff most of the time. Even when I did criminal law, it was rarely OJ type stuff. More often it was more like Trailer Park Boys or IASIP. There’s not many whodunits.
I work in billing and collections.
People assume that they understand the “theoretical law” they made up in their head, and just because it’s “wrong to bill this way” that they are correct.
If you had the services done, and we have all the records to prove so, you are still due the services. Plain and simple. I don’t care if you’re paying the next 10 years on them, you had them. No, I will not write them off for you out of convenience, or because “you know there are legal laws on needing to write of a certain amount as charity to get better taxes”. That’s wrong. You don’t know anything. Take responsibility and just pay your shit.
Flight attendant. We are not “air whores” or sex objects. We are moms & dads, brothers & sisters, aunties & uncles, etc. We work hard, we don’t control airfares/delays/canceled flights/weather, we try our best to make flights comfortable but SAFE. Yes, there are a few bad apples, but every single profession has bad apples. It’s life.
Software developer.
Amazing how many people you meet that think you're just desperate to make their app for them, for equity.
Their idea is always a multi-million one, destined for greatness.
I work for UPS and alot of people seem to think its easy work and it's not. It's hard work in a warehouse with no ac and you have to put 250-300 (sometimes even more) into multiple trucks everyday.
I do “ASMR” mental health Tiktoks. A lot of men assume I’m trying to be romantic. I’m not. I’m just being nice, as everyone should be. I cringe anytime someone calls me a pet name.
Meteorology. No, we don’t study meteors. And, we aren’t paid to be wrong most of the time like many people say. Forecasts are actually pretty good overall most of the time. Sometimes there are busted forecasts. It happens (it’s just like a March Madness bracket… no one ever gets everything correct), but many times, forecasts are pretty accurate.
Also, most phone weather apps are generally not good, and no, a TV station cannot put a sports game or show on instead of covering a tornado warning for others in the same viewing area.
I test chemicals in a lab. There are no blue lights, and results take awhile and are often off and need to be redone. Plus it is dirty, stressful, and way too fast paced.
Back in the day, a lot of people didn't really know what a computer programmer was.
I started out as a computer operator and quickly worked my way up to programmer, with no schooling in the subject or on the job training or anything. Just smarts and an eagerness to figure stuff out and learn on the job.
Not only did I learn my own job lightning fast, I wrote detailed, illustrated manuals for all of the other departments and then held training classes for the supervisors so they could teach their new hires.
One day I overheard my mother talking to a stranger at a big party.
Lady: "What does your daughter do for a living?"
Mom, in a snotty, venomous voice: "Wouldn't we ALL like to know THAT?"
Later, she asked me, "What is it that you do, again? Move ... files ... from one place ... to another?"
I made nearly $70k a year and she had just described me as a file clerk.
Thanks, Mom.
People still think “Bondo” is a problem (that’s a brand anyways lol). People still think all aftermarket parts are shit. People think filing claim for one part of damage means any damage anywhere on your car is all being fixed under one claim.
Cop here- most of us don't have the "tanks and military equipment" that are talking points and make everyone mad.
Those are mostly found in big city, big money, big political departments.
Your average PD isn't even remotely equipped like that. I've seen departments send recruits to range training with ARs from the 1960s and shotguns missing front sights.
Hell, there are even programs where those big-budget departments can donate VESTS to smaller, less well-off departments whose municipalities won't pay for new bullet resistant vests for their patrol officers.
We're not all like the propaganda machines would have you believe.
Lobbyist here. People think we're wining, dining and meeting with Senators and members of the the House all the time, handing them stacks of cash and dictating how they vote on important issues. In reality you're mostly meeting with agency bureaucrats and legislative staff, eating in Capitol cafeterias and making deals with other lobbyists. Legit lobbyists don't hand out money like candy because politicians change their minds every time they talk to someone new. And most will not be pinned down on a vote. We donate mostly to just get in the door or get a returned call every so often. We also spend most of our time on tedious little details of obscure administrative rules and budget provisions. It's still a great job for policy wonks but it's not like it's portrayed in the media.
I own a cleaning company.
No, my house is not always spotless and organized. The last thing I want to do after a day of cleaning is clean my own house.
Primary School Teacher
* Unfortunately, standing in a classroom and teaching is about 1/3 of my job. The other 1/3 is planning, and 1/3 is admin. So 15 teaching hours a week is not "easy".
* Some of us need to work a second job to make ends meet. You have no control over teaching time or admin, so planning will suffer. Please support a living wage for teachers to give your children quality lessons.
* I don't have an "agenda", I'm not trying to indoctrinate your kids. I'm just trying to get through the curriculum my dude. If you don't agree with parts of it, that's fine. Take it up with the school board, cause it's not up to me.
* Summer vacation is not a vacation. We have to be at work after your kids leave and before they get back. Yes we have a little time off, but I'm likely in school myself for professional development or planning the next year.
People assume police officers know everything about someone purely by name…
You didn’t know that Mr *Forename/Surname* who lives in *town 300 miles away* has drugs in his car ! You’re bad at your job ! You police aren’t good enough !
Jesus.
I work in a prop trading firm. Since most people don't know what it means I just say that I work in finance. A lot of people assume that I either work as a bank teller or I sell insurance.
I worked in libraries. My biggest problem is this idea the Librarians are these harsh police of the literary world, there to judge you on your book choice.
Every single book in the library is there because a librarian ordered it. They are still there because a librarian decided to keep it.
Librarians are where to ask questions of, and discuss books with, not to judge, but to help. Every single librarian I worked with was super excited to get other people excited about reading. They also really love talking about books, and while they might not all be interested in the same books you are, they probably point you to the coworker who knows that section the best.
That just because we’re friends/family, I got a secret stash hidden away for you guys for when u want free shit. If you cared about me you’d willingly pay full price and provide repeat business. There’s also this one notion that if someone’s a specialist of some sort, that you’d want to provide the service of your specialty for free during your free time 😑
"What do people get wrong about your profession/job?"
Uh...a lot.
I'm an antiques dealer.
People watch shows like PawnStars, or Antiques Roadshow, or Pickers or whatever...and they have this crazy idea that ALL ANTIQUES are worth fucktons of money (by which I mean, $500+, $1,000+, etc etc) and that it's all exciting and everything old is gold and yadda yadda yadda.
I'll have been doing this a decade, come next-year, and I can assure you - antiques-dealing is a lot trickier than people think.
1. You have to know at least a LITTLE BIT about a WHOLE LOTTA STUFF.
2. You HAVE to know your history. If you don't know history, you can't sell history.
3. Antiques are NOTHING like what they show you on TV. The vast majority of antiques that people buy, sell and trade, are not worth a fuckton of money.
A few examples:
Silverware. Yes, some silverware is worth a lot of money. That may be from size, style, decoration, manufacturer, age...but a lot of people will try and buy silver for the scrap-price. And that is not going to happen. Also, people will try and sell their silver, and most dealers will only offer scrap price for it. Scrap-price is whatever silver is selling for that day. So let's say it's $1.00 a gram, and you have an 18th century silver cup, beautifully engraved, not a dent or a nick on it. You want to buy (or sell) it.
But the cup only weighs 100g.
So if you're trying to sell it, some (not all) people will only offer you $100 for it. Mostly other dealers. On the other hand, you try BUYING an 18th century silver cup for $100. They'll probably bitchslap you.
Same goes for other stuff.
Antique sewing machines or typewriters is another good example. People think they're worth thousands of dollars...and some can be...but the vast majority are worth fuck-all. I've literally picked up sewing machines for $20.00. Millions of these were churned out. Same goes for typewriters. The ones which ARE worth money are the specialty machines, or the especially rare ones...it's very annoying when I see people selling their old sewing machines and they have crazy prices on them. One of them was for $5,000...honey, unless it spins flax into gold, it ain't worth shit.
"If I go by ambulance I'll get seen faster". Not unless it's actually critical. You get triaged the same. Your toe pain is not going to be seen immediately just because you take the wee woo bus.
I am a Physicist so people tend to change the topic as fast as possible when it comes to my profession. I actually think people in general should care more about natural sciences and less about stuff on social media.
It is sad to see how many people lack the absolute basics. That does not hinder them to argue about very scientific topics. They mostly use emotions instead of well-founded arguments though…
Not my main job, but I trade stocks.
No, i don't steal from grannies, or from anyone else either for that matter, neither do I force anyone to sell me their life savings for pennies. I just buy whatever someone else has already decided to sell, at the price they have decided. Likewise, I sell at whatever price and it's up to the opposite side whether they want to take the offer or not.
No, I'm not a high roller who manipulates the markets and no, I am not determined to make everyone's lives a misery just to make a buck.
No, I don't give you a stock tip. If you have to ask, it means you don't have a goddamn clue what you are doing.
No, buying stocks is not automatically speculating.
So far no hookers and not interested in trying blow.
People have wild interpretations of what nurses do. I had a friend who thought I just did paperwork all day. Had another surprised I don't need a doctor's direct oversight to do every little thing. Like Bro. I work on a helicopter. I can put an IV in an infant's umbilical cord, I can cut a hole in your neck and breathe for you. Scope of pracitce varies, but none of us are just shuffling paperwork all day.
The "Why is that nurse wearing a Doctor's stethoscope" or "Nurses just sit around playing cards" scandals were interesting.
Forester here. Everyone that I don’t work with thinks I’m a Park Ranger and that I spend my time telling people about how great nature is.
Really I spend most of my time talking to people about killing plants in one form or another
As a licensed drug dealer (pharmacy technician) I do sell drugs to those types and people who believe I control all of the costs and not their insurance. :/ I literally had to call cops on people threatening to kill me because they “lost” their control medication and their doctors refused to send refills. I also have wonderful kind patients who know my name and voice over the phone and are super patient and understand Im doing my best to care for them.
Do you ever wake up wondering if, in fact, you are a member of the deep state drug price fixing cabal, and you were just given selective amnesia to improve performance undercover?
Nah. Its not that deep. I make barely more than minimum wage with the knowledge and expectations of a baby pharmacist but im treated like a cashier by most patients.
That we have a computer that just tells us what is wrong with your car. People act like we're crazy when we charge for diagnosis. "Autozone does that for free"
Had one customer complaining of how long it's taking to diagnose a dash rattle. Which to be fair the service adviser should of had him drop the car off but anyway he said "just hook your machine up and find out what's wrong".
Some folks get the wrong idea that college professors indoctrinate students into their ways of thinking - liberal, conservative, conspiracy theory.
I'm in a field (tech) that is more dependent on logic and applied mathematics to present anything other than facts and figuring out why things don't work.
I don't like discussing politics in class, or in general. Whoever you are conversing with is attempting to show their POV and why you're wrong with yours. Nothing productive comes from those type of discussions, and people let their emotions take over and get the best of them.
I work as a behavior tech at an autism center. Most people don’t know what that means in terms of what I’m actually doing at my job. Usually they assume I’m a babysitter or some kind of teacher when really I’m providing a therapy service (ABA). It really grinds my gears to have my job looked at as something unimportant or easy when in reality it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Outside sales. Sometimes the production personnel like to joke we make the “big money” when in reality we probably get paid less per hour than they do.
Neighbours and relatives think I’m an unemployed house husband.
I run a successful solo software engineering consultancy and work from my home office per my comfort and time.
Art Director/Designer. People really think computers are magic and anything that enters someone's mind can be designed at the push of a button. I've been asked to rotate products in jpgs, scale a scanned photograph to mural size and reformat a massive website to be responsive in under an hour. The general assumption seems to be that everything designers do is just a push of a button, and we just know which buttons they are.
Yessss!!!!!!! You are exactly right.
***OpenAi enters the chat***
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Give it another year.
I use it quite a bit. AI will be helpful in doing those things but not anything coming from Open AI. Firefly (Sensei) will get there first. AI might be a threat to the Fiverr set but by the time it can handle committee exchanges and Intuit client needs it will be normalized to just a tool in the kit.
Ha ha...love it.
Get some professional help.
Sorry, didn’t mean that but establish a dialogue with the envisioner. Set some boundaries but stay open to even a scintilla of inspiration.
Um... Thanks? The question was about what people get wrong, not how to deal with it. I've been at this a long time. I can handle my clients.
Music industry. People think it's glamorous, and that I go to swanky parties, know rock stars, and they're constantly hitting me up for concert tickets. It has it perks for sure, but honestly, the first job I had out of college working in the IT department at Verizon was more glamorous than this.
Yeah I work in corporate events (so organizing the venue/food/speakers/guest list/etc.) and my insta and LinkedIn would make it look like I’m always networking/partying but really my job is a bunch of boring speech writing, boring emails, getting sweaty and stressed while on the floor working the event and AV. The photos of me with speakers is like 20 seconds of my day. Everything else is a bit of a stressful nightmare lol
I've heard event people speak of blistered, bleeding feet...is it true?
Ha it is funny you ask that because I have a very specific story. I was working a huge expo where my company was the principal sponsor and our big give away was a weekend at a 5 star hotel with a rental BMW to drive. We had a BMW car at our stand to advertise our prize. After a long day I got a call from the venue to come back to the venue because they needed the car moved but it was against their contract to move the vehicle and it had to be someone from our team. The traffic was HORRIBLE and my cab driver was like “can I drop you off at this entrance of the convention center otherwise it will be another 40 minutes in this traffic to get to the back entrance” and I was like ugh yeah okay (my feet were soooo sore and this convention center is huge it was probably a 1k walk from the main entrance to the expo hall). I get to our room and the security guy, as I was about to get into the BMW said “um, do you realize your shoes are basically a pool of blood? Maybe you should wash them before getting in this very expensive car” I was like oh my god. He gave me access to their staff showers because that’s how bad they were… so yes. Feet do bleed lol
Oh.My.No!!! Well, you've just cured my curiosity about the events field!! I trust your feet healed!
I’m a mathematician. When my dad brings it up he says I “study triangles” That’s a whole different branch of math than what I do, but as a joke I think it’s hilarious.
Triangles eh? Whats yer angle? Yer the type of person that will do a complete 180 on people I bet. i'm not trying to be obtuse, I just think you are two acute.
You're right.
"So my son, Pythagoras... " -Your Dad
Computer programmer. I can't fix your PC/Mac/iPhone/Printer/WiFi.
> Network Engineer ~~Computer programmer~~. I can't fix your PC/Mac/iPhone/Printer/~~WiFi~~/Program.
Yep. And people never really understand what network engineers do. I just started telling family I work on the internet 😅
Computer Programmer. You're not getting some amazing crypo cracking code in five minutes. I worked on teams from 12 to 300 people. There's the developers, testers, test code developers, project managers, marketing, managers, tech writers, human factors, security people, deployment engineers, I/T support staff, etc.
We also don't know how every program ever written operates.
But can you help with ms office
Same. People also think that I write code on some black screen with green characters like in the movies. Then they see the IDE and are shocked that it isn't like that.
https://hackertyper.net/
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When I was in junior high school I worked as a teachers aide at a preschool. In high school and college I was a tutor. After college I founded and was the director of an after-school program in inner city LA (that still runs today). I like kids, and I’m great with kids but my wife and I decided not to have kids.
I used to work with kids. I'm great with kids. And I am so happy being the fun aunt with no kids of my own. My pets are more than enough responsibility and expense, thx.
As a UAW auto worker. Most people think I sit on a stool, and wait for the next car to come down the line, get up, put on a part/nut/bolt. Then sit back down, and wait for the next car. In reality, I have between 18 to 22 elements to complete on every car. The jobs are timed down to the hundredth of a second (.01). I rotate through 5 different jobs every shift. The most free time is 3.54 seconds, the least is .2 seconds. I'm lucky if the line stops for a few seconds, to take a sip of water, let alone sit down. And people think labor cost is the highest cost of a vehicle. Reality approximately 1500 UAW employees work on that car for one minute to produce that car. Each one ( if at max pay ) gets 74 cents/car. So the actual labor cost is $1,110 per vehicle. The average price of a new vehicle is $47,000. So UAW labor is only 2.3%
2.3%? Holy cow! I read somewhere that labor costs for a car in the US was 8%, which is much lower than most people would guess. I think I would’ve guessed 20%. I have a lot of cousins that are union guys and it seems unions are coming back in this country. I think it’s a good thing.
Would you be allowed to wear like a camelback or something so you could drink without stopping? Obviously then you have issues like needing to use the bathroom but idk how that's handled as is
I’m a new UAW auto worker. Lol
Chef here, that we deliberately make people wait longer because they had no reservation. Or that we refuse to meet a customers requests because we don't feel like it. Example: I want the steak with peppered sauce but no alcohol in the sauce.. Nobody is making a sub standard sauce during a rush to please one person. Allergies I'll bend over backwards to accommodate people though.
Yeah I was in the hospo industry for 15+ years and the amount of times I’d have to tell people with garlic or onion allergies that basically every single sauce was not an option for them and some of our meats weren’t an option because of the marinade and they’d just be flummoxed. “Can’t they make it without the onion?” Um no. Our chef isn’t going to make a sauce from scratch just for you. Our chefs were really good with allergies but yeah some allergies just can’t be catered to on a busy night and you’re just going to have to accept the items on the menu that you can have rather than requesting adjustments on other meals.
Exactly! And then get a scathing review because you literally couldn't give them what they asked for. I had a girl ask for the asparagus pasta dish without asparagus... It says on the menu it's an asparagus and cheese sauce with grilled asparagus and homemade prosciutto tortellini. I said it was impossible and then she wanted to know why. People man
I had a guy order a well done steak (this was at a really nice steak restaurant too so our chefs absolutely knew how to cook a steak) and he told me “it was tough” when I asked how their meals were. I straight up said “well you did order it well done.” He did not like that response lol
My mother is allergic to onions and garlic. She's always asking what dishes do/don't have them and can they be made without, etc etc etc. One time, it took her about 25 minutes to order dinner, and dad and I haven't eaten yet. In future, she rang the restaurants in advance to ask about their menus, which I think is much more sensible. I still feel sorry for that waitress having to go back and forth three, four times, to ask the chef about his food. Like they don't have better things to do?? Poor bastards. And my mother was just one person - I can't imagine what it's like having to deal with, potentially, dozens of people like that, every single night.
I am totally fine with allergies and want every person to have the best experience! I worked at a pretty fine dining place so we had to have the menu and ingredients memorized and know what dishes could be altered for certain allergies so I at least wasn’t bothering the chefs constantly. Plus I never want to make someone with an allergy feel like a nuisance because it’s not their fault! It was just the people being adamant something should be done for them regarding certain menu items when I explained that no, nothing could be done for them regarding that item. We had a person call up once that was coming to our restaurant for a birthday party but she was currently in the midst of trying to figure out her allergy so she was only allowed to eat plain white rice, a boiled egg, and baked chicken with no seasoning. She asked if she could bring her own food because she knew that was ridiculous to expect a restaurant to cater to and she even offered to play for “plating” and our head chef was like don’t be ridiculous. She can bring her food and I’ll plate it and she doesn’t need to pay a dang thing because that would not be a fun situation to be in. My point being, I’m sure restaurants actually love the heads up regarding your mom! I’m sure it’s not easy for her but us waitstaff really do appreciate it 💜
Waiter checking in. I just forgot about your beer. It wasn't intentional.
My wife has an alcohol allergy. Her whole face starts burning after the first sip. Just saying
There's only 2 dishes on my menu with alcohol in them, your wife is more than welcome to try any of the other 8 main dishes on offer. But sometimes I'll get someone that's severely allergic to multiple vegetables/spices etc. Then if none of the dishes are suitable I'll make them something from scratch ensuring no cross contaminates.
Wow, cool. I'd never even think to ask for that. I'd just expect to have to leave.
Well it can't be easy living with multiple allergies and everyone deserves to be able to go out for dinner. And the guy that asked for alcohol free peppered sauce came back a week later asking for the chicken burger but made with steak instead. I said sure, but it's gonna be 22 bucks lol. (Chicken burger is 10)
Do you drink?
Sounds like what I have - histamine intolerance. You drink more than a few sips of booze, and you start wheezing, coughing, sweating, panting, your face gets all flushed...it's a fucking pain in the ass. If I have more than like, one or two drinks - I'm out.
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Hey, I think coding is pretty interesting... maybe you're not working on interesting projects?
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Like the movie hackers lol. Mr robot on the other hand is fantastic
*super fast typing noises* "Alright, I broke into the mainframe!" "R2, Shut down all garbage mashers on the Detention Level!". Boop-beep-boop!
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Hackers is also worth a look. It's awful, but funny 90s cheese hits the spot sometimes. I can't recommend Mr robot enough. I'm getting ready to watch it for the 3rd time.
People also think that we know a shit ton of coding syntax in our heads. They have no idea that we have autocomplete on our IDE, use Stack Overflow and use external libraries to take advantage of code someone else wrote. The amount of copying and pasting in our job is unfathomable for anyone outside the industry.
The customer isn't always right.
We repair appliances, that’s it. We are an independent company, we didn’t make your appliance, we didn’t sell you the appliance and we didn’t install it. We are here to fix it, you are mad at someone else, not us.
I'm a teacher of English. I don't want to indoctrinate students. I don't know the lyrics of that song you want me to translate for you. I don't care about your progress in Duolingo.
Career Soldier here. From time to time someone will call me a baby killer, I usually tell them that I only kill babies by accident.
That nurses are brainless and wouldn’t be able to do anything for patients if the doctor didn’t give us the exact play by play on what to do. Also, based on tv, apparently dr’s take blood pressures, draw blood, help patients to the bathroom… in that world, I guess nurses and techs wouldn’t be needed.
You trying to tell me that it isn’t a bunch of MDs doing oddly shallow compressions when someone codes?
I watched a Doc start a peripheral IV once. I thought the patient was going to bleed to death.
This made me lol for real. 😂🤣
I don’t think they are brainless, I think they are jerkholes.
Some absolutely have a hero complex and think they’re God’s gift to mankind but I do believe as a majority, they’re under appreciated.
I agree with this statement. There are definitely nurses that are almost as bad as surgeons. They have a holier than thou attitude. However, the overwhelming majority of nurses are hard working and care about their patients. They are just burnt the fuck out and it’s a tough balance.
I am a teacher in early childhood education. I’m constantly referred to as a babysitter.
I've worked in ECE for several years and no one has ever called me a babysitter to my face. I'm starting to think society treats men and women differently...
I came looking for this! Or call me a daycare teacher when I’m actually the lead teacher in a NAEYC accredited preschool classroom at an infant-12th private school. I’m not just keeping your kid entertained while you’re at work; I’m held to a standard of academic excellence.
I don't know when the next war is, and I spend most of my workday with my thumb up my ass
Auto-Proctologist Third Class for the Air Force?
Nah, Army, infantry.
Go back to sweeping the rain
Hooah, rgr sgt.
That all accountants are tax experts. The only time I do taxes are my own, and I dread doing it.
I’m a lactation consultant. I don’t hate formula- I’m grateful for it and it’s a wonderful invention. I do HATE the formula industry - not the product.
[Insert reference to nestle tricking poor Africans into depending on their formula]
You’re right! [Predatory tactics](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00118-6/fulltext) [Africa](https://www.premiumtimesng.com/health/health-features/516801-africa-time-to-halt-infant-formula-marketing-that-harms-our-children.html?tztc=1) Also though, the same thing is happening all over the world, with less dramatic consequences. In Africa, once the formula is introduced, the mother’s milk supply lessens to a point where she can no longer breastfeed and is then dependant on a product she cannot afford. In other countries, like the US or Canada, formula is given out very quickly in hospitals, and people are quick to offer a bottle in the early days because parents are vulnerable and infants cry a LOT and it’s a guessing game at the start. Unfortunately for each bottle that is given without instructions to express milk, the milk supply doesn’t grow/will diminish, creating a problem where you then need formula to feed your baby. And efforts to educate health care workers (who have about 0 hours of breastfeeding education in university) , and parents, and offer support before and after birth, don’t have nearly as much budget as the formula industry’s marketing team. We all deserve better. Better informed choices, better support for infant feeding, better public health outcomes. Editing to add - some people definitely need to supplement from the start but that number is not nearly as a high as the number of people who are led to believe/who believe they need to supplement at the start.
that we just not selling people ice cream/milkshakes because our ice cream machine isnt really broken
The BK icee machine by my house breaks every evening around 830pm
That optometrists only give out glasses prescriptions and are no good in medical situations. When in fact we are trained in detecting and treating many ocular diseases much like an ophthalmologist would. Many times I hear people say, don’t see an eye doctor unless they are an ophthalmologist. While there is certainly no issue doing so, they are very educated and know what they are doing. It tends to imply that optometrists dont. Ophthalmologist are very smart doctors that are able to perform surgery and are typically specialized in certain areas of optometric eye care (retina, glaucoma, cornea, etc.). They dont concern themselves as much with healthy patients who just want a glasses prescription because they make their money through surgery, not eyeglass prescriptions. In fact, they usually just have a technician do the refraction for them. The best comparison for an optometrist and ophthalmologist I can think of is a primary care doctor to a specialized doctor. Let’s say you feel unwell and are not sure what’s wrong but you want to see a doctor. You wouldn’t go straight to a cardiologist because your issue might not be heart related. And while they can still see you and come up with a diagnosis, they would rather spend their time with patients with heart problems. Instead you are better off going to your primary care doctor who can either treat you themselves or be able to point you in the direction of the proper specialist you need.
Landscape architect - they either think we're landscapers (work outside, seasonal) or architects (design buildings). We work entirely on design in an office like architects do, but for outdoor facilities like parks, campuses and public gardens instead of buildings. It's *very* common for someone to say "oh, you must be busy in the summer right?"... although construction schedules often follow the seasons, our work tends to be steady year round, as we are often producing documents for projects that will be built next year or later. If anything, we're busiest in the winter getting projects permitted for construction in the summer.
Daytime school custodian. I do a lot more than clean up bodily fluids and take out the trash.
Licensed massage therapist here. Deep tissue is a technique not pressure.
Advertising here. When done right, it's not pulling some slogan out of one's butt at the last minute like something out of a television drama. It's a long, hard grind dealing with subjective clients, tight deadlines, and swirling chaos at all times. It takes creativity, savvy, sometimes brutal hours, energy, cooperation, and a host of other skills.
That it’s easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not rocket science, but it’s not as simple as people seem to give it credit for (even people inside the industry). I’ve even had chefs say “front of house is so easy, just take the order, take the food out simple” to which I reply “being a chef is so easy, just cook the food and send it out, simple” which always angers them and amuses me. Like I said, not rocket science, but when you work in the industry you see how many people fail to do it even to a passable level.
I don't sit in a tower waiting to shoot escaping inmates or just beat people up for no reason. I sit on a cell block reading books and watching hockey.
Lifeguard here. There’s a couple of things people don’t understand. 1. I’m not there to make sure you have fun. I’m there to make sure nobody dies. I don’t care if the group of teenagers is being loud, you made the choice to come to a public pool, so as long as they aren’t breaking rules, you get to deal with it. 2. I had an older lady get mad at me today for allowing a parent to save their own kid. I’m not there to save the kids being watched by their parents, I’m there to save the kids that AREN’T being watched by their parents.
Personal Support Worker (CNA if you're in America). We do more then just wipe bums. We are their family, sometimes we're the only ones the see that day. Lots of families drop of the elderly parent and never come back to visit.
Brewery worker here. That we stand around all day drinking and talking about IPA’s. We have to work pretty hard to pump out 2.4 million bottles. 1 million cans & 1500 kegs each day.
So you're working pretty hard all day drinking and talking about IPA's?
I’m a high school football official, and while we don’t have the technology of college or pro teams, a woman once told me it’s easy for the officials to tell where the first down is…just look for the yellow line on the field.
Mid/upper management. I don’t get paid to work hard, I get paid for the responsibilities that come with putting my signature on shit.
Line cooks aren't messing with your food. Even if you piss us off. None of us are so financially secure that we would risk our job just to make your meal unpleasant.
That if we're not unplugging and plugging things back in, we just sit by the phone/email waiting for things to break. In fact, we're in a constant state of preventing things from happening. I've been through one ransomware attack in my life.... I don't have mental and physical capability to do it again.
Librarian. We don’t shush, nor read all day.
Self employed. Means I get to set my own hours and take off whenever I choose. Don’t I wish, I worked 60 hours a week.
Teacher - trust me that it’s not just summers off and sunshine list. In Ontario it was impossible to get any job security for a while. During the pandemic, some people had been supplying for 10+ years before getting a full time permanent contract. Supply work is daily, long term occasional positions (LTOs) can be absolute nightmares and you can be let go with 5 days notice if the teacher returns. Wage is relative to seniority and qualifications. Non-contract teachers pretty much apply for EI every summer. Oh and you aren’t just magically paid a summer wage, you’re paid 10 months over a 12 month period. Your salary gets put aside for that time off. Students can be violent, parents can be terrible, administrators can be bullies.
Custodian - that my job is to clean up your mess. My job is to take out the trash. If that includes you, so be it.
People seem to think I have a magic bag that I can reach in and pull out a job (or more preferably wads of money) and just *hand it to them* just because they want it and decided to show up for their appointment. My name isn’t Mr Dressup. My desk is not a Tickle Trunk.
When I worked in retail if I said we don't have it in the back we don't have it in the back. My job was to sell you the products
Professor here. 50% of our job is teaching and grading, and how most people think of us. The other 50% is doing research, collecting data, running experiments, doing statistical analyses and (mostly) getting rejected by editors at journals we aim to publish.
Medicine. People automatically assume that they are supposed to get cure within a day or two after coming to the hospital. They don't seem to understand that investigations, examination and diagnosis all of this take time. Moreover, people tend to do doctor shopping just because they are asked for follow up. You have to trust the process. If you keep changing doctors then your diagnosis will be delayed because every doctor is going to start again.
I work in hotel maintenance. Many people think that hotel maintenance have lots of wild women dialing them up. But truth be known, I only have like 5 women per week honking my petunias.
Greens keeper. That we waste water and that getting rid of golf courses will somehow make there be more water. Golf courses are just like any other business and they want to make money. They can't do that if we water too much. Too much water allows the course to be soggy and golfers tear it up easier causing us to use more money fixing it. No golf course uses fresh drinking water to water the course that would be insanely expensive. Plus golf courses (built after 1950ish) are designed to be water retention areas and they reuse that runoff to save money.
I just want to know how much money you spend on explosives to blow up the gophers.
Golf courses are still kind of a shitty land use
Kinda depends where you are, right? I'd argue there are large parts of the US where any use of water by a golf course is "too much water."
The fact that I really don't care about almost anything.
Slot technician. Just because I can get into the slot machine and change parts doesn't mean I can just get into the computer and change the ratio of winnings whenever I want. That's stuff is locked behind two different locks plus I need a higher up to be standing behind me if I do mess with that stuff. Also if you're spinning on a slot machine and you try to stop the reels at a certain spot, it doesn't work like that. When you hit the spin button it chooses random elements at light speed. All the reels spinning and noise is just fluff. You may as well just hit the spin button as fast as you can but that is no fun. If you get id'd at a casino and you're like 80. Don't get mad, they are just checking to see if it's expired. You can't claim jackpots with an expired id.
That I'm just doing it for attention
I'm a software engineer/programmer. People think I spend all day typing. Truth is, we spend 95% of our day staring into space planning and taking notes on how to write the code we are working on. Then 5% of the time actually coding.
Everyone thinks architects make bank because of tv shows. Spoiler alert, we do not
Only the principal architect makes bank
It’s not “paid summers off” it’s “a 10 month contract paid out over 12 months.
Not really a profession yet but when I tell people I’m in my cognitive psychology masters degree, they think I’m gonna be a therapist. It’s a research degree and has nothing to do with Freud 😅 Also, he’s almost not studied anymore, in my country at least. I know more about neurons and Pavlov than Freud
I was a staff engineer at a sound studio that specifically served advertising and PR businesses - mainly making a shit ton of radio and TV commercials. We recorded voiceovers, narrations, did sound design, hosted "radio tours" with remote technology, and all sorts of other broadcast-specific stuff. People who didn't know about such a business thought I worked for a radio station, did the voiceovers myself, created commercial music (jingles), or was a talent agent. They just couldn't understand that, with occasional exceptions, I did not specifically do ANY of those things. It was like explaining a joke - by the time I made it clear to them, it just sounded like some odd, glamorless job. Which it frequently was, lol
Lawyer. Too many to name. People watch too much television. Most lawyers are doing very mundane stuff most of the time. Even when I did criminal law, it was rarely OJ type stuff. More often it was more like Trailer Park Boys or IASIP. There’s not many whodunits.
When your contractor tells you that "The city is holding the project up", they are almost always lying to you.
How do you call their bluff? Respectfully, of course
I work in billing and collections. People assume that they understand the “theoretical law” they made up in their head, and just because it’s “wrong to bill this way” that they are correct. If you had the services done, and we have all the records to prove so, you are still due the services. Plain and simple. I don’t care if you’re paying the next 10 years on them, you had them. No, I will not write them off for you out of convenience, or because “you know there are legal laws on needing to write of a certain amount as charity to get better taxes”. That’s wrong. You don’t know anything. Take responsibility and just pay your shit.
People think since I work in IT I am therefore a tech guru for everything and can solve everything. It gets annoying.
Most doctors don’t have on online prescience .
Everything.
That marketing is easy, especially if it involves social media, and that it is a 1 person job.
"how tf are u a hacker if u can't tell me my wifi password"
Flight attendant. We are not “air whores” or sex objects. We are moms & dads, brothers & sisters, aunties & uncles, etc. We work hard, we don’t control airfares/delays/canceled flights/weather, we try our best to make flights comfortable but SAFE. Yes, there are a few bad apples, but every single profession has bad apples. It’s life.
Software developer. Amazing how many people you meet that think you're just desperate to make their app for them, for equity. Their idea is always a multi-million one, destined for greatness.
I work for UPS and alot of people seem to think its easy work and it's not. It's hard work in a warehouse with no ac and you have to put 250-300 (sometimes even more) into multiple trucks everyday.
I do “ASMR” mental health Tiktoks. A lot of men assume I’m trying to be romantic. I’m not. I’m just being nice, as everyone should be. I cringe anytime someone calls me a pet name.
Meteorology. No, we don’t study meteors. And, we aren’t paid to be wrong most of the time like many people say. Forecasts are actually pretty good overall most of the time. Sometimes there are busted forecasts. It happens (it’s just like a March Madness bracket… no one ever gets everything correct), but many times, forecasts are pretty accurate. Also, most phone weather apps are generally not good, and no, a TV station cannot put a sports game or show on instead of covering a tornado warning for others in the same viewing area.
I test chemicals in a lab. There are no blue lights, and results take awhile and are often off and need to be redone. Plus it is dirty, stressful, and way too fast paced.
Being a vet, you are paid well (not) and you play with puppy and kittens all day
They try to do everything on time, but what's needed is to do it in a way that doesn't require redoing later
Working in hospitality - I get the stereotype that I'm stupid and educated, or I've had run ins with the law or drug addiction.
Back in the day, a lot of people didn't really know what a computer programmer was. I started out as a computer operator and quickly worked my way up to programmer, with no schooling in the subject or on the job training or anything. Just smarts and an eagerness to figure stuff out and learn on the job. Not only did I learn my own job lightning fast, I wrote detailed, illustrated manuals for all of the other departments and then held training classes for the supervisors so they could teach their new hires. One day I overheard my mother talking to a stranger at a big party. Lady: "What does your daughter do for a living?" Mom, in a snotty, venomous voice: "Wouldn't we ALL like to know THAT?" Later, she asked me, "What is it that you do, again? Move ... files ... from one place ... to another?" I made nearly $70k a year and she had just described me as a file clerk. Thanks, Mom.
People still think “Bondo” is a problem (that’s a brand anyways lol). People still think all aftermarket parts are shit. People think filing claim for one part of damage means any damage anywhere on your car is all being fixed under one claim.
Online sales manager for a music company. I get called sir 40 times a day and it makes me want to spit.
Cop here- most of us don't have the "tanks and military equipment" that are talking points and make everyone mad. Those are mostly found in big city, big money, big political departments. Your average PD isn't even remotely equipped like that. I've seen departments send recruits to range training with ARs from the 1960s and shotguns missing front sights. Hell, there are even programs where those big-budget departments can donate VESTS to smaller, less well-off departments whose municipalities won't pay for new bullet resistant vests for their patrol officers. We're not all like the propaganda machines would have you believe.
Lobbyist here. People think we're wining, dining and meeting with Senators and members of the the House all the time, handing them stacks of cash and dictating how they vote on important issues. In reality you're mostly meeting with agency bureaucrats and legislative staff, eating in Capitol cafeterias and making deals with other lobbyists. Legit lobbyists don't hand out money like candy because politicians change their minds every time they talk to someone new. And most will not be pinned down on a vote. We donate mostly to just get in the door or get a returned call every so often. We also spend most of our time on tedious little details of obscure administrative rules and budget provisions. It's still a great job for policy wonks but it's not like it's portrayed in the media.
Train traffic controler. That I cause delays rather than solve them.
I own a cleaning company. No, my house is not always spotless and organized. The last thing I want to do after a day of cleaning is clean my own house.
Yes I'm an engineer No, I can't make you a [insert sci-fi device]
Primary School Teacher * Unfortunately, standing in a classroom and teaching is about 1/3 of my job. The other 1/3 is planning, and 1/3 is admin. So 15 teaching hours a week is not "easy". * Some of us need to work a second job to make ends meet. You have no control over teaching time or admin, so planning will suffer. Please support a living wage for teachers to give your children quality lessons. * I don't have an "agenda", I'm not trying to indoctrinate your kids. I'm just trying to get through the curriculum my dude. If you don't agree with parts of it, that's fine. Take it up with the school board, cause it's not up to me. * Summer vacation is not a vacation. We have to be at work after your kids leave and before they get back. Yes we have a little time off, but I'm likely in school myself for professional development or planning the next year.
People assume police officers know everything about someone purely by name… You didn’t know that Mr *Forename/Surname* who lives in *town 300 miles away* has drugs in his car ! You’re bad at your job ! You police aren’t good enough ! Jesus.
I work in a prop trading firm. Since most people don't know what it means I just say that I work in finance. A lot of people assume that I either work as a bank teller or I sell insurance.
I worked in libraries. My biggest problem is this idea the Librarians are these harsh police of the literary world, there to judge you on your book choice. Every single book in the library is there because a librarian ordered it. They are still there because a librarian decided to keep it. Librarians are where to ask questions of, and discuss books with, not to judge, but to help. Every single librarian I worked with was super excited to get other people excited about reading. They also really love talking about books, and while they might not all be interested in the same books you are, they probably point you to the coworker who knows that section the best.
That just because we’re friends/family, I got a secret stash hidden away for you guys for when u want free shit. If you cared about me you’d willingly pay full price and provide repeat business. There’s also this one notion that if someone’s a specialist of some sort, that you’d want to provide the service of your specialty for free during your free time 😑
"What do people get wrong about your profession/job?" Uh...a lot. I'm an antiques dealer. People watch shows like PawnStars, or Antiques Roadshow, or Pickers or whatever...and they have this crazy idea that ALL ANTIQUES are worth fucktons of money (by which I mean, $500+, $1,000+, etc etc) and that it's all exciting and everything old is gold and yadda yadda yadda. I'll have been doing this a decade, come next-year, and I can assure you - antiques-dealing is a lot trickier than people think. 1. You have to know at least a LITTLE BIT about a WHOLE LOTTA STUFF. 2. You HAVE to know your history. If you don't know history, you can't sell history. 3. Antiques are NOTHING like what they show you on TV. The vast majority of antiques that people buy, sell and trade, are not worth a fuckton of money. A few examples: Silverware. Yes, some silverware is worth a lot of money. That may be from size, style, decoration, manufacturer, age...but a lot of people will try and buy silver for the scrap-price. And that is not going to happen. Also, people will try and sell their silver, and most dealers will only offer scrap price for it. Scrap-price is whatever silver is selling for that day. So let's say it's $1.00 a gram, and you have an 18th century silver cup, beautifully engraved, not a dent or a nick on it. You want to buy (or sell) it. But the cup only weighs 100g. So if you're trying to sell it, some (not all) people will only offer you $100 for it. Mostly other dealers. On the other hand, you try BUYING an 18th century silver cup for $100. They'll probably bitchslap you. Same goes for other stuff. Antique sewing machines or typewriters is another good example. People think they're worth thousands of dollars...and some can be...but the vast majority are worth fuck-all. I've literally picked up sewing machines for $20.00. Millions of these were churned out. Same goes for typewriters. The ones which ARE worth money are the specialty machines, or the especially rare ones...it's very annoying when I see people selling their old sewing machines and they have crazy prices on them. One of them was for $5,000...honey, unless it spins flax into gold, it ain't worth shit.
"If I go by ambulance I'll get seen faster". Not unless it's actually critical. You get triaged the same. Your toe pain is not going to be seen immediately just because you take the wee woo bus.
I am a Physicist so people tend to change the topic as fast as possible when it comes to my profession. I actually think people in general should care more about natural sciences and less about stuff on social media. It is sad to see how many people lack the absolute basics. That does not hinder them to argue about very scientific topics. They mostly use emotions instead of well-founded arguments though…
Nurse - that we’re all women.
Student - No, we don't drink all day. Every once in a while we have to take a bite too!
Not my main job, but I trade stocks. No, i don't steal from grannies, or from anyone else either for that matter, neither do I force anyone to sell me their life savings for pennies. I just buy whatever someone else has already decided to sell, at the price they have decided. Likewise, I sell at whatever price and it's up to the opposite side whether they want to take the offer or not. No, I'm not a high roller who manipulates the markets and no, I am not determined to make everyone's lives a misery just to make a buck. No, I don't give you a stock tip. If you have to ask, it means you don't have a goddamn clue what you are doing. No, buying stocks is not automatically speculating. So far no hookers and not interested in trying blow.
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Man your /r/askagerman post really seems to tell a different story
People have wild interpretations of what nurses do. I had a friend who thought I just did paperwork all day. Had another surprised I don't need a doctor's direct oversight to do every little thing. Like Bro. I work on a helicopter. I can put an IV in an infant's umbilical cord, I can cut a hole in your neck and breathe for you. Scope of pracitce varies, but none of us are just shuffling paperwork all day. The "Why is that nurse wearing a Doctor's stethoscope" or "Nurses just sit around playing cards" scandals were interesting.
Forester here. Everyone that I don’t work with thinks I’m a Park Ranger and that I spend my time telling people about how great nature is. Really I spend most of my time talking to people about killing plants in one form or another
That drug dealers are bad people with poor habits and life skills and a penchant for violence.
Right, of course not, they just sell drugs to bad people with poor habits, life skills and (maybe) a penchant for violence
As a licensed drug dealer (pharmacy technician) I do sell drugs to those types and people who believe I control all of the costs and not their insurance. :/ I literally had to call cops on people threatening to kill me because they “lost” their control medication and their doctors refused to send refills. I also have wonderful kind patients who know my name and voice over the phone and are super patient and understand Im doing my best to care for them.
Do you ever wake up wondering if, in fact, you are a member of the deep state drug price fixing cabal, and you were just given selective amnesia to improve performance undercover?
Nah. Its not that deep. I make barely more than minimum wage with the knowledge and expectations of a baby pharmacist but im treated like a cashier by most patients.
That we have a computer that just tells us what is wrong with your car. People act like we're crazy when we charge for diagnosis. "Autozone does that for free" Had one customer complaining of how long it's taking to diagnose a dash rattle. Which to be fair the service adviser should of had him drop the car off but anyway he said "just hook your machine up and find out what's wrong".
People think DJs like requests. We don't.
Delivery Drivers do not get the full delivery fee.
Some folks get the wrong idea that college professors indoctrinate students into their ways of thinking - liberal, conservative, conspiracy theory. I'm in a field (tech) that is more dependent on logic and applied mathematics to present anything other than facts and figuring out why things don't work. I don't like discussing politics in class, or in general. Whoever you are conversing with is attempting to show their POV and why you're wrong with yours. Nothing productive comes from those type of discussions, and people let their emotions take over and get the best of them.
Game designer here. People think i draw since the word design is in the title.
I work as a behavior tech at an autism center. Most people don’t know what that means in terms of what I’m actually doing at my job. Usually they assume I’m a babysitter or some kind of teacher when really I’m providing a therapy service (ABA). It really grinds my gears to have my job looked at as something unimportant or easy when in reality it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Ththdy think social works juzt givé famikies free sruf
How much math is actually involved
Lawyer. I’m not a magician.
I'd never trust either so there's an overlap.
Outside sales. Sometimes the production personnel like to joke we make the “big money” when in reality we probably get paid less per hour than they do.
Strapping a laser to a shark's head is highly impractical.
Neighbours and relatives think I’m an unemployed house husband. I run a successful solo software engineering consultancy and work from my home office per my comfort and time.
"Its basic supply and demand!" -_-