Professionals Dispel Common Misconceptions People May Have About Their Jobs
Do you remember that moment as a kid when you realized being a fire fighter was much more than just spraying stuff with a hose? And how maybe the job suddenly wasn't as cool as you thought it was? If you're only just now having that realization, we're sorry. We'll wait for you to collect yourself. You good now, champ? We, as a society, hold a lot of ideas about certain jobs that are just plain wrong... but we rarely stop to think about it.
One Reddit user asked:
What's a common misconception that the general public has about your job?
And now I'm just now finding out that not all geologists deal with rocks... like... what do geologists actually even do?!? We have no idea.
No Math Required
Accountant - "You must be good at math."
Requires basic arithmetic.
Daycare
Daycare employees-" I wish I could play all day for work" said every annoying parent.
No Cone Lights
Air Traffic Control - Suicide rates aren't really that high in our field. Also we are not the people with the orange cone lights.
Can't Fix A Car
A mechanical engineer is not the same as a mechanic. I can't fix a car, I can engineer a mechwarrior bot.
Wait, So What Do You Do?
Geologist - All I do is look at rocks all day.
Some of us do, but not all branches of geology involve rocks at all. I haven't looked at a rock for work since I've started down this path.
Desk Work
Military - I kill people. Really I sit a a desk and overspend the taxpayers money
Chlorine Saves Lives
Water treatment - "Chlorine is toxic and kills, get it out of my water!" Chlorine saves lives, 3.5 million people die each year because of untreated water.
Fix Your Own Phone
My recent job (still working through college) is web development.
I am not an IT guy. I don't know how to fix your phone.
$10 An Hour Isn't Worth It
I used to work for Shell for about a year, in between slightly less s*** jobs. The only benefit was that I live in Oregon and it's not self service so the occasional person from out of state that isnt infuriated by the fact that they're not allowed to pump here, would give me tips for washing their windshield. I made a whole $27 one night! Lol The fact that it was exciting to me shows what kinds of jobs I've had in the past.
We weren't allowed to take lunch breaks (the real kind where you clock off and people leave you alone), but instead we could scarf whatever food we brought or could buy for full price at the station in between cars and hope we got to our lunch before a rush hit. The overnight shift was boring, but thats when all the weirdos came out, and so things could be kind of interesting, at least.
I'll never forget Justin, the pump guy who was ending his shift and taking all the trash on the property out, he had 5 bags to throw over into the side of the dumpster, and the bottom of the last bag had a tear in it, that he was unaware of. It was also full of about 30 diapers.... yeah... so the bag flew open and the diapers weren't exactly closed up very well and he was sprayed. It got on his face. In his hair. On his uniform.
The rage filled SCREAM that he let out was truly that of the most downtrodden minimum wage worker I've ever heard. He pulled his shirt off and came stomping into the store seething and shrieking every curse word he could possibly think of- and as soon as the smell hit us, we then knew exactly what had happened. That crazy mofo came back the next day, too. He didn't want to talk to anyone about anything for about a week...
If they had been me I would've quit on the spot. $10 an hour isn't worth being covered in human waste. It just isn't.
Poor Scumbags
All lawyers are wealthy scumbags. Just checked my student loan balance and can confirm some of us are, in fact, _poor _scumbag.
Not The Guy WIth The Hammer
I'm a construction super. People assume that because I work in construction that I'm stupid. Let's see the average person look at a set of plans and wind up with a correctly completed building. Oh, and I have a college degree. Lots of us do. I'm not the guy you want running the tractor, or swinging the hammer. But guess who's got over 100 change orders in a year and turned the budget from a loss to a profit?
Video Game Developers
Devs at corporate studios don't get a single bit of say in what features get coded into games most of the time. They coded in that pay-to-win system not because they thought it was a good use of their talents, but because they didn't want to lose their job. They didn't omit that feature you wanted because they thought it sucked, but rather because they already had a laundry list of features to implement and nowhere near enough time to implement them (and no say in the matter anyway). And that feature shipped super buggy because the project was on far too short of a deadline and QA didn't get an RC to test until the 11th hour and stayed up until 5am just to get sanities done at the very least before the game shipped. Yes, they know about that bug. No, there wasn't time to fully test it, fix it, and test it again before shipping. Yes, they put it in the queue for patch 1.1.
When I see gamers screaming on the internet about "lazy devs" and "greedy devs" it makes me want to scream right back "IT'S NOT THE DEVS YOU IDIOTS, IT'S THE CORPORATE AHOLE COPYING BUZZWORDS FROM KOTAKU ONTO HIS WHITEBOARD WHILE IGNORING THE GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT!!!"
No I Can't Choose
City planner, no I cannot get a [insert restaurant here], it's a free country if they want to build here (and follow the zoning code), they will build here.
Who's Your Favorite Artist?
Stagehand - no we don't care, talk or hangout with any talent. To every person who asks: "Who's your favorite artist?", our reply will always be "the one who is writing my check." Sometimes we don't even know what artist we're working for. We're just here to put stuff together and take it apart again afterwards. We don't stay for the show half the time.
The Drugs Don't Kill You
Pharmacist - I don't just count pills all day.
I counsel your grandma on her blood pressure meds, and her diabetes meds, and probably talk to her more than you do.
I verify meds so they don't kill you.
Paperwork - drugs have many regulations and the paperwork is endless.
I deal with the your insurance company. I figure out coupon cards that save you money when your insurance company decides to charge $150 for an inhaler.
I deal with your doctor not sending in refills even though we called seven times already
I make sure the drugs don't kill you.
I try to find alternatives for your medications because of the constant drug shortages that have run rampant for three years and only got infinitely worse since the hurricane in Puerto Rico where all our manufacturing plants are.
Cahoots With Big Pharma
Physician-- that we charge and bill you for things and then laugh to the bank.
Except for small private practices, many of us are employed by large health systems, universities, etc. We bill and code based on strict legal regulations. Then I get a cut from the university/health system.
I don't just get to name my price and make you pay. Oh, and me and "big pharma" are not in cahoots. I get zero dollars from whatever prescriptions you fill.
Putting People In Jail For Money
I'm a prosecutor and I hear defendants complaining all the time about all the money they have to pay for getting in trouble, and talking about how they're only being prosecuted so we can all make money. In reality, of course, my salary is the same no matter how many cases I do or what the outcome is. Same goes for the judge.
Dude, if I was putting people in jail for their money, I'd have my student loans paid off years ago.
Uber Driver
Uber driver.
People think this isn't a job, or it's just barely one. "You just drive a couple hours and it's like a party, right?" Wrong! It's a 10-12hr a shift up to 6 days a week thing, heavy overheads, variable income, no job security, and lots of customers are aweful. You have to constantly worry over ratings, paperwork, maintenance, and so on. You don't get a social life, because the only productive times to be working are when normal people are having their nights out. You have to be able to navigate perfectly in places you've never been to before, but don't get caught looking at your nav or the customers will lodge an "unsafe driving - distracted driving" complaint. All operating costs are covered by you without reimbursement.
No other job requires an upfront ~$30,000 investment in equipment (a car), no benefits, no health insurance, depreciating value on your equipment (car losing value as you drive), dealing with customers, pay for all your own expenses (gas, car insurance), and risk of death, all for only~$10 to ~$20 an hour. Not worth it. I quit.
Mystery Shopper
I'm a secret shopper and people think it's a scam. It's not. I get to go to fancy restaurants, apartments and hotels. I pay and they pay me back plus whatever rate they have offered and I agree to. I get to test drive nice cars and learn about latest products. I choose which jobs I take and therefor make my own schedule. I NEVER have to ask my friends to buy stuff they don't want. The worst I might have to ask is for them to come out to dinner with me and I'll pay. This only happens when my husband is sick and I promised to get a job that requires two people done. Those are always fun anyway because I never rope him into real "work", only the fun stuff like movies and bowling. It's a lot of work and it's not for everybody but it's not a scam.
Groundskeeper
I'm a commercial grounds-keeper. You'll often see me tending to some shrubs in a parking lot or mowing grass on a boulevard. I'm dressed in rags and I get many looks of pity or even disgust as people think I'm basically a slave or mentally-challenged. I have 40+ sites under contract. I have employees but still enjoy being out there getting dirty. I dress like that because I can. I clear six figures easy, owe nothing and my people are paid as much as plumbers and I rarely turn-over staff. I've had trashy, greasy-haired, scabby, single-mothers basically tell their kids that if they didn't stay in school they'd end up like me. LOL you ain't raising kids who are gonna work half as hard as me and the whole bunch of them will be emailing me 'resumes' in a couple years.
H/T: Reddit
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