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People Explain Which Things They're Really Good At But Don't Actually Enjoy Doing

If only all the things we excelled at were also the very things we loved to do most. But sadly, that is not the way it goes.

Instead, some horrible force of the universe made you way better at, say, sewing the holes of pants than playing guitar. The universe can be a spiteful, fickle jerk.


It often seems that the most boring things are indeed the things we are best at. Perhaps because they're mindless and demand minimal creativity, so the learning curve is easy to get past.

Or maybe it's a "grass is greener" thing, where we yearn to be great at the things we know we aren't.

Redditors who know all about the plight of expertise in all the wrong places recently weighed in with their personal examples.

itch_bay asked,

"What’s something you’re really good at but don’t actually enjoy?"

Art, Forced Upon

"Not me but - my friend has taken piano lessons since he was 6 years old and is f***ing amazing at it. But it was much more of a 'parents with high expectations forcing him to take lessons' sort of deal."

"He hates playing the piano, which is really sad...and his parents kind of suck"

-- SnooMarzipans9028

Conditions for Very Good Work Ethic 

"Cleaning. I f***ing hate it, so when I do it, I make sure not even the smallest stain is left so I can postpone the next session as long as possible." -- avadakabi***

"I have a weird quirk where, when I get sick, I have a compulsion to clean. Its like my brain says 'you are already miserable, you may as well do stuff that you hate so you don't have to be made miserable later, when you are feeling better.'"

"My wife has gotten to the point where she almost looks forward to me getting sick because she knows the house will be spotless by the end of the day." -- BranWafr

The Introvert's Dilemma 

"Being nice to people. I can be very pleasant if needed, but it's also very draining." -- nomadinlimbo

"This is me as well! People are so surprised when I tell them that I identify as an introvert."

"People need to understand that being an introvert is not necessarily always about an inability to act naturally in groups, sometimes it's more about how hard that might be. When I've spent time in social situations I feel completely drained afterwards." -- DorneForPresident

The Debate Goes On

"Coding. Never make your favorite hobby your job, kids!" -- Mortambulist

"Too late. Turned my hobby into my college major and then into my job. Now I don't like doing it anymore lol." -- SpecialChain

"Eh, or do. Often it works out. I held off going into tech precisely for that reason and did physics instead. Hated it and switched."

"I enjoy my job, it happens." -- ApprehensiveSand

Can't Decide If Kafka Would Be Proud or Devastated 

"Bureaucratic red tape type paper work. I guess I am just very good at filling out tons of forms and papers. Also sort of part of my job."

"I don't like it, but I am very good at it."

-- BigBearSD

The Go-To Friend 

"I am fantastic at moving furniture, either around the house, or from one home to another. I don't f*** up walls, and I can definitely get that bureau of yours through the doorway."

"But don't call me and ask me to help you move sh**, I'm busy that day."

-- InternetKidsAreMean

Bad at Parties 

"Being analytical. Life would be so much easier if I could turn my brain off and just have a knee jerk emotional reaction to everything like society expects right now."

"Pro tip: when asked about a current hot topic, 'I'm waiting for the whole story to come out' is not the correct answer."

-- FuerGrisaOstDrauka

Doomed to Phone Duty 

"I'm good at customer service, helping people on the phone, etc. but those jobs are soul sucking black holes" -- TheRealOcsiban

"I so feel this. I've had a few customer service jobs, and I was very good at them but I f***ing HATE customers, entitled little sh**s, every last one of them, even the nice ones. Instead of picking up the phone or standing at the desk thinking 'how can I help?' I'd just be thinking 'WHAT do you want NOW?'"

"But I was good at it, and as I think it's due to me genuinely liking to listen to people's problems and help them (just not in a customer service setting) I decided to retrain as a Psychologist." -- Zhylia

Hospitality Trumps Laziness, For a Night 

"Cooking. I only cook for other people (I love throwing parties) but when I'm eating by myself it's takeout, ramen, and frozen meatballs all day. The idea of slaving over a stove for hours when I just want to grab a bowl of canned junk food and go back to watching youtube videos irritates me."

Cook smarter, not harder

"Still too much work."

-- ryeshoes

The Logical End of the Game 

"Monopoly, like freakishly good at it. I'll win every game. But people are going to hate me..." -- sadpanda___

"My oldest son is like that. No one in the family will play with him anymore." -- momtimesthree

"This is the way. The trick to monopoly is to grind the other players into dust. Slowly. Brutishly. Inevitably."

"Then you never have to play the wretched game again and as a bonus you've ruined the game for others. You must do your part to break the cycle of familial abuse that is monopoly." -- nefariousinnature

Bleacher in Residence 

"I have discovered that I am very good at bleaching and coloring hair. Both of my teenage daughters change their hair color 3 or 4 times a year and have for years. The first time I did it because we couldn't afford to get it done professionally and my oldest just wanted a single, bright color."

"So I bleached and colored her hair. It turned out so well that, unfortunately, I have been doing it ever since. And it went from single color jobs to multiple colors, stripes, hombre, etc.."

"They have gotten to the point where they are staggering the colorings, so I end up doing it for one of them about every other month. And I have even had to do it for a couple of their friends who couldn't afford to get it done at a shop."

"I don't HATE it, but it's not easy and it can be a pain in the butt. I would not be sad if I never had to do it again. But, I will. And I will do it, because that's what being a parent means."

-- BranWafr

Functional Sociopath 

"You know how sociopaths are often very charming, because I guess they're always putting on an act for people and after a lifetime of experience it becomes automatic?"

"Well that's what waiting tables has turned me into"

-- SPP_TheChoiceForMe

One Pleasant Interaction is Plenty, Thank You Very Much 

"Social interaction. As a matter of fact, I was in the Safeway picking up some chicken tenders, and energy drinks and this lady walked up to me and was gawking over my curls..."

"and asking what kind of products i used to make them that way because she had a daughter with curls similar to mine or something like that but she didn't know how to manage them."

"And me, not wanting to be rude, just recommended a few products she could try and how to apply them and stuff like that. Spent a good half hour just talking about that and when we finished talking, I was BURNT OUT so I just checked out drove home and passed out on the couch."

-- Vakendo

When Blissful Ignorance is Impossible 

"Keeping up with politics. I'm really good at understanding law and I have a back around in psychology so I can see the REAL reason why people make the choices they do."

"And I often have to explain it to people who can't keep up (I'm asked, not like I'm going around dumping it on Facebook) but I've hate it. U wish I could just be clueless about the world."

-- MisterHalliday

Setting a Friendly Bar 

"Speaking. I have days when I want to be completely mute, but I have to talk or people will just badger me to death about why I'm being so quiet."

"In school I used to pretend I'd lost my voice so I wouldn't have to talk."

-- ChicagoLoverForever

The Go-To Friend

"I'm pretty good at talking to people who are going through a hard time and getting them into a better mindset, but I HATE doing it."

"I am not a therapist and most of the time I don't even care about their problem. I'm just really good at telling people what they want to hear."

-- ZerenTheUnskilled

The Plight of the Type A Mindset

"Organizing things."

"I actually love doing it, but its when people tell me to organize stuff, only so that everyone in the house can leave stuff out and completely ignore the amazing system I have precisely calculated into perfection."

"What's the point?"

-- TheIconicNZ

Women Explain Which Mistakes Dads Make Raising Daughters

Reddit user Bluemonday82 asked: 'Daughters of reddit: what's the biggest mistake dads make with their daughters?'

man with girl on his shoulders

Brittani Burns on Unsplash

"Daddy's Girl, Daddy's Girl, I'm the center of Daddy's world..." ~ "Daddy's Girl" by Red Sovine

A lot has been written about the bond between fathers and daughters.

But there's always room for improvement, right?

And who better to offer constructive criticism than daughters?

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woman making the shushing gesture

Bjorn Pierre on Unsplash

Full disclosure at all times with your significant other, right?

Yeah, good luck with that.

Let's get real—there are things we don't tell our partners for a lot of reasons.

Sometimes you just don't feel like having to explain something that doesn't really affect them.

Sometimes you're protecting them from something that will have a devastating effect on them.

These are probably going to be more that second one...

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We all have that moment where someone we know says something so completely absurd, the only response we think of is 'WTF is wrong with you?'

Sometimes, it's something woefully inaccurate that you can't wrap your head around the fact that someone believes that.

Othertimes, it's something completely offensive and you regret your association with that person.

My college roommate was a girl I knew from my high school. I didn't know her too well, but we had some big things in common, so I figured it'd be fun to live with her.

This girl was half-Korean and talked a lot about racist people. At first, I let her rant, figuring maybe she or someone in her family faced some racism. I faced some myself, and I agreed with most of the things she said about racists. Eventually, however, I realized she was equating the word 'racist' with the word 'white.'

I spoke to her once, telling her she can't use 'racist' and 'white' interchangeably. She agreed to stop doing that, but within a few days, she started doing it again. She was a very bright girl, so I was a little concerned about this, especially since her own dad was white and was possibly the nicest man in the world. Not to mention, this made her and her siblings half-white too. Did that mean they were all half-racist?

I stuck by her for a while, but when she started saying things about what she wanted to do to racist people (once again using the word 'white' instead of 'racist'), I realized I couldn't be around her anymore. She couldn't talk about anything else after a while, and every time she spoke, I wanted to say, 'WTF is wrong with you?'

We did not room together the next year.

Redditors have stories similar to mine (and some even crazier), and they are eager to share.

It all started when a Redditorasked:

"What did the person do/say that made you go "what the f**k is wrong with you?"

How To End A Friendship

"In college I used to kill time between classes hanging out with a guy who was from the same redneck county as myself. We didn’t really have much else in common, but he was nice enough and seemed eager to socialize so I figured why not. I wasn’t overly social myself and didn’t know a whole lot of people."

"One day we decided to go somewhere off-campus, and he drove us. While driving, on an interstate mind you, he proceeds to show me his handgun that he kept in his truck - not in a menacing way, but in a “Ain’t that cool?” way."

"I was not immediately frightened, but I respect firearms enough to recognize we are going like 60-70mph on an interstate in daylight, and nothing good can happen in this scenario. I calmly asked him to put it away because I was not comfortable in this situation at all. He then tells me “Oh it’s not loaded” and presses the gun to his head before pulling the trigger."

"Thank f**k he was right, but still it was a wild and frightening display of reckless disregard for his own life and mine for that matter in the event that he’d accidentally killed himself while driving us. I didn’t hang out with him much after that, certainly didn’t get in a car with him."

– omjf23

"“It’s not loaded” famous last words of many an idiot."

– GloInTheDarkUnicorn

The Worst Kind Of People

"When my dad was in the nursing home, they weren't running certain expenses, like ambulance rides, through his insurance. When I took over his financials, he was tens of thousands in medical debt that shouldn't have ever been charged to him in the first place. He was in numerous collections, and his credit score was tanked."

"When I complained to the nursing home director, he said, "Well, it's not like he's going to be buying a house or a car!" Then he laughed."

"My dad was paralyzed from the waist down and needed lifelong care, so he was never going to leave the nursing home. Even though he was technically correct, I gave him the "WTF is wrong with you look." Then I complained to HIS boss and he got canned a couple a weeks later. My dad's insurance was fixed pretty quick, too."

– MNWNM

"“Sorry, what was funny about that? Could you please explain.”"

– v3n0mat3

...Seriously?

"MIL told my wife she should divorce me bc I googled whether a lasagna should be covered with foil while cooking."

– Struggle-Silent

"This is my first laugh of the thread lmao wtf."

– koreantrvp

"It actually ruined this entire trip. It was at my BIL’s wedding, which was only close family (siblings + parents) and they had the caterer make a lasagna for an evening dinner."

"Father of the bride was gonna pop it in the oven and asked if it should be covered. I googled lasagna cooking instructions and said yes it should be covered and cooked at this temp. MIL said absolutely not!"

"Me and the father of the bride kinda gave each other a look and he covered it. MIL was furious and texted my wife that I was an a hole and she should divorce me before we had kids."

– Struggle-Silent

Hostile Work Environment

"Boss at old job told the team we needed to ‘get used to a healthy level of conflict, fear and anxiety in the workplace.’ I dipped so fast after that."

– Prestigious-Energy69

"Similarly, a boss told me that I owed him my loyalty because he was paying me."

– Kylearean

How To End A Relationship

"A girl I was with while we were still together just looked at me while I was driving to her house and said.” You know I would get over you faster than you’d get over me” I was like …… Tf did you just say?"

– omega91301

"Huh. And just like that I'm over you."

– Pineapple_Spenstar

"Honestly, that would absolutely do it for me. When I was younger, I would be stupid and hurt and argue. I'm past 50 and I got no time for that nonsense."

– Terpsichorean_Wombat

There Are Other Ways To Stave Off Boredom

"I was DD for some buddies who wanted to go to a particular dance club in Baltimore. They're all hammered, it's too loud and we've been there for several hours. Casually an older woman next to me chats me up and notices my eyes are nearly crossing from boredom. I explained what I was doing there and casually (stupidly) mentioned I'm a bit bored. This psycho BITES ME on the chest! Afterward says "Well ya ain't bored now, are ya??""

– Mike7676

"Well, were you bored after that?"

– DontWannaSayMyName

"I must say, I was not!"

– Mike7676

That Goes Both Ways!

"I'm a man who works with kids, and when I started this job, I was talking to one of my old coworkers about how every once in a while I'll get weird looks for being a man working with kids and my coworker said I deserved it because some men can't be trusted with kids. I was shocked and she went on to say that I did it to myself and deserve to be questioned about it. I immediately stopped talking to her."

– Dolhedew

"What? What in the actual f**k? Doesn’t she know there are women who can’t be trusted with kids?"

– Anonymoosehead123

That Escalated Quickly

"The lady that accused my kids of cutting the line. (They hadn't, I was watching). When I went to ask her what was wrong, she told me to go back to my own country with that sh*t. (I was born in Massachusetts.)"

"The line was to pet dogs at a Renaissance Fair."

– pasafa

Everything All At Once

"While alone with a coworker, he told me that "women in the work place will lead to the decay of the fabric of society" to me. A woman. He also asked me out, got an attitude when I didn't say yes and continues to walk around with huge incel energy. He always complains that he has no one to go home to yet refuses to look at himself as a possible reason."

– Nopeferatu31

"Sounds like they should learn something from the phrase, "if you meet one a**hole, they're the a**hole. If everyone you meet is an a**hole, you're the a**hole.""

– tmpope123

Ouch!

"I told a coworker my wife had died."

"Her response: "You're one of those bald middle aged guys with a dead wife.""

"Me: "Yeah.""

– WalrusCello

"I want to think this was a wholesome thought that came out wrong. An awkward attempt at dark humor."

– ThisUsernameIsTook

*Cringing*

"Had an otherwise normal co-worker who was completely convinced windmills will cause the earth to stop spinning."

– Shadowmant

"WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! GOOD NIGHT!"

– Torvaun

These are all crazy 'WTF is wrong with you' stories, but that last one blew my mind in 'how is it possible people think that could be true' sort of way!

black and red tool box

Tekton on Unsplash

One of the possible wonders of adulthood is home ownership. But homes come with so many things that can break.

And the last thing you want is a nonfunctioning furnace when temperatures dip below zero or no water when you're covered in dirt and grime.

That's what routine maintenance is for—to make sure things work when you need them.

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