Jobs That Seem Easy But Are Actually Incredibly Challenging
Reddit user CeleryLover4U asked: 'What's a job or profession that seems easy, but is incredibly challenging?'
When we hear about other people's jobs, we've surely all done that thing where we make assumptions about the work they do and maybe even judge them for having such an easy or unimportant job.
But some jobs are much harder than they look.
Redditor CeleryLover4U asked:
"What's a job or profession that seems easy but is incredibly challenging?"
Customer Service
"Anything customer-facing. The public is dumb and horrendous."
- gwarrior5
"My go-to explanation is, 'Anyone can do it, but few can do it for long.'"
- Conscious_Camel4830
"The further I get in my corporate career, the less I believe I will ever again be capable of working a public-facing job. I don’t know how I did it in the past. I couldn’t handle it in the present."
"I know people are only getting worse about how they treat workers. It is disturbing, embarrassing, and draining for everyone."
- First-Combination-12
High Stakes
"A pharmacist."
"You face the public. Your mistake can literally kill someone."
- VaeSapiens
"Yes, Pharmacist. So many people think their job is essentially the same as any other kind of retail worker and they just prepare prescriptions written by a doctor without having to know anything about them."
"They are very highly trained in, well, pharmacology; and it's not uncommon for a pharmacist to notice things like potentially dangerous drug interactions that the doctor hadn't."
- Worth_University_884
Teaching Woes
"Two nuggets of wisdom from my mentor teacher when I was younger:"
"'Teaching is the easiest job to do poorly and the hardest job to do well,' and 'You get to choose two of the following three: Friends, family, or being a good teacher. You don't have enough time to do all three.'"
"We all know colleagues or remember teachers who were lazy and chose the easy route, but any teacher who is trying to be a good teacher has probably sacrificed their friends and their sleep for little pay and a stressful work environment. There's a reason something like half quit the profession within the first five years."
- bq87
Creativity Is "Easy"
"Some creative professions, such as designers, are often perceived as 'easy' due to their creative nature. However, they may face the constant need to find inspiration, deal with criticism, and meet deadlines."
- rubberduckyis
"EVERYBODY thinks they are a designer, up until the point of having to do the work. But come critique time, mysteriously, EVERYBODY IS A F**KING DESIGNER AGAIN."
"The most important skill to have as a designer is THICK SKIN."
- whitepepper
Care Fatigue Is Real
"Care work."
"I wish it could be taken for granted that no one thinks it's easy. But unfortunately, many people still see it as an unskilled job and have no idea of the many emotional complexities, or of how much empathy, all the time, is needed to form the sorts of relationships with service users that they really need."
- MangoMatiLemonMelon
Physical Labor Generally Wins
"I’m going to say most types of unskilled labor and that’s because there’s such little (visible) reward and such a huge amount of bulls**t. I’ve done customer service, barista, sales, serving, etc; and it was all much harder than my cushy desk job that actually can be considered life or death."
- anachronistika
Their Memory Banks Must Be Wild
"I don't know if I'd call it incredibly challenging, but being one of those old school taxi drivers who know the city like the back of his hand and can literally just drive wherever being told nothing but an address is pretty impressively skilled."
"Not sure if it's still like this, but British cabbies used to be legendary for this. I'm 40 and I don't think most young people appreciate how much the quality of cab service has gone down since the advent of things like Uber."
"Nowadays it's just kind of expected that a rideshare/cab driver doesn't know exactly where you're trying to get and has to rely on GPS directions that they often f up. Back when I was in college, cabbies were complete experts on their city."
"More even than knowing how to get somewhere, they could also give you advice. You could just generally describe a type of bar/club/business you're looking for, and they'll take you right to one that was spot on. Especially in really big cities like NYC."
- Yak-Mak-5000
Professional Cooking
"Being a chef."
- Canadian_bro7
"I would love to meet the person who thinks being a chef is easy! I cook my own food and it’s not only OK to eat but I make a batch of it so I have some for later. So, to make food that is above good and portion it correctly many times a day and do it consistently with minimal wastage (so they make a profit), strikes me as extremely difficult."
- ChuckDeBongo
Team Leading, Oof
"Anything that involves a lot of people skills and socializing. I thought these positions were just the bulls**t of sitting in meetings all day and not a lot of work happening but having to be the one leading those meetings and doing public speaking is taxing in a way I didn’t realize."
- Counterboudd
Not a Pet Sitter At All
"Veterinary Technician."
"Do the job of an RN, anesthesiology tech, dental hygienist, radiology tech, phlebotomist, lab tech, and CNA, but probably don’t make a living wage and have people undervalue your career because you 'play with puppies and kittens all day.'"
- forthegoddessathena
Harder Than It Looks!
"Sometimes, when my brain is fried from thinking and my ego is shot from not fixing the problem, I want to be a garbage man... not a ton of thinking, just put the trash in the truck, and a lot of them have trucks that do it for you!"
"But if the robot either doesn't work or you don't have one on your truck, it smells really bad, the pay isn't what it used to be, you might find a dead body and certainly find dead animal carcasses... and people are id**ts, overfilling their bags, just to have them fall apart before you get to the truck, not putting their trash out and then blaming you, making you come back out."
"Your body probably is sore every day, and you have to take two baths before you can kiss your wife..."
"Ehh, maybe things are not so bad where I am."
- Joebroni1414
Twiddling Thumbs and Listening
"Therapist here. I’ve always said that it’s pretty easy to be an okay therapist—as in, it’s not that hard to listen to people’s problems and say, 'Oh wow, that’s so hard, poor you.'"
"But to be a good therapist? To know when your client is getting stuck in the same patterns, or to notice what your client isn’t saying? To realize that they’re only ever saying how amazing their spouse is, and to think, 'Hmm, nobody’s marriage is perfect, something’s going on there'?"
"To be able to ask questions like, 'Hey, we’ve been talking a lot about your job, but what’s going on with your family?' And then to be able to call them on their s**t, but with kindness and empathy? Balancing that s**t is hard."
"Anybody can have empathy, but knowing when to use empathy and when and how to challenge someone is so much harder. And that’s only one dimension of what makes being a therapist challenging."
- mylovelanguageiswine
Constant Updates
"For the most part, my job is really easy (marketing tech). But having to constantly stay on top of new platforms, new tech, updates, etc etc is exhausting and overwhelming and I really hate it."
"Also, the constant responsibility to locate and execute opportunities to optimize things and increase value for higher-ups. Nobody in corporate roles can ever just reach a point of being 'good enough.' More and better is always required."
"Just some of the big reasons I’m considering a career change."
- GlizzyMcGuire_
Performing Is Not Easy
"Performing arts and other types of art. People think it’s a cakewalk or 'not a real job,' not realizing the literal lifetime of training, rejection, and perseverance that it takes to reach a professional level and how insanely competitive those spaces are."
- ThrowRA1r3a5
All About Perception
"I suspect everything fits this. Consider that someone whose job is stacking boxes in a warehouse has to know how to lift boxes, how many can be stacked, know if certain ones must be easily accessible, know how to use any equipment that is used to move boxes around."
"Not to mention if some have hazardous or fragile materials inside, if some HAVE to be stacked on the bottom, if a mistake is made and all the boxes have to be restacked, etc."
"But everyone else is like, 'They're just stacking boxes.'"
- DrHugh
It's easy to make assumptions about someone else's work and responsibilities when we haven't lived with performing those tasks ourselves.
This gave us some things to think about, and it certainly reminded us that nothing good comes of making assumptions, especially when it minimizes someone else's experiences.
People Debunk Common Myths About Their Profession
Reddit user Madalyn_Robert asked: 'What's a myth about your profession that you want to debunk?'
People tend to have a lot of opinions about other people's workplaces, whether or not they've ever worked in that industry themselves.
There are some professions, like teaching and retail, where people will assume they know all there is to know, even if they've never set foot in that position, and there are others, like the CIA, where people view these positions as elusive and awe-inspiring.
But there are beliefs that people share that frustrates those who are actually in the industry.
Redditor Madalyn_Robert asked:
"What's a myth about your profession that you want to debunk?"
Veterinarian Secrets
"Veterinary medicine is not a happy-go-lucky career choice where you get to deal with cute animals rather than people. Most of your patients are sick or scared, and every case involves a fraught negotiation with their stressed-out human."
- Drabby
The Truth Behind Anesthesia
"Anesthesiologist: you're not asleep you are anesthetized. When you're asleep and someone stabs you, you wake up."
- Drsuprane
"Even more terrifying, anesthesia doesn’t exactly prevent you from feeling what’s happening, it (in effect) disrupts the timing clock that allows different parts of the brain to talk to each other. You won’t be able to remember it or be conscious to experience it, but somewhere some part of your brain is receiving those pain signals and is trying desperately to tell the rest of your brain what’s happening."
- Steaveee
Preventative > Reactive
"Maintenance is worth doing and is definitely worth paying for."
"People say, 'I don't know why we pay those maintenance guys, nothing ever breaks around here!'"
"The reason Germany and Japan (and South Korea) became and remain such manufacturing powerhouses is because they know the value of maintenence. If you keep everything in clean good working order, you end up with minimum down time. Working maintenance into manufacturing schedules keeps output level, because you have no unexpected downtime."
"It's the same for your car or your home. Setting aside time and resources for maintenance means you won't lose unexpected time and resources when things break. Good maintenance will spot things before they break and switch them out. That's worth paying for."
- TriviaBanal
The Power of a Reboot
"IT. Rebooting is NOT a waste of time and solves a remarkable number of problems."
- gfhggdssgg
"Instead of using shutdown, use restart."
"Modern versions of windows have something called fast startup, which basically hibernates when you shut down. You don't get the benefit of a reboot."
- gerwen
Giant, Flying Puzzles
"Commercial aircraft are built almost entirely by hand. Like 96%. There's very little automation in the process."
- Kalepsis
"Authentic, handcrafted commercial airliners."
- Keyspam102
"Free range, GRASS FED, Authentic, handcrafted commercial airliners!"
- Wiggly96
Doing Library Things
"I am a public librarian. While curating books is still a portion of the job, much of it these days is taken up by database assistance and training, program development and teaching, and public education. It’s much closer to school teaching, but for adults and without grading homework, than it was in the past."
- SmallDarkCloud
Rate the Emergency
"If you go to the ER via ambulance, it does NOT mean you will be seen quicker."
"ERs take the sickest people first, definitely not the ones who come in by ambulance first."
- DoIHaveDementia
Not in Charge
"Teachers have very little say in anything. We advocate the best we can but most of the time, it’s out of our hands, including holding children back who desperately need help."
- chasindreams22
Define "Recycled"
"Print industry. Your paper isn’t as recycled as you think it is."
- mullett
True Lawyers
"That all lawyers make absurd amounts of money. The ones that won't sell their entire life for big bucks tend to make pretty average money."
- dudeblackhawk
"Yes! Some months I barely make enough for all my expenses. Some months I make a lot of money. Some months I make absolutely nothing. Having a private practice in my country means financial instability. The Estate does pay me to represent people who can't afford a lawyer but it pays very bad and takes forever to get that money."
"Also, we're not all like in the movies. Most of us actually care about the people we represent and we try our best to help them."
- ZucchiniAnxious
Not Everything Is Memorized
"I can write code. I cannot debug most of your Windows problems without googling them."
- Resies
Underpaid and Overworked
"School Custodian here and we are NOT overpaid cleaners. What would you pay someone that can paint, Sheetrock, tape/mud, patch concrete/asphalt, operate/repair commercial landscaping/snow removal equipment, operate/repair commercial custodial equipment, restore various types of floors including vct/hardwood/carpet/tile, replace toilets/faucets, air filters, belts, trim/fell trees, shovel roofs, etc?"
"Not all of us are cleaners/janitors, which are vital and underpaid as well. Some of us are Jack/Jill of all trades and you want to pay us peanuts?"
"All employees of a school are important and administrators shouldn't try to balance their budgets on the backs of workers when I've seen an exponential amount of administrative salary and stupid purchasing decisions, not to mention unfunded mandates from the state."
- Nutella_Zamboni
Speech-to-Language Complexity
"There is sooooo much more to the speech-language pathologist scope of practice than working with kids who stutter or can't say their 'r's."
"An entire half of the field is in the adult medical setting working with people who have dementia, swallowing disorders, oral cancer, strokes, Parkinson's disease, and voice disorders, plus some other niche areas like transgender voice or accent modification."
"The pediatric half of the field also works with AAC devices, social skills, literacy development, syntax, executive functioning, writing, feeding, and more."
- bibliophile222
Realistic Therapy
"Therapist here, specifically a couples therapist."
"Therapy is not just about venting or having someone agree with you all the time to make you feel better. Yes, we validate and listen and venting happens at times. But we also challenge you, encourage you to set goals and make change, and sometimes give 'homework.'"
"Therapy is an active process and if you want to see change you have to be willing to make change. I think the media has really warped people's ideas and they expect miracles to happen by showing up without any effort. I wish I could do that for you! But I need you to partner with me to make things happen."
"Also, very few therapists actually have you lay on a couch."
- Dependent-Citron4444
Well, Then.
"Scientist (more specifically, molecular biologist in biotech)."
"I am not hiding the cure for cancer, and I don't know s**t about actual medicine."
- DaOleRazzleDazzle
It's surprising how much we often think we know about other people's professions, and it's probably annoying to them to hear misconceptions day in and day out from the general public.
This is a great reminder of how much we can learn from each other, even just in the workplace.
We've all made our fair share of mistakes; it's in our nature, honestly.
Sometimes we mess up so badly, it can ruin other things in our lives, like important relationships or our jobs.
But some people have messed up so badly at work that they lost their jobs in record time.
Ready to hear the tea, Redditor mango-chocolate asked:
"What's the quickest way you saw a coworker get fired?"
Check Your Pride
"In my old law office, a firm-wide email was sent out announcing the arrival of a new employee. We will call him Paul."
"So Paul decided to reply-all to let all of us know that he was aware of our recent legal defeats, that many people should be fired for these failures, and that his hiring was the first good thing our firm had done in years."
"The dude was a legal assistant right out of college with no experience."
"A minute after the email went out, I heard a crazy shout and then watched one of the senior partners run past my office towards HR (Human Resources)."
"And five minutes later Paul walked past with the HR manager and a security escort. He lasted less than 45 minutes."
- Left_Apparently
Lotto Fraud
"I worked at a lotteries company. A guy working in testing got access to production data and printed off some test tickets with some unclaimed winning numbers."
"He only did low amounts, like 500 dollars, and claimed three of them in three completely different locations around town."
"Of course, the company was interested in the story of someone who found a six-month-old lottery ticket and claimed it, but they were even more interested to find it was the same person going to three locations."
"Needless to say, when they realized the guy actually worked in the company, he got pulled into a room with cops a-waiting him."
- ThroughTheHoops
Weird Brag
"I worked at a bank, we were robbed at gunpoint. One of the tellers was quick to tweet out, 'Woooo, got the rest of the day off!! Feel free to visit me at work with a gun and ski mask anytime!'"
"They were fired upon walking in the next morning."
- seastrat
Totally Stopped Production
"An id**t pressed the emergency stop for fun on his second day at work."
"The emergency stop that he hit switches off all drives on the 100-meter-long paper machine. This means there is a loss of production for three to four hours for the entire paper mill."
"He was immediately escorted from the factory premises by two colleagues."
- daHawkGR
No Point Taking That Test
"I had a coworker get picked for a random drug test. She went back to her desk to grab her purse, and just left the building, never to return."
- brytewolf
Yes, That's What We Meant
"The boss sat her down to talk about her recent behavior at work."
"She whipped out her phone and started taking a video, saying that it was her right to record for 'when it goes to court.'"
"The boss said, 'Okay, this is the kind of stuff I’m talking about, you’re fired.'"
"This was at a Domino’s Pizza."
- kenb99
New Definition for "Side Hustle"
"Evidently, they robbed a bank on their lunch break."
"They came back like nothing happened, and then the cops showed up and took him down. It was crazy."
- Bob_the_Brewer
Quite the First Impression
"Pulling into the parking lot on the first day, she ran into a light pole that took out electricity to the whole site."
"She wasn't wearing a seat belt and was thrown into the front window."
"When we went out to see what had happened, she reeked of booze and there were empty liquor bottles in the back of the car."
"She never even made it to the front door, got a guest badge, or started her orientation training."
- LowBudgetViking
Haunting Upcharges
"When I was in high school, I used to do seasonal work at haunted houses which I did for four years."
"A new guy that they hired was supposed to help with parking. Now, in the three years that I worked at this haunted house, they never once charged people for parking (it was a very dark parking lot off of a cliff so had to make sure no one drove off of it trying to park)."
"This cheeky son of b***h started charging people five dollars to park."
"It was only found out after someone complained because they didn't have the money to go in with their friends because they had to pay for parking. I think the guy was only there a couple of hours before he got fired."
- rpgmomma8404
Missed the Training
"They got hired and then fell asleep during a meeting their first day and were asked not to come back."
- Snowstorm-3
"Same here. At a tech company, they hired a new developer, and the owner caught him napping at a desk on day one when he was supposed to be reviewing training materials."
"The owner had a chat with him, and told him whatever the reason, it was really bad form to fall asleep on the job on the first day."
"The new hire apologized, understood, and went back to the training materials. Not 20 minutes later, the owner walks by again and the guy is passed out once again, so he walked over, woke him up, and told him he was fired and to get out."
"I don't even think he made it to his fourth hour of employment."
- badtz-maru
Highly Questionable Explorations
"Early in my career I was an engineer at a refinery in the UK, and I was in charge of the QC lab. By law, we had to have external independent testing on the refinery fuel products to confirm they complied with government regulations."
"It seemed getting a job for the testing company was that you had to be an adult and had a driving license. The lab had a lot of very nasty chemicals either being tested or used in the testing or cleaning of the oil products."
"A new young girl turned up for the testing company and was dipping her finger into a chemical called phenol and stating that 'it makes your hand and arm go numb.' Phenol is a severe muscle relaxant (including your heart) and can kill you at very low concentrations."
"One hour into her employment we had paramedics on the scene monitoring her vitals and was released after eight hours. She didn't last the first hour of the first day and the testing company was fined pretty heavily."
- Nerdymcbutthead
AKA: Paid to Advertise
"A guy got hired in the first firm I ever worked for. He turned up for his first morning at work, and within an hour he had emailed the entire company (6,000 people) about his band and their availability for birthdays, weddings, etc."
"He was dismissed by lunchtime."
- BDATriangle001
"So he got paid half a day's wage to advertise his band to 6,000 people?"
"Man's a freaking genius."
- Oakcamp
Not-So-Quiet Quitting
"One day, Tim announced that he wasn’t paid enough and was going to basically sit at his desk doing nothing until he was paid what he wanted."
"20 minutes later, the boss walked in and asked Tim if he could have a word with him."
"Five minutes later, the boss walked back in and announced that Tim no longer worked there and if there were any questions."
"There were no questions."
- Few_Horse4000
Don't Be That Guy
"Interviewed a guy that was replacing someone who was leaving. Offered the job and was supposed to start the next day."
"Just so happened that we were having a going away party for the leaving dude that night so new guy was invited as a chance to 'get to know the team.'"
"The new guy shows up and proceeds to get absolutely s**t-faced and asked the head of HR if she wanted to go back to his place because he 'got a vibe' during the interview process."
"Next day, the new guy was a no-show so we were thinking bullet dodged. He showed up just before lunch clearly hung over making up some excuse for being late."
"The big boss came out and told the guy to get the f**k out."
- tizod
Optional Hours? Optional Employment.
"I fired someone who decided her second day that she was going to go out to lunch and not come back. The next morning she told everyone all about the shopping she did. She seemed confused about the expectations."
- dunwerking
Some of these stories are absolutely worth shaking our heads over, while others are truly shocking.
It's crazy the lengths people will go to in the workplace, despite the expectations that had already been clearly set.
If you view the rules as optional, your boss might view your employment as optional, too.
People Over 50 Explain How Working Has Changed Since They Were Young
It feels like the workplace is constantly changing, especially since the pandemic, with more people working from home, more systems being automated, and more social pressure for workplaces to evolve.
But it's even more jarring to think of how much the workplace has changed for those who have been in the workforce for many decades and how seemingly every aspect of their work has changed... at least once.
Redditor LightningStrikes818 asked:
"Redditors who are 50 years old or older, what has changed the most about working when you started working vs. working nowadays?"
Dress Codes
"Skirts/dresses and pantyhose required of women in many offices through the 1990s."
- hhhmmm0
"Flipside: suits and ties, buttoned-up shirts. Brutal in summer."
- ridleyfiredome
"Pantyhose were high maintenance. I had to have an extra pair in my desk drawer in case of a major run. I had clear nail polish at home and work to stop any runs above the hemline."
"Pantyhose were expensive, I had nice department store hose for special occasions, and bulk mail order hose for daily wear. They had to be washed in mesh bags and hung to dry."
"In the summer I’d get swamp crotch when it was hot and humid, and heat rash on my thighs where they rubbed."
"Heels had to be polished and the heel tips replaced at the shoe shop. Most office clothes were dry clean only, and it was expensive, and yet another errand. Office clothes were expensive, I didn’t have many clothes, I had to plan what to wear and time the dry cleaning."
"I don’t miss the nightmare of heels and hose from the 80’s."
- phineasminius
Electrical Transfer, Who?
"Having to go to the bank to cash my paycheck."
- Cndngirl
"Oh my god, yes, and we needed to wait until after 3:00 PM to cash it."
- Big-Reflection-104
Work and... Strip Clubs?
"We took a company van with a logo on it to take out-of-town guests to a strip club. I don’t even think I can say that out loud at work today."
- scruffles360
"Strip clubs were standard practice. Especially in sales. Many deals closed in those places over my career."
- YOU_WONT_LIKE_IT
Smoking Spaces
"People smoking indoors. Clouds of smoke everywhere in the office and no way for a nonsmoker to avoid it. That was the norm so you just had to suck it up."
- andBobsyourcat
"Yes, at one stage I had the misfortune of sitting next to someone who used to smoke a pipe. I could barely see my computer screen at times for the clouds of smoke."
"Also, the IT support guy would come over to do something and he always had a cigarette dangling from his lips, dropping ash into my keyboard. Urgh! Different times!"
- MickSturbs
Office Parties of Old
"Man, in state government, all the older employees have similar stories of work parties in the 90s. Booze everywhere, smoking, people dancing, and having fun. Everyone brought their spouses, etc."
"Now you're lucky if you see a Christmas cake. People wonder why everything feels like it's coming apart at the seams and people are so unhappy. That aspect of being a human being fun, even at work is gone."
- t00sl0w
"I'm a millennial in industrial equipment sales, and it genuinely feels like you showed up to a party about an hour after everyone was gone."
"Nowadays, I can't even have a beer with dinner and expect to expense it."
- titsmuhgeeee
"Oh man, the office Christmas parties then, versus now?? Forget about it. Like comparing a wedding to a funeral."
- Schyznik
Safety Precautions
"I'm 42 but feel like I want to chime in."
"Health and safety has changed loads. You wouldn't get away with half the sh*t we did when I was 17."
- section4
Constantly, Always Sitting
"I watched office work go from sedentary to virtually immobile. We used to retrieve paper files, pass memos around, and consult with coworkers in other sections and floors."
"Now everything is available on the screen in front of us, everything can be shared with a few clicks. It’s convenient, but so unhealthy."
- MathematicianWitty23
What's a Pension Again?
"Hardly anybody has a pension anymore."
- whitewolfdogwalker
"That's where I feel really lucky to be in Australia, we have mandatory superannuation (a percentage of your pay plus employer contribution goes into a fund for your retirement) and most people will also qualify for an age care pension in addition to their super."
"The pension isn't really enough for our current seniors who don't have much super (due to the timeline of when it was introduced) but generations after that should be relatively well set up for retirement."
- TheGardenNymph
Work Availability in General
"I'm in the UK."
"It was a great deal easier to find work. You'd get vacancies posted in various places and could go down to the Job Centre, browse vacancies posted on postcards on boards, pick out the jobs you were interested in, and get a member of staff to arrange an interview for you. Just like that."
"Dress codes were more formal and you actually had to go to work. If you worked in an office for the right company work finished Friday lunchtime when you'd go with your colleagues to the pub. You'd go back after the 'liquid' lunch hour and work Friday afternoon, but no sh*t got done and work piled up for Monday."
"You got paid either direct debit, cash or if you were unlucky by cheque. You had to deposit your cheque in the bank or building society and wait for the cheque to clear, usually four days, but sometimes 10 days. If you got paid cash you'd get it in a small brown envelope known as a wage packet which listed all deductions on the outside. It still felt good to tear open the wage packet and take out the cash."
- ElvishMystical
The Value of Employees
"That you chose a career, and you worked for an employee, and they valued your experience. You rose in the ranks of your profession, you became a valued team member, and you stayed until you retired."
"Changing jobs often is frowned on; if you make a job commitment, you follow through on it. People get bothered and quit/move/change really quickly now. That's not necessarily bad, but it has created a gap in expertise; everyone is new all the time, and there isn't any value in having experience."
"If you happen to be an elder in your field with some level of legacy knowledge; it doesn't seem to matter because your boss is likely younger than you and less experienced."
"There used to be jobs what you did to get paid and live, and careers, what you did because you wanted to invest time into being good at something, AND that was how you made a living."
"Moreover, you went to school to be in a career. So you put time and energy into attaining your job, therefore you'd want to stay in it and grow. In theory."
"I'm not sure anyone cares about being in a career anymore. Because we all feel so betrayed by the system; wages not keeping up with COL, inflation, (and inflation subsiding and prices staying high because it's what the market will bear), and when everyone is replaceable, then no one is an expert."
"I'm GenX. I work in healthcare. I work in a broken system that no one actually wants to fix. Those of us working in this system are now just grist for the mill. It's too bad because we spent a lot of time and money going to school to be able to work in our chosen field."
"In contrast, my mom was also a nurse. She had a career. She worked in it until she was 70 and retired. She worked with a team that mostly stayed the same, over decades. I don't work with anyone I started with at my job six years ago."
- bunnehfeet
Business Phones
"People used to answer their business phones."
- BornFree2018
"Oh my god, work landline numbers. I never see those anymore. I don’t even have a phone number in my email signature at work anymore."
"And business cards used to be such a big deal. I used to get really excited to see my name and title in print. I would always send my parents one when I got a new job. What a dork!"
- ptpoa120000
What Work-Life Balance?
"There was a lot more understanding back in the 80's and 90's that each employee had a life outside of work, and work would end at 5:00 PM. You could leave work and go do something that you liked, maybe a martial arts class or some learning workshop somewhere."
"There were no phone calls. Text messages and email hadn't happened yet. Pagers were rare. People were in better shape. They had time to workout and were encouraged by their bosses to go do something to keep in shape."
"These days, it's the opposite. There's no encouragement from your boss or your coworkers other than to just work around the clock. You're never 'off.' Emails, text messages, Slack messages, video calls, and 'tickets' from your company's internal issue tracking system come in at all hours of the day."
"You're tracked in every way possible these days. You're given impossible deadlines. It now takes incredible willpower to break free and 'sneak' away to go workout. You're exhausted all the time, so you lose the desire to workout. You just want sleep."
"Instead of meeting up with friends somewhere for dinner, you are happy to just get home, get something hot to eat from your microwave, and numb yourself by watching YouTube and Reddit."
"What you do now during your downtime is very low quality and is just done to unwind from the stress that follows you no matter where you are. They call this Flex Time, and its purpose is ostensibly to give you the ability to walk away from your work and go enjoy life. Funny."
- mhv64sj
New Measures of Success
"Working for a company for many years was seen as honorable and a sign you were a good worker."
"Now it’s viewed as someone complacent, scared of change, and stupid for not salary hopping."
"I don’t disagree, though; I’ve been at my company for a long time and it’s anything but complacent and always changing."
- MysteryMeat11
"This is why we in-betweeners especially (between gen-x and millennial) have been conflicted and confused about it all. We were raised by older boomers and heard it's best to stay with companies because it looks bad on resumes to not and can even affect your buying things like houses and cars."
"But then when we did, we were let go during times like the recession and cutbacks having to start all over again, on top of not getting raises like the new hires and then confused because we were told staying and being loyal looked good and led to success."
- fidgetypenguin123
A Literal Paper Trail
"Paper. Lots of paper."
"Before email, there were people (secretaries or admins) who would take a memo someone printed out on their computer, make physical copies, and either walk around to every executive’s desk, or put into inter-office mail. This memo could be to a few people, one person, or for a general announcement needed to go to everyone."
"For expediency, these memos would also be posted in public areas (lunchroom, messaging board) if it was a general notice. These memos were often routed from the head manager throughout the department if it was more for general information."
"We once had a wave of new hires (about 20 people in our company of 400) and each got their own announcement. So, 20 people and 50 copies was two reams of paper. Copied. Hand carried or inter-department mailed. For one set of announcements."
"Oh, and each department admin had their own routing slip (small piece of paper with each person in the department’s name) that was stapled to the announcement. When you got the memo, you read it, crossed your name off, and gave it to the next person on the list."
"That’s where 'they must not have gotten the memo' comes from."
- UncleGizmo
It's interesting to look back on how things have changed. While some things have definitely improved, like improved safety precautions and more relaxed attire, other things like a sense of work-life balance have certainly declined.
If people were able to choose their working conditions, it'd be interesting to see if they'd choose today's working conditions or a different work-life balance...
There are countless tropes in movies and books that people love to follow.
From enemies to lovers, to final girls, to certain types of jump scares, there are people who will read a book or watch a movie simply because their favorite trope has been promised to be in there!
A much-loved trope is the strong female main character, or even the strong female sidekick, and fortunately, they're becoming much more commonly represented.
Redditor carlories asked:
"What movie did the 'strong female' trope right?"
Fargo
"She's not a supersleuth like on 'CSI' or 'Criminal Minds.' 'Fargo' is the original 'competence p*rn.'"
"Her relationship with Norm is one of my favorite parts of the movie. Her genuine joy when she finds out he got his duck on the stamp is incredible."
- afriendincanada
"A while back on Twitter, someone asked to name movies that feature a female protagonist who is competent at her job, in an established relationship with a man (the relationship does not start during the events of the film), and her partner does not criticize her work or encourage her to give up."
"The only movie people could name that fully satisfied these requirements was 'Fargo.'"
- Mr_Saturn1
The Silence of the Lambs
"There is so much Clarice had to deal with re men not taking her seriously all through the storyline. Then she figures it out with her bestie."
- ColorfulEgg
"Her bestie Hannibal Lecter."
- pawg730
"It's funny how in his own sick way he was supportive of her and believed in her. He's a monster but not a sexist. Then he somehow talks to that disgusting guy in the jail cell next to him that assaulted her into eating his own tongue."
"I also love the part at the end where they tell her that he escaped and ask if she wants to go into hiding and she says, 'I don't think he will come after me. He would consider it rude.'"
- ClutchReverie
"A major theme of the movie is identity, both self-identity and the identities that society tries to put on people. A sub-theme of that is 'contradictory identities within one person.'"
"For Clarice Starling, she was both a smart badass (recall how she was introduced) and also a little girl (again, the introduction). Hannibal Lecter is both an absolute brute (to the point of being less of a barbarian and more of a wild, rabid animal) but also a highly intelligent, educated, and even courteous modern-day renaissance man."
"I f**king love it. This is one of my favorite movies."
- jeffseadot
Terminator 2
"I love that Arnold has said that she’s the star of the movie, not him."
"Linda reached out to him to help her workout, apparently, so she could be a totally different Sarah Connor in the sequel."
"For that reason, watching those movies back to back is always a great experience! Her voice changes at the end of the first movie as she begins the most insane mission ever, but you can tell she’s just getting started."
"In 'Terminator 2,' she is such a bada**, but also mentally broken. It’s hard to make all of that believable in a single character, but Linda did it!"
- YossiTheWizard
"My favorite part of Linda’s performance is when she sees the Terminator step out of the elevator. Up until this point, she’s been established as a completely different person from who she was in the first film."
"She’s absolutely fearless, ruthless, and can adapt to any situation. Then, she literally sees her worst nightmare slowly walk off the elevator and turn to look at her."
"She falls helplessly to the floor, totally consumed by fear, and then immediately sprints back into the arms of the people who had been abusing her for years."
- thewoodlayer
Alien
"I love this meme about 'Alien.'"
"The writer: 'Sooooo, I have been writing reviews for about ten years. My wife's review of 'Alien' puts everything I have ever written to shame.'"
"The wife: 'Alien is a movie where nobody listens to the smart woman, and then they all die except for the smart woman and her cat. Four stars.'"
- Jmen4Ever
"Sigourney Weaver nailed it at every turn. Today's 'strong females' just don't induce suspension of disbelief for me. Weaver had me utterly convinced that every single thing she did was one hundred percent possible and logical."
- NickDanger3di
Jurassic Park
"Laura Dern in 'Jurassic Park.' Seeing a strong woman in science at such a young age had a profound impact on me, and I truly think it’s one of the reasons I am a scientist today."
- mmert482
"And Lex saved the day with her computer skills."
- RobinReddBreast
X-Files
"'X-Files.' I can't believe I haven't seen that yet. She was highly intelligent with a strong confidence that couldn't be beaten down by the sexists in the early seasons nor the crushing but invisible power of the Syndicate."
- andrewnormoux
"She’s always one of my first thoughts when someone asks this question. She’s smart and doesn’t let anyone make her feel less than them, and she knows who she is."
"She’s kind and patient with others but takes no bulls**t. She doesn’t let being in a boys’ club push her into trying to be 'one of the boys,' nor will she accept any misogyny."
"She’s dedicated to her job and to her partner. Between her and Mulder she’s actually the trigger-happy one!"
"She also of course influenced a lot of young girls to go into STEM fields (see 'The Scully Effect')."
- teddy_vedder
Lilo and Stitch
"Nani is the best female character Disney has ever written. She’s 19, also dealing with the grief of losing her parents, and she’s giving up her dreams and working so she can take care of her little sister. Proper strong."
- hearsesong
"One of the most heartbreaking details I read about the movie is how a corner of Nani’s room has a bunch of trophies, medals, and ribbons, all presumably for surfing. She was likely on her way to becoming a professional athlete when she gave all of that up to step up and take care of Lilo."
- RiceAlicorn
"Bruh, she was just 19, holding down an entire house, raising her little 'off-beat' sister, and then had CPS breathing down her back..."
- Zijoelocks
"That moment you realize there is a very real threat in that movie, and it is NOT the aliens."
- Nepetea33
The Addams Family
"Morticia: 'I'm just like any modern woman trying to have it all. Loving husband, a family. It's just, I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.'"
- akaioi
"Morticia Addams (from the 1960s series) has been the love of my life since I was six."
- frank-sarno
The Long Kiss Goodnight
"The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) with Geena Davis was great and doesn't seem to get much love."
- CazzaMcSpazza
"'You’re going to die screaming. Am I telling the truth?'"
"She was, in fact, telling the truth."
- KevSmileTime
Better Call Saul
"Not a movie but Kim Wexler in 'Better Call Saul.'"
- Smega-Spread
"I wish I could upvote this more. The Emmys did Rhea Seehorn wrong, her performance in the entire series was incredible."
- come-heroines
The Mummy
"Rachel Weisz playing Evie in 'The Mummy.'"
"'Take that, Bembridge Scholars!'"
- AmoebaGal
"Evelyn: 'Look, I... I may not be an explorer or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am.'"
"Rick: 'And what is that?'"
"Evelyn: 'I... am a librarian.'"
- Carefullyyellow
"This movie and this character was the first time I felt like I could relate to a female character in an action movie. I felt seen. She needs help but she’s not helpless."
"And she is the one who really kills the mummy in the end too. The only one who was educated and studied enough to read the correct passage from the book. Love that movie."
- ecstaticegg
Mulan
"One of my favorite things about Mulan is that she's not the hyper-masculine female lead who's just as good as the men at everything. She was a young woman in the army; no, she was not going to be as physically strong as the men."
"She saved China because she used her strengths to her advantage. I think that that's much more valuable to young girls than some emotionally dead, oversexualized character who has no visible flaws."
- lo_profundo
Legally Blonde
"I love this one because it's a great deconstruction of how more feminine interests and hobbies are perceived."
"A girl can be ultra feminine, be super into stuff like fashion and tiny dogs and carry herself in a certain way, and still be clearly intelligent and capable."
"Oh, and also because she has an actual character arc in the movie too. That's super important. It's not enough to write a character who is just good at stuff. That's easy. Making them a growing and evolving human in a believable way is the hard part."
- sylinmino
"Yesss. It's telling how many of the female characters listed in this thread are tomboyish fighters. People tend to think a strong female character is a woman who shed her femininity to kick some a**."
"This is why I love Elle. She actually reaches her full potential while actively embracing her hyper-femininity, and others are proven wrong for underestimating her due to that femininity."
"Even some of my favorites like 'Mean Girls' unfortunately fall into the trap of associating hyper-femininity with negative traits... I'm hoping the 'Barbie' movie follows in 'Legally Blonde''s footsteps on this front."
- twoshotsofoosquai
Arrival
"Oh man, this movie is so good. I still catch myself thinking about it often. Totally mind-blowing."
- missilefire
Stargate SGI
"Not a movie but... Samantha Carter from 'Stargate SG1.'"
"She's an a**-kicking brainiac super scientist lady who was also kinda goofy at times and still very much in touch with her feminine side."
"What I like the most about her is that not only is she utterly indispensable to the team, but she doesn't overshadow any of the other team members, she never lords over others unless they're being a d**k to her first and in general, is a good person."
"She kicks a**, can take a joke and crack one too."
"What I really liked with her is that they made sure she wasn't the overall brainiac, she was the scientist, the tech guru, and she knew how things worked. But Daniel Jackson was the history/language/culture guy and they often had them working together with Daniel reading the instructions to tech written in alien languages while Sam did the reprogramming."
"She had one 'modern strong female character' moment in episode one, but apparently Amanda Tapping hated that line and they never made her say cringy s**t like that again. She wanted the character to not stand apart from the team because of her gender or have others act like 1980s movie sexist bullies towards her."
"She wanted her character to be a fully realized part of the team and for other characters to act like professional adults around her (except when they were under the influence of mind control but that didn't make them sexist)."
"Cannot recommend her enough."
- FlapJackMicky
While a lot of work still needs to be done to ensure that women receive he representation they deserve across the entertainment industry, it's wonderful to see such a long list of films, ranging from the '80s all the way up to being released this summer.