
We in "civilized" society like to think of ourselves as being above the caste system, but stop and ask yourself, are we really?
We may not go so far as officially declaring certain people untouchable, but the levels of respect that we as a society treat people with is massively different.
Reddit user rsei2 asked:
Who are the most under appreciated people in our society?
It's worth noting that a lot of the people mentioned in these responses have jobs that most people don't want to do. Or maybe they're in positions that most people wouldn't want to be in.
If anything, those who have the strength and stamina (mentally, physically, emotionally, etc) to do these sorts of things day in and day out deserve more of our respect, not less.
So here's our shout-out to the unsung heroes out there. We see you and we appreciate you.
The School Janitor
Janitors. I work in a school, and, at least weekly, if not daily, I think to myself they cannot possibly be paid enough to deal with the sometimes literal sh*t they deal with.
- KLWK
I'm an elementary school custodian, and I used to be a high school custodian. To be honest the biohazards don't phase me at all. I like a job that keeps me mobile, solving puzzles, and working with my hands. Also I've got a pension, a union, a living wage, and great health insurance, which are pretty hard to come by these days.
I really love working around the kiddos, and it's totally ok if someone is sick and has an accident. That kind of stuff happens, and it's pretty easy to fix.
I'd say the non-literal sh*t that makes me question my sanity sometimes is the way that other staff sometimes treat me as "just a janitor" like I am their servant. We're all professionals and we all have the same end goal, we just work in different departments. And I'd say 99.99% of people are awesome, there's just the occasional person who gets off on trying to humiliate someone they believe is beneath them. But the other people in my school, the other custodians in the district, and my boss have all been unbelievably awesome, which I am so thankful for.
I am an elementary school janitor, and the kids are absolute pigs, leaving poop everywhere in the bathrooms, and having the clean snot and gum from the bottom of desks, it is absolutely awful.
Transportation
Bus drivers or people who operate public transit in general.
Being responsible for getting people from point A to point B in a safe, cheap and timely manner each day seems like something pretty noble if I'm honest.
I feel bad for bus drivers in my city. There's supposed to be a bus every 10 minutes, yet you're lucky to get two in an hour, the timing of which is anyone's guess.
Obviously, bus drivers aren't just sitting in the depo with a pile of buses going unused. It's some level of management at fault, but it's the drivers that have the customer facing role, so they get the blame.
Sewage
Sewage line workers, they go through a lot to make sure you're able to use a toilet instead of an outhouse.
That's me! Thanks, buddy! To the guy who flushed an entire, mostly functional collapsed pop-up tent last month: how'd you do that?
I bet most people would be surprised at what they actually do. In our town, every time the power goes off to a sewage station, someone has to go out there (doesn't matter the time of day) and manually get the waste to pump down, or it will back up into the houses in the neighborhood.
Waste Management
Garbage men. They spend most of their day around and handling waste that has been sitting in other waste allowing bacteria to thrive. They are at a much higher risk of getting a horrible disease than anyone else, and will have a much shorter life expectancy due to that. Any work that literally can take years of your life should be paid a significant amount, don't you think?
Mental Health
Mental health professionals that patiently help people deal with depression and anxiety.
I'm a volunteer at a suicide prevention hotline. We take calls from all kinds of people in distress. A lot of calls are people giving us abuse or acting out some weird fantasy. I can never understand how those people can be so selfish abusing resources that others desperately need.
But we do also speak to people who are at the worst moment of their life and have reached out. We listen and we offer empathy. Sometimes it's the first time in their life they've ever heard praise, or acknowledgement that their feelings are valid. Most feel better from just being able to share without being judged.
I've heard people's last words, and will never forget them.
Other People's Houses
People whose jobs require them to go to other people's houses. I have a number of friends who have told me about their horror stories / terrible experiences as home security system installers, HVAC installers etc. You have to go in with the mentality that literally anything could be in there. You have to conform to that person's lifestyle/attitudes etc. for the time that you're there.
My Dad does HVAC, can confirm. He told me once he walked into a house where the elderly lady was just walking around naked. Seemed perfectly sane, talked normally, but seemed to think nothing of being naked in front of a total stranger.
I worked for a cable and internet company and did a ride-along with a tech once to see the home installation process. We got sent to an actual hoarder trailer home with like 9 cats, shredded newspaper on the floor and just the bare plywood trailer flooring under that. We had to take turns going in and out of the house to breathe, taking turns checking on the progress of the setups for the various equipment inside the home. They were getting the home security package because they claimed they had been robbed a couple of times in the past month, but I'm 90% sure they were somehow into meth.
- Wakeland
911 Dispatcher
911 dispatchers. My dad is one.
Just the range of calls they have to handle every day is insane. They could be anything from asking when trick or treat is (don't call 911 for these things people) to traumatized victims of car accidents and assaults to suicidal people who call just to shoot themselves while on the line.
Now take multiple calls like that, send tones and accurate info to the right stations, actively listen to up to a dozen radio frequencies for requests and updates, call additional resources like medevac helicopters or mutual aid when requested and check in on everyone if they hadn't heard from them in a bit.
Oh and if you don't act quickly or make a mistake people can easily die.
Carers
Care givers for the disabled. We are over worked and under paid but we're usually doing the job because we care and see the lack of help this population has.
Also for the elderly.
My grandfather is 101 and thankfully can afford 24 hour in home care. The ladies who take care of him are saints. He'll yell at them, he's called them the n-word and other horrible things, and they brush it off like it's no big deal. If it wasn't for them, he'd be in a nursing home.
- t-poke
Being a person with severe rheumatoid arthritis and being a stroke victim, I have some pretty bad handicaps: a numb drop foot leg, I have to walk with a walker a lot, can't walk very far. I need help with basic stuff like showering, I'm a fall risk. But I'm being an engineer so I'm still able to have a career. Having nice nurses taking care of me is a blessing, and I thank anyone who cares enough about us handicap people and gives genuine compassion to us. So thank you, without people without you, we would suffer and die.
It's hard being disabled and have rude people around you who are able bodied and just don't care about you or your problems. I have someone in my family that does this and he is physically abusive and emotionally abusive towards me.
Small Farmers
I know a small farmer. Dude works constantly, mornings he does farm work. Afternoons he works a "regular" job for health care and extra money. He takes vacation days to plant and harvest (which eats up damn near everything he's got.) He's got about 7 workers who help him but damn if he doesn't work 16 hour days constantly.
In my country they get nothing but hate and are blamed for everything. But at the same time nobody wants to pay extra for products that are more eco- or animal-friendly, while the local farmers are barely making ends meet.
Farming: the art of losing money while working 400 hours per month while feeding people who are convinced youre trying to kill them
Night Shift
Night shift workers. They keep the world running and fix up our daytime messes so that it's all ready to go again the next day. They are there for us during the night when no one else wants to be, whether we need something from the 24-hour store or medical care. They're rarely ever noticed by the managers and people in power, so they miss opportunities. And they're stigmatized. If they want to sleep, they're lazy for sleeping during the day. If they want a beer after work, they're scandalous drunks for drinking in the morning. But they're the ones keeping the world flowing smoothly for us.
The Real Economy Drivers
The poor. So many businesses and bylaws target poor people. Supermarkets, fast food payday loans are predatory. Super markets, convenience stores are all designed to strip more and more money away. Basically, the poor drive the economy. Then there's anything fine worthy, all fines are designed to be devastating to poor people but minor inconvenience for those better off
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
MVPs
The Real MVP: Good Parents
Unbelievably underrated. Selfless parents who dedicate everything to ensure their children have the best possible upbringing are the best people around. Whether it's a single mum, a happy couple, two Dads, two Mums, whatever the dynamic. If you manage to raise a happy, kind and healthy kid, you've done an immeasurable service to society and I'd love to one day include myself in this category.
Truckers
Truck drivers. Without them, you'd have absolutely nothing that wasn't made in your own area with materials exclusively native to your area.
Not Everyone Is Meant To Be Elon
Blue collar workers in general.
Everyone wants to view them as stupid nobodies, but really think about it.They build everything. They keep the world turning. And absolutely nothing keeps them from being smart. Where would we be without skilled laborers?
Like, before you talk crap about plumbers or garbage men or whatever, I want you to do what they do for yourself. I'm not a skilled tradesman, but I've lifted a finger a few times. Ever have to snake a houses plumbing? Ever have to put a wall frame together? Ever spent hours taking care of nasty ass garbage to walk away with a sore back and a nasty stink?
Not everybody is meant to be Elon Musk. Not you, and not the guy fixing your car because you are either too lazy or unskilled to do it yourself. Don't look down on them.
"I'm Listening"
You know when you realize at some point during a group conversation (or whilst telling a story) that in fact not a single soul is paying you any attention so you decide to just stop talking? The person who looks you in the eye and with interest on their face replies "I'm listening"...yeah, them!
Surgeons
Surgeons. They go through years of medical school and hours of working on a patient only to have the patient say "thank god" after the surgery is done.
Funeral Directors
Funeral Directors/Embalmers.
People seem to forget that we exist as real people and not the weird stereotypes in the media. Most of us are underpaid, we meet with grieving irrational people almost daily, and some of the things we have to deal with are downright disgusting.
The Smell Of Unholiness
People who work in meat rendering plants. I worked in a grocery store and the trash containers filled with grease, bones, and tallow smelled like the most unholiness ever and were filled with maggots. It was atrocious and the dude who came to pick it up was just so used to the smell. I cannot imagine how the plant smelled.
- KZwirbs
Unsung Kitchen Heroes
Dishwashers. Not only do they have to clean up other people's scraps, half the time the kitchen staff doesn't even treat them right.
Where I work, we have a cook who will use every utensil in the place and most of the pans and the dishwasher has to bust their tails to get them clean for the rest of us before we need them. Some cooks don't spray the pans either and the servers expect the dishwasher to scrap their plates for them, no matter what is left on them. Dishwashers are unsung heroes of every kitchen.
Sane Susan: The Anti-Karen
In every office, there is one person who seems to be sane while everyone else flutters around being neurotic and indulging in personal drama.
I call these people Susans after one that I knew years ago. The Susans of the world are all under-appreciated, and if they went away, this whole system would kiss pavement in thirty seconds.
Retail Hell
Retail workers, as someone who's worked in retail for 5 odd years, it's incredibly stressful at the best of times and it shows you how nasty people really are. I've been threatened with assault, chased a robber down the street (against company policy but was told to do it by senior member of staff - got our stuff back though) and generally dealt with all kinds of rude, unpleasant and obnoxious people. It's phenomenal how quickly staff just breathe in and out, forget the previous customer and just move on to the next with a smile.
Dating and the search for love and companionship... What a nightmare.
This journey plays out nothing like in the movies.
Every Prince or Princess (or everything in BTW) seems to have a touch of the psycho.
The things people say during what should be simple dinner conversation can leave a dining partner aghast.
Like... do you hear you?
Redditor detroit_michigldan wanted to discuss all the best ways to crash and burn when trying to make a romantic connection. They asked:
"You're on a date and it's going really great. What can another person say to ruin it completely?"
I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Despite the advancement of technology rendering people left to their own devices–literally–to entertain them, there are some leisurely activities that will never go out of style.
Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"

Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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When we first meet someone–whether through mutual friends, at school, or in a new work setting–we generally feel people out to determine if they're worth getting to know.
While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"

Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Children tend to believe just about anything they hear.
That there are monsters under your bed, watching too much TV will make your head explode, and silly faces will be permanent if you make them too often.
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to silly things that children will believe.
Some call it naivitée, other's youthful innocence.
But it's hard not to look back with embarrassment on certain things we believed as a child, that today might simply seem dumb.
Redditor Disastrous_Toe_6548 was curious to learn the multitude of silly things people believed when they were children, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
Silly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
So that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
The miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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