“What do you do?” is that one little question we all hear on a daily basis. But sometimes it doesn’t end just there. It’s not just about “what?” but also about “but really, what is it like to do your job?” And that’s the point we step over the small talk and get into explaining the complexities of our professions.
What’s interesting is that even the most no-brainer things about our jobs are often far from obvious to the general audience. This thread from Ask Reddit is a great example of it: “What's something that seems obvious within your profession, but the general public doesn't fully understand?” someone asked, and the illuminating responses started rolling in.
Below we selected some of the most interesting ones, so scroll down below and be sure to check out our similar post on more things that people don’t have a clue about when it comes to these common jobs.
#21
The pastures you drive by don't just exist on their own. Grass is an actively managed crop.
136points
#22
Deathcare industry worker here. Embalming a body is a creepy practice and an unnecessary expense.
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132points
#23
I work as deskside IT support for an office.
Anyone could do my job if they knew how to google and read tech forums. Besides, 75% of my job is customer service, 20% knowledge, and 5% politics.
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125points
#24
The more you know how the Internet really works, the more you're amazed that it still works at all.
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123points
#25
That I don't set or control the prices and I can't give random people discounts.
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121points
#26
Just because someone was doing a bad thing doesn't mean its bad when they are trying to make themselves better. Getting healthy shouldn't be looked down upon.
I work in compliance for an addiction recovery company and it's part of my job to tell people to go away when they want to use our patients recovery against them.
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116points
#27
I need details to troubleshoot your website problems.
"The website isn't working, can you fix it?"
What isn't working?? What page, what section of the page, what is it doing that it's not supposed to be doing, what is it supposed to be doing instead? What device, browser are you using? What were you doing before it happened? Give me *something* to work with here. Even if words aren't your forte and it's just a cell phone picture you took of your monitor, I need details. The more you give, the faster your issue will get fixed.
114points
#28
Public Spending on construction projects. What do you MEAN building this new road will cost $100 Million Dollars ?!? Why does the Govt. take so much money for themselves ?!
Not understanding that it’s $50 Million Dollars in materials and another $50 million in labor instantly injected into the *local* economy (obviously its not 50/50 but for the sake of this post)
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101points
#29
You cannot check-in to a hotel without giving us a deposit or a working credit card to protect us from possible damages.
"There aren't gonna be any damages."
OH OK, I GUESS WE DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IT THEN
"There aren't gonna be any damages."
OH OK, I GUESS WE DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IT THEN
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85points
#30
A significant portion of active duty military personnel (in the U.S., at least) spend a majority of their time sitting at a desk doing basic administration work.
I'm technically trained in my job speciality, but since I'm not exactly in a combat zone when not deployed, I spend most days at a computer answering e-mails and s**t.
85points
