“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.

#1

As someone in the movie/tv business, most people don't realize that doctoring and altering footage is really really really easy for someone with the right software. I see my old relatives falling for obviously fake footage all the time because they trust all video to be real.

This problem is only going to get worse as the software gets better.

Image credits: Sadamatographer

#2

As a plumber replying to my customer who just hovered over me during the whole repair:

Yes, you could have done this yourself.

Yes, you would have saved 100s of dollars.

No, I can't come down on the price because of how simple it looked to you. We are a business and I gave you the quote before I started.

Image credits: koatiz

#3

Unless it's an actual emergency you'll have to wait in the ER. It sucks, we know, but a suspected heart attack will be treated before a busted knee.

Image credits: pumpkinrum

#4

Organically grown produce is still grown using pesticides. I stopped arguing with people when I realized the fact that I worked for the EPA and it was literally my job didn't dissuade them from arguing with me.

Image credits: sortasomeonesmom

#5

Nuclear engineer here, and if you think radiation is the devil incarnate then buckle in for a quick second as I tell you that:

1) No one from Fukushima died from radiation exposure. You saw pictures of the horrific devastation from the earthquake and tsunami. Flooding a nuclear plant doesn't topple buildings.

2) Nuclear is one of the safest, renewable, and cleanest energy sources that exist. Second cleanest only to water (and air if you count that).

3) Unless we start growing energy and picking it off the vine, oil and coal will run out in the very foreseeable future and nuclear is the way to go.

4) You get more radiation from eating a banana than anyone ever did from 3 Mile Island. The most radiation I get everyday is from my morning fruit and I play with radioactive sources and crystals all day.

5) Nuclear is actually really cool and by making it to the bottom of the list you're pretty cool too.

Edit: Woah, my first gold! Thank you kind stranger, you the best!

Edit 2: Double gold! Y'all are spoiling me too much, thanks Reddit!

Image credits: MurkedPeasant

#6

Libraries are not [vanishing]. The main reason we're suffering is because idiots decide, without doing any research, that libraries are [vanishing], so they cut funding because...why fund something that's dying? It's so circular that it makes my head hurt.

Image credits: shineevee

#7

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.

Image credits: UlfarrOT

#8

The more you know how the Internet really works, the more you're amazed that it still works at all.

Image credits: All_Your_Base

#9

Doctors/healthcare workers use dark humour as a form of resilience not to be callous or flippant.
A lot of traumatic events occur in a hospital on a daily basis. Sometimes a dark joke is the difference between breaking down emotionally or being able to compartmentalise and treat you with all our wits about us.

Image credits: anon

#10

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

Image credits: LobbyJockey

#11

Writing code is not really that exciting to watch. It is very unlikely that you will have a lot of cool graphics or special effects on the screen.

Its going to be some slightly color-coded words, and very little else.

Image credits: relmicro

#12

The pastures you drive by don't just exist on their own. Grass is an actively managed crop.

Image credits: hibbidy_hobbidy

#13

Graphic Designer here (but this applies to a lot of creative professions). Doing a job faster actually means I need to be paid *more*, not less.

Image credits: captainhiltz

#14

As your child's teacher, I see them for 53 minutes a day for 180 days of the year. I cannot undo all of the poor habits you've taught/enabled/encourage and "make" your kid successful. I see people post on the book of faces about their child's [lousy] teacher because they won't do "x" or "y" when those things are the responsibility of the parent. Also, my contract says I work until 3. I will not call, text, or meet with you after hours because I need to have my own life separate from my work life which is really hard for parents to understand for some reason.

Image credits: lashleighxo

#15

Clip your dogs toe nails. The longer you wait, the less we can clip them because the quick grows out with the nail!
Also: hold the microphone where it’s meant to be held, the handle. When you cup the head it starts to feedback.

Image credits: anon

#16

Electricity is dangerous. Yeah getting shocked by an outlet is nothing more then a quick scare when you're dry. But when you're wet it's almost certain death (a painful one at that). And when you get into some larger stuff it will literally vaporize you. If you're untrained, you should leave electrical work to the professionals.

Image credits: NordicCell

#17

One teacher, plus 32 kids doesn't yield optimum results.

Image credits: MaryMillion

#18

Might be a bit late but the reason you see railway workers standing around and on their phone when your train goes past is because if they were working that same train would HIT THEM.

Image credits: brewer96

#19

Wind farms require environmental impact studies that take birds in account. Yes, they do have an impact, but so does the playground in front of your house.

And trust me, if we don't put wind farms up and keep burning coal, it's gonna be worse, even for the birds.

Image credits: MarsNirgal

#20

95% of the stuff you want to tell your lawyer before arraignment is irrelevant. I know you're scared because s**t is getting real and you're being charged with a crime, and I know you see everything going on as one big interconnected tangle that has to be straightened out once and for all, but all that happens at arraignment of any consequence is the probable cause determination and conditions of release. I'm not ignoring you, I know I only have about ten minutes I can spend with you before we go in front of the judge, but ten minutes is about twice what I'd need if we stayed on topic. All the rest of that stuff I'd be happy to take the time to carefully comb through with you in my office between now and your first pretrial.

Image credits: Zer0Summoner

#21

When you're in a hospital, not every man is a doctor and not every woman is a nurse.

Image credits: upvoter222

#22

That I don't set or control the prices and I can't give random people discounts.

#23

Different artists excel at doing different styles. I work primarily in watercolor, my website and my portfolio are almost entirely watercolor pieces, and yet I regularly field requests from clients asking if I can do oil painting, mural painting, or God Forbid, tattoo them. Just yesterday I had someone ask if I'd give them a tattoo, which I have never done before, have not trained in...

I try to refer people to other artists I know who work in the styles and mediums they're looking for.

"But you make lots of cool things!"
YES. IN WATERCOLOR.

Image credits: AncientCatGod

#24

If I cared what teenagers thought of me, I wouldn’t be a high school teacher. No, I don’t go home and drink away their lame insults. They don’t bother me, they’re just hormonal kids, and I love my job.

Image credits: anon

#25

**Hotels:**
1) If you can't prove you are allowed to have access to a room, I can't give you keys to the room. That means if you're staying in your brother's room and you get locked out, you're SOL until your brother shows up with his ID. This is to protect you, your family, and your stuff. If you don't like it, you can go suck a lemon.
 
2) If you call and ask for a person, but don't have their name *and* room number, I can't just say "YUP HERE YA GO" because some people in the hotel might specifically hiding out from someone. I don't know you're not some stalker or jealous ex-lover trying to track a person down by calling every hotel in town and saying "Hey can you transfer me to Jane Smith's room, please?" I have no way of knowing you aren't some phone scammer calling every hotel in town and asking to be connected to random room numbers.
 
2.5) Even if the name you give me is not a guest at my hotel, I'll still tell you "I'm sorry, I can't acknowledge whether or not someone is here unless you give me name *and* room number." Sorry, Sherlock Holmes, the fact I'm stonewalling you right now doesn't mean that person is staying here. Nice detective work, though.
 
3) Obviously you can't leave your dog in the room and go out for the day. You're thinking of a kennel. Dogs left alone in strange places howl and bark and p**s and chew up the furniture and dig at the carpet. "But my dog doesn't bark when I'm gone." How the f**k would you know? I've been told that by so many people who are then shocked to learn their dog barked while they were gone.
 
4) Yes, you need a card for incidentals. No, I don't care if you tell me there aren't going to be any incidentals, I still need the card.
 
5) Emotional support animals are not service animals and we will charge you full price for them. You can't sue us for it, so if you threaten to we'll just write notes about you and laugh behind your back.
 
6) Vaping in your hotel room can set off the smoke alarm.
 
Most importantly:
7) Being a bully to the staff might get you some special perks and privileges, but we will remember you. We will do the absolute bare minimum and not go above and beyond anywhere we don't specifically *have to.* We may even go r/maliciouscompliance on your a*s. For example, when a cranky older man tried to bully me into giving him a discount for some petty problem last month (which I'd have been happy to help him with if he hadn't been a d**k), I jacked the rate up on him and took a small percentage off of that. He walked away thinking he had gotten a discount when in actuality, he was paying higher than full price. I think of it as an a*****e tax.

#26

there is a difference between a statistical model and a crystal ball.

I'm not a magician, I just use big words to explain my guesses.

#27

90% of back pain does not need any imaging. Yes it hurts, yes it is scary, yes it is normal. The pain medication will not fix anything, the pain medication is to allow you to move.

#28

How electricity works and how you use it in your home. At this point, I don't even try to explain it to people because their faces just glaze over almost immediately.

#29

Studying a degree, even part time, is a hell of a lot of work. It's great you want a degree, but just because "I'm an adult", it does not mean you can half-a**e your way into a qualification whilst working full time, you are most likely massively underestimating how hard students work.

#30

Cats--even indoor cats--require annual veterinary visits and vaccines.

Cats are stoic. By the time your cat begins to exhibit symptoms of illness she's almost always been sick for a while. Annual exams catch issues like thyroid disease, diabetes, stomatitis, obesity, etc. early when they're most treatable and before kitty experiences more extreme discomfort.

And it should really go without saying that even indoor cats are at risk for rabies. It's incredibly common for bats to get *into* the house and when you find one there's no way to tell if it's bitten your cat or not (most bats' teeth are so small they don't leave a mark).

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Edit: spelling.

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#31

You cannot translate literally.

#32

Weddings.cost.money. The more people you invite, the more expensive it gets. Stop asking your wedding planner/caterer to give you the world but still work within your $5/person budget, its not possible. Let it go.

#33

Sports writers do not give a s**t if your team wins or loses. We just want the f*****g game to end so we can write and go home.

#34

How far it takes a heavy vehicle to stop. Any heavy vehicle. Don't get in front of it.

#35

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)

#36

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.

Image credits: athaliah

#37

If you're hiring a musician to an event you pay us for playing ofc, AND for the time it takes to rehearse and arrange the songs or pieces you want us to play.

Image credits: LBCadam

#38

Not all accountants do taxes

#39

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.

Image credits: anon

#40

95% of worker's comp claims are completely legitimate. Everyone assumes that WC is the biggest scam and people falsify injuries to have time off with pay. It's not even close.

#41

Research chemists spend the vast majority of their time readings journal article PDFs at 2:30 AM and generally don't pour vials of liquids into each other regularly.

Image credits: iammaxhailme

#42

Solving IT problems usually is done with efficient google searches, reading support articles, and checking out forums. Very little of the information I use for fixing computers was obtained organically (trial-and-error, or training, etc). IT people just google. They consider us wizards but really we just know how to search well.

Image credits: anon

#43

When your town spends money to fix the road down the street from you but not your road, it's not out of spite.

Image credits: crappyroads

#44

Multiple chefs have touched one or more ingredients of what you're eating with their bare hands. For you germaphobes out there, welcome to reality.

For the occasional person who requests a shot of pickle juice, almost every single chef had their hands in that water when they grab pickles for whatever burger or sandwich.

We do wash our hands. But if you think your food was created magically specially for you with everyone wearing fresh gloves for each order and freshly polished tongs and ladels, better off cooking for yourself at home.

The waitress who you think is flirting with you, it's her job to be friendly and she gets the majority of her pay from tips. You might think that tipping her a lot will impress her so much that she will eventually want to sleep with you, but guess what she's nice to everyone and you probably seem like a pathetic target in their eyes.

Also after working in restaurant kitchens for a good amount of time, everyone else in the public world seems to move slow as hell with no awareness of their surroundings.

#45

Deathcare industry worker here. Embalming a body is a creepy practice and an unnecessary expense.

#46

I work at Staples, and people seem to think the cheapest ink cartridge will do the trick, not the one compatible with their printer.

Customer: “Hey I need to recycle this ink and get some more! ^_^”
Me: “Great, I can help you with that.”
C: “I’ve been using HP 64, but my neighbor said she uses Canon 281, and the cartridges are much cheaper so I’ll get those! ^_^”
Me: “... those aren’t the same manufacturer, they won’t work.”
C: “Thanks for your help! I’m glad I came in and am saving money! ^_^”
Me: “Have a great rest of your day! (Don’t come back asking for a refund)”
Smh people

#47

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.

#48

There are a lot of issues with Microsoft operating systems and software. Microsoft is fully aware of these issues, and generally doesn't do anything to fix them. One example: Windows will drop network credentials from credential manager like they never existed.

#49

We are not in the habit of intentionally hurting children.

It makes me absolutely insane when a new parent asks, about everything, if it's safe for the baby.

Guys. I'm assuming you came to the hospital because you decided it was the safest place to deliver a baby. Why not trust us once you get here?

Image credits: purpleRN

#50

From an ex-nurse. People don't understand there isn't a pill to fix everything and if you don't exercise and eat sensibly you will die younger than you should. Simple.

#51

If you cut off an 18-wheeler, you might die and it will be your fault. The dashcam will show it was your fault, and your family will recieve nothing. Not only will you be dead, but you will probably not leave a corpse that is in fewer than a dozen pieces.

40 tons moving at highway speed does not slow down quickly, and physics doesn't give a s**t that you want to get home two minutes faster.

Yes, *literally* 40 tons. That's about 8 elephants. It depends on what kind of elephant.

#52

Child care workers get paid close to nothing. Benefits not included with most jobs. Turnover rate is extremely high. The ones that honestly care about their job, try to continue schooling and go to public schools systems as soon as possible for pay/benefits/time off.

This leaves our infants and toddlers in the care of people who despise their jobs. The most important years of brain development are left in the hands with overworked, underpaid and under appreciated adults with little to no early childhood education.

Not saying that all child care centers are like this, but a lot.

#53

You’re deductible and out of pocket max are two very different things. Just because your deductible is met, does not mean the rest of your healthcare that year is covered 100%. That’s true for about 90% of people with insurance, and understood by about 5% in my experience.

#54

Libraries have a lot of materials on hand but you are not the only person clever enough to want to watch Christmas movies on December 23rd so don't be surprised when all of our Christmas DVDs are checked out and have waiting lists stretching into January.

#55

Every behavior exists for a reason. If someone is doing something, there is something that is reinforcing it. People don’t do things “for no reason”. If you want to stop someone’s [poor] behavior, figure out what is reinforcing it.

#56

A hand grenade will not destroy a city block....and most bombs are trivial to disarm.

#57

In the US, you don't jump tax brackets and then pay that rate for all of your income. You fill each bucket and pay the higher tax rate only on the income you have above the limit on each lower bracket.

#58

You are not my only client.
I am trying my best to juggle a lot of people and sometimes something slips through cracks. I'm sorry!

#59

You can't fix potholes in the winter.

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#60

When a charity does a matching gift challenge, they already got the money from the matching gift donor. It’s literally a trick to get you to feel like your gift is more valuable.

And holy c**p that trick works every single time.

#61

I work in a meat shop, and some people seem to have no understanding that there is only so much meat on an animal. People will purchase a side of beef and give us a list of the cuts that they want. We have to explain to them that, “no, you can’t have a 6lb prime rib roast AND a dozen prime rib steaks, there just isn’t that much prime rib on a side of beef.”

You would think that if a person was investing hundreds of dollars on quality beef, they’d do a bit of research on how the animal can be cut before giving us their cut list.

#62

Things cost money

#63

not all arrhythmias are shockable with a defibrillator

#64

A large majority of semi trucks have speed governors that vary between company to company. We're not intentionally trying to block your path when passing another truck. We simply cannot go any faster than what the limiter is set at. Also, if you're driving a car next to us; please don't linger next to our trailer. High winds can make the trailer sway out of our lane without us moving the truck. I'm not a fan of getting in an accident with you because as far as the law is concerned, it's **always** the truck's fault.

#65

On a golf course, other people do, in fact, exist. I know... hard to believe, isn't it? You'd be shocked at how many guys in their 20s will play the championship tees and they can't advance it more than 200 yards without introducing 50+ yard dispersion. It slows everyone up behind them while they get drunk and spend 10 minutes on each hole searching for their ball. If I had a dollar for every time I had to yell at backwards hat bud light bros trying to break 120 from the tips in 6 hours, I'd have enough for my wife and I to actually eat at five guys. Unfortunately, the golf business doesn't pay well, so that's a pipe dream.

#66

Commercial airplanes are crazy safe.