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Someone Asks: “What Are Facts About Your Job That The General Public Has No Idea About?” And 30 Folks Online Deliver
Insider information is a great thing, especially in today's world. From insiders, we learn everything we need and don't need to know. From Charlie D'Amelio's personal breaking news to stock tickers, from the Lakers locker room to the White House.
In addition to established insiders who have made gossip their job and main source of income, there are also other types of insiders. These are just people who not only do their job, they are well versed in it - but at the same time, they know something about it that an ordinary person could hardly guess.
And, to be honest, we would hardly have thought of it, if not for this thread in the AskReddit community, whose topic starter asked both a simple and non-standard question: "What are the facts about your job that general public has no idea about?" To date, the thread has over 11.6K upvotes and almost 8.5K comments, where people willingly reveal all the light and dark sides of their work.
Bored Panda collected for you the most interesting, surprising and unusual revelations from representatives of various professions. Some, perhaps, you already knew well, and some will probably shock you. Either way, feel free to scroll to the very end of the post not to miss something really interesting. And now, a little inside info from our work - more than anything in this life, we love your upvotes and comments!
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That as a trucker, that space I left in front of me is so I don’t kill anybody, NOT your personal invitation to jump in front of my bumper because you forgot your exit or whatever reason. So many want to get in front of us and slow down and park in front my bumper.
YSK: Don’t believe the billboards those ambulance chasing lawyers put up about big truck accidents mean big bucks. Only survivors get money, most likely not you. If you do survive, more than likely your quality of life is going to be miserable.
Also YSK: these trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, 34,000 pounds empty and around 20,000 pounds without the trailer. How does that compare to your SUV or even your lifted pickup. Do us all a favor and give us some space, leave us room so that you can live and go home to your family
One final thought, NEVER assume the other driver sees you.
Wow! Thanks for all the upvotes. Glad you found it helpful.
Exactly! A 35-ton truck has hella more inertia than a Ford Focus or a Honda Civic.
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I'm 5'2 and back in 2005 I was on the M6 (uk motorway) n my engine blew up caight fire, n spewed oil onto my windscreen at 80 mph! 😵 thought I was dead.. 2 artic truck lorries v necked in front of my car, slowed the traffic behind and managed to help me steer the car onto the hard shoulder. Then beep beeped me n let the traffic flow again after I was safe. Will never be able to thank them but I'm still here.
If you can't see the side mirrors of ANY vehicle, they can't see you.
I'm gonna piggy back on this post and also say that flashing your brights doesn't make us do anything. We also miss when people pumped their arms get us to honk.
If you can not see the operator, the operator can NOT SEE YOU! If it's bigger than you, it needs MORE SPACE to stop...and if the collision is decided to have been your fault, your family may not even receive a token pay-out! Respect busses, trucks, and trains, and give them lots of room!!!
When passing a truck, make sure you can see both of its headlights in your rear view mirror before getting back in that lane. At least, that is a safety tip I learned years ago.
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I used to do insurance and people would always use the phrase "they have insurance" as an excuse for their not paying attention". U r most likely not going to get millions and a couple hundred thousand, at most, won't last long when u r in a wheelchair and need constant care
For those of you struggling to comprehend the weights of a lorry in pounds, 80,000 pounds is 36 metric tonnes, 34,0000 pounds is 15 tonnes, and 20,000 pounds is 9 tonnes. Average family car weighs between 1 and 2 tonnes.
When in blue blazes is the USA going to switch to the Metric system?
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People falsely think large trucks "go slow" so pull out in front of them. These people must not have paid attention in physical science class - Newton's II Law of Motion Force = mass x acceleration
Truckers need to get out of the middle lane. They are the worst at middle-lane driving.
Not to mention the ones going 20 under in the fast lane.
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Except in reality traffic is always congested so it's unavoidable sometimes.
💯!!!!! My hubby drives a cement mixer, on a daily, he tells me stories of people who take their lives in their own hands by means of cutting in front of him. People just don't realize the weight of larger vehicles and the time it takes to stop them. Thank you to the hard working, safe truck drivers who deal with the general public day in and day out! Your families are thankful every night that you get home safe !🙏
My ex was a truck driver- he said for safety, pass us quickly on the left and even faster on the right. Do not tailgate a truck or cut off a truck. Do not get in a trucks blind spot and give at least a full truck length WITH A SIGNAL before changing into their lane in front of them. Always just assume they can't see you, are tired and fully loaded. The truck I mean. The truck is fully loaded, not the driver. Well maybe the driver but I sure hope not
And the knowledge of those weight figures is why I really get heated when truck drivers tailgate ME. And trust me, I am not a slow driver. 8 years delivering pizza will do that to you.
If I want to change lanes in front of a truck, I make sure I am at least 3 car spaces in front of it. They need a longer stopping distance and not only could you hurt/kill yourself, you would definitely hurt/kill others
It takes 300 yards to stop a big rig going 55mph on a dry freeway. That is 3 football fields. The truck will stop eventually either behind you, on you or Infront of you. It depends on where you decide to be.
My Dad taught us growing up- Truck drivers are on the road doing their JOB. They are making their living- so they deserve the utmost respect while “working.” We have taught our children then same- be respectful of all drivers- but especially be mindful of truck drivers. Let them over when they need to get over, make sure you keep a safe distance, etc. Thankful for those individuals who drive semis for a living. We appreciate you!
Monkey explain: If drive in front of truck and brake, truck will end your life.
One should remember:also If you dont see the truck side mirrors, the driver cant see you either,
I love that this is on here. My dad is a truck driver and my Mom still gets nervous that some A hole will do something that will keep my dad from coming home to us. Truck drivers have families too!
Exactly... Common Sense is anything but (common).
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Public defender.
I don’t do this because it’s the only job I could get. I do it because I’m passionately invested in making sure poor people have access to the courts and because without us, there would be absolutely nothing between them and the awesome power of the government. The vast majority of us are there for the same reason.
The perception that we’re not as good as private attorneys is just wrong. In fact, most PDs have done many more trials than privates because we have many more clients. The difference is that we can’t pick and choose our clients as private attorneys can. We have to work with what we get so our win/loss ratio isn’t as impressive as theirs. Ask a private defense attorney what they think of public defenders- most will tell you that some of the best attorneys they’ve known are PDs.
While we can’t take the time to hold your hand and take every one of your calls, we actually do care about you and your case. I work nights. I work weekends. In fact, every weekend I’m at the jail, seeing my guys, because I don’t have time during the week.
We are excellent attorneys who chose public service.
Public defenders are the unsung heroes of the American criminal justice system. The system supposedly provides fair trials, but it falls to PDs to keep some semblance of fairness actually in the courtroom. If nothing else, PDs require DAs to do their jobs, rather than railroading one of the 'usual suspects'.
I work in IT support.
Legit about 80% of all problems are solved by rebooting the computer/terminal/phone.
If not, 20 percent is pure detective work.
ER Nurse.
People get seen by severity, not the order they came in the door... Also, just because you came in by ambulance doesn't mean you immediately bypass the waiting room.
When you call 911, please say your address before anything else. It doesn’t matter if someone is actively dying, say your address first. (I’m from a rural area so this might just be a problem where I’m from) but if you’re calling on a cell phone sometimes it can ping in a completely different spot then you are. If you call and don’t say where you are and we get disconnected, I might not have any clue where to send rescue/police/fire and therefore I cannot help you. Say your address (if you don’t know then please give like a cross street or notable location) first, then preferably your name, THEN tell me what’s going on.
A lot of people assume that we automatically have a precise location where they’re at, and the systems can be pretty accurate but you can’t always rely on them. If you say the address and we get disconnected I can at least send someone to the area to figure out what needs to be done.
(Source: I am a 911 dispatcher and I have so many people scream at me for not automatically knowing their location)
If you are on a cellular telephone, the phone can be connected with the 9-1-1 dispatch where you live, so if you`re roaming several hundred kilometres from home, the dispatch will be unable to help you! TELL THEM WHERE YOU ARE! (They can transfer your call to a local 9-1-1 dispatch!) Do so even if you are on a landline, because some people have their landline outgoing location data blocked! (In some cases, automatically because of where the phone is - like a Shelter for Abused Persons!)
The bags of cement are not filled by a robot. A person handles every bag. I can fill 2500 bags in an
8 hour shift.
Ex-security guard here.
We're not there to protect you. We're there to observe and report. Don't assume that just because whatever building you're working in has security that you're safe. Especially if security is of the unarmed variety.
Ain't that the truth. One of the security guards where I used to work was this little old lady who was as sweet as the day is long, but lord help her if she was called on to do her duty. It took her a good 30 seconds to get out of her chair. I don't remember her name, but everybody called her "Maxine" because she looked like the cartoon character.
I’m a nanny and most people think the kids are what bothers me the most or what would lead me to quit. It’s never the kids, always the f****d up parents. People with too much money who don’t intend on raising their own kids are far too prevalent.
Bridge carpenter.
When you drive by 6 people standing around one guy working, the group is usually comprised of inspectors, superintendents, subs, engineers, and foremen all standing around a laborer to talk. You can differentiate by the hardhats and how clean they are.
If you want to get upset at someone for your commute being slowed, don't pick the dirty guys.
I was a licensed Cremationist for 8 years. Regardless how hard we tried, that wasn’t just grandma or grandpa in the urn….
I want to be cremated when I die and I personally don't care. I wouldn't care if it wasn't just my mom in her urn either. After you die your body is just that - a body. It isn't what makes a person imo.
Chef here. The reason you love our food is salt and butter... and a lot of it.
I have worked for the US federal government.
Every time Congress waits until the 11th hour to pass a budget or a continuing resolution (a temporary "budget"), the government spends an unknown amount of money, probably millions of dollars, preparing for a government shutdown, whether the shutdown happens or not. If the government actually shuts down, even if only for a few hours, it wastes millions more tax dollars. Taxpayers get no benefit from these expenditures, and the money is simply wasted.
When Congress holds the budget hostage, they're not actually hurting political rivals. They're punishing taxpayers and anyone who relies on government services directly or indirectly for anything.
Edit: One more thought:
If your Representative or Senator engages in this, **vote them out at the next election**, because they're burning your tax dollars to deceive you into supporting their careers. You get nothing, your tax dollars are thrown in the trash, and a bunch of stupid rubes get duped into voting to keep a do-nothing politician in office, earning six figures.
Term limits. Anyone who has been in elected office for more than a decade, is out of touch with the people.
I'm a massage therapist. I don't care if you didn't shave. But please wash your feet.
Always wash your feet... for your sake and for everyone else's, too LOL
I work at a large biotech/pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The medication you take or buy from your local pharmacy are so insanely and meticulously regulated & inspected at every step of the journey - from petri dish to pharmacy shelf, that you could take a pill from a bottle and it can be traced back to the exact room it was made in, the exact equipment that was used, who was responsible for each step, and the time it was made down to the very second. Seriously, there is no misteps when it comes to GxP.
Damn straight... not only do we pay enough for that level of attention, but our very lives are at stake.
Retail worker so this may not be surprising
A majority of food waste/waste in general are from customers. Yes, leaving that cold f*****g food at the other side of the store because you decided you didn't want/need it and were too lazy to put it back correctly, that s**t adds up and is a majority of what we throw out. Cannot tell you how much good food went to waste for no good reason, just because people were too lazy to put it back
But, at least we donate our meat to animal shelters.
I was at a Kroger once where a customer had left a pack of chicken in an empty cooler at the front of the store. Someone opened the cooler several days later (the day of my visit) and the entire front of the store was unbearable because of the smell.
I currently work the line at a recycling facility.
Y'all m***********s throw a lot of s**t away when it could have been given to a charity.
As someone in construction, statistically speaking, I have a bigger chance of [passing] on the job than police officers do in their line of work. It was even more dangerous when I did scaffolding at an oil refinery.
I think people abstractly know construction is dangerous, but sometimes you have to put it in perspective for them.
I work with the developmentally disabled. While we are allowed to encourage our clients to make good choices and try to talk them out of making bad ones, we are not allowed to stop them from doing what they want. They are people first, and everyone is allowed to make poor choices and suffer the consequences. The United States government calls it "The Right to Consequences."
Healthcare worker - part of the reason your doctors appointments are so quick is the amount of documenting we have to do so we get paid. We can be the most brilliant clinician and save your damn life but if we don’t write a note that’s complete enough or have the right elements, your insurance company will pay less. We get nothing for being smart, correct or compassionate….only what we can “document” and takes time away from you.
Agreed. But, please, don't blame your Coder, if you have one (and get a good Coder, if you don't). Your Coder should be able to give you advice on minimizing your documentation, while still hitting the requirements to get get you paid, fairly. Source: 11 years as a medical coder (CPC).
Working for giant companies, it’s comical how many systems are raggedy messes of bare-bones functionality. All available money gets thrown at certain projects, leaving everything else to work on complete shoe-strings.
Very true. And everyone gets the standard build laptop/PC, no matter if you're a receptionist or a programmer
I’m the spray tech at a golf course. We use green dye on our putting greens.
The grass at Augusta national is sprayed green as well; “any grass you see on camera has been sprayed green”
If you ever fall off a ship/ferry at sea and were lucky enough to be spotted - don't try to swim your way to safety. The more you try to swim, the lesser the chances of survival. Just try to keep afloat and conserve energy (and body heat) while the rescue team does what they're supposed to. Unless you are in hypothermic waters, the best bet always is to stay afloat without trying to swim to 'somewhere'. This information about falling overboard, hypothermia and conditions, survival at sea etc are based on my own experience of many years sailing on [mega container ships]
In newswriting, if we like you we don't quote you exactly. If we don't like you, best believe you're getting a 'sic'.
Government worker here. You know how you all have the opinion that government departments are massive bureaucracies that take forever to get anything done efficiently, if at all?
It's true. And we hate that, too. It can take me 2 months to get an answer that would normally take 1 day in the private sector.
Not my experience. Government departments are operating on a shoe string.
I'm in pharma. So. Much. Paperwork.
Also we use a lot of single-use stuff, so the pharma industry's probably responsible for a not-insignificant amount of the world's plastic waste.
Structural Engineer
We take materials we do not entirely understand, form them into shapes we cannot precisely analyze to resist forces we cannot truly assess in such a way that the public at large has no idea of the extent of our ignorance!
That's why there is so much redundancy. Still, it's a solid (hopefully) point
Crisis hotline. Sometimes we get really disturbing prank calls. I always encourage people to call back if they are ever in crisis. A lot of times, they (the prank callers) do.
US based flight attendant here. Unless you’re flying on Delta, your flight attendants aren’t getting paid during boarding and deplaning. We’re just as annoyed as the next person that the flight is delayed because of a mechanical issue, weather, etc. If the boarding door is closed we (usually) don’t mind though.
Radioactive contamination can often just be cleaned with Windex or even water
Note: this post originally had 45 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Unrelated to the article, but: Has anyone else been getting notifications on here about a comment but when you go to click it, it takes you to a comment section where you didn't comment anything? Idk if this is just a glitch for me or if other people are experiencing it too.
That happens when your comment is about those submissions that are not shown initially. You know, when you have to click the link at the bottom of the article to see all submissions. Scroll down and click on the link and you will get to your comment.
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Lifeguards are NOT babysitters/nannys. Do not drop your small children off at a pool or a beach and leave for hours at a time. They aren't a daycare. Our job is not to look after just your kid. Also we get paid for what we might have to do not what we are actually doing.
I'm a train driver, do not kiss someone through the window. We hit animals quite often and stuff can splash surprisingly far back along the train. Then there's the myth that som male train drivers relieves themselves through am open door even when the train is in motion. Impossible with most modern trains/locomotives but still.. And yes, trains do get washed but no ones going to cancel a train because of animal blood, we're not exactly drowning in working trains.
Not related. Is anyone experiencing bogus web pages or Mcafee notices randomly popping up? This is the only site I experience these. It's darn annoying.
Unrelated to the article, but: Has anyone else been getting notifications on here about a comment but when you go to click it, it takes you to a comment section where you didn't comment anything? Idk if this is just a glitch for me or if other people are experiencing it too.
That happens when your comment is about those submissions that are not shown initially. You know, when you have to click the link at the bottom of the article to see all submissions. Scroll down and click on the link and you will get to your comment.
Load More Replies... Lifeguards are NOT babysitters/nannys. Do not drop your small children off at a pool or a beach and leave for hours at a time. They aren't a daycare. Our job is not to look after just your kid. Also we get paid for what we might have to do not what we are actually doing.
I'm a train driver, do not kiss someone through the window. We hit animals quite often and stuff can splash surprisingly far back along the train. Then there's the myth that som male train drivers relieves themselves through am open door even when the train is in motion. Impossible with most modern trains/locomotives but still.. And yes, trains do get washed but no ones going to cancel a train because of animal blood, we're not exactly drowning in working trains.
Not related. Is anyone experiencing bogus web pages or Mcafee notices randomly popping up? This is the only site I experience these. It's darn annoying.
